Stump Pass Beach State Park

Thanksgiving Day we went to see Stump Pass beach state park

 For lunch we found a beautiful spot

 Mia fed some popcorn to the sea gulls

 It was a bit to windy for the freebee

Ringling Circus Museum, Sarasota

A friend had recommended the Ringling circus museum in Sarasota and it was really impressive.
Many of the exhibits showed the circus during its golden age around the 1920'ies.
Mia tried a tight rope

 and a horse

 A big model showed all the details from the circus train, to the kitchen tent and the main tent

 The outside was very nice as well. There was a great playground

 

There was a beautiful mansion build in the 1920'ies by the bay

There was also am exhibit with circus trailers - one that was used for a human canon. Mia liked the books in the little library there

When we left we saw a beautiful sunset

We didn't even have time to check out the art collection in another building. Maybe next time

Mote Aquarium, Sarasota

When t was grey and rainy we checked out the Mote marine laboratory and aquarium in Sarasota which was only a 30 minute drive from our hotel

The jelly fish in a special tank were really beautiful

At one tank Mia could touch shells

 At another tank she could touch horse shoe crabs

 She could listen to the sea shells

 and touch sting rays

In another tank there were two manatees

 We also saw dolphin Moonshine who was rescued with a major sunburn from a beach

After the aquarium we checked out the beach on Siesta Key which was votes the best in the USA a few years back. On a foggy day with light drizzle it had is own beauty

 Then we discovered a sea food place with an happy hour for oysters. Ji was very pleased

Venice Florida

With temperatures in the upper 70'ies we checked out the the Myakka State park just outside town on hour fist day.

 After a short hike we took the air boat tour on Lake Mayakka

 The tour guide was very good in explaining the wild life

For our afternoon trip to the beach we changed to swim suites so that we didn't have to worry about getting wet - like the day before. Again. Mia had lots of fun

At sunset a local yoga teacher had a class on the beach

Then Mia watched some local skateboarding dudes do their tricks at the beach parking lot. When it was dark we had family style dinner at an Italian restaurant a local lady had recommended

Trip to Florida

To escape the cold winter weather for a few days we booked a trip to Florida for the Thanksgiving week. We had an early flight - and a very entertaining cab driver from Brazil - so we landed at Tampa airport a little bit after 10 am. From there we drove about an hour south to Venice.

After changing to some summer cloths  we checked out the town, had some lunch and headed to the beach

On her first trip to Florida - to Fort Myers when Mia was two and a half - she didn't enjoy the beach but now we almost six she really did

The Young Artist

On a cold and grey Sunday morning Mia played and surprised us with a nice drawing