Woodsmoke Campground, Ft Myers, FL

Quite a lot of 'double-wides' at this campground, these are the permanent homes, bigger than a camper, kind of like a camper, without wheels, with a side extension. There were also a large number of permanent winter residents, all whom we met were very sweet.

Thankfully, there was also another family there for the whole week we were. They had three girls the same age as our girls. We all got along really well and it was such a blessing to spend Christmas week with new friends.

The campground had a heated pool which the kids spent a great amount of time in. There was a also a hot tub, which they enjoyed (as did their Daddy!). The playground was a little further away by the ponds and nature trail and was a good location for spy games, tag and Jake's favorite: lava monster.

On the Monday afternoon, we spent over 2 hours in the local library, it had a large children's section and you could tell we hadn't visited a library in a couple of months. The kids were thrilled, they all sat and read, and read, and read! The suggestion we leave was met with horror, I literally had to drag them away, they asked to go back but time ran out. I guess this means I should try to find local libraries more often!

As Dave finished work a little earlier on the 23rd, we were able to take advantage of the short trip over to nearby Manatee Park. This is a protected area to allow the manatees to come and go freely without the worry of too many boats. Manatee typically reside in shallow water and are therefore extremely susceptible to injuries inflicted upon them by boat propellers. They have no natural predators and are most closely related to elephants. Despite their size, they move incredibly gracefully in the water.

The manatees tend to congregate in this park as the water is much warmer than elsewhere because it is part of the cooling system for the nearby water treatment/electric plant. When the water comes from the plant, it is significantly warmer and apparently very appealing to them. We saw a lot, including a couple of calves. It was awesome to watch their noses pop out of the water and see them roll over and flip their large 'tail'. We could've stayed to admire them for longer, they're gorgeous creatures.