St. George Island, Florida

Playing the "quarter" game in an old-fashioned soda shoppe in Apilachicola.

We've spent the last few days enjoying some of our final time in Florida...we have been in the Gulf of Mexico, near the panhandle of Florida. We found a great spot in St. George Island State Park and we have had some more time on the beach, a good week of school and some shopping/sight-seeing for John. Hope you enjoy a few pictures of our time in St. George. We are headed to Ft. Walton Beach today and it will be our last stop in Florida. We will be spending the weekend with our dear friends the Wiegand family. Please know that we love and miss all of our family and friends back home!! We are all doing really well and have thoroughly enjoyed the warm, sunny weather of Florida in January :-). Blessings, Lioness

 

Like father, like son...they both had a great time playing this...lost money, of course, but had a great time!!

 

Can u see the tiny stow-away in our camper?

 

Another tiny stow-away...can you guess who's hands are holding this cute creature?!?

 

Digging and playing on the beach.

 

 

Checking out the treasures that the tides brought in...

 

Love all of the cool things you can find in the tide pools during low tide :-)

 

Posted with Blogsy

Good Bye Florida Keys

View of the marina looking toward the campground. If you look closely, you can see some big rigs, right along the water. We weren't on the waterfront, but we still enjoyed this campground very much!!

We are "on the road again" this morning, heading north. We have had an unexpected opportunity to visit Shawn Unthank in Daytona Beach while he is coming to do some work in Florida next week. So we are making our way up to the Daytona area for the weekend and very much looking forward to saying "hello" and getting good hugs from our treasured friend!! Here are just a few pictures of our campground at sunset last night...it was a wonderful place to stay!!

Sunset view from campers along the beach.

 

 

This was a sunset from a great local restaurant where we went a couple nights ago to eat a yummy burger :-)

 

Posted with Blogsy

More Florida Wildlife

A couple of manatee that swam into the marina next to the campground where we are staying. They even let us touch them!!

Here in the Florida Keys, we are continuing to increase the number of cool species that we have now gotten to see that we have never seen before...this time, we have gotten to see several manatees and lots of pelicans. In addition, on Monday, John took Paige, Luke and Lila on an afternoon snorkeling excursion and they got to see lots of beautiful fish. Sadly, they didn't take a camara, so I don't have any pictures to share, but apparently they saw a variety of coral, sea urchins, tropical fish, sting rays, jelly fish and barracuda in the turquoise, clear waters around the Keys.

In this picture, I am trying to show the larger, rounded tail that is characteristic of the manatee.

 

This "baby" came in to get a drink of fresh water from the hose.

 

One of the many pelicans that hang out around the pier/marina.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Florida Fruit!!

Look at this Florida avocado...we picked it up in Florida City at a farmer's market for $2.50...it was HUGE and absolutely DELICIOUS!! We have also been enjoying fabulous strawberries and blueberries, oranges and papaya. Yumm-o is all I'm gonna say!! Blessings to all of our friends and family. We love and miss you all!! Sweet dreams and good night from the Lioness and the clan :-)

 

Posted with Blogsy

Florida Keys

We arrived in the Florida Keys (the string of islands south of Florida, that are connected by one highway) on Thursday, this last week. Apparently there are 1700 islands that make up the Keys, 43 of which are connected by the highway. We happen to be staying on Big Pine Key, about in the middle of the string of islands. Yesterday we had the opportunity to visit a rescue hospital for sea turtles. This was really neat...we got to learn about the different types of sea turtles, see the hospital/surgical room/rehab facility and get up close and personal with several sea turtles under observation/recovery. It was a wonderful way to spend a cool, rainy afternoon in the Keys. Our Paige was certainly excited and inspired as we spent a couple hours here...I predict a veterinarian may be her career choice or possibly a marine biologist...she just absolutely LOVES all creatures, turtles in particular!!

The surgical room where turtles are operated on. The most common procedures...removal of intestinal blockages, tumor removals and shell repair from boat propeller encounters.

