Just too precious!

So I get home from Tallahassee tonight and Clif shows me pictures he thinks I'll like from Facebook. (I don't do Facebook as I would never get anything done!)  Anyway, you would have thought Valerie and Michael would have showed me this while I was up there!

What a cool picture. 😍

Introducing Judith Ruby

Judith Ruby was born Feb 14, 2017 at 6:10 PM.  She is 8 lbs 13 oz and 20 inches long.

Chloe is curious as to what having a little sister is all about.

It doesn't take her long to figure out, it's a good thing.

She asks frequently, "Can I hold the baby?"

Michael and Valerie are adjusting well.

We are very excited to have another grandchild in our family. We feel very blessed, and are grateful that even though she came 3 weeks early, she is healthy!  Thank you Lord for hearing and answering our prayers. 😊😊

Pre-Valentine's Day

My sister Diane has been here for a few days helping me to purge around the house and get reorganized.  It has been a productive 4 days. It is amazing how when you do away with clutter and everything has it's place how liberating it is!

I invited Stephen, Amber, and Levi over for dinner so they could spend time visiting with her.  Aunt Diane had a surprise for Levi.  She brought him her train set that her grandkids have outgrown.  This added to what I had when the boys were little made for a great train adventure.

And while Grandma was out grilling our dinner, Amber raked up leaves for Levi to play in.  They had a good time.

                            

I don't know how my camera does this, but I get a brief snip it video right before snapping a picture.  It kind of gives you a better snapshot of what is taking place while I try to take pictures. :)

Wakulla Springs

While in Tallahassee, I decided to spend the day with Michael and Chloe before heading back to Orlando.  He suggested a boat ride at Wakulla Springs.  The weather was perfect!

There were alligators everywhere.  The park ranger assured us they are more afraid of people.  They are only aggressive towards people when they are fed and lose that fear.

Most gators were between 4-6 feet.  They are consider adults when they reach 6 feet in length.  Something I didn't know.

There were even baby gators.  Mama was nearby.  These are siblings.  The larger one is a year old, and smaller one on top was just born a few weeks ago.  What I didn't know is that reptiles sex is determined by the temperature of incubation.  Because they have hatched in the "winter" and the temperature was below 86  degrees, all the gators born are female.  Summer hatchlings are all males.

The one below is a 13 foot gator.  The largest we saw today.

And lastly, Mama gator and her babies.  A typical nest hatches about 50 babies.  Only about 3 survive because they are eaten by predators including other alligators.

We also saw manatees.  We saw 5 total, but the most special was the mom and her baby.  

Then of course there was lots of water fowl.  Many birds had migrated from Canada and the Midwest.

The the common sight of turtles on the log.

Next time I visit, I would like to return to this park and explore the hotel and hiking trails.  They even have a dive platform in the Springs.  Sounds like a good time!

Judith's Baby Sprinkling

I went to Tallahassee this weekend for Judith's Baby Sprinkling.  It was a small group of Valerie's friends, but we sure did have a good time.  So much so, I didn't even think to take pictures until everyone was ready to leave...Yikes!

Tabitha, Valerie, Shannon (the hostess), Alysson, and Katie.

We had a lot of laughter today, especially while playing the games.  These girls make for such fun conversation.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I know Valerie was grateful as well.  She has some great friends.

Shannon and I traded places.

What a creative little sign.  Shannon picked this up.  They are sticky letters that are very easy to attach, remove, and reattach.

What's left of our luncheon.  We had pulled pork sandwiches on assorted rolls, homemade macaroni and cheese, along with fruit and vegetable trays.  The cake was made by Publix, vanilla cake with rasberry filling, and whipped cream icing.  It was delicious!

We all can't wait to meet Judith when she is born.  Lots of love to you all.  Thanks for a great time.

Moving Along

Stephen brought Levi over Saturday for a visit.  We haven't seen them in a couple weeks.  Cold and Flu season are upon us!

Levi now has a makeshift ATV.  This was his first time trying it out.

He did pretty good.  He just needed a little redirection now and again.   A couple more practices under his belt, and he will really be driving around the neighborhood!

Levi loves music.  It is just too cute how well he knows the motions to the songs.  He is a bit shy of the camera though and my taping didn't do justice compared to what he had done earlier when not taping.  At least you will get the gist of it.  Enjoy!

Savage/Christmas Creek Preserve

Clif asks me, "hey you want to go walk around in the woods today?"  He had found an area we hadn't hiked yet, Savage/Christmas Creek Preserve.

Looking over the map, we decided we would start on the orange trail, then onto the green/yellow trail, intersect and take the red trail around back to the yellow trail and return.  Should be about 2 1/2 - 3 miles and take an hour or so.

Not used to seeing bear trash cans in this neck of the woods.  Interesting, especially because in the wildlife section above, it makes absolutely no mention of bears.

It's going to be a typical hike through the "real Florida"!

And for it being Jan 2, the weather was a bit on the toasty side.

Walking in the sand pit is a workout on the legs.  Much like walking on the soft sand at the beach.

Walking on the hard ground is much preferred.

There was MUCH evidence of wild boars.  We must have trudged through at least a dozen or more areas like this.

Florida's natural hammock!

The red trail had a bit of a road block.  But we managed.

I don't remember seeing a lake on the trail map.

Where are we anyway?

I decided to sit down, enjoy the view and have a light snack.

We continued around the lake, and eventually were on the yellow trail.  Funny.  I still don't remember a lake being near where the red and yellow trails intersected.

Back to the sand.  Being there were lots of tracks, thought I'd show evidence that wildlife does live here.  We just didn't see any.

I will say though, the pine cones in this area are huge!

The picture doesn't do it justice, but they were at least 6 inches long.

The hike was longer than expected.  We hiked a total of 4.86 miles in 2 1/2 hours including all our stops.

Looking at the map upon our return, we realized we missed a turn on the red trail which was misleading because the trail blaze showed an arrow to turn left or to continue straight.  Needless to say, we continued straight which took us to the Remote Control County Park for RC aircraft.  People were there shooting rockets.

So in other words, we hiked 1/2 way through the black square on the bottom of the map.  Even though the trail is not labeled, it was a road that had continued as if it was a trail.  We just got more exercise than anticipated!