We were busy busy for a
few weekends in a row! Starting with Easter weekend, which we were lucky enough
to spend in Richmond with the Marchettis/Hankys, to my bday fishing trip that
we had to reschedule into April, and last but not least finishing with an amazing
weekend doing all sorts of fun stuff that I never wanted to come to an end!
This is a pretty long
post with lots of pictures, because I am the best procrastinator ever, but here
you go!
Easter Weekend
A whirlwind weekend
home, as usual! We flew into Richmond on Friday night, getting in pretty late,
and left on Sunday afternoon. It was such a great, low-key weekend with family.
We spent Saturday just hanging out at home, with a few visits from some of
our very favorite people! Lawtie and brand new baby Tell were having a
sleepover at Pappy and Granley's while Anthony and Jo attended an out of town
memorial service for a friend, so we got our fill of sweet, squishy baby
snuggles and sweet toddler silliness. Muzzie and Mo stopped by for a while, and
so did the Judy babies and the Logan girls! Oh, and their moms. ;)
Easter Sunday was full
of family time, from mass at St. Mary's, to a delicious brunch at Margaret's,
to a lunch smorgasbord at Bobbie's. Everything at Margaret's was perfect, from
the decor to the food (which was so so yummy, as were the mimosas). At Bobbie's
there was amazingly delicious food as far as the eye could see and plenty of funny/adorable babies everywhere for
snuggles and entertainment.
This was the first year
I participated in the annual Egg Toss, since it was cold and rainy the last
time we were in Richmond for Easter. I'm sorry to say Jake and I didn't last
very long; he line drived one of his tosses and I broke our egg with my catch.
As a repeat Egg Toss champion, I'm sure he was wishing he had been able to get
away with choosing a different partner. But... too bad. :P
We wish we could have
stayed an extra day so we could visit with all of our friends and their babies.
Work ruins everything. We miss them soooo much!
I sucked at
picture-taking this weekend, but here's what I have from my phone.
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Mo,
Muzzie, and Granley with Baby Tell and Miss Lawtie.
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Uncle
Jake, mastering the whole uncle thing.
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Margaret's
super cute centerpiece for Easter brunch.
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Thanks for the family pics Margaret!
Bday Fishing Trip
Jake took me deep sea
fishing for my bday!!! We had originally scheduled for the weekend before my
birthday, but we had decided to reschedule in favor of going to Naples. So of
course the day we rescheduled for was overcast, super windy, and had rough
seas. But whatever, we went out anyway and actually caught some fish! We tried
chasing the Gulf Stream for a while but turned back due to high waves and being
tossed around everywhere. We crossed over a school of bonito a couple times and
all the lines were hit almost simultaneously each time. We also caught a couple
kingfish but neither of us reeled those in. It was a super fun day!
Pearl Jam
This was the start of a
what was just a really, really good weekend. I was so excited for Friday so
that we could start it off with seeing Pearl Jam in concert. I've never really
been a fan of Pearl Jam, just never listened to them really, but Jake is a big
fan so he was really looking forward to it. We left as soon as I got home from
work, had dinner and drinks at the Bahama Breeze near BB&T, same as we did
when we went to Garth back in January, then headed over to the stadium for the
show. I can honestly say that, even though I only know a few popular songs, it
was a great concert. They put on a really good show and I was thoroughly
entertained the entire time. And it made Jake happy so that's all that matters.
:)
Beach Day
On Saturday we had
planned to just hang out at our beach and enjoy the beautiful weather. It was VERY
windy, like being buried with sand windy, but we dealt with it and spent the
day relaxing in the sun.
Omg, this was THE
BEST!!! I have to admit, I wasn't expecting much... but this race was such a
fun, quirky, unexpectedly FANTASTIC event. I periodically get emails about
upcoming races in south Florida, and I remember seeing this one back in like
December and thinking it was hilarious and that I wanted to do it. I had to
wait until March to register, so I had Siri set up a reminder so that I
wouldn't forget. Jake agreed that driving 4 hours to run a 300-ft race was
definitely a good idea, so we paid our $5 and signed up. We got up early on
Sunday morning and drove down to Key West and got there about an hour or so
before the race. The pre-race gathering was at this tiny piece of land on the
Key West side of the Cow Key Channel Bridge, which is the very last bridge you
cross to get to the island of Key West (and, coincidentally, the very bridge we
were going to be "racing" across). The little park was BEAUTIFUL,
very green, with lots of tall palm trees which somehow looked even more
beautiful against the perfect blue sky we had that day. So we signed in, got
our race bibs, bought a race shirt, and headed over to the nearby Marriott to
grab some pre-game drinky drinks at their pool bar. The Marriott and adjoining
Hyatt properties were gorgeous and I definitely wouldn't mind spending a few
days at either one if we get the chance to make an extended Key West stay
anytime soon. So anyway, we took our drinks back over to the little park and
just did some great quality people watching, observing all the different racing
teams and hilarious themed get-ups. It was great.
