home again

We had to say good-by to Rebecca this morning

After George got home from taking Rebecca to her conference we went to Lake Louisa State Park.  The weather was perfect.

The water looked red.  I guess it is the tannic acid in the water from the swamp.

Once we got home we had to pack up the car and head off to the airport.  Nathan stayed at the condo for a few more hours. 

The flight home was uneventful.   We got home about 7:30 pm.  

rain, rain, rain

It is a good thing that we decided to do the airboat ride yesterday.  Today would not have been a good day to be out.  We walked over to the activity center because we heard they were giving out mimosas from 9 to 10 am.  Nathan and I each had one.  They were not free but at least they were big glasses for $3.  Also I think that they were just mostly orange juice.  Oh well.  We sat over there for a little while.  George and I read while Nathan continued to work on his paper.  It is supposed to be a 10 page paper and he said he was on page 45.  Do you think the professor will notice? He is trying to change things so that it will be fewer pages.

cute little ducklings

We order pizza delivery for lunch

a very hearty all vegetarian stuffed pizza pie.  It will make good leftovers. 

a very quiet day, We took brief breaks to walk or play a game.  George went to get Rebecca.  She has a lot of reorganizing to do to head back to India.  We brought her a lot of stuff.  Some of which will return with us.  She will be here until Monday morning.  After the conference she will go stay with a friend in Orlando.  We head home tomorrow.  Nathan heads off to Spokane for a 10 field trip through Idaho.  It is part of a school class.  Then he will go to Peru for the summer. 

Temperature-wise today was the best day.  It was cool and not muggy.  Too bad it was raining all day.  Nathan has until midnight tonight to get his paper done.  I think it is now down to 28 pages.   

Tuesday, May 3rd

yesterday

same view, today after last night's rain

bird sunning itself - drying its wings on the floating golf green

never seen a bird sit still so long with it wings out.  We had plenty of time to take pictures.

All of our towels, which we had put out on the porch to dry, are dripping wet.

That was quite a storm!

After George got back from taking Rebecca to her conference we went to the Boggy Creek for an airboat ride through the everglades.  

2 year old alligator.  We got to touch it.  Its skin is much softer than I thought it would be

Airboat

Very pretty day

some blue flower

can you see the baby gator?

the cows like to go in the water to cool off.  They are not afraid of the gators

another baby gator

Cypress tree with pink snail eggs around the base.

airboat going by

Cypress trees with Spanish moss

Grandpappy Gator.  He is about 30 years old and 11 feet long

Sandhill Crane

It was a 45 minute tour.  Very enjoyable.  When we were done we had a picnic lunch and then drove home.  Had to get Nathan home to work on his paper some more.  He has been working very hard on these papers.

I went out back to take a few more pictures

We left about 5 pm to go pick up Rebecca from her conference and then we went directly to Disney Springs to meet the daughter of my cousin, for dinner.  Disney Springs is an outdoor mall which has opened up outside of Disney World.  A lot of restaurants and activities.  

An Irish restaurant

My first cousin once removed, Mary.

brief clogging show

delicious meal.  I got a asparagus, cheese tart and a Scottish Egg.  

pretty sunset.

street performers

storm troopers meet Mickey Mouse

Fun evening

Monday, May 2nd

We went for our morning walk.  We keep getting distracted by the cranes. 

Debbie they have floating golf greens on the pond.  After our walk, George had to take Rebecca to her conference. 

Nathan and I played 18 holes.  I won 52 to 61!!

Nathan finished up paper number 2 and and started in on paper number 3.  We took a break to go to Subway for lunch and then Publix for a few more grocery items.

Nathan gave me a hard time about taking flower pictures.  

He took another break to go to the pool and the lazy river.  We had a lot of fun at the waterfall.

I am pretty sure that this is against the rules

Nathan and George both enjoyed the slides.  

lazy river was my favorite. 

Thanks so much Trudy - this is fabulous.

Back to the condo so Nathan could work a little more.  When George went back to pick up Rebecca we hit the happy hour by the pool.  We had the Gumption Hard Cider. 

 It was very good.  When George and Rebecca got back we did take-out Chinese.  It was good.  While we were eating we saw pictures Rebecca had of "her" kids.  Very cute.  She has quite a relationship with them.  

In the evening there was a huge lightning storm.  I tried unsuccessfully to take pictures.  Did not work AT ALL.

Lightening was happening, really - I just couldn't react quickly enough.

And then it poured.

All our towels drying on the porch are now drenched. Maybe they will dry tomorrow.