Since we spent the first few days of our vacation close to the condo at the pool and the beach, we spent the last few days exploring the area. I think we got the best of both worlds.
Saturday morning we checked out the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Discovery and Science, but I loaded the pictures out of order so I'm going to start with Saturday afternoon... after I share one picture I just got from mom that I'm putting her just to prove I was actually on this vacation! See, here I am on the Ferris wheel with two boys (one big) who weren't happy about being there and one who thought it was really cool that Grandma and Grandpa were in another basket.
The weather was a bit dreary Saturday afternoon so Mom and I decided to check out a huge outlet mall nearby. Since the "boys" didn't want to stay in the condo all afternoon they decided to come with us... not exactly what mom and I had in mind... I needed an escape plan quick!! Luckily when we first arrived in Florida I picked up a pamphlet on the mall with a blurb about a dress up area for kids. So I gave Dan a map of the mall and told him to go check it out with Ty. I had no idea what it was exactly, but I was hoping it would entertain them for an hour or so. Mom and I went in the opposite direction... as fast as we could.
Shortly after we separated I called Dan to make sure everything was ok. All he told me was that they were going to be there for a while and that he'd call me when they were done. Hmmm. Three hours later I hadn't heard from him so I called him back. He said they could spend three days there so he'd let Tyler finish up what he was doing and meet us outside. Now I was really curious.
It turns out that I had sent Dan, Tyler and my dad to "Wannado City," a play area the size of 3 football fields. It was set up like an actual city and kids rule. Each kid is given a $150 check which they take to the bank to cash for wannado bucks. Then they get to pick which jobs they would like to perform. For each job they get paid. At the end of their day, they can make purchases with their bucks or can get their own Wannado ATM card to accumulate bucks over multiple visits... crazy!
Because I had no idea what this was, I neglected to send the camera with Dan. But, Dan came to the rescue and used his blackberry to give me a glimpse of this world. Yay!
One of the jobs that Tyler chose was an Emergency Medical Technician. Here's Tyler in the ambulance.
The ambulance actually traveled through the city with the kids inside. There was a person on a gurney inside that the kids had to transport to the hospital. Doesn't this look real? My understanding is that is was real on a smaller scale.
Another job that Tyler chose was a firefighter... I know it is shocking! Here's Tyler arriving at the fire after a ride around the city on the fire truck.
The building looked like it was on fire, crackling and all. The "smoke" is actually steam.
And, the kids had actual hoses with water to put the fire out. Can you believe how realistic this is? I can't believe I missed it!!
Tyler also chose to be a surgeon. Doesn't he look little here? Tyler told me that the dust on the gloves smelled bad so I don't see this profession in his future. They had a dummy with some sort of panel in the chest. Someone actually cut open the chest and the kids had to remove stones of some sort. Yuck!
In addition to this, Tyler took a ride on the city bus and went for flight training as a pilot. What a great concept. The whole place was focused on the "kidizens." Parents were encouraged to let the kids make their own decisions and weren't allowed behind the scenes. Tyler handled himself really well.
Saturday morning we checked out the science museum. It was awesome!
They had a large aquarium exhibit at just the right height for Ty.
One of the museum staffers took this horseshoe crab out of the touch tank for Tyler, but he wouldn't have anything to do with it. Now that I look at the picture I can see how this would be a bit scary from his perspective! Sorry Ty!
There was a large air and space section, right up our alley. Here's Ryan trying to get in on the action. "Come on Dad, isn't this place for kids??"
Check this out. Tyler is flying an airplane.
All three boys enjoyed this. Buttons, switches and levers everywhere!!
The next exhibit was called Grossology. And it was GROSS!
This is a "burp machine." Just what a 5 year old needs. You could actually make it burp. They also had a barf machine as well as a snot machine. Lovely.
They boys had a great time crawling through the stomach.
And, of course they have a ball chucker into the nostrils of a very large nose. Who thinks of these things?? Tyler and Dan both enjoyed this.
Finally we reached the large operation game and we were done with grossology!
And on to the Home Depot project. Here is Tyler all aproned up ready to build.
