Yeah. I know it's been pretty close to forever since I updated this here blog. To be honest, I've been slacking off on even reading the new posts from the blogs I follow and love. That's not really typical of me. Anyways, life has a way of just getting in the way, so I have a few minutes right now and thought I'd type up a quick post while I'm thinking about it.
I am sitting at my sister's house in sunny St. Petersburg, FL on vacation. I've been here since last week Wednesday and I leave tomorrow to go back home (which is good because I miss Rick and the boys like mad). Since I've been here I've met some really neat and interesting people, done some uber touristy things, sat around and done absolutely nothing with my sister (who is 7 months preggo by the way) except bond, gone swimming in the Gulf of Mexico, taken my nephew on an adventure and went exploring on my own. Plus, I've napped if I've felt like it and just had a great time.
I will say that Florida is hot this time of year, lol. I'm currently hiding from the heat inside because it too hot to be nice out right now. This morning, though, it wasn't too hot so I went hiking at Boyd Hill Nature Preserve and came thisclose to a big ole alligator that was RIGHT by the trail. And I had Thai food for lunch - another first. Later we're heading down to Bayboro House for dinner, which is RIGHT on the Bay, so I'm hoping there's a breeze coming off the water.
This past weekend we went to Fort DeSoto for swimming in the Gulf of Mexico. My brother in law caught 7 sand dollars for me that are currently sitting in bleach water outside so they can get all white and pretty. Sunday we had a picnic at Sawgrass Lake park and went looking for alligators but we only found one baby and that was it! (although today's encounter made up for that!!) I did, though, see a "snake bird" (Anhinga) that was really cool. He went under water, grabbed a fish and took it over to a rock for dinner. Google it if you don't know what they are - they're something else!
Yesterday, I took my nephew on an adventure. We went to the St. Pete pier and went on a "dolphin cruise"! We did actually see some dolphins but they were too busy eating and not interested in coming over to play with us, but it was still really cool. We had a blast. I think this afternoon I might head down to the bay with a blanket and book and just relax until supper time. I was hoping to get some cool stuff during low tides but the low tides aren't really low right now, so I don't think that will happen. I might go manatee hunting in the morning (lol) but I've done that like 4 times and haven't seen anything yet, so we'll see what happens.
St. Pete is gorgeous. I'm jealous of my sister just a little bit (although I hear it's fall back home, which is my favorite, so I'm not that jealous I guess!!). They do, though, have WAAAAAAY more sunny days that we do back in Michigan (average is 361 days a year, I learned). I think I'll take advantage of this for future vacations for sure :)
