Swamp tour - last of Florida vacation pics

Last pics from vacation that I'll share, at least for now. These were taken at Black Hammock Adventures Air Boat Rides on Lake Jesup which boasts to have the most alligators in any lake in central Florida. This was such a fun day, I've always wanted to take an airboat ride and we finally found one that was a good fit for us. Actually in all it only took four hours from the time we left the condo to the time we got back. I would love to take a longer ride sometime.

I love the swamp. I have always loved spooky things and the swamp seems spooky and peaceful. One of my favorite movies is Passion Fish, it's based down south and has great cinematography of the swamps there plus I love the story. Now that I think about it there are quite a few movies I love that have swamps in them, like The Gift and The Skeleton Key. I know there are more.  I am also addicted to the show Swamp People and The Glades. Of course who didn't like Swamp Thing!

I was concerned about skeeters, since they think I'm a buffet, but honestly, I think we have more mosquitoes in Indiana than I encountered in the swamp or Florida for that matter.

We were posing next to these beautiful parrots and all of a sudden they screeched and I thought they were gonna eat us up! It was so loud and scared us all... lol.

So right away I could tell photographing the scenery was going to be difficult because of the railing but I managed to get a few good ones. The birds were beautiful and so diverse.

We got to see baby alligators in the wild. These were just born in July (it's now September). Captain Joel told us this was her 2nd batch of hatchlings this year.

This is a bird coming out of the water. I thought Daryl was gonna jump out of his skin when it surfaced! haha  He thought it was a snake but first it startled him splashing out like that.

Unfortunately, Asher was not a happy camper. He hated having to wear the life jacket and the ear things he had to wear to cancel the noise, they're not on him at the moment. I thought he was sea sick for a moment, but he's just pouting.

So here is "Firecracker" the baby alligator we got to pet and hold. I was thrilled but Asher refused to hold him. He did pet him though.

I wanted to leave you with a photo that I liked and altered a bit. Spooky, the way I see a swamp :) These trees were amazing. We have a cypress growing next to our lake but you gotta admit it's the moss that adds that special touch. I wish we had that moss up here, I love it.

Ok, no more boring vacation pics (for a while!) haha... thanks for playing along and reliving my vacation with me. Enjoy the day!

Florida Day 2,3,4 and 5!

Day 2, 3, 4 and 5 all neatly wrapped up here. We basically did more beach time but we did bowl one night and then day 5 we went to Disney World's Magic Kingdom for the first time with Asher.

 The hurricane that was way out in the ocean (Maria) had sent us lots of nice big shells that aren't normally easily found. I always take shells home, some day I'll do something with them ;)

 Remnants of sand castles...

Another fine beach day, lots of beautiful sunshine. Later in the week the jellyfish forced us away from the ocean.

 

 There was a funeral procession of sorts one day. I noticed people all lining up and walking into the ocean who were all in normal clothes and not swimsuits and then I noticed they were tossing flowers into the sea. I know it's kinda morbid but I was fascinated by it. I of course immediately thought of my mom and how she just loved the ocean. This would've been something that would have made her smile too. It was touching. Then my mind travels to so many dark corners and I had to direct my attention somewhere else.

Bowling turned out to be fun for the kids... and I swear the longest set ever.

So day 5 was Disney and Asher honestly wasn't that thrilled with it but he did like the roller coaster Thunder Mountain and the water ride Splash Mountain. He was too small for Space Mountain which was fine, because the first things we got on was Stitch something and he was scared to death when the lights went out. I kept telling him it wasn't real, but he was terrified the poor baby. The one thing I thought he would really like, Swiss Family Robinson, was closed for remodeling. We had about 4 rides stop on us, things just were quitting left and right. They are already celebrating Halloween there so they closed early at 7pm and you had to have a special ticket to get in for that (high dollar $$), so we missed the fireworks which we were really looking forward to, but we were exhausted by then anyway.

More for the last remaining days coming... Oh and if you're just reading this and wonder where the first day is, see it here. Thanks for visiting and reminiscing with me :)

Back and Ready to Yack!

I'm back and ready to yack! I am downloading 414 pictures from our Florida trip that we just got back from late last night. Actually, I'm surprised I only took 414. I kept thinking, I'm going to post something tonight while I was in Florida, but it just never happened. We kept busy and I was exhausted every night.  I apologize for just disappearing like that! I don't like to announce we're going on vacation for obvious reasons. I had all kinds of things I wanted to share, but it would in turn let it be known we were away.