 

The rehab salt water tanks, there on the right of the picture...a large swimming pool for those turtles who are doing really well and small fiberglass tanks for individual turtles who are in "ICU"

 

This poor loggerhead turtle had a run-in with a boat and had just had surgery. It's recovery was still somewhat doubtful as it's injuries were quite severe. If you look closely, you can see narrow metal strips that were screwed into it's shell to repair the gash in the shell.

 

This green turtle was recovering from tumor removal. It was doing really well and about to be moved to the big pool to begin preparing for it's future release back into the ocean.

 

Look at this little cutie!! A newborn who had just been rescued. It will be releases soon, as there was nothing really wrong with it...just brought there by some tourists who found it while they were out fishing.

 

This guy came in with his left front flipper entangled with fishing line and completely unusable. His flipper was extremely swollen after surgery and he was getting daily rehab sessions, one we got to witness!!

 

This is a permanent resident...she has no left front flipper, therefore couldn't survive on her own in the wild.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Everglades National Park

Some of the ONE MILLION alligators in Florida!!

Sorry for the delay in blog posts, but deep (40 miles from the entrance of the park) in the Everglades...there is virtually NO civilization and especially no wii-fi service!! We did travel this afternoon to catch one of the tours and to go into town for more propane and fresh Florida fruit, so I will take this opportunity to post a quick blog and let everyone know that we are all safe, healthy (minus the small colds we caught from our friends when we were at Disney) and very much enjoying the Everglades. We have gotten to see lots of alligators, a few crocodiles, LOTS of birds and we even found a fresh coconut to husk, crack open and eat our first bites of fresh coconut. We are fast becoming avid bird watchers and carry our "noccanillars"-- (this was the way my precious little Luke would say binoculars when he was a baby and it was sooooo cute that we just continue to call them that today) around our necks everywhere we go. Hope you all are enduring the freezing temperatures while we are basking in the warm, Florida sun :-). We do love and miss all of our favorite people, but we have to say, that we are not missing the freezing cold temps!! Blessings from all of the Lion clan who are lovin' the Everglades National Park.

 

A great egret hanging out with alligators.

An anhinga

 

A little blue heron.

 

Red mangrove tree root system...totally beautiful!!

 

A crocodile near our campground

 

One of the sunsets...pure majestic!!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Canoe Trip

Embarking on an adventure!!

John and Paige took a canoe trip down the Myakka River yesterday, just the two of them...(I was responsible for leading the "pick-up" crew, and Madeline wasn't particularly fond of the alligator infested waters!!!). Father and daughter had a great time and returned safely, despite floating smack-dab-in-between a four alligator pow-wow in a shallow part of the river...man, did they light up when retelling this story!! We certainly have treasured our time here outside of the city of Sarasota, Fl at the Myakka River State Park. We have gotten back into the swing of school; we have learned some wonderful things about water birds, alligators, feral pigs and palm, pine and oak trees; and have gotten back into eating better and exercising more regularly (Lord knows we NEED that!!). We are starting our eight month on the road and all of this month will be spent in Florida. We look forward to enjoying the warm weather here. Tomorrow we are off to the Everglades for about a week then into the Keys we go. Blessings to all of our friends and family who we are missing so much!!

Off they go!!

 

Looking closely you will see a sleeping alligator, a great egret (the white bird) and a great blue heron (the grayish bird).

 

Posted with Blogsy

Myakka River Wildlife

Here is the air boat we rode on through the Myakka River

So Sunday we took an air boat ride through the Myakka River and saw some amazing things!! Here is just a few pictures :-)

One of the many alligators we saw as we toured.

A wood stork

 

A tree full of turkey vultures

 

Napping alligator :-)

 

A "great egret"

 

An "anhinga"...these water birds have no oil in their feathers to keep them waterproof, so they must spread their wings and sun themselves to dry out, in between feeding on fish.

 

A flock of "American white pelicans"

 

 

Posted with Blogsy