Lakeland Fl

Feb 7-10, 2016.  Rain most of the night made big puddles again on our site..  when will the rain end??  We headed for Lakeland, about 205 miles, early on SuperBowl Sunday.  Eric's brother Ray is flying in from Houston today.  We will visit with some of the family here in Lakeland.

We made a few stops along the way including:

Nice looking campground but not too many sites we can fit into.  The weather was windy and cool, well almost cold..  It was a great place to walk around.

Cute sculptures

Got to Lakeland at about 3:30.  All set up for Superbowl Party

Went to Publix for Chili (pretty good), cornbread, cheese, snacks and drinks..
Fun time watching game with brother Ray, but a late night!!

Monday: After breakfast Eric and I headed out for our morning walk.  We drove about  7 miles to

Beautiful place to walk around, it is an old cow pasture

this Painted Bunting was trying to hide

beautiful trees and landscape

lots of Limpkins, we seen a family with 5 little chicks

this Great Egret was posing

this Green Heron was showing his crest

This blurry picture is of an Osprey with a fish.. He was sitting so nice but as soon as I clicked he took off.

we only walked for about 3 hours so only walked about half of the Reserve.  Time to get Ray and go

visiting.. We went to their Aunt Jane's home,

then for a great lunch at a deli then to Jane's daughter' s, Patty, home for a visit.  Patty's grandson Luke was there playing Legos.  We had a great time visiting with the family. The four of us then went for dinner at the Red Elephant.  Long day with no nap..

Tues:  Eric and I headed back to the Reserve for a few hours, it was a pretty cold and windy day but we seen 50 bird species.  We spent the afternoon with my brothers Harold and Danny.

Dominique and Aaron too..

Wonderful Italian dinner with Ray and Jane at the Palace. Went to Jane's for a quick visit with Patty.

Wed:  final breakfast with Ray before we left Lakeland.  He is flying from Orlando to Houston.

Our first stop for a wonderful 2 mile hike on the boardwalk

We stopped at Punta Gorda to find our 7th Whispering Giant.  (We missed one in Charleston!).  (The Trail of the Whispering Giants is a collection of sculptures by Hungarian-born^[1] artist Peter Wolf Toth.^[2] The sculptures range in height from 20 to 40 feet (6.1 to 12.2 m), and are between 8 and 10 feet (2.4 and 3.0 m) in diameter.^[3] Currently there are 74 Whispering Giants,^[2] with at least one in each of the 50 U.S. states, as well as in Ontario and Manitoba, Canada,^[3] and one in Hungary.^[4] )

this one has two sides..

need a quick bite at the hot dog stand.

in Ponce de Leon Park in Punta Gorda

Ponce de Leon is all over the park..

next to the park...

she is too cute..

We made it home by 5pm..   fun time in Lakeland with family.  Back to work tomorrow......