Sawgrass Recreation Park

My goal for this month was to get caught up on the blog.  So far I've been able to post about January, February, and March which is a huge accomplishment for me!  Now onto April...

By the beginning of April, Whitney and I had fallen into a nice routine of weekly (sometimes more) play dates.  She had mentioned that they had passes with the Sawgrass Recreation Park for the airboat rides.  The park has amazing deals for local residents and the cost of one ticket also paid for yearly passes.  Daxton and I decided to check it out with them since we'd only been to the Everglades Holliday Park.  Both parks are about 15-20 minutes from our home and yet they had very different landscapes.  I really liked that these airboats didn't have a roof covering, but was a little nervous that there was no side paneling to the boat either.  We made sure the kids were on the inside for sure!

Alligators are very territorial, so we were able to see one right away on our tour.  The Everglades Holliday Park has more trees, lilly pads, etc, whereas the Sawgrass Park has solely grass.  It was nice to not have so many boats out on the water, which allowed the alligator to feel more at ease.  We were able to observe for several minutes and the gator swam very close to the airboat the whole time.

Daxton loves watching gators, but is still getting used to the loud noise of air boats.  It helped he was wearing a sweatshirt so I could put it over his ears.  He also snuggled right up to my chest with my hand over his exposed ear.

Showing how close the gators were to our toes!

In total we were able to see three full grown and one baby alligator on our tour.

After our 30 minute airboat ride, we explored the different wildlife exhibits located at the park.  It was a beautiful day and the kids simply loved being able to run freely while checking out all the different animals.  It was also nice that there were no crowds at all.

Daxton had a blast watching the pigs, turtles, snakes, and other interesting Florida native animals.

As we were walking to each of the exhibits, I noticed several of these signs posted throughout the park...

Not the most reassuring!!

Daxton always talks about his "fends" Book (Brooke) and Mace (Macy).  They are such sweet girls and I love how well they get along.  Brooke is also very patient with Daxton's show of affection.  It was really cute when I looked over and they were giving each other a hug!

The three amigos!

Checking out more of the exhibits...

Burmese Pythons are not native to Florida, but have quickly become a nuisance to the state.  They are rapidly multiplying and thriving in the Everglades and have been brought over as illegal exotic pets and then released into the wild.  There is even a reward for hunted pythons to help with this problem.

At Sawgrass Park, they let you hold baby gators for free, while at Everglades Holliday Park you have to pay an additional $5 for every person who wants to hold it.  Each of the kids were pretty cute with the gator, but didn't want to hold it on their own.  So us moms were the brave ones...

Just a few more of the wildlife exhibits...

I sure do love this cute trio!

It was a very fun morning exploring the different wildlife that makes up South Florida!  Thanks again Whitney for taking us here!