Catching up

Sorry it's been so long updating my blog. I know I said I was going to update on a regular basis but my laptop took a crap. Well it's back up and running so now I have a lot of catching up to do.

Now, going back to December:
We were really enjoying the wonderful weather we had. We were able to get a lot of sun and enjoy the beach across the road. We checked out the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve in Eastpoint. Louie really enjoyed it and we got to see some really neat things. It was foggy that day so in the salt marsh that you can walk through you would get sprinkled on from the water dripping off the trees. But a very interesting place and we plan on visiting it again. On the 18th, we ended up driving home early for Christmas, Colton needed help moving and we knew we couldn't do it in the 3 days we were originally planning on being home. We were still able to surprise the kids but not how we planned on. We definitely had some great times with Brinlee. She is at such a great age, and I just love her giggles. We also finally got to meet our other granddaughter, Kingsley, for the first time. She is precious as well. While home, I found out that I have a bone spur on my foot and that is why I have been in so much pain and not able to walk. I got an injection before we left and hopefully it will help. So far, it has been better but I haven't been using it as much as I have in the past few months. We also had an expensive vet bill. Brinlee accidentally scratched Dukes eye so he had to have an emergency visit to the vet and had to have eye drops for a while and a shot. Gunner has a cough that he can't get rid of. He had it before we left and they gave him meds but it came back. They wanted to do x-rays if he continued to have the problem so we got those while we were home. She thought maybe he had an enlarged heart but wanted to send it off to a specialist to make sure. Well, he has what they call allergy induced bronchitis. So he will be on meds for several months to hopefully get him back to normal. We think the meds wear him out because his really isn't himself since being on them. But hopefully now we are all on the road to recovery.

January:
Now we are back at Carrabelle and have really missed it. We don't want to leave here, we love the people and area so much. So we have changed our original plans in March to come back here for 2 weeks before heading back home for the summer/Jordan's wedding. We have gotten some more sightseeing done. We have been to: Tate's Hell State Forest-Boardwalk (there are dwarf cypress trees there that are over a 100 years old), Gulf Specimen Aquarium (this is hands on, and can touch many of the exhibits), John Gorrie Museum (he invented the ice machine/AC), Wakulla Springs State Park (got to see Manatess and Alligators), Ochlockonee River State Park, FSU Coastal and Marine Laboratories ( they do record-able research, but nothing was going on while we were there), Tarpine Fly-In Community, and many other places along the way. There is so much more to see yet and many of the places we want to go see again. It really is amazing what there is to see if you just go and find it. And how different things can be just by turning down a road.

 Turtle out at the Apalachicola National Estaurine Research Reserve when we were walking up to the building.

 An oyster boat, because 95% of the oysters in Florida come from this area.

 Look, look, more turtles!

 The salt marshes at the Research Reserve.

 Finally meeting our 2nd granddaughter at Christmas.

 Christmas lights at the We Care Park in Kokomo with Jordan and Nick.

 Decorating cookies with Brinlee was so much fun.

 Kingsley getting her Christmas.

 Colton and Brinlee watching Home together. She is such a daddy's girl.

 Playing with Papaw.

 This is a fly-in housing community. We hadn't ever seen one and it was pretty neat, because most of the houses had their own hangers as a garage.

 A house with it own hanger. The sign at the entrance says the planes have the right away. We didn't see any on the road but we were hoping to.

 Brinlee playing with her 4-wheeler.

 Finally got a picture of an eagle but my phone doesn't zoom in good. I need to carry my good camera with us for shots like these.

 The dwarf cypress trees at Tate's Hell State Forest.

 At the Gulf Specimen Aquarium touching the starfish.

 Loggerhead Sea Turtle.I just love seeing the turtles.

 Crab

 The first ice machine.

 A cannon from the Spanish/French War. It is over 400 years old. There were 2 there that somehow didn't get destroyed from the other wars after.

 A veterans memorial for Vietnam Vets.

 A hibiscus at the Botanical Garden. There wasn't much bloomed because of the time of year but we got to see a few different things.

 Buzzards in the tree at Wakulla Springs. We got to see lots of different birds and wildlife on the boat tour.

 There were only about 3 manatees in the Springs the day we went. We plan to go back to see if we will be able to see more and when it is clearer. They have only been coming to this Spring for about 7-8 years.

 Parts of the Creature from the Black Lagoon and one of the older Tarzan movies was filmed at the Springs.

 A white squirrel we seen at one of the state parks we went to. We have never seen one of these yet.

 I finally got to see a big alligator in the wild while at the Springs. We actually got to see a lot of them out sunning themselves. It was a cool day and had rained the day before.

The lodge at the Springs. This was the ceiling. Just thought it was neat. It was bulit in the 1930's if I remember correctly.

I think I now have you all caught up. There are so many more pictures but it takes so long to load I try to limit them to the ones that I enjoy the most and hope you all do as well.

State Parks and the Beaches

This week we didn't do too much but enjoy the beautiful warm sun of Florida. We did hit a couple of state parks and went to a couple different beaches. We took our bikes over to St. George Island to ride, they have a great bike path there and not very many people are there.

Carrabelle and St. George Island, FL

 Our view for the next 2 months.

 My first sand dollar.

 An eel (maybe, we aren't sure what it is for sure) that we saved.

 The lighthouse on St. George Island.

 Louie's Buffalo Shrimp Wrap from Paddy's Raw Oyster Bar.

 Crooked River Lighthouse that is right next to us that still works.

 World's smallest Police Station.

 House made of glass bottles.

 Lighthouse made of glass bottles.

 Veterans Memorial in Carrabelle.

 A clam, it was so heavy, he spit water out at Louie when he tried to open it.

 Starfish

 2 small hermit crabs, or it could have been one trying to change shells.

 The sunrise.

 There were jellyfish all over the St. George beach. Ewww!!

A crab in his hole.

We have been here in Carrabelle, FL (in the panhandle along the coast) since Thursday. It was pretty chilly here the first day, I don't think it ever reached 60 degrees. But since then it has warmed up nicely, even enough to get a tan. We are right across the road from the beach, and we can usually see dolphins swimming on our walks along the beach. It is really nice here and the people at the resort are very friendly and full of information. The first night we ate at Red Pirate in Eastpoint, recommended by the locals, it was not bad.

On Friday, we drove to St. George Island. This is a very nice island, but since it is off season there isn't very many people there and some of the restaurants are closed. We seen the lighthouse and drove down to the State Park that has a campground (not that nice and probably would never stay there, but the park is nice and so is the beach). We walked on the beach which has a lot of shells to see, I even found my first sand dollar, small but they aren't easy to find. We ate at Paddy's raw oyster bar, no one ate raw oysters, but Louie said his Buffalo Shrimp wrap was the best food he has ate yet.

Saturday, we drove around some of the sightseeing spots in Carrabelle, some were duds, but others where worth seeing. There are some more stuff we need to go back and check out, like the ferry to Dog Island WWII museum, and Tate's Hell State Park. Once we were done driving around we came back and just enjoyed the beautiful sunshine by the trailer.

Yesterday, we went back to St. George Island because we just wanted a relaxing day, so we just looked for shells on the beach, I found 2 more sand dollars (little but it was better then nothing). We also got up early enough to make it across the road to the beach to see the sunrise. I have to admit this is the first time I actually paid attention to the sun rising and it was absolutely amazing. I have just always lived by letting the world pass me by, but not anymore. We are enjoying everything to the fullest now.