Bracken and I arrived in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on Thursday evening and my mom drove us to her home in West Palm Beach. On Friday my mom and Gee Gee (my grandma, Bracken’s great grandma and lovingly referred to as Gee Gee) brought us to the Sailfish Marina Resort. My mom thought Bracken would love seeing the boats (she was right about that.) On the way we drove through Palm Beach and admired the beautiful architecture and gawked at the gigantic houses. There were flowers blooming and I spotted what I thought were coconuts! I got really excited about that and it turns out that coconuts do indeed grow around here.

 We ate a seafood lunch and then headed over for a boat ride.

 It was Bracken’s first boat ride and he loved it! He really enjoyed seeing all the other boats around. It was a short ride that took us to a little island called Peanut Island. The boat dropped us off on the dock and told us that they came back every thirty minutes.

 Bracken immediately took off his shoes and headed for the water. It was an inland gulf, so the waves were very mild. It was a mix of fresh water and salt water. Bracken in the brackish water. 

After what felt like an entire day in the air, I told my mom and Gee Gee that once we had landed, I wanted to have my bare feet on the Florida earth. We did just that as we ditched our shoes and walked along the sand. The water was comfortable and we had our feet in it as we walked along.

We hadn’t planned on any swimming, so I didn’t have Bracken’s swimsuit along. Luckily, I had a change of clothes along for him, so it was no big deal to get his clothes soaked.

 Since the water was so calm and Bracken had his life jacket on, we let him go up to his waist in the water all by himself. He loved the freedom and would have walked out further, but we’d say: “That’s far enough.”

 We had a wonderful time. We took the boat back to the Marina. We got in the car to drive to the airport to pick up my sister. After being well fed and happily tuckered out, Bracken fell asleep in the car. I waited in the car with him while my mom and Gee Gee went to get her. Bracken stayed asleep the whole time. She came in the back seat and sat next to me. Bracken woke up and I told him that I had a surprise for him (he’s big on surprises lately.) I sat back in my seat to give him a view and pointed: “It’s Aunt Sam!” A very good surprise.

 We got to my mom’s house and walked around the circle where she lives. What a beautiful neighborhood.

 My mom’s fluffy, love-of-a-dog Ole led the way.

 Someone’s little legs got tired out.

The next day, on Saturday, we went to a little farmer’s market in Wellington, not too far from my mom’s house. When she had asked what I’d like to do when I came to visit Florida, I told her that I wanted to see the farmer’s market. (Big surprise there.) It was at the top of my list. After seeing that little market, we headed to the bigger farmer’s market in West Palm Beach. As we walked out of the parking garage, we were greeted by this giant banyan tree. I absolutely love all the banyan trees in southern Florida!

 (Insisting on carrying Grandma Julie’s market basket.)

 What an amazing market! Only thing was- they were in the process of closing down when we arrived. Darn! We hadn’t know what time they closed and didn’t expect that it would be that early. It was still fun to see the beautiful area where it was set up and get a taste of what it was like.

 Bracken wanted lots of his Aunt Sam.

 And his Grandma Julie and his Gee Gee!

 We saw another beautiful area of West Palm Beach before we headed home.

We did end up getting local produce, at a garden center shop near my mom’s house. We went around back and saw their turkeys, chickens and ducks. We even saw a goat lounging in a wheelbarrow, it was hilarious. Bracken thought some of the chickens looked like our chickens back home. We came back with oranges, grapefruits, duck eggs, and more. I didn’t find any coconuts, but there’s time yet!