JACKSONVILLE, FL

Jules’ Journal: OUR PEOPLE!

By: Julianne Lillie

11/5/22 – 11/6/22: Our KOA campground was only 15 minutes from my niece, Brittney’s house. So once we set up camp we headed over to their house for a little get together with Brittney, Manny, little Kenzie, and some of their Navy friends & their kids.

They have an awesome new house and have lived there almost a year now. It was fun to get the tour. Of course Kenzie showed me everything in her room!

The girls played dolls & colored pictures that Jaycie had printed out.

Meanwhile Jett made a new friend, Ian, and they played Beyblades & Akeedo warriors. Ian and Jett really hit it off and they’ve stayed connected through kids messenger ever since.

Manny made so much food! He did a crab boil – crab legs, shrimp, potatoes, corn, & turkey sausage. And Brittney made her famous mac’n’cheese, brownies, & apple spic cupcakes! It was all so delicious and it was fun visiting with them and their friends.

Jaycie ended up spending the night with Kenzie and the next morning Brittney, Kenzie, & Jaycie met up at our trailer at 9am.

Then we headed off to the Alligator Farm in St. Augustine, FL. The girls and Jett all rode with Brittney so we could all visit. Which left Jason all alone in his truck which he probably enjoyed for a change! (ha ha!) The drive was about 1.5 hours so we arrived about 10:45am just in time for the Alligator Talk at the lagoon.

I’ve never seen so many alligators in my life! They had 2 types of Alligators: American & Chinese. And then their “Land of Crocodiles” area had nearly 40 different species from all over the world! This place was super cool and really big! We learned the differences between Alligators & Crocodiles. And learned that Alligators eat chickens, too! But they eat them with whole… feathers and all!

Photo Op trying to save Kenzie from the gator's mouth!

Here was a close up of a really big one!

Some little babies!

Underwater view of the largest one, Maximo!

We also saw many varieties of birds including the pink-feathered Spoonbill, Toucan, Cranes, & Macawas.

Also snakes, lizards, lemurs, & sloths! Of course Jett and I were fascinated with the snakes! There was a massive Reticulous Python snake they had just fed a large hare! (OMG – it was covered in blood just laying in his cage.) Also, got to see a Viper and King Cobra which I’ve never seen in real life before. Interestingly enough, they also had an albino Cottonmouth, too! (I'll spare you the snake photos since I know not many people care for them like I do! LOL!)

At noon we watched them feed the Alligators in the swamp. It was WILD… literally! They dangled rats on poles in front of a massive huddle of alligators which were swarming and climbing all over and on top of each other to try to be the one to snatch it. Probably a couple hundred alligators or so.

After that we fed ourselves a picnic lunch before the 1:00pm reptile show. We got to see an Eastern box turtle, tortoise, and a Madagascar Hognose (snake) up close! Of course Jett and I swooned over the Hognose… it’s one of our favorite types of snakes! But we learned the Madagascar Hognose is not near the “drama noodle” that he Eastern Hognose (native to North America) is!

After that, the gang split up. The 2 boys wanted to zipline over the gator’s lagoon, swamp, and other enclosures. So we left them to do that and the girls headed back to a cool castle we passed on the way. We arrived at the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument (an old Spanish fort from the 1700s) just 15 minutes before they fired the historic cannon shot into the bay.

It was really neat to watch them perform the drill as it was all in Spanish and the men were dressed in the 1700s Spaniard uniforms. It took them about 15 minutes to prepare the cannon and actually fire it, though! Jaycie said if it really took them 15 minutes for 1 shot back in the day, we’d all be dead by now! (Ha ha!) Jaycie did the Jr. Ranger program and earned a badge and a cool patch!

In the gift shop we found some Princess fans the girls just had to have! I mean every princess in a castle needs a fancy fan! Especially when it’s so hot! So of course then we had to a have a photo shoot with our fancy fans!

Once the boys were done they met back up with us and we said our goodbyes! Then Jett learned that Jaycie did the Jr. Ranger program without him! And he wanted to earn one, too! So Jett and I ran back in and I helped him complete his book in about 1 hour. Ironically, when we got in it was time for the last and final cannon shot for the day. So Jett got to watch them fire it also!