Tyler did a great job on his butterfly house. Check out the action on that hammer!
Ta da! A masterpiece!
Ryan wasn't really impressed with much at the museum. He did find this blue golf ball and had a blast throwing it around. Over and over and over again.
Ryan has reached the stage where he is getting into trouble. He has been introduced to time out and has a new name. It seems I'm not used to yelling at my sweet boy so I've taken to yelling "TYAN!" when trying to get his attention away from whatever havoc he's about to cause. Poor kid... he's going to be very confused about his identity... Ryan, Ry Ry, Ryan Baby, Tyan, ... he knows we love him, right? We're just not used to reprimanding him... yet!
Back to vacation... we woke up to pouring rain on Monday, our last day of vacation. What to do??? Go to Lion Country Safari, of course! I have always wanted to drive through one of these and I read that the animals were most active in the rain so this was perfect. But, we drove out of the rain on our way there. We have something similar to this not far from home, but none of our vehicles would be allowed to go so I was very excited that we could do this. Yes, I am a big dork and I'm ok with that.
We rented a minivan for our trip and it was perfect for this tour. Here is what it looks like when an ostrich cuts you off! Yikes, that is one big bird!
Isn't this the life?
Tyler and Ryan both really enjoyed themselves. At 5 mph they were allowed to walk around the van to get the best view of all the animals.
I was glad to finally be doing something that Ryan was interested in.
I wonder what they think of all these cars full of people that keep driving by looking at them.
Notice that there's no fencing in this part of the park. This Rhinoceros was right next to the van along with a few friends.
The park did a nice job with the tour. They had a CD that talked us through it and talked about each animal group that we were seeing. Did you know that the gestation period of a giraffe is 15 months and babies are born at 6 feet? Poor mama!
After seeing all sorts of cool animals (including swinging and screeching monkeys) we took some time to walk the park. We discovered that Ryan is not a fan of merry go rounds. He sounded like one of those monkeys as soon as it started moving.
There were some huge alligators. Thank goodness for thick glass! Tyler didn't think they were real until they opened their eyes. Then they were very real.
Tyler played along and posed in some of the cut-outs for me.
Dan was a good sport too. He must love me... he took me to a lion safari and posed as a monkey all in the same day!
One last picture before we headed back to the condo to pack up.
One last chat with Grandma and then off to bed.
Tuesday morning we were up and out early to catch our flight. The first leg was a doozy. We were on the plane for 3 hours and weren't seated together. Guess who had both kids. To add insult to injury, I could see Dan's head and knew from the tilt that he was dozing... grrr. Meanwhile I was trying to hang on to a 30 pound toddler who had no intention of sleeping or staying in such a small space. It was like trying to hold on to a wet noodle. TYAN!! We made it to Detroit just in time. And, guess who fell asleep while we were taxying to the gate! I think he did it just to spite me.
Here's Dan taking his turn at entertaining our sweet boy during our layover. Ryan is our rough and tumble boy.
There he goes again! Catch him Daddy! ...because I'm not getting up.
Tyler, on the other hand, is an excellent traveler when he's not instilling fear in the passengers around him. Here he is on our final flight. He may be 5, but he's still my baby. I'm glad George is still special.
Dan took his turn with Ry on the final flight. The game was opening and closing the window. Thrilling.
You can't stay mad at this face for long.
We made it home to find the house exactly how we left it... a mess. But, we also have many good memories from our week in Pompano Beach. Tyler wants to know when we're going back to "our" room on the beach. I told him we had to wait until Ryan can sit through a movie before I'm getting back on an airplane with him!
And then this happened. Nope, I'm not going to get a nice picture of my boys and the picture I need of Ty won't be happening either.
I managed to save the camera before they attacked my tripod. (Goodness, look at that belly!)
You may not be able to see it, but Ryan filled his hair with sand next. He literally had a pile of sand in his hair. So, now I have no picture of my boys, no picture of Ty and Ryan will need a bath. Great.
Scratch that... both boys need a bath.
One step forward, two steps back. 
Finally, we're on the plane. Check out Tyler's "wings."
