Barbara Manatee, You are the One for Me

If you know the old veggie tales song, you should be singing along by now.  If not, I highly recommend you look it up for a good chuckle.
Today we headed up to Blue Springs State Park and watched the manatee.


AND (drumroll please) we saw our first Florida alligators in the wild today.  3 of 'em.  2 smaller ones, and a big 8+ footer that was huge.  The water was crystal clear in several areas and we saw lots and lots of fish that were huge.  We also about 10 turtles all lined up on a log.  I guess they were sunbathing.

The highlight was when we walked out onto a pier and two manatee swam right over to us and broke the surface before diving back down and swimming away.

The manatee are an endangered species, and every year they swim from the ocean up to Blue Springs where the water remains a constant 72* year round.

New friend

I got a new friend for Christmas, and I'm falling in love

Not to mention that winter in Florida is akin to fall in the Rockies - there isn't much not to love. 

I've been out three times this week.  Monday the girls and I did a 10 mile ride together.  It took a lot of breaks, snacks, and 2 hours (we also stopped at a friend's house and dropped a kiddo off there). 

Wednesday I got on my bike for a ride, and wasn't sure if my backside could handle it.  Ow! 

But, I got 10 miles in and was happy with my time - and just thrilled that I did it. 

Today, I got the same 10 miles in, but shaved off 2 minutes and felt really good because it was easier today than it had previously been.  

Yep...I wore a light jacket, and the sun shone through the trees and dappled the bike path which was littered with leaves.  The air was crisp, and a light breeze whispered by.  

Really, come August, I might be missing the mountains, but every morning when I head out to go walking (in my single layers), and see the stars, and feel the perfect 50-60* weather, I can't help but love Florida's winter weather.  

Thanksgiving Gingerbread houses

So, I just came across these photos from Thanksgiving.  We dropped by a friend's house and made graham cracker gingerbread houses.  Our friends just moved from the UK, and we had a blast going through all of the old Halloween candy that we used for decorations, and watching our friends trying out all of the US candies.  
It looks like my daughter got chopped off in this photo.  Nonetheless, she's here with her two best friends. 

Kids Bookclub blog

You know how in that veggie tales song "Where is my Hairbrush" everyone is embarrassed by the guy in the bath towel?  Yeah, I know, my last posting was a little embarrassing.  This one should be a little less uncomfortable.

When I moved to Florida, I was invited to join a bookclub.
I took my daughter with me since she's such a voracious reader.
My daughter went home and read the next month's entire book immediately.

Later, I was very gently told that while they all enjoyed meeting my daughter, she was a little too young for some of the discussions.  We were both quite disappointed.

I decided to put together a bookclub for kids and moms, and invited some people to join us.
We've got a couple of families who are really interested and they read as much as we do!

Here's a link to our bookclub blog.
I'd love suggestions of any books you may have read, or that your kids have specifically enjoyed.  

http://kidandmomreads.blogspot.com/

The Kali River Rapids incident

Some things in our home, have come to be known as the '....incident,' based on whatever the root cause of the incident.  For example, we have 'the icee incident'.  That's all you need to say, and we all know exactly what and who we are talking about.  But today's anecdote is purely anecdotal, and shall be hereafter referred to as the Kali River Rapids incident (or the animal kingdom bathroom incident for those of us who can't remember that long name).
Here's how it goes.
See this ride?  You'll find it at Animal Kingdom in Florida.
It guarantees that you'll get wet, and warns that you'll most likely get soaked.  No ifs, ands, or buts...you will get wet.


My family thoroughly enjoyed getting wet on this ride together last week.
My husband and I were in an interesting spot, and not only did we get wet, our seats (and thus our behookies) were also generously dampened.  That's putting it gently.

Shortly after going on this ride, we decided to take a trip to the restroom (after the adrenaline rush you know).  I calmly stepped into the stall, and pulled out a paper toilet seat cover which I daintily draped across the toilet seat.  "Isn't that nice that I don't have to worry about toilet germs?" I thought to myself (grandma had taught me to never sit on a public toilet seat before covers were invented).
I did my business, and as I finished and was tidying up, and I realized to my horror, that my wet backside and legs which had previously been VERY wet, now had the tissue toilet seat cover melded to them.
Nothing dainty here no siree.
Just think about wetting tissue paper, and applying it to a surface, applying firm pressure for a few seconds, and then think about how to get it back off.  Melded I tell you.  Melded.

I hope that I've sufficiently painted the picture of my embarrassment, and don't think I need to go any farther.

And now that I've publicly aired my humiliation, words of wisdom which I impart to all - make sure you go before the ride...not after.  :)   

Happy New Year!

I'm a week late.
The kids have been off school all week, and while I'd love to report that we just played and played (they did), I got sick on New Year's Eve.  On Sunday, I was too sick to go to church, but since everyone else was out of town on vacation, and I was covering someone on the organ, and covering all of primary with our secretary - well, I decided to drag myself there.
Monday was spent packing up Christmas (you know how Christmas cute suddenly turns to out of control clutter on Jan. 1st and you just can't stand it anymore?)...very slowly.  Mostly by my husband.  I laid and watched him work a lot.
I thought I was getting better later in the week and we headed to Magic Kingdom on Thursday (quite crowded still - we thought the tourists would have headed home!), and Animal Kingdom on Friday (not quite as crowded).
Our oldest daughter LOVED the Mt. Everest ride.  L.O.V.E.D. it.  It made me sick.  She went on it 6 times. I sat on a bench and chatted with Marcia from Brazil.  With my Spanish and her Portuguese we mostly understood each other. :)


I spent the first 5 hours of today at the Dr. office and pharmacy.  It seems that my New Year's Eve cold turned into a secondary infection, and I'm now fighting Bronchitis.  Lucky me.
The Dr. gave me cough pearls (?), an inhaler, and antibiotics.  That's what I really wanted - the antibiotics.  I'm told that I'll feel a little better tomorrow, much better Monday, and almost back together (hopefully) by Tuesday.  If not, I'll need to find a (non urgent care) doctor and get help.
I'm just happy about the drugs.