{"id":3028,"date":"2014-02-04T06:30:49","date_gmt":"2014-02-04T11:30:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/?p=3028"},"modified":"2014-02-04T06:37:28","modified_gmt":"2014-02-04T11:37:28","slug":"home-south-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/04\/home-south-florida\/","title":{"rendered":"Home, South Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s no secret that South Florida is not really my favorite place to live and raise a family, but that doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s a terrible place to visit.\u00a0 Growing up, we used to visit my Nana and Grandpa in Florida every spring and some of the places we used to go back then are on my short list for places to take my little ones now.<\/p>\n

Florida is definitely the Sunshine State, making outdoor activities doable almost every day of the year.\u00a0 The beach, of course, is a go-to in South Florida, but with miles and miles of public beaches, is there really one beach that is better than another?\u00a0 Yes, and no.\u00a0 If you just want some sand and surf, whatever beach you can easily access will do but if you\u2019re looking for a beach that is specifically nice for little ones, I have two suggestions:<\/p>\n

\"055\"<\/a>The first is in Deerfield Beach near the Embassy Suites off A1A (SE 20th<\/sup> Ave) at SE 9th<\/sup> St.\u00a0 There is a large metered public parking lot as well as a nice boardwalk.\u00a0 The beach itself is comprised of many outcroppings of rocks which create little pools of water that are shallow, warm and usually calm.\u00a0 There is also a plethora of restaurants just up the road including our personal favorite, The Whale\u2019s Rib, which is a reasonably priced and delicious seafood restaurant with a relaxed, wood-clad atmosphere that is always welcoming to little ones (the girls recommend the lobster bisque and whale fries with whale juice).<\/p>\n

The second is in Pompano Beach, also off A1A (N Ocean Blvd) at the end of E Atlantic Blvd.\u00a0 This area also has metered public parking and has been recently re-done and in addition to the beach now includes a large green area with AstroTurf (don\u2019t laugh\u2026grass here is awful and turf is AWESOME!) as well as a splash fountain for the little ones to run around in.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re looking for a less sandy outdoor experience, head to Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton (one of my favorite spots growing up).\u00a0 The center has a large network of boardwalks through the Florida wilderness as well as serves as a sea turtle rehab center and has many aquariums and sea tanks.<\/p>\n

\"SONY<\/a><\/p>\n

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You could also check out Butterfly World in Coconut Creek which is the largest butterfly park in the world and in addition to the expansive butterfly exhibit, also includes hummingbird, lorikeet and macaw aviaries.\u00a0 My girls could spend hours watching the butterflies and birds!<\/p>\n

\"SONY<\/p>\n

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If you\u2019re visiting in the heat of the summer and looking for something \u201ccooler\u201d to do, we love the Young at Art Museum in Davie. \u00a0The museum is a series of interactive exhibits designed by artists and include an area specifically for infants and toddlers; an area based on nature and the environment with a pre-recycling spin; a multicultural exhibit; and an exhibit based on fine art but with a contemporary, child-oriented feel.\u00a0 We have been multiple times and each time have spent hours there without getting around to everything.<\/p>\n

Need a good lunch place before or after the museum?\u00a0 Try Padrino\u2019s Cuban Cuisine in Plantation.\u00a0 Not familiar with Cuban food?\u00a0 No problem, Padrino\u2019s offers a great (and inexpensive) weekday buffet lunch where you can try a little bit of everything including rice with black beans and fried sweet plantains (my girls\u2019 favorites).<\/p>\n

This is list is just the start of all the things there is to do in South Florida with children.\u00a0 The list of things we still haven\u2019t done is enormous and I look forward to experiencing it all with my kids while we are here!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s no secret that South Florida is not really my favorite place to live and raise a family, but that doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s a terrible place to visit.\u00a0 Growing up, we used to visit my Nana and Grandpa in Florida every spring and some of the places we used to go back then are on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tiny-travellers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3028"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3036,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3028\/revisions\/3036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}