Florida Sunshine: March 2010

We were pleased as punch to have Russ and Melissa Triplett come and stay with us for a few days. For anyone who may not know Russ is Will's youngest brother, he was only 3 when we got married. It's strange now to see him with his wife Melissa and know that they are expecting a bouncing baby boy in July!

Unfortunately the weather was not as nice as we had hoped; in fact they had to get another blanket out of the cupboard that first night because they were so cold. One would think that if you were going to Florida the weather would be wonderful, after all it is the Sunshine state right?? Well surprise Florida gets cold and at times if even freezes.

One thing we did was we took them to see Blue Springs, it is a beautiful natural spring that you can swim, canoe on, fish and even scuba dive in.

One thing that is really cool about Blue springs is that during the winter when the water gets cold the Manatee come here to keep warm. The water remains a constant 71 degrees and that is wonderful when the weather is freezing. This winter has been especially cold there were a number of Manatee rescues that had to be done because the water outside of the springs got so cold the animals were dieing. If you look closely at the photo above you can see a number of Manatee's along the far ban

This one swam right below where we were standing on the dock. they are huge!

Here is a mother and two babies! I have never seen this before. A forth Manatee is swimming towards them from above.

Here is a close up of mom and the kids!

I was taking a photo of Russ and Melissa and at that moment Russ got a phone call asking him to fly to California for a job interview!! How cool is that?

Here is Heidi being a tree hugger! All the rest of the kids were in school at the time so she got to hang out with all of us. She loved it.
We also got to show Russ and Melissa more of Florida's wild life.

Now do you really want to swim in that water??? Makes you pause and think doesn't it. lol

Any one for some Tilapia ?? There were all over the spring, digging pits to lay eggs in. It was so neat. They were right there all I had to do was reach down and grab one. I love eating Tilapia but I thought it was better that I left them where they were, that way they can make more yummy's to eat. WHahahahaha.

Here they are at the end of the trail, it was such a nice day they went without their coats, but I of course still had mine on, with long pants and long sleeved shirt. I wont truly be warm until the temp is 80 for at lest a month!

So who's next to visit this wonderland of sun (sometimes) and fun?

Please call for reservations at least 24 hours before arrival this way we will be able to accommodate you.

Heidi got her very first haircut. I have not ever trimmed it before because for so long she had no hair at all poor baby girl. So with Jessica in tow we all went to the hair salon to get Heidi's haircut. Unfortunately there was a wait and so we went looking around at the nearby stores.

And as fate would have it Heidi had to go to the bathroom. LOL Always happens when shopping with littles. There is something in the air of every store a child enters for the first time that causes the instant need to pee! And getting to play in the soap and water is always a plus!

Once the necessities were taken care of, Heidi had to check out the appliances.

Upon our return to the salon we only had a short wait and then it was our turn. Heidi wanted her hair to be short very short but we all convinced her that a little short would be best for her first haircut.

Once the cut was decided then it was off to get her hair washed. Heidi was a little worried about laying back in the chair, but with only a little persuasion she did.