Three Gator Day

For some reason we didn't think we would see much at the lake front today, we were a little later than usual and there seemed to be more people walking today. We were wrong. Didn't see any sandhill cranes but hit the jackpot on alligators. This was the first one of the day.

Second one and much smaller then the ones we have been seeing so maybe he is the new one in the bunch.

The third on was to quick and disappeared before I got the camera up to take a picture. I was getting spoiled because the other two let us get really close before they swam away.

Saw this mama duck with two babies, wonder if it is the same one that dad saw last week. Because if it is, it sure doesn't pay to be a baby duck around here. There were eight or nine babies with that mama.

Now we need the bird experts that are out there, what kind of bird is this. If you know, leave a comment.

After all that excitement we were off on errands. First stop was Sonic, we were both thirsty and Dan hadn't had breakfast yet so he got something to eat also. Then it was off to BJ's, we went through BVL and hit every single light on the way.

Last stop of the day was Publix. Mostly needed salad supplies and lots of things were on sale, buy one, get one free and you can't beat those prices.

Got home and I have been on the computer ever since. Andy called to find out where my blog entry was and I told him I had to finish up this weeks lesson in my digital class. I finished the first page and will go on to the second page when I finish here.

I also finished up this page on our trip to Atlanta, I like the way it turned out. Lots of picture on a two page layout.

Back to the old grindstone. I'm on a roll with the pages I'm working on now and don't want to lose the momentum. Hopefully you will be seeing it tomorrow.

Quiet Friday

We had a pretty quiet day today. Did our WalMart shopping first and then it was over to Weight Watchers. I'm down 1.6 lbs this week, guess I should eat out more on the weekends because that is what I did last week.

On the drive back to the apartment remembered that I wanted to go to the bank and of course when I got there the Loomis truck was at the ATM. Decided to go to Sonic and get a diet coke to kill some time. I did everything I possible could, got my soda, cleaned my purse and sorted through my wallet and the Loomis truck was still there. Decided it could wait until tomorrow morning.

Got back to the apartment and unloaded everything. I have created a monster, Riley loves his crayons and if I try to put them away he gets very upset, so that is what we did all day.

He went down for his nap at about 1030 and didn't wake up until about 1400. Decided we needed to get out of the house so we take a short walk around the apartment complex, really not going to be able to take afternoon walks for very much longer. Pretty soon we will be going out at 0700 just so it will be a little cool.

Got home just before 1700 and Dan was in the mood for pizza, so I placed an order online and we headed out to pick it up. It was ready when we got there and no crowds had formed yet.

Chris graced us with his presence for about 20 minutes and then he was off again. He is on vacation until about Wednesday or so. Doubt that we will see much more of him. Don't think that I mentioned but he got his annual review at work and it was very good and he got a pay raise to go along with it.

Think I'm going to watch a couple of my shows I have recorded and then call it a night.

Everyone have a great weekend.

What Drives a Cat Crazy?

Well in our house it's two sandhill cranes standing less than three feet away and not being able to do anything about it. I know Juan was thinking, "If only that sheet of glass wasn't there, I'd be having crane for dinner."




Not much else exciting went on today. Just trying to get things done. I didn't go through March pictures until today so I didn't finish editing all of them yet but I'm about halfway through so I should be able to finish up this weekend.

Did finish a couple of scrapbook pages. Got the laundry done and scrubbed the kitchen floor. Don't know who usually does it but she sure did fall down on the job, looks much better now.

Dan got home early today so we took a ride over to Tammy and Tom's to do the litter boxes. We saw Max and Kiwi but Boo was nowhere to be seen. I'm sure he was in the closet but he blends in to well to be seen. Luke was moving slow, must have woke him up from his afternoon nap.

Back to editing pictures, maybe I'll finish them up tonight.

Why I Hate to Go to the Doctors!

Finally got our pictures from the Aquarium and World of Coke scanned in and here they are.



Riley got up just as I arrived this morning and he was raring to go, as always. We were ready pretty early, so took a ride over to the Post Office to get mail for the cruising folks. We walked around the WalMart block, only took us about an half hour so it was a pretty short walk.

Spent the morning playing and coloring, he really likes the crayons.

Now we start in on the ugly part of our day. Riley had a Doctor's appointment at 1140 and I tried to keep him up from his nap but that didn't work (never does). So I put him down at 1030 only to have to get him up at 1100. Changed him and loaded him in the car. Got to the office about 10 minutes before the appointment. Had to wait about 45 - 50 minutes and this is when it got really ugly. Every time the doctor came near Riley he screamed, never seen him act this way. But we finally made it through the getting weigh and the examine. Riley weighs 25 lbs 6 oz and is very healthy. The cold and cough he has is just that and his lungs are clear (we were concerned about that). Didn't take long to do all this and we were heading home 1243. Riley was still a bit upset, but quieted down on the ride home.

When we got home I put him to bed and he rolled right over and went to sleep. And boy did he sleep until 1615 which was when Andy got home. So I had a pretty quiet afternoon.

Crayons

Today was a late day because Nikki had a doctor's appointment, only 5 1/2 weeks to go.

This must be our week to have to get in the car and go somewhere. Today it was back to the house again. Forgot I was putting the pork tenderloin in the crockpot for Andy and Nikki's dinner. So had to run to the house for some of the ingredients. Still can't believe I forgot. I hate making short trips like this because Riley really fusses when he has to get right back in the carseat but he always quiets right down and he did again today.

Got back to the house and pulled out the crayons and paper and we drew and colored. Riley really had more fun lining the crayons up and putting them in the box and taking them out.