It was an exhausting trip back, more than normal. We got caught in two traffic jams, one in Atlanta from roadwork and the other right before Chattanooga where there was a terrible wreck involving one truck hitting a bridge support. I'd say they added almost two hours to our normal 13 hour trip.

I've missed 2 Paint Party Friday's and have missed reading all my favorite blogs so I'm ready to get back in the groove refreshed and ready to create some art! I've read some art books and eye candy magazines to recharge my creative batteries. But, right now I've got a lot to unpack and loads and loads of laundry to do so I'll save my stories for now. But I'll be back with my Florida thoughts and pictures :)  I know it's just want everyone wants to hear about... hahaha!

Reminiscing Florida

I took a little shopping adventure to the Historic District of New Smyrna Beach called Canal Street and snapped some pretty pictures. Here they are.

Quirky tree, beautiful lines though

Beautiful Old Live Oak Tree

Boy, if there was one thing that I would love to bring home with me it would have to be those gorgeous old Live Oaks with that romantic spanish moss hanging from them. I'm a sucker for trees anyway, but the moss just is the icing on the cake.

Gas light with that beautiful moss again

There is some sort of tree hanging on this light, so maybe a little bird (or a big one, that is a branch!) was trying to make a comfy nest.

The Historic District Canal Street in New Smyrna Beach, Florida

These palms almost look like a Hollywood set, it was perfect looking. There were strings of twinkle lights all through these beautiful palms, too. I didn't get to see them lit up, but I'll bet it is a site to see.

Quaint old Antique Shop

I really wanted to get into this place to snap some pictures, the gardens were beautiful, but it was for sale and closed up. How cute is this place??!! I were to ever own an antique shop, I'd want it to look like this.

Details of a doorway

They don't make them like this anymore

I love old architecture. I don't know why the care and design is not put into new buildings like this. Too time consuming and costly I guess. What a shame. I'm becoming more and more of the mindset that I want everything around me to be attractive and homey no matter how insignificant. I think it might be from reading those magazines Where Women Create all the way to Florida and back. I've also been reading from more and more artists that they advise your surroundings to be inspiring and I think they're on to something ;)

Have a great rest of the week!

Tie dyed

While we were in Florida, Asher and I got to tie dye some t-shirts. Well, kinda... we got to pick out the colors at least. We stay at the Islander, and they have fun things to do during your stay. All the T-shirts hanging up to dry were so pretty and colorful I thought it would make a pretty postcard. Asher's and mine are the 3rd and 4th from the left.

Here we are in front of our T-shirts. Asher's turned out great but I have to say, mine dried lighter and to my regret looks like Easter in full bloom... ha ha. I wish I would've picked a few more colors. Oh well, it was fun and maybe we'll have a tie dye day and do them over. 

The Secret is out

Well, my posts have been few and far between lately and that is because I have been basking in the Florida sun for the last 2 weeks. I got some much needed R&R but am glad to be back home. Not many of you knew I was gone, nothing like posting to the world "Hey, my house and all my earthly belongings are sitting there out by their selves for two whole weeks! Come and get 'em!" so I didn't.

The first week we spent every day on the beach and it was fabulous. The ocean was lapping on my feet but I really didn't come back with much of a tan because I was under the umbrella with a book most of the time... ahh heaven. Some of you may remember that I lost my dear mother to skin cancer last October, so we went through about 5 cans of sunscreen. I kinda go overboard, but better safe than sorry. I thought of her a lot while I watched the ocean. She loved the ocean. I still miss her terribly, I guess I will never stop.

My son had a blast as always but I think two weeks was just a little too much for him because by the second Wednesday he was crying that he wanted to go home. With the hurricanes that had been around churning up the ocean, we got some beautiful shells that we usually don't get. Nothing spectacular, but still treasures to me.

So today it's back to a normal day, school and work so I'm quickly trying to catch up but wanted everyone to know why it's been a little lean around here. While I was gone I had my mail on hold so I got home to my beautiful earrings by A Word From Plantress and they look even better in person... Thank you Plantress!! I love them!!!

I took 528 photos while in Florida, so I'll be sharing some of them along with thoughts and other stuff coming up. I even bought an original piece of art and will share that in a post coming up. This week is crunch time for me though, I have an art show this coming Saturday so I will be very busy getting ready for it. But I will be visiting everyone's blogs very soon!

Thank you all who have stuck with me, I really enjoy all the friendships I've made here in this wonderful blogland. All your comments make my day and I love to read about your days and what you all are up to as well. Stay tuned because after this next show I plan to have my very first give-away!

Everyone have a wonderful week and enjoy this last bit of summer that we have.