Gator World and More

Before our family left on Saturday, November 4, we shared other fun activities, including visiting Gator World Parks of Florida in nearby Wildwood. It opened several months ago and is literally 10 miles from our house. What an educational place to go, and seeing alligators is the perfect activity for two little boys.

When you drive through Gator World Park you see large, double-fenced enclosures full of all types and sizes of alligators. You can't leave your car to go up to the fences, but we slowly drove around them twice to see all the gators - hundreds of them.

Then we parked and walked to the petting/feeding area.

Here is an outdoor glass booth full of small alligators. We thought the gators were babies, but in fact they're only small because they have been raised in a small enclosure. Gators grow as large as the space they're raised in.

The gator that everyone got to hold has it's mouth taped shut.

Tay

Aesa

Daughter Jill

 The whole family posed with "Big Al" a real taxidermied 15-foot gator.

Then came feeding the small gators. About 100 of them are in this 8' X 8' enclosure. 

The attendant put a piece of turkey hot dog on a wire at the end of a fishing pole. 

The boys took turns holding the pole about an inch above the water, until an alligator caught it. 

We learned that all the gators in the park are rescued from farms (think boots and purses), or relocated because they're nuisance gators. Their diet is various sizes of specially-made pellets (depending on the size of the alligator), except for the occasional turkey hot dog or chicken gizzards. 

Feeding gators was followed by feeding goats... 

... and holding and petting rabbits.

Gator World is a really great place to take kid, and I'll admit that I sure found it interesting too. I have no doubt we'll make return visits with other grandchildren in tow. 

Our Kansas City family likes geo-cacheing too. We did most of that via the golf cart. 

On Friday before they went home (Saturday evening) we had a small birthday celebration for both boys, as we didn't get to share Tay's eighth birthday with him in September. And Aesa turned seven years old today! The number 8 and the number 7 were on one cake. 

They were excited to receive their gifts of an MP3 player and headset. They like music and audiobooks, and it was great to see them sit quietly, seemingly entranced, and in "the zone." 

Now that they've returned home, our house is too quiet. Even Hogan has been wandering around, seeming to look for them. The house has been set to rights, my sewing room has been restored, and I'm ready to power-up a sewing machine.

But first, on Tuesday afternoon I'm showing Big Cypress Quilters my favorite binding method: "No Tails Binding: Mitered Corners By Machine." I'll be demonstrating by putting binding on the raffle quilt made by Big Cypress Quilters, for Quilting Guild of The Villages, for the 2019 "Showcase of Quilts." After that I'll be in my sewing room. Just watch as the fabric and threads fly! Linda