Florida! - Gator Hunting

We went alligator hunting while we were in Florida. We couldn't resist!

At the edge of the Everglades, there's a beautiful preserve called Grassy Waters, which was our hunting ground. We were hoping to spot a couple wild gators. Of course, we don't hunt with guns, but with our eyes... and cameras!

The alligators have a beautiful home.

We didn't see any gators in the marsh near the trail head, so we ventured along the wooden pathways further into the wetlands.

Our alligator hunting crew... ready to find wild gators!

Safe to say, we had no plans to "molest" any gators!

There was a lovely little learning annex not too far down the trail where Jacob spotted his first gator.

Sure, never smile at a crocodile, but you can grin at a gator all day long!

Although the real alligators were pretty elusive, there were still many interesting things to see along the trail.

Top Left: There were some spectacular spider webs to see.
Top Middle: The green lizards are the only ones native to Florida. Unfortunately, they're being overrun by all the other lizards, which are descended from pets that were let loose in the Everglades.
Top Right: Little Dude loved seeing all the dragonflies! They were everywhere!
Bottom Left: It was fun watching the Anhinga (a.k.a. American Darter) dive under the water to catch fish.
Bottom Right: Flying crane.

Left: The boardwalk where we finally caught sight of our prey!
Top Right: They are trying to breed more apple snails like this one, which is important to the ecosystem.
Bottom Right: A non-native lizard sunning himself.

So did we finally get to see a wild gator? I'll tell you in my next post!

Florida! - How to Celebrate 4th of July with the Grandparents

Since today's my birthday, I thought I'd write this morning about how my family celebrated another birthday... America's birthday!

My favorite way to celebrate 4th of July is on a boat! My family often would charter a sailboat out of San Diego for Independence Day weekend. And on 4th of July night, we would watch the fireworks from the boat. Spectacular!

This year, we still managed to get some boating time in on 4th of July!

Captain and First Mate

We all (even Little Dude) took turns steering the boat. Some of us (Big Dude and Little Dude) drove a little faster than than others. But we do love the feel of the wind blowing through our hair as we speed along the water!

Our little sailor!

The Crew

We saw a lot of really fancy houses along the shoreline, but we saw some other interesting things too...

Left: Vultures! In fact, we saw vultures almost everywhere we went in Florida.
Top Right: A floating BBQ shack. When we went past again, there were a couple boats pulled alongside for lunch... including a police boat!
Bottom Right: We're used to deeper water. It was strange to see people wading knee-deep next to their boats!

And of course, after all the boating fun, we found time to enjoy the fireworks and play with sparklers!

Maggie watched from the safety of the trailer!

Florida! - Enjoying the Humidity

At the end of last year, when my dad decided to "retire" and become a contractor, my parents bought a beautiful 5th-wheel trailer so they could move around the country as needed. This is their home away from home. And this is where we stayed for most of our trip. It was very comfortable despite the fact that there were five of us living there for a week. But to be honest, we actually spent a lot of time outside.

We ate lunch and dinner outside...

Big Dude with a Little Grill. Yes, there was a kitchen, but we really enjoy his masterful grilling skills!

We fed the ducks and turtles that live in the pond just 8 feet from their door...

We took the dog for a walk...

Little Dude, Papa and Maggie

And we went to the pool and the beach...

The beach was only a short walk away from the RV park, so we visited it almost every day. The water here was much warmer than in California. And we could wade out pretty far before the water started getting too deep for our toes to reach the sand. Hubby and I enjoyed diving over the waves while Little Dude played in the surf and sand with Grandma and Papa. It was heavenly!

Since we're from such a dry heat, we enjoyed the chance to experience some real humidity. It actually wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. Compared to 118+ degrees of scorching dryness back home, the 95+ degrees in high humidity was tolerable. My skin and hair never felt so silky soft. I didn't have to use lotion or moisturizer the entire time I was there. And since I have straight hair, the humidity actually made it easier to style! Seriously... it tamed my crazy cowlicks! (And my son's!) (Yes, I can hear my friends blessed with curly hair groaning!)

The thing we didn't like about the humidity was the mosquitoes. We all ended up with bites. But a few bug bites and even a little bit of a sunburn was a fair enough price for some glorious days in Florida!

