Spring Break Recap

Sorry I've been MIA! I had 2 tests this week that I have been studying my little fanny off for!

I must say, it all paid off. I ended up with an 88 and a 92! :)

So, why don't we get on to what I did over spring break!?

My oldest sister, Ashlee, and my niece, Blair, loaded up the car and started on a long haul to Boca Grande, Fl. My grandfather lives down there on the water and we thought we'd go visit.

Ashlee and Blair has some Dr's appointments scheduled for the middle of the week, so we went for the weekend to spend some time with Pop!

The ride down was loooong. It always is though. It took us about 8 hours to get down there with little miss Blair having to go potty multiple times, but all we had was time!

We got to Boca Grande and ate dinner with Pop and looked at the super moon! If you didn't see it, this is what it looked like.

Then the next morning I woke up and my best friends were there! Manatees!!

There are three in this picture... but only one surfaced. I never successfully got them up to the dock. how sad. I have mentioned this in previous posts.... they were more interested in making babies than visiting with me.

This is such a typical Boca Grande Picture. 

Florida dressed man, painting in the street! Gotta love it.

After we ate breakfast and chatted, we decided we would go to the beach and look for shells!

This beach is nothing short of gorgeous.

Pop and blair looking for shells!

"Hold mama's hand"

She learned this phrase very well on this trip! There were some pretty scary stairs in Pops house for a two and a half year old. So, she would not even go close to those stairs unless she was holding her mama's hand! It was so cute watching her etch along the wall opposite the stairs until she was past them! 

Gorgeous houses down there. I took this for Ash.

We learned from pop that these 'tortoises' are endangered. They are Gopher tortoises, and Josh swears on his grave that it's the GA reptile. I'll have to look that up! But, they are endangered! Pop said there was two living right near where we went to the beach and they won't let anyone build houses on those lots! One guy started growing palm trees and irrigated it. Good way to make some money on a Tortoise lot! Sadly, one of the two tortoises had died. He was upside down :(

This guy was down the road a bit when we were leaving. They are interesting! 

These little old men were so cute! They were having a boat race in the bayou later that afternoon. Ash and I were sitting on the porch doing some homework while Blair napped and we saw them all coming out there. They had a recording that counted down and everything! Even had a fake gunshot!

pop said that this was a young osprey that has been hanging around the past couple of weeks. He was so pretty! I think he's trying to get a girlfriend!

 The second day in Boca Grande we went to the beach to play around with Blair. This particular part of the beach that we went to has mostly turned into a dog beach! It was neat seeing all the different dogs!

Blair was having a fun time! 

I call this her celebrity photo.

This child loves to swing. Thank goodness Boca Grande has a swing!

Another manatee!! And... my lame attempt to get it to come over to the dock by squirting yummy, fresh, salt free water into the bayou. No luck.

I also think that this manatee was '4-scar'. You may can tell if you click and look closer, but she has 4 scars down her back from a boat propeller. She is veerrryyy old (if it is her)! Atleast my age... I have known Pop to talk about her as long as I have been alive. Most manatees can live to be 60 or older. She always brings her babies to pop's dock to get some water, but again... too interested in wanted to have a baby I guess! I was surprised she didn't come over! She's pretty tame. Which is why she probably has those scars on her back.

After an afternoon of shopping around Boca Grande and swinging we headed back to Pop's to get ready to leave the next morning. 

Blair and Ash had their doctor's appointments in Tampa on Wednesday and my old roommate/one of my best friends just happens to live in Tampa and work on a racehorse farm.

Ash dropped me off with her and we headed to the barn!

They have about 26 horses there right now. Most of them are retired but there are a couple of 3 year olds that are about to go into training. 

This guy was huge. His name is Key Haven. He was such a sweet baby! He may be going to Colorado! Far far away! You better grow you a good fluffy coat! :)

This is Beautiful. She's forsale! She has been off the track for about a year now. I got to take her over some jumps after I took a video of Rhiana riding her.

Rhiana and Beautiful jumping

Me and Beautiful Jumping

I also got to ride another horse named Rubdown for a bit. All these horses are a completely different ride from my laid back, lazy horses. I must say, a lazy ride is a good one, but I had fun riding these guys too!

I loved getting to visit pop/ lida lee, Rhiana, Pam (Barn owner) and Rhiana's parents over the break. I got some yummy florida oranges! 

Hopefully I'll get to go back before I graduate and get a job! It's a lot of fun in Boca Grande and at the farm!