I lived in Tampa, Florida for many years and for part of that time I lived almost across the street from Busch Gardens. I drove past the theme park every day on my way to work and school. And in all that time I only went to Busch Gardens twice. That blows my kids minds. Now I'm willing to drive an hour or two to get there ... and, I hope, I'd go more often if we lived in that area.

I'm not sure what it is that makes it so easy to not take advantage of what is in our own backyard. The beach is that way for me now. It's right there, it's free, it's convenient, it's never dull ... and we rarely go. My in-laws love the beach and take the kids when they are here, but when they aren't around we seem to forget it's there.

Well, given that it's free and entertaining we went. No more forgetting it's there for us (I say that now ... we'll see how often we go back).



My original plan was to take the kids and a camera and take pictures of shells. Then we could go home, print the pictures, research the names of the shells, and catagorize them in various ways. So schooly of me. So how many shells do you see at this beach? Very few, very, very few.

So on to plan B ... play, play, play.



R. and I sat up at the pavilion for the most part, it was perfectly breezy and kept him out of the sun. I worked on binding a quilt while he played with his toys and laughed at the ducks that were hoping he'd feed them (silly ducks).

The other kids tried to bodysurf, built castles and pathways, ran and splashed, and had an all-around great time.

I brought a bag of snacks and juice boxes.

We were there for about 2 1/2 hours and they never got bored. Not one bit.

So what is in your backyard that you've overlooked, or gotten so used to seeing that you don't see it? If you can't think of anything find one or two of those tourist maps and go from there ... and have fun!