Chomp!

Will is away at his first day of kindergarten and I can't wait to hear how it went.  I have some cute pictures from this morning to post, but I want to have a recap of his day to include with them.  So for now, a weekend recap:

Will received a summer homework packet with over 40 worksheets to complete this summer.  To keep us on track, I figured out how many he needed to do per week, then added them to a chart.  I also included some things that John felt Will needed to learn this summer (ride his bike without training wheels, tie his shoes, throw and catch).  If Will got a certain amount of checks each week, he could pick something fun on the weekends--going to the splash park, going for ice cream, etc.  One of the big items he could pick was a trip to an alligator farm.

We got a little side-tracked these past few weeks, but he did manage to complete all of his worksheets, ride his bike, and has improved his throwing skills.  His catching skills and shoe-tying skills need more work. :-)  But we celebrated a successful summer by taking him to the alligator farm--we had planned to go to the one in St. Augustine, but I needed to get some things from IKEA so we headed to Gatorland in Kissimmee instead:

Gatorland has over 100 acres of alligator-viewing enjoyment.  First we passed a bunch of cute little toddler alligators.  This one posed for us:

 

Next, we passed some pools with bigger gators, in the 6-10 foot range.  They were a little creepier.

And then, we arrived at this private pool, belonging to a 13.5-foot bad boy named Chester:

He wedged his head right into the corner while we were there.  I guess he didn't feel like pictures, and I wasn't going to argue with him:

If you search for "Chester the Alligator" on YouTube, you will find a video of him biting a trainer at Gatorland.  Ouch!

After that, we decided to go to the Gator-Wrestling show and watched a man do all sorts of tricks with a 200-pound alligator.  No one got bitten during that show, but John and I decided to skip the chance to let Will sit on the gator's back for a picture (only $10!).  I'm sure Nana is breathing a sigh of relief.

Between the gator-wrestling show and the concession stands stocked with boiled peanuts, I was starting to think we were in redneck heaven.  This feeling was confirmed when we stepped into the souvenir shop to cool off and Will spotted these:

Yep, nothing says classy like a rattlesnake wine-bottle holder and salt-and-pepper caddy.  Will wanted the salt-and-pepper holder very, very badly.  "Please Mommy, puh-leeeeze!!"

Personally, that thing would make me think twice about adding any salt to my food.  Maybe he's a heart-healthy diet tool?

We rounded out our visit by going to see the white leucistic alligators:

(A very sweaty Anna--it was a hot, hot day!)

And some parrots:

(We warned the kids not to stick their fingers near the parrots lest their fingers get bitten.  I must have warned them too strongly, because Will was worried all during that picture that one of them was going to bite the back of his head.)

Finally, we rode the train and visited some saltwater crocodiles.  Fun times.