Mote Marine

On our first Wednesday in Florida, we planned to spend the day with Joe, Julie, and the kids at Mote Marine.  Mote was showcasing a penguin exhibit; the penguins were on loan from a zoo in California for 6 months and the kids knowing how much I like penguins, decided that they wanted to wait until I was down to go see them.  So we met the other McNaughton bunch at Mote Marine.  I had not been there in such a long time (we used to go pretty often as field trips when I was in school), so it was neat to see how much it had changed.

Jeff and I got there before Joe, Julie, and the kids did, so we started exploring around the building...



When Joe, Julie, and the kids joined us, we headed inside to start the adventure...

After looking at some aquariums with all sorts of cool sea creatures, we found our way to the penguin exhibit.  It was the cutest thing ever.  Oh how I love penguins!  The kids loved them too (all three of them), so the fact that they were so excited made it all the more fun. 



We also watched them target feed sharks and fish in the giant aquarium.  We had great views of the feeding,as we were practically right next to one of the targets.  The kids kept running over to get another view.



We also spent some time at a touch pool where we could touch a whole bunch of sea life...starfish, sea cucumbers, sea urchins and some other fun stuff...



We also got to touch some stingrays...which was fun!

After we had taken in all the fun, we walked across the street to the marine animal rehabilitation center for Mote Marine.  In this facility, they take in animals that are hurt, nurse them back to health, and, if they can, release them into the wild.  If not, the animals have found their forever homes at Mote.  We saw some loggerhead turtles, manatees, and a dolphin with a liver condition that would not allow him to be released back into the wild.  The trainers work with him daily to teach him new tricks, some of which we got to watch.  He was an amazing and really talented dolphin.

After our Mote experience, we decided to head to the Old Salty Dog across the street on the water for lunch.  We sat back, enjoyed the gorgeous weather and had a great lunch.  Here are Jay and Ella pretending that one of the alcoholic, tropical beverages on the table were for them...no worries though, they were for me and Julie! :-)

We had a lot of fun...where else can you hang out near the beach a couple of days before Christmas in shorts and sandals?  Only Florida!  Thanks guys, we had a great time!