Apparently they only do the historic cannon firings a few weekends out of the year. So were at the right place at the right time! Jett earned his badge, too, not to be outdone by sister!

We had a busy but super fun day!!! So thankful that Brittney, Manny, and Kenzie made time to spend with us while we were there!

11/7/22: Monday evening we were able to meet up with a close family friend, Danielle Dennis! Our dads are best friends and we’ve vacationed together & shared holidays together numerous times since she was a young girl! She had moved to Jacksonville, FL from Texas just this past summer. So naturally, we wanted to hug her neck while we were in the area! She met us for dinner at North Beach Fish Camp and the seafood was delicious!

Jett even was brave to try Alligator and he found out that he LOVES IT!

We had such a great time catching up with her and sharing all of our crazy adventures we’ve had thus far! She’s doing so good and we’re so proud of her! So grateful for our time together!

11/8/22: I woke up this morning not feeling very well. I had left flank (lower back) pain that had started the previous morning, but today the pain was stronger. I drank Cranberry juice and pounded some water. After we were up and around we headed to Fernandina Beach to visit my Uncle Steve & Aunt Rosie’s new house. They had moved to Florida almost a year ago. We arrived to their house about 11am. Uncle Steve showed me all of his beautiful and interesting art pieces that him and Rosie have collected over the years from all over the world!

Jett’s favorite was his shark & megalodon teeth! He also showed us his beautiful garden in his backyard… lots of peppers, okra, carrots, citrus fruits, tomatoes, etc. So fun!

For lunch we had some of his famous Texas Smoked Brisket and Aunt Rosie’s famous potato salad. So so good! We all got seconds it was that good!

After lunch we played some games and started a puzzle.

That’s about the time I started to get chills and a fever. So Jason took me to the ER while Steve & Rosie graciously kept the kids for us. After taking samples of my blood, urine, and a CT scan w/ contrast, the doctor diagnosed me with a kidney infection.

So they gave me a bag of IV fluids + antibiotics and wrote a prescription for oral antibiotics. I felt better and we were back picking kids up by 6pm. We said our “thank yous” & “goodbyes!” I really wish I had more time to visit with them. But Aunt Rosie said they had a blast getting to know Jaycie & Jett and their little personalities. So I guess that was the silver lining! We headed home to prepare for tomorrow’s (Wednesday’s) travels to Orlando. Tropical Storm Nicole’s (potential hurricane category 1) eye is projected to hit Orlando by Wednesday night/Thursday morning. So we may have to alter our Disney World plans a bit. More to come!

Jett’s Wild Flight:

By: Jett Lillie

11/6/22 – Fun at Kenzie’s: We arrived at my cousin’s house and took a small detour. My cousin’s name is Kenzie and she loves princesses! A boy came over about my age and we played. After that I had crab and shrimp! We had sword fights with a little boy named Jr, and the one about my age is named Ian. Towards the end we played video games, it was a “legit” night!

11/7/22 – Alligator Farm: The alligator farm that we went to was awesome! It had an albino alligator, a huge saltwater alligator, crocs, and snakes!

We got a giant pretzel and watched them feed the alligators!

They jumped so high and fought each other for the food! We had so much fun with our cousin, Kenzie!

Jaycie’s Bunny Hoppin’ News:

By: Jaycie Lillie

11/7/22 – Cumberland Island National Seashore: We were planning to go to Cumberland Island, but once we talked with the park ranger the ferry tour only has a return trip at noon during the summer. Since we couldn’t stay on the island all the way until 5:45pm, we decided to just enjoy the visitor center. So we did as much of the Jr Ranger booklet as we could and we earned our badges. We then went home and had a nice rest day. We met with Danielle for dinner. It was so fun to talk with her and Jett ate Alligator! I kinda tried it but it smelled bad so I backed out. [I know I know… wuss!]

11/8/22 – Time with my Great Aunt & Uncle: We woke up and had free waffles from the KOA campground! I finished my alligator eye drawing and here’s a picture:

We then headed to Uncle Steve and Aunt Rosie’s house. We ate lunch and talked. We saw the garden and started a puzzle. The puzzle had 350 pieces:

We finally finished it! We watched a show and played a game called Color Brain, a color trivia game. We didn’t keep score, it was just for fun. I enjoyed time with my Great Uncle & Great Aunt!