Kate's America

               During our last few days in the Keys, we went to Key West again.  We parked at Fort Zachary Taylor and then walked to downtown Key West.  We started out the morning by visiting the Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory.  It was a series of two rooms: the first had displays and TV screens showing butterfly facts; and the next was a walk-through conservatory with melodic music, exotic birds, and lovely plants.  Of course, it also had butterflies.  One landed on my hair, another landed on my dad's shirt, and a third perched on my mom's leg.  There were several different species of butterflies, ranging from big blue ones to small red and black ones.  Feeding stations for the butterflies and bird feeders for the birds could be found along the narrow brick path, along with benches and a small gazebo where you could observe flamingos in the pond.  Since it was mating season, the flamingos were quite loud, but it was very cool to hear and see them. We went back late

              Our second week in Wauchula was wonderful.  There were several campground activities scheduled, all based around Halloween and fall, of course.  On Tuesday we went to a pumpkin carving event, and I carved one pumpkin to look like a cottage and painted another with a black cat.  Mia carved her pumpkin with a witch's hat and stars.  We loved our pumpkins, but so did the squirrels.  They nibbled my cottage windows from arches to circles, and chewed on the bottoms of our pumpkins as well.  Another day we did brick painting, which was so fun.   My mom and I looked up beginner painting ideas online and were happy with the results.  Mia did her own style, which was so cute and creepy at the same time.  One night they hosted bingo, and my dad won the first game.  We made our own scarecrow another day, and Mia drew the face.  We won a $15 gift card to Subway for Most Realistic Scarecrow, which was all thanks to Mia's facial details!  On Halloween day we got to make our own