Feeding The Fish

I was going to call this a post for Grandpa but I am not actually sure that my father even looks at the blog anymore but I hope he does because he will love this post.

We had plans for today but they got all messed up what with one thing and another so we quickly made a picnic, jumped into the car and headed south to Islamorada in the Florida Keys. It really isn't very far and as long as there aren't any traffic snarls we can get there lickety split. We decided not to tell the girls what we were doing since every plan we had made for this weekend had blown up in our faces and each time they were really disappointed. Just the idea of having food in the car makes them really giddy and this time we added the DVD players to the mix so pretty much they were ecstatic.

We had been to Robbies when Lily was 3-ish and it was just a dock and little more but now we pulled up the car to the sounds of a steel band and lots of little market stalls etc. The place has grown for better or worse depends on what you like I suppose. we paid our $1 entrance fee per person and the chap let the kids in free and we headed towards the dock. We asked Lily to read the sign that explained that she must NOT put her hands in the water as the tarpon DO bite and that she must NOT hand feed the pelicans as they Do bite etc etc. Jacob struck up a conversation with one of the owners and he offered Jacob a pole to attach the under water camera to so that he could capture the tarpons feeding frenzy from a different vantage point. Needless to say Jacob was in heaven doing this and one of the fish even bit the pole. Rosie was terrified of the whole scene and needed to be carried. After a few moments I explained that the huge pelicans were very sweet birds and the enormous fish were just hungry and wanted the fish that we had in our bucket and that nothing could hurt her so she decided to suck it up a tiny bit...not a lot though at this point. After taking a few photos Rosie watched Lily and Jacob feed the fish from the comfort zone of my arms and finally decided to get down and investigate things for herself. Before we knew it she was chucking the fish wildly into the water and having a fine time of it. As each bucket would run out of fish she would yell for more. When it was time to leave she was the one who begrudged the idea the most!
We had a fantastic time doing something so simple and the girls are already begging to go back again.

Rosie clinging to Jacob still rather unsure of it all. Lily however was loving it.



Rosie getting looser.

Looky I'm holding a shark, That is what she called them and who was I to correct her. I was just glad she was having fun.

Feeding frenzy

I have no idea what she is doing??
Want some fish bones Lil'? EEEEEWWWW, No way Daddy.




Heron looking so regal and the sign behind her reads, Islamorada Queen!

Pelicans Birdnapping a boat
All that fun is exhausting I tell ya'.