Expiration

Last March my family bought an annual membership to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.  For those not familiar, that is where Winter the dolphin lives.  Late in 2013 and early 2014, they were filming Dolphin Tale 2 at the Aquarium and had it closed for filming off-and-on for two months.  Because of that, they extended our membership through the end of this May. 

Last month I also purchased discount tickets to go to Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa and they expire May 30.  So what's a girl to do when you are in the last week of the month and have passes to two places about to expire?  You go to both of them in the same day, of course!

We had been to Lowry only once and that was 3 years ago.  I remember there being animals as well as a few rides for the kids.  We've been to the Aquarium a couple times in the last year so I figured we'd spend less time there so we started at the zoo.

We spent about 3.5 hours at the zoo where we walked just about every path we could.  Being that it was 90 out we also stopped for snow cones.  Aside from the fact that they helped cool us down, we were able to dispense our own flavors.  I had a wonderful tropical fruity concoction while my kids had I have no idea what to call it... a fruity cacophony of flavors.

Unfortunately, the two rides my kids were most interested in were either closed or they were to big to ride  :-(  Did I mention they were water rides which meant our initial plan for cooling off didn't work.  Yay for snow cones!

We were able to see a couples shows, as well as see some animals up close.  So all in all it was a good time and I'm glad we did it.

Lorwy is one of 5 locations in FL that takes in hurt manatees

National bird.  Got to see one fly and heard their call (very different than what you think).

Baby is almost 2 years old.

One of my daughters favorite animals.  Flock flew by us and one right over us too.

After the zoo we drove over to the Aquarium and spent about 45 minutes there.  We got there just in time to see most of a Winter show / training session and got to see some of the changes that were made for the filming of the new movie.  Although this was a really short stop, I know Winter is a favorite of my daughter, so I'm glad we went since I don't think we'll be going back for a while.

Winter is way down there in the middle of the picture.  Down side of getting there late = bad view.

Only thing about the trip I disliked... the drive.  It's a long drive to begin with, but on the way home we encountered 2 separate accidents with overturned SUVs which had traffic backed up big time.  In fact, it delayed us so much that we didn't get to see my hubby before he had to go to work.

Juggling Act

Many of you may not know, but the area where I live in Florida is very popular for circus performers to live.  Why?  Because there are winter homes for the circus animals in the area so they often have circus performances in the winter around here.  In fact, the person we bought our house from used to be in the circus. 

Well, yesterday I felt a bit like I was in the circus.  We had friends from Virginia were vacationing in Florida for a week and we decided yesterday was the day to get together and catch up.  We have kids with similar ages so we decided to meet at a tourist attraction the kids would like.  We chose Clearwater Marine Aquarium (home of Winter the dolphin).

When I picked this date and put it on my calendar, my work load had been pretty light.  There weren't that many new leads coming in and I didn't have many clients who wanted to see properties right away. 

That changed two days ago.  The FREEZING cold temperatures up north has made it so more people from up north are eager to move now rather than later. 

I was not about to cancel my plans, so I had to do some juggling and prioritizing.  I dealt with a couple things before I left.  Then at lunch, I made a couple phone calls to try to schedule showings for someone to see today.  A couple hours later, I made a few more phone calls to new prospects.  Then when I got home I made more phone calls, sent emails, and did some research for my clients.

It was a busy day (it seemed more so mentally than physically), but I made it.  My clients aren't any worse off, my kids and I got to see our friends who we hadn't seen in a while, and I got to feel like I have at least a little bit of a life.  All in all a good day.

My daughter is convinced she will work with Winter one day.

Winter really is an amazing dolphin

Nicholas - the only male dolphin is very entertaining

The van they use for rescues.

"Stay back!"

Run away....

Cool to see they have bones in their flippers.

A New Day

A couple days ago, I complained about all the things that had been going wrong with the camper recently.  Well, thinks have brightened up significantly since then.  The camper is no longer giving us grief and the weather has cooperated in such a way that we've been able to enjoy the island.

When we sold our stuff in preparation for moving (to Australia or to the Southern US), Jon and I decided to sell our bikes.  We had used them maybe 2 or 3 times since we'd bought them and we didn't want to store them.  The last couple days we've regretted that decision a bit.  You see, Sanibel Island is a bike friendly location.  There are 27 miles of bike trails on the island and they take you all over.  So we decided to rent a couple bikes for us.  Although our daughter can ride a bike, her endurance and control are not as good as we'd like for the trips we want to make, so we also rented a pull-behind trailer for our her.  It has made the last couple days SO much more enjoyable.  Yesterday, we were able to go down to the beach and collect a few shells.  As we were about to leave we saw 2 dolphins swimming not too far off the beach.

Last night, I was able to ride alone for 30 minutes or so and it was just what I needed.  It had been so long since I'd gotten in any really good exercise and it felt GREAT!  Not only that, but it was nice to have some alone time (no fixed address means no babysitters, which means no dates or much alone time for Mommy).  My only complaint is that the seats on rental bikes are AWFUL!   My bum is a bit sore from yesterday, but that did not stop me from taking the kids down to the beach again this morning.  Gotta take advantage of being here while I can.

I can certainly see why people love living here.  I could get used to this.  I just wish I could afford it.