Wednesday, March 23, 2005


the afterglow


more sunset


the sunset


at Ft. DeSoto - let us out!!!


at Ft. DeSoto


Brennen talking to the birds - and they responded!!!


a girl after my own heart. She filled up a 27 exp. camera all at the bird sanctuary!


a baby pelican eating from his mother's pouch

A Leisurly Day

Today was supposed to be thunderstormy, so we decided to not go to the Everglades. We were a little concerned how the kids would handle the 3 hr car ride, so the weather made the final decision. When we woke up, it had stopped raining, and was just cloudy (and warm). So we decided to spend the day traveling the 20 mile long barrier island we are on.

We first went down to a bird sanctuary, and saw a bunch of different kind of birds that they are rehabilitating. They had a bunch of pelicans out by the shore, so we sat and took pictures of them - Alysa walked very close to one and took its picture. I was afraid it was going to fly off and scare her, but he didn't.

Then we drove all along the island, it was very pretty. Lots of little beachy towns, a couple of them very touristy and busy. Then we crossed a couple of bridges and went to an old Fort, that has been here since the time of the Spaniards. That was fun and pretty. It was very very windy out, and it was spitting rain a little bit, but by the time we left, it was decent weather. We drove back up and went out to lunch, and then we headed north to a little scottish town. Along the way, we missed a turn, so we took the backroads for a ways, and ended up driving thru a ritzy ritzy town. Huge, gorgeous houses. We were later told that Tom Cruise, John Travolta, and Hulk Hogan live in some of those houses.

So we finally made it to the scottish town. We walked along the trails for a bit, and walked around the cute downtown. The kids enjoyed that. Then we drove over to Honeymoon Island - was highly recommended in a bunch of tourist things I read. But we had to pay to get in, and it was only a couple hours until sunset and we weren't planning on staying long, so we turned around. After we crossed one bridge, we saw several people fishing, and then we saw the pelicans eating. So we pulled over at a little roadside beach and had fun watching the pelicans dive for food.

Then we drove back home, and we watched an incredible sunset as we drove....We found a public beach minutes before the sun set, so we were able to stop and watch it set. Then we drove the last couple of miles to our cottage and went and hung out on the beach for awhile. I was taking Brennen and Alysa's picture, when we realized Aiden was gone. Thankfully I saw him running, quite a ways down the beach. When he realized I was chasing him, he kept running and was laughing by the time I caught up with him. *sigh*

All in all, it was a good day and the kids had fun and didn't fight or whine LOL.

Tuesday, March 22, 2005


this bird was even less afraid - I almost stepped on it b/c I didn't see it - I was trying to take a picture of the other bird. This one just sat and posed for a few pictures for me.


a cool, strange bird that wasn't really afraid of me at all


a seahorse - the best kind of male - he gives birth ROFL


This bird, a spoonbill (or something like that) right after it flew right at me - scared me and I took off running; the people next to me had a good laugh, and a good picture LOL.


A huge, wall to floor aquarium.

Florida Aquarium

Today we went to the Florida Aquarium. You'd think the kids would love it....but not when they are tired. Big sigh. They were a little whiny in the car, and they just stayed a little whiny all the way thru. They loved all the fish from Finding Nemo - thought the jellyfish was cool. Brennen and I were a little frustrated b/c we both wanted to take pictures, but the kids just wanted to keep on moving. We got an ice cream sandwich when we had finished going thru the aquarium, and that seemed to perk them up a bit. I got Aiden out of the stroller and let him walk, and we went about halfway back thru the exhibits, and this time they both really enjoyed looking at the sharks and seahorses. Aiden just loved being out of the stroller. I told him, when we went thru the first time, 'it's a good thing your ticket was free' LOL. Overall I think they enjoyed it. They were asleep within minutes of leaving, though LOL. Finding the aquarium was so easy. Tampa is very visitor-friendly. They had so many signs, we didn't even need the directions.


Then after we got home, the kids ate and then rested for a couple hours - of course they never went back to sleep. The rest did put them in a better mood, though. The day ended up being very very sunny and warm and humid. So after their rest, we went down to the beach for an hour. It was so windy, it was unbelievable. The waves were the perfect size to jump in but not be too scared, haha. The kids played in the sand, dug tunnels which the waves kept filling. Brennen took Aiden out and Alysa out into the waves, holding them while the waves crashed against them. After awhile, Alysa got cold, so she went and sat on the beach and Brennen wrapped her up in a towel. A few minutes later, I looked up and she was gone! Scared me for a minute, but then I saw her little body, wrapped in a huge beach towel, walking up the path to leave the beach. So Brennen runs after her, and she said she was walking back to the cottage b/c she was cold. Kinda cute; she's getting to be such a big girl. So we wrapped her up more and she watched us for a few more minutes, before we went inside.