Florida! - Flying the Friendly Skies

What? You thought I was just going to tease you about our Florida trip in my last post and not actually blog about it? Never! Of course, our trip was filled with so many wonderful things that it will take several postings to include it all.

First, let me say that this was the longest vacation Hubby has ever taken in his life - 10 days! (I actually spent 10 days in Italy many years ago with a wonderful friend... but that's another story!) Now 10 days may seem like a long time to spend with your in-laws, but Hubby actually likes my parents. (We both have great in-laws to love!) What made him proclaim this trip to be "the best vacation ever" is that we were able to spend a lot of time just sitting back and relaxing but we also saw a lot of things too.

Big Dude and Little Dude heading through the airport.

Traveling with a little one can be tricky at times... especially when you have to change planes. But luckily, Little Dude is already a seasoned traveller and he loves planes!

Little Dude and Big Dude burning off some energy during our layover.

His travelling skills and ability to entertain himself really helped when our connection in Tampa was delayed and then not delayed and then delayed again due to engine problems. What was supposed to be a 90 minute layover turned into 5 hours (a couple of those were spent sitting on the plane)! But Little Dude's charming personality and patience through the whole ordeal earned him one of those big bags filled with about 20 smaller bags of pretzels. Little Dude even gave our flight attendant a hug when we finally made it to Ft. Lauderdale (and L.D. invited him to his birthday party)!

We were all excited to see Grandma and Papa at the airport, but I'm pretty sure Little Dude was the most excited!

Papa, Little Dude, Grandma, me and Little Dude's prized bag of pretzels!

For most of the trip, I had no idea what time or day it was. No no clocks, no calendars, no email, no web, no facebook, no blogs, no news. I did text a couple times, but other than that, I barely touched my cell phone. It was a low tech vacay for me! Very relaxing! We all need that kind of break every once in a while.

My Calendar Needs a Diet!

It has been a busy month! My friends have barely heard from me. I haven't blogged. Communication is so easily neglected when I'm busy. Seriously, I had no intention of starting a blog and then abandoning it. Unfortunately, I just let myself get overscheduled once again!

My calendar needs to go on a serious diet! The stuff that crowded my time was bad stuff… it was just too much stuff.

First, my mom came to visit for over a week. I really wanted to spend as much time with her as I could. Then I had a week of Vacation Bible School. Ours is conveniently held in the evenings, allowing me to rush from work every night to go teach the 2nd Grade. It was fun, but totally exhausting (especially after working 8 to 9 hours every day)! Plus, it was my first year teaching so I was completely overwhelmed. There was Father's Day, then my niece's birthday. When we had a break, Hubby and I had to do some work on the house. Then we had a few days where I tried to catch up on some housework (ok, so communication isn't the only thing that gets neglected). And it all ended with a 10-day trip to Florida! Yes, that was all within the last 30 days!

My excited 2nd Grade VBS class!

Looking back, I could have saved myself some major headaches if I had simply said "No" to VBS. I never had a problem saying "No" in the past. (It's a skill that took years to master.) However, my sweet, dear friend Judy took over as the VBS director this year and she has a God-given gift of asking people to volunteer... and getting them to say yes.

It's hard to say "No" to someone who sends you Bible verses and tea bags in the mail. It's even harder when it was your own husband who helped teach her exactly how to ask people.

Several years ago (circa 2 B.L.D. - Before Little Dude), Hubby volunteered to ride on the church bus that picked up kids in the surrounding neighborhood every week. He didn't do it because anyone pressured him; he did it because no one else stepped up. (That's just the kind of Knight in Shining Armor he is!) However, when Little Dude came along, he decided to take a break from the bus ministry. Judy, who rounds up these children through her children’s Bible clubs, was really worried about finding someone to fill his position. So Mike helped her out. He went with her to find his replacement.

After that, Judy became an unstoppable force! And I actually said “Yes” to VBS!

Hubby helped by making some of my VBS decorations, like this city scape!

Sure… it made my schedule extra hectic, but VBS was a really good experience. Although challenging at times, the kids were really great for the most part.

In fact, everything that crowded my calendar this past month was stuff I enjoyed doing. But I guess I have to learn the whole “everything in moderation” rule!