Skydive DeLand

I use TripAdvisor.com for ideas when I'm planning what we should do and see once we arrive in a new area.
"The Perfect Spot"is listed as a top ranked must do in DeLand, not necessarily for their food, but for the unique
experience, and what an experience it is! It's located at the airport adjacent to Skydive DeLand. Watching
skydivers rain downright over you is quite exhilarating and frankly makes you want to make that leap for yourself! 

Even Asher was asking to do it. Not surprisingly, four years old is too young. The minimum
age is 18. I told him for his 18th birthday we can come back and I'll do it with him to celebrate!

When we first arrived, we threw the kids in the back of the truck to watch as a dozen 

skydivers were already falling from the sky. (The six specks of color in this photo are skydivers.)

We walked thru the restaurant to their outdoor patio area, which is separated from the landing zone by  bench seating and a sign warning "skydivers only past this point". We watched skydivers land right in front of us, just yards away. It was incredible. 

These were advanced skydivers, some landed very gently and gracefully, while others came in screaming, (not the person, rather the sound the parachute makes when they come in fast and hard). Some wore full skydiving suits with every inch of them covered while others wore shorts and bare feet. They all wore helmets. I imagine the feeling of flying thru the sky while barefoot would feel pretty amazing.

Not only could we watch them come down, but we could watch them load up into the plane....

....watch the plane takeoff....

....watch them land.....and do it all over again. 

I'd say we watched about five rounds of skydivers go up in groups of 12- 20 people at at time. When 

I watched super, super close, I could actually see them exit the plane as a
tiny speck of color. They were so tiny that if you looked away and back you couldn't find them again until they pulled their parachute. 

There's even a playground for the kids to entertain themselves between flights.

We found out that skydivers from around the world come to this place to dive. It takes about $1200 and 7 solo jumps to become licensed, but after that, it's only $24 per jump. People tent camp right there on the edge of the landing strip for days or weeks at a time, jumping until the money runs out. They go home, save up and do it all over again. Sounds pretty cool to me!

Watching the last few skydivers as we walked back to the truck at sunset.

Three Springs and State Parks in the DeLand area

The plan was to kayak with manatees at Blue Springs State Park, however when we arrived we found out the spring run
was closed to boats during the day. Fortunately there are trails that take you right up and over the spring
so we were able to see one manatee lounging in the water there along with very large gar fish.

Walking with Margie and Drew. 

Another day we kayaked the spring run at DeLeon Springs State Park. We saw lots of fish jumping and two alligators on the banks of the river! One was about 8ft long, the other was just a baby, maybe two feet, if that. The kids were pretty excited.

Afterwards we swam in the spring. Don't worry, it's walled off so the gators aren't in the swimming area! The spring is about 25 feet deep and if you dive down, you can actually see the opening where the water is coming in. The excess water pours over the wall as a waterfall into the spring run (photo above). Asher and Journey were a bit hesitant to swim here after seeing the gators just down river. After some reassurance, Asher swam and even put on his mask so he could look for shells and turtles on the bottom. Our friend Drew actually found a good sized turtle and brought him up to show the kids.

On one of our last days, we rode the ferry to Hontoon Island State Park. We hiked thru the woods.

We found this super cool tree growing right out of another huge tree that had fallen!

 Afterwards another family kindly shared their fishing pole and worms letting Asher and Journey
fish for a bit. The kids played on the playground before we rode the boat back to our truck.

Saying goodbye to Sarasota

We spent three fabulous weeks in Sarasota. Our friends Blake and Carrie were wonderful hosts and we are so grateful to have
been able to stay on their beautiful property. We absolutely loved watching their horses graze right outside our windows.

Unfortunately their kids were sick the whole time, so we couldn't do much together, but we did have a
couple campfires and dinners together.  Journey made this card for one of the boys. It was the first time
I saw her draw people that were not totally abstract. This is a spider, a mom, dad, boy and a sausage. 

Lazy mornings reading in bed. I love to hear them "read" out loud, making it up as they go.

And playing LEGOs while watching the horses.

The kids each received a LEGO set from Aunt Elena and Uncle Jim for their birthday. This time they

wanted to complete it on their own by following the booklet's directions...and they did! I was super

impressed that they could do this. Journey needed a little bit of assistance, while Asher barely needed any.

Caught someone checking out our outdoor kitchen!

We stopped by Pirate City where Uncle J used to play.

Being goofy while waiting in the truck for Daddy.

Tried star fruit for the first time. Thanks Eric and Shawnda!

The kids tried new things- like country line dance lessons at Gina's White Buffalo bar,
I mean restaurant. During the 10 minutes that they participated, I was impressed that
they followed along maybe even better than I did.

They tried out their new scooters for the first time. They did pretty well, but only lasted about 10 minutes on them.

So they switched to their bikes.

We were very fortunate to spend so much time in this area. There is so much to do and we loved spending
so much time at the beautiful beaches nearby. We had the chance to spend time with family, Eric and Shawnda,
friends, Mike and Gina and meet her little man, Nikko as well as Dave and Joyce from Tampa.