DeLand Days

We had so much fun with our friends, Drew and Margie, in Deland a month ago, that we just had to return. We spent another ten days with them and this time Drew took a vacation from work so we could spend the whole week together.  They took us to the springs and state parks near their house, walked downtown DeLand and to the Daytona Car Show during Bike Week. We did a lot, but some of the best times were just hanging around the house or going to flea markets with them. 

The kids had fun catching lizards again. 

We went kayaking and swimming in their lake. Asa swam out to us which was a bit far, so Drew put her on his surfboard to rest. She actually stayed on and seemed pretty content. I wish I had a picture of that!

The kids had their first roller skating experience. They found these skates at a thrift store and 

even though they are too big, they really wanted them and were super excited to try them out. 

Asher insisted on starting out without holding onto Daddy. He is one determined little boy! 

He did better than I expected, but realized that he did need Daddy's help to figure it out. 

We drove to New Smyrna Beach to hang out before the car show. Asher and I went exploring.

 We saw probably a hundred jellyfish on the beach. Most were cannonball jellyfish like these.

But we also found a few By-the-Wind Sailor Jellyfish and a couple of these.....Portugese Man of War!

Most of what we found appeared to be dead, but this one Man of War was alive so I put him in our bucket with water so we could watch him. OK, so I didn't know what it was until I looked it up later. Had I known, I wouldn't have messed with him AT ALL! 

Commonly called a jellyfish, the Man of War is technically not. It's a beautiful blue, bizarrely shaped siphonophore with tentacles, which can be more than100ft long and float behind it in the water! The cells on the tentacles deliver venom that is nearly as potent as a cobra, but fortunately are microscopic, so they don't release as much venom as the snake. It can still seriously injure a person, and though rare, can cause death. From what I read, they are pretty rare to see on the beach, but if you see one, stay out of the water! 

 The kids liked this mosaic waterfall at Macs on Main in downtown DeLand where we ate to celebrate Drew's birthday.

Of course we had to stop at the candy shop downtown where we were excited to find tons of shaped gummies- sharks, alligators, dinosaurs, green army men, butterflies, octopi, and a 3 ft long snake! Yum!

(The snake was even bigger than this- about 1/3 had already been eaten here!)

Now, on to Jacksonville.....