Tibbitts Family

    Hope and my first tourist destination in Florida was the Florida Aquarium in downtown Tampa.  I would compare it to the Steven Birch Aquarium in La Jolla, CA, with a few exceptions.  The Florida Aquarium is much much larger with more animals, an outdoor playground, and splash pad.  Hope and I enjoyed our visit, so we will definitely be returning to this place regularly.  Hope really liked touching the tops of the jelly fish. If you look really close, you may spot a lobster behind Hope.   Click on photos to enlarge them on your screen. This little girl loves to touch animals.  Here she is having an experience with the sea stars and sea enemy. Giant school of fish. Hope having fun climbing at the play ground. Hope's new toy, Gator, and yes, she does sleep with it, gives it kisses, and pets it regularly. 

  And off we go! Ray and I decided that moving out of state where properties are less expensive and cost of living all around is less is the best option for us in order to have a less stressful life and set ourselves up for retirement in the near future.  We chose the Tampa, Florida area for a couple of reasons. 1) We have good friends that live in Florida and more that may join us in the not to distant future. 2) Our church has good membership in the area and a Temple is going to be built soon. 3) Tampa has many of the attractions we loved going to in San Diego, such as a zoo, museums, beaches, and Disney is only an hour and a half away.  4) It doesn't snow and the weather although hotter and more humid than San Diego is probably as close to San Diego as one can get. 5) The cost of a fairly new 4 bed 3 bath home on a 1/4 to 1/3 of an acre is a million dollars less than what one will find in California.    PODS After much research regarding the best and least ex...