Gator lurks behind kids as they play in their yard

ORLANDO, Fla. (FOX 35 WOFL) - Nicole Mojica says she was recording her son playing with an inflatable gator in their Lake Nona backyard the other day when hidden from her view was a real life alligator literally feet away from her two kids.

Unaware of the gator, 6-year-old Timmy took another ride on the slip and slide. Mom says when she looked down at her phone, she saw the real alligator moving behind her 4-year-old daughter Eva.

"I said to her, 'run, gator! Timmy, run, gator!' And I didn't want to freak out. And they, stood there," the mother, Nicole, said.

With the kids confused, mom started screaming and banging on her neighbor's door. The banging and screaming finally spooked the gator from his position and he ran across the slip and slide and right back into his pond.

No one got hurt, but when Nicole looked back at her video, she saw the real alligator was there the whole time. 

Nicole says that the Home Owner Association of her neighborhood makes fencing the backyard too expensive and she always checks for gators before the kids play. But, she says she has learned a lesson about gators during mating season -- they can be anywhere, including slinking around the yard.