Amelia Island River Cruise + Final Florida Weekend

Our final Florida weekend was a good one! It was hot, sunny and filled with family time.

Amelia Island River Cruise + Final Florida Weekend

Friday: Amelia Island River Cruise

On Friday morning, my parents, sister and our kids made the hour-drive to Amelia Island for a river cruise. My mom floated the idea by our gang earlier in the week and when I read about the Shrimping Eco Tour option — one that involved deploying a trawl net and bringing up ocean creatures to catch and release — I knew our boys would be all about it.

Shrimping Eco Tour

The tour left at 10:30 a.m. and the first half of the tour involved learning about some of the local history as we cruised along and enjoyed the sea breeze. Chase, in true Creature Man fashion, spotted a jellyfish from the bow of the boat within the first 30 minutes. The on-board marine biologist then used a large net to scoop it up and dropped it into a small aquarium for everyone aboard to observe and touch.

The jellyfish was a cannonball jellyfish and didn’t have any tentacles so it was safe to hold and touch which was really cool and definitely added to the excitement for all the kids aboard.

When it was time to deploy the trawl net, the excitement level kicked up further as we all began predicting what kind of marine creatures we might see 15 minutes later when we reeled the net back in. A gigantic horseshoe crab blew all of our minds (it was so fun to watch it crawl off the ship and drop back into the salt marshes) and the net was also filled with various kinds of fish, crabs and squid we then observed in the on-board tanks.

We loved it!

The kids got really into releasing the creatures back into the water as we made our way into a cove where we spotted a pod of dolphins and adorable baby dolphins hunting fish and swimming around. As we thanked the captain and crew, we all agreed the river tour was a really cool experience and it’s one I’d highly recommend to anyone vising the Amelia Island area, especially those with kids who love animals!

(Sandals: Farm Rio x adidas / Beach Bag: Amazon / Skirt: J.Crew — for a long skirt this one was not at all hot thanks to the gauzey material! / Top: Target but old) 

Beach and pool time

Once we made it home after the river cruise, we relaxed with a little downtime at my parents’ place. By the time Ryan was done with work, we were ready for outside fun again and spent the rest of our Friday on the beach and at the pool.

Our kids have been really into boogie boarding and riding the waves during our visit and had a blast in the surf!

Saturday: Celebrating Ryder

Our Saturday mostly centered around our middle man! Ryder is turning 6 on June 18 and when we asked what he wanted to do to celebrate his birthday earlier this month, he said he wanted to have an animal-themed party with our family. He seemed thrilled by the idea of celebrating early in Florida and requested a backyard party at Aunt Leslie’s house so that’s exactly what we did on Saturday!

I found an awesome 10-foot blow up pool at ALDI earlier in the week that worked well for water play and Ross blew up their family’s bounce house which morphed into a water bounce house of sorts for all the kids. They had the best time splashing around (Leslie’s neighbors came over to join in the fun, too, as our boys love their kids), and we planned some fun games for the kids as well.

In case you’re looking for some easy party games to integrate into a low-key kid’s birthday party sometime soon, here are a few of the games we planned for the kids that were especially big hits:

Animal Safari:

We hid a bunch of stuffed animals we already had around the backyard for the kids to work together to try to find to win a prize.

Track that Animal:

We had 3 solo cups lined up and the kids watched as we hid a small animal figurine under one of the cups. We then mixed up the cups as they tried to track the cup with the animal underneath it to find it when the cups stopped moving. If they found the animal, they won a prize. (Spoiler alert: They always found the animal.)

Pin the Tail on the Reindeer:

Ryder is still reindeer-obsessed (remember the Halloween when he dressed up as Rudolph?) and this game had kids and adults cracking up as we spun around blindfolded and tried to pin the tail on the reindeer Christmas poster. (How we’ve never played pin the tail on the donkey at a kid party up until this point with 3 kids in the mix, I’ll never know, but there’s clearly a reason this game is a classic because it was a blast!)

Pinata:

This isn’t really a game, I suppose, but pinatas are always a party hit and this one was no different!

Our prizes for the games were a hit as well and included surprise-inside bath bombs, sensory squeeze balls and mini painting crafts and pool diving toys we found at Five Below.

Ryder had been eyeing a strawberry ice cream cake at Publix ever since I requested an ice cream cake for my birthday back in April, so his cake was an easy one for us to select on Saturday! He wanted to help decorate it with little deer and forest figurines and I love the way his cake felt so much like him!

The kids ended up playing in Leslie and Ross’ backyard for hours so we didn’t have as much time a we thought we would for the beach in the afternoon but we still made a little beach and pool time happen before much-needed showers, pajama time and movie night!

Sunday: Fishing and Beach Time

Sunday began in a way that felt like a treat for me and Ryan. My parents offered to watch the boys while Ryan and I got in a quick workout and then went out for a long walk on the beach. It was such a wonderful way to kick off our day!

By the time we made it back, my dad had a cooler packed and was ready to take the big kids on a fishing adventure at his friend Grady’s house. Ryan, Chase, Ryder and my dad headed off to fish for a few hours and I stayed back with Rhett and my mom.

Making Peach Pie with Mae

Rhett was thriving with some undivided attention from mom and Mae and had a grand old time taking a daytime bath, going on a walk to get a cake pop, iced tea and a pup cup for Pepper, making a peach pie with Mae, swimming in the pool with mom and picking out a new remote control boat at Five Below to replace the one that lasted all of 3 hours on Saturday after he accidentally dunked the remote control under the water at the pool. (Oh the horror that ensued when that happened…)

When the big kids arrived home, they were all jazzed about their big day of fishing with the guys and excitedly told us about everything they caught and the boat ride they did with Mr. Grady.

We then spent the rest of our Sunday flip-flopping between the beach and the pool before my sister and her family came over to my parents’ place for dinner, homemade peach pie and ice cream.

As for the week ahead, Ryan is off to New York for work today and I’m staying in Florida for another couple of days before making my way back to North Carolina with our dude crew and Pepper. I hope to pop back in with another blog post or two later this week but until then, I’m off to soak up our final few days of Florida family time! Enjoy your week, my friends, and thanks for stopping by the blog today!