Florida and Vovó!

By early March, we were getting kind of bored with this:

Note the "feels like" under the actual temperature

And a visit with Vovó (pronounced "Vohvah", and Portuguese for "grandma") was long overdue.

So in true Gaertner fashion, on a whim we booked a trip to Florida for two weeks later!

It was so nice to see Vovó again. As usual she filled us with yummy food, including my personal favorite: the very best rice and beans you can imagine! Jonathan was especially spoilt with "trick or treats" (candy), new toy airplanes and doggies, Fruit Loops, cake for breakfast, and over an acre of grass for running around.

So between feeding the Tilapia in Noel's pond, 

harassing two dogs and two cats, 

Every morning as soon as J opened his eyes, 

"I see Vovó? Where's Cody? We feed the fish."

a doting grandma to shower J with cuddles and loves, a new friend in Papa Noel, (who we were all so excited to finally meet),

and a hammock in positively perfect weather... we kind of gave up every hope of naps while we were there. There was just too much fun to be had!

And if things could possibly get more fun, Vovó and Noel live pretty close to Busch Gardens. So of course we had to enjoy the zoo, water park, and kiddie rides, too!

We watched the elephants do tricks, and "popped in" on the tigers--which are so much bigger than I realized!

And Jonathan and Fabio rode the "flying elephants" in Sesame Street land over, and over, and over, and over.... and over again. Fabio was a great sport to crunch up his long legs into that tiny elephant for so long. Jonathan thought pulling the joy stick to "take off" and "land" all by himself was absolutely magical!

Needless to say, it was hard to say goodbye--even though we still had more Florida fun planned. But, we had such a sweet time we knew we'd be coming back. 70 degrees and a loving Vovó are simply too much to resist for very long, you know!