do the test

the hunt is on!

Dyeing at Easter

Swan Lake

Manatee Village

Cool, free "village" designed to allow a glimpse into the lives of Florida's early pioneers. The kids had a great time running around and "doing" things in the minimally staffed museum park. First up, climbing all over the wood-burning engine (which had a funky-looking "cabbage head" smokestack to catch all the floating tinder).

Cabbage heads.

The sugar cane press (hook the sweep up to an animal and squish!) and sugar house -- in the brick structure (oven? fireplace?) on the porch is a kettle to boil the juice down to syrup.

Lulu plots a takeover of the spinning stone wheel.

Success!

Hm, this washing machine is different than ours. Where are the buttons?

Adorable little bantams -- the kids spent ages feeding them grass and weeds. We missed our chickens.

Dante drew a picture of the hardly-elusive lizards he's been chasing everywhere in FL.

just swingin in the rain...

Wandering around at the Florida Strawberry Festival in Plant City, we were treated to tattoos by a man selling wooden stamps.

heavy liftin

"Wally Wallington has demonstrated that he can lift a Stonehenge-sized pillar weighing 22,000 lbs and moved a barn over 300 ft. What makes this so special is that he does it using only himself, gravity, and his incredible ingenuity."