After doing that for a while he decided it was nap time. He goes to his bedroom door and I say "Are you ready for a nap?" and he bangs on the door. This only happens every now and then but when it does I know he is ready to go to sleep.

Had a nice long nap and when he got up we went out for our walk. It was still pretty cool out so it was very enjoyable. Saw the ducks getting feed and watch them for a while.

By this time Riley was ready for lunch. He was very hungry again today. Filled up on a grilled cheese, the other half of his breakfast waffle, fruit cocktail and some wagon wheels. I don't know where he puts it all.

Got down the crayons again and he played with them until he decided they would make a good snack and I put them away. I'm sure they will come out again tomorrow, he really likes using them.

Our afternoons go by very fast when we take our walk then. So it seems like Andy gets home much sooner.

I got home and put some potatoes in the oven to bake. Dan didn't call to say he was on his way home until almost 1800 and he was up in Deland so it would be awhile before he got home.

Tired

Boy it was pretty hard to get out of bed this morning, besides being tired it was just plain cold in the house. But I did it and was on my way. Riley felt the same way and slept past 0730.

We were moving kind of slow so we didn't get started on our walk until almost 0900. Took a couple of pictures and this was the one I liked best.

We had made it around the pond where we saw this turtle high up on the bank and we disturbed him. He practically flew into the pond, he wanted away from us so bad.

Dan called and needed us to run to the house because he forgot a number he needed to do a job. We weren't far from the apartment so we headed there and got the keys and we were on our way. Took me a few minutes to find the right piece of paper and then we were on our way back to the apartment.

Riley wasn't very happy, he was tired and nothing was going his way so I put him down for his nap. Of course right after he laid down they started mowing the grass and that made it hard for him to fall asleep but he finally did conk out. Only lasted about 1.5 hours, he needs more but I'll take what I can get.

He was still a bit cranky when he woke up so we went out and finished our walk and it was just the thing to calm him down. I really like it when the apartment complex is flying their flag, it looked really nice today.

Played for a while and then he was ready for lunch. I was getting him a piece of cheese to tide him over while I made lunch and he reached behind me and grabbed one of the glass containers off the door. Before I could get it away from him he threw it on the floor. What a mess but I got it all cleaned up with only one small cut on my finger and none on Riley.

Gave him his cheese, then some ravioli, wagon wheels, and a waffle. He still wouldn't let me take the tray away from his chair so I made another waffle and that finally filled him up. Guess he is making up for not eating a lot this weekend.

By this time Andy was on his way home so my day was coming to an end. Need to go home and go to bed.

We're Back

Another good sleep night and we really needed it. Finally dragged ourselves out of bed just before 0700. Got cleaned and packed and loaded our stuff into the Expedition.

I was looking through my pictures, looks like some good shots but we will know for sure when I see them on the computer.

Just crossed my mind, Mum, Dad, Tammy, and Tom should be having a really good time. Their first port call is tomorrow, should be exciting.

Today we have a bright sunny day, yesterday was kind of gray and overcast but we never got caught in the rain just a few sprinkles.

After putting our stuff in the car we were walking back into the hotel and looked up and who did we see but Andy and Riley waving and smiling at us.

Dan and I went in to eat our breakfast and it was pretty crowded again but thinned out while we were eating. When we were done walked over to the mini-mart to get ice. By this time Andy, Nikki, and Riley were down eating breakfast so we went up and got Riley's bed to load up because it needed to go under a couple of things in the back. Joined the crew while they ate breakfast. When they finished Andy and Dan got the rest of the luggage and we were on the road at 0859.

Started out and the traffic seemed a bit heavy but it lightened up and the next three hours went by pretty fast. Most everyone slept so it was pretty quiet. We stopped at the Florida Welcome Center. Stretched our legs and let Riley run around a bit. Back in the car with Dan driving to search for a place to have lunch. We ended up having to wait until we got south of I-10 which I kind of figured would happen but it was worth the wait. Went to Arby's and everyone had a good meal. Although Riley did eat just grapes and curly fries. He was very disappointed when the grapes ran out.

After lunch we got back on the road to look for some cheaper gas, the price at the lunch exit was $3.55 and that was the most expensive we had seen on the trip.

Did a survey to find out everyone's favorite part of the aquarium. Andy's was the big tank with the whale sharks. Of course there was lots more in that tank as you can see here:

Here are two of the whale sharks, there was another one in the tank but could never get all three in the same shot.

Another shot of one of the whale sharks. Of course the people who work at the Aquarium knew their names and can tell them all apart.

Nikki's favorite was the pregnant zebra shark. We asked to be sure that she was pregnant and not just our imaginations. By asking just one question we learned so much. Spring had come to the Aquarium and many of the fish were pregnant or had just given birth and for the most part all were doing well.

Dan's was the jelly fish display, which was very interesting. The lighting was low so the water looked very blue and there were lots of jelly fish in the tank.

I think it looks like this was one of Riley's favorites also.


I really enjoyed the touch tank with the sea anemones, they are alway so gracefully.


For some reason gas didn't seem to drop in price much so we just picked an exit and luck out because the gas station we picked had a Dairy Queen so we all got dessert. Gas still ended up being $3.53. Next stop was home.

This drive also took us 7.5 hours, we couldn't have done that if we tried. Dropped Andy, Nikki and Riley off. Dan and I went to Publix to get salad stuff and then it was home.

I spent the rest of the evening going through picture, catching up on my blog and doing 3 loads of laundry. I'm ready for bed.

It was a great weekend, not a trip I would like to make every weekend but once in a while it wouldn't be bad. I thing our next few trips will be closer to home.