Monday, March 21, 2005


Brennen and Alysa feeding the pelicans


a pelican choking on a fish


Aiden in the water


Alysa building a sandcastle


Brennen and Aiden

Our First Day

Monday, March 21, 2005

I had thought the kids would sleep in after being exhausted from the trip down – I was wrong. They were up at 8:15. So we got up and watched cartoons and had breakfast. Then we went down to the beach for an hour. It was so much fun. We added another body of water to our experiences – I didn’t think I’d ever really be somewhere to see the Gulf, so that was cool. The sand on the beach is really just very very crunched up seashells. It had rained last night, so the sand was a bit heavier, which I was glad for. It was an overcast morning, and was a little chilly at first – around 55-ish, but it warmed up rather quickly. Having it be not windy and overcast was great for picture taking. I took 180 pictures today LOL. A lot of them were just messing around with different settings, I’ve pared them down somewhat – my total count for the day is 119. The kids loved building sandcastles, and they both loved the water. Aiden just wanted to see the water, getting as close as he could, but would run away when the waves came up to him. As he got braver and braver and more used to the temperature, he started staying in the water, and eventually it started knocking him down. He didn’t even know how to react to it LOL. We had fun gathering some seashells, and a lot of them have holes naturally in them, making them perfect to string for necklaces. Alysa wants us to buy some string for her tomorrow so she can play with them.

After the beach, the kids came in and were supposed to take a nap – they just watched cartoons and read books on the bed instead. But Brennen slept for an hour or so. Then we got up, and decided to go to the Florida Aquarium, since it was raining outside and was supposed to keep storming. I looked it up, and they close at 5:00!!! What the heck? I thought places like that stayed open until like 8. It was already 2, so there was no way we’d have enough time. So then we thought about the Museum of Science and Industry. They close at 5:30.

We ended up going to the Pier in St. Petersburg. That was fun. It was originally on our list of things to do, but had gotten cut as the list was made more reasonable. The kids liked riding the trolley from the parking lot to the Pier. We were going to go to a huge children’s museum……but apparently they have either moved or something, because it wasn’t there. So we went to this rinky-dink aquarium at the Pier and saw Dory and Nemo. The kids liked that. Then we went out on the observation deck on the 5th floor, and saw a cool seabird up close – got some cool shots of him with my super-cool new lens for my camera.

Then we saw that there was a pelican feeding thing outside the Pier. So we went down and watched for awhile, and Alysa and Brennen went up and fed the pelicans. That was really cool. I got some cool pictures….that was fun taking pictures of. Of course, I couldn’t get any good ones of Brennen and Alysa b/c I was holding Aiden. Oh well. Once again, thanks to Pixar for Finding Nemo and the pelicans LOL. Aiden kept laughing so loudly at the pelicans – the whole crowd was amused by him LOL.

Then we went shopping at Publix and got some food, and came home just in time to catch the sunset. Very gorgeous. Now, we’ve been trying to put the kids to bed for an hour. Now, I know why people hire baby-sitters to take with them on vacation. I need a vacation from my vacation LOL. They are so tired – sleep already!!

On our way to Florida!!!

We left Saturday night, getting on the road at 9 pm. We took a slightly longer route, taking I-75 from Dayton, on. At 3 am, in the middle of Kentucky, we discovered the highway had been closed off, with no detour signs or anything……..so we had a very pretty drive thru Kentucky country before we got back on the highway.

The food we ate for our late breakfast didn’t set well with Aiden; he ended up throwing up twice in the car, poor boy. Thankfully it was easily cleaned up and doesn’t stink, although we are still spraying it with Febreze to kill the germs. He has been better today, I think it was just the road trip being a lot.

About 2 hours from our destination, Alysa decides she has been in the car too long, and starts ordering us to go home. She doesn’t want to go to the beach anymore, just home. Obviously she didn’t get her way, and once she went down and built a sandcastle, she was happy to be at the beach. Although she misses her cat, Charcoal a lot, and was crying b/c she missed him. So today we bought him some canned cat food – a rare treat, as a present for him.

Finally, at 8:00, 23 hours later, we arrived at our destination in Florida. We tucked the kids in with a movie, and we relaxed by watching cable – something we don’t have anymore. I’m so excited – I get to watch Hannity and Colmes for the first time tonight LOL.

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