The Cow Key Channel
Bridge goes between Stock Island and Key West island, and obviously, spans the
Cow Key Channel. It is approximately 300 feet across, hence the "Zero
K." What made this race even funnier (to me, anyway) was that the day
before was the annual 7 Mile Bridge Run, for serious runners. This here Zero K
was for the rest of us. :) There were 5 "heats" for the race: First
Place Contenders, Pets and Humans, Relay Teams, the Walking Cow Stampede (for
everybody else), and Last Place (slowest across while still maintaining forward
motion). There was a water station halfway across the bridge. It was so, so
fun. Jake decided he could definitely beat the previous record set (23.1
seconds), so he ran with the First Place Contenders. He broke out of the gate fastest,
but lost steam at the end and was beat by a much more in shape 19-year-old.
Maybe next year. ;)
Jake came back for me
and we walked across with the Cow Stampede heat, of course taking pics and
selfies along the way. They had shots and beer at the finish line, and everyone
gathered at the Botanical Gardens on Stock Island for the after-party and the
plethora of awards being given out.
I can't wait for next
year! We need a team, who wants to spend a weekend in Key West with us?!
Watch for Jake taking off at the starting line around the 58 second mark!
https://vimeo.com/162393087
I show up around the 50 second mark, walking past the big fat guy. (I promise that's not as mean as it sounds.)
http://cbsloc.al/1VLfhSq
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the Key West Marriott Beachside
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the
cute cuddly little sloth, my spirit animal
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| I got #412. Represent. |
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Jake
taking off at the starting line!
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There
were also a few kayakers who took the water route across the channel.
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| selfie! |
After the race we headed
back to Key West and had lunch on the upstairs deck of Schooner
Wharf Bar at the historic Key West Seaport. The view was
amazing, the weather was perfect, and the food was fresh and delicious. I
didn't want to leave. We'll be back soon.
Everglades (Royal Palm and Shark Valley)
So..... I wasn't ready
for my fabulous weekend to end. I may or may not have decided to spend Monday
in the Everglades instead of with a bunch of third graders. I stand by my choice.
I had wanted to spend a
few days during my Spring Break doing some extensive Everglades exploring, but
I was inconveniently sick the entire time, so it never happened. By the time I
went this day, it had gotten a little late in the season and there wasn't a
whole lot out there to see. During the dry season there is (obviously) not a
lot of surface water, so a whole bunch of wildlife will gather in the few areas
where it stays wet. Once the water starts rising all the wildlife is able to
disperse to other areas of the park and so there really isn't that
concentration of animals all in one spot anymore. I still saw a few things, but
had to look a little harder.
My plan was to drive all
the way down to Flamingo, and using one of my recently acquired books The Photographer's Guide to the
Everglades, work my way back up to the Royal Palm visitor's center,
stopping off at several points of interest where I thought I would find some
good photo opps. Well... I never checked the conditions on the NPS website
before I went (what is this, amateur hour?), and apparently there was a fire
burning at the Long Pine Key Campground, so they weren't letting anyone go
anywhere south of the Anhinga Trail at Royal Palm, which is like the very first
point of interest after entering the park. So I was limited to the Anhinga
Trail and the Gumbo Limbo Trail, which significantly shortened my time in that
part of the Everglades. So afterwards, I had time to head up to the Tamiami
Trail and go to the Shark Valley entrance. I only walked about a half mile of
the trail, but got to see some baby gators! The photos below are in no
particular order, as I just uploaded them and imported them in whatever order
they loaded themselves. At this point in this post there are no more cares as
to matching photos to time order. So sorry for the randomness, but enjoy the
Everglades! :)
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Everglades
fire in the background
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| Gumbo Limbo tree |
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I
literally almost step on one of these like every single day, but this one was
posing for me so I couldn't resist. :)
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| why it's called sawgrass |
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| baby gator! |
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A
big tree overturned, I thought it looked kind of cool. There was another
fallen tree with like a little cave dug out underneath; some insane person
climbed down off the trail and stuck her head inside, peering around. I was
just waiting for something to come flying out and maul her face off.
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| Don't pet gators. |
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| so cute!!! |
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| I
stopped off at Robert is Here between my Royal Palm and
Shark Valley visits for some fresh mango, a book, and of course, a t-shirt.
This guy was hanging out, posing for pics. |
Happy Friday everyone!!!
