The first time we went out dolphin watching. We boated all the way out to dragon's point, where they always seem to be, and couldn't any. I think everyone was a little bummed at the idea that we missed them but I knew, in my Floridian heart that they'd show up somewhere. Halfway back and sure enough there was a pod fishing to the left of us and it was probably one of the top dolphin watching experiences of my life. They were catching fish and then tossing them up into the air over and over again. We drove the boat past them with a wake to see if they'd ride it and sure enough one dolphin came over. He was right up to the edge of the boat and jumping out of the water over and over right behind us.
The second time (the time we have photos of) we boated over to the islands. I don't know the name of the first, but the second we refer to as "bird" Island. On our way over there the water was choppy and the boat kept crashing down with all the spray coming up and soaking us. It felt cold and kind of miserable but also amazing in a sort of adventurous way. We explored the first island a little and ate lunch, and then we went to the second. It was just like my memory from going there as a kid- it stunk before you even got off the boat, and there birds everywhere, even dead ones. The only difference was that there were signs telling us not to explore the Island. We all took turns running up to the entrance from the beach area to peak inside and also see the head of a pelican laying on the ground. Freaking gross.
Seaworld and Aquatica
We got passes to Seaworld, Aquatica, and some other parks that are further away this year through my brother who used to work at Discovery Cove. We have really enjoyed Seaworld and Aquatica, and Eliza has too! I don't have any photos of aquatica for obvious reasons, but we took a ton of gopro vids of Em. The first time we took her it was kind of a bust because storms kept shutting the park down and we didn't get to really enjoy it, but the second day was amazing! Em had learned to look under water with googles at that point and all jump into the pool so she had a blast. There was one particular slide that we kept going down and we have the funniest videos of it. I kept trying to go down backwards with the gopro to film her smiling face, and one time I went down and then Charly put her down it right after me. And everytime it takes him a moment so I end up slowing myself down and stopping right around this bend, and this particular time when Em finally came into view she was on her back going head first haha. I asked Charly if he did that at the end and he was like "no, I put her sitting up facing forward, she must have done that on her own." The she told us she was trying to go on her belly and we were like "ooooooh, we can help you with that." She was all smiles the entire time, though.
She also enjoys Sea World- I think the Penguins are her favorite part right now, as well as the sharks and Stingrays in the touch tank. Although, wether or not she is interested in touching them varies from day to day. The first time we took her, though, there is this "ride" you get on to see the penguins. It's basically just a seat on a round moving platform that takes you around some icicles on a flat floor. Anyways it eventually took us to this short film of some penguins that eventually get chased by hungry sea lions. There are vibrations and sound effects, and as the sea lion chased the penguin I looked over at Eliza and she had the biggest look of shock and horror on her face! I hugged her close for the rest of it and tried not to laugh while simultaneously feeling bad.
Hurricane Cleanup
Charly and a group of people from our church went on one of the weekend hurricane relief efforts up in Panama City. From what I hear the area is pretty badly damaged. Neither of us could go on the first couple of trips, so we were both glad Charly could at least make it up for one of them. I spent part of the weekend hanging out with Mikhael so that we could catch up and Brinn and Eliza could play. We went to the zoo and Chick-fil-a. Her husband went with Charly so it worked out perfectly.
The Day to Day
The day to day life has included Easter egg hunts, your standard kayaking/canoeing, beach days, pool days, and a pretty good summer in my opinion. I'm thankful that it's getting a bit cooler outside, but sad that it's darker as well and the pool isn't always 84 degrees. We went blueberry picking a couple of time, once as a family with my mom, and another time with just me, Em and our friends the Workmans. The first time we went there were berries everywhere, we definitely timed things right. We made so many blueberry sauces, blueberry waffle, blueberry muffins. I thought we'd have some to freeze but we ate them ALL. Eliza enjoyed them as well and actually had the patience and dedication to pick for at least a good thirty minutes, choosing the ripe, juicy ones instead of the green ones, before she sat down with her bucket to enjoy her harvest, even if a little preemptively. We also went on a day trip to Ikea with the Workman's (I mean Valerie and her 4 kids, and pregnant belly which is no longer pregnant) when I say the "Workmans" right now, but we have had some fun game nights with Eli present as well. I got a dresser for a closet and she got a dresser for the new baby that is came about almost a month ago.
We've had some really stressful things happen this year, a lot of doctor appointments and time and money spent trying to figure everything out. I'm grateful I have these memories to look back on and it's the main reason why I blog- so that our family can have a record of our happy days to remind us of how great life is, especially when we just aren't feeling it some days. That is the main reason why I don't make posts about the "bad" days, because it doesn't make me feel better to read about them vs. just keep them in them in the past/ in a private journal. BUT if you ever wanna hear about them, plane tickets to Florida are preeetty cheap in the off season ;).
