Not-So-Wordless Wednesday

Ok, so it isn't really Wednesday anymore, it is 12:16 Thursday morning and yet again I can't sleep (I think this is the 6th night in a row). Here are some of my favourite pics from my niece's wedding. Her Grandma took the photos - they're really good.

Fun in Florida! Day 7 (our last full day-blah!)

Of course our last day consisted of - what else? - the beach! The weather had cooled considerably but it was the last day and we HAD to spend it at the beach. Back to Clearwater Beach we went. It wasn't as busy as previous days, but still active and fun to people watch while lounging in our chairs. Didn't go into the water, it was just too cold.

Really all we did this day besides walk along the beach and on the pier was sit in our chairs and soak in the sun when it wasn't behind cloud. Not alot to report...a seagull attacked Sid and stole his sandwich right out of his hand...but it was still a fun day indeed.

Fun in Florida - Day 5 & 6

Sorry, I've been overwhelmed lately with work and personal stuff... also went to B.C. to my niece's wedding over the weekend...will post more on that later.

Back to Florida.

Day 5 was definitely my least favourite day of the trip and I don' really have any pics to share so you'll have to put up with my ranting. We got up early (I'm not a morning person) and drove from Clearwater to Crystal River (hour and a half drive). We were going on a snorkeling tour to swim with manatees.

Manatees swim into Crystal River when the weather is colder in the gulf to feed. Well it was unseasonably warm so there were limited manatees on this day. Blah! The tour guide would drive the boat up and out of the inlets looking for signs of manatees...there weren't very many and if there was a pod to be found they were tucked up into the manatee sanctuaries (boundaries set up by U.S. Department of Fish & Wildlife - or something along that line)...when you would find one or two manatees ALL of the other boats/tours on the river would head in that direction...like 300 people trying to swim in the water to look at one manatee in cloudy water. Not impressed at all! I was really disgusted by this! No wonder they need sanctuaries. I was really shocked that the number of tours isn't limited in this area.

My husband did have an encounter with one manatee, he managed to see its body and tail as it swam by...didn't see the face but it did touch Sid as it swam by. I was totally pissed off by this point b/c we were the only boat around this manatee and the young kids that were on our tour kept pushing past me to get to the manatee. Rude little buggers! No concept of personal space and keeping your distance. I totally missed it. I left the water b/c you couldn't see anything anyway and I had had enough. What a waste of a day and money!

We drove back to Clearwater and the only saving grace to this day was that we were going to shop at Target...Target!!! I LOVE TARGET! When we arrived at Target I looked in the trunk for my purse and realized I had left it that morning in the restaurant back in Crystal River. The nausea subsided only after we phoned the restaurant and were assured that someone turned it in and all the money and credit cards were still in my wallet. How incredible is that? I was so worried about getting my purse back that while in Target I really couldn't focus and it wasn't as fun as I had hoped.

We decided we'd drive back later in the evening b/c there was no point at that time due to rush hour traffic. We ate another awesome meal at my aunt's and then headed all the way back up to Crystal River to get my purse. I couldn't think straight the entire evening until I finally had my purse back in my hands with all its contents in place. Phew! What a relief! I was so happy to get to bed that night.

Day 6 Kennedy Space Center

We drove about 2 1/2 - 3 hours east to Cape Canaveral to visit the Kennedy Space Center. The best part of the day were the alligators you would see in the ditches on the side of the road. Wild alligators! They were incredible! At the end of the day I noticed that there was a ditch full of water in front of our car in the parking lot. I thought 'hmm' maybe there's an alligator in there and lo and behold there was!!!!! It was watching us, all you could see was the top of its head and its eyes poking out of the water staring at you...we were about 6 cars away from the car and we started running across the side of the ditch towards the car and Sid took some video but most of it is just of the ground while he's running to get into the car. Hilarious! If I can how I will try to post the video (we got a new digital video camera for Xmas and we don't really know how to work it yet - these things take time, lol!).

Here are the pics at Kennedy Space Center. Because I really don't remember anything about the day I'll just use this opportunity to post "Wordless Wednesday"...don't want you to get the same glazed over look I did that day...just joking...sort of. LOL!

Oh- one more thing...we were told that the next launch is February 12th and the shuttle is docked on the launch pad about 30 days before the launch...this means we missed it by about 2 weeks. Shoot!

Fun In Florida- Day 4

Yep! The beach again. After 2 days on the beach we wore my aunt out and she stayed home. We went to a touristy beach this time full of activity, Clearwater Beach. We basically played in the water, soaked in the rays and had a nice picnic lunch. The water was a little cool, but warmer than the first 2 days. Wearing my rashguard I was able to swim in the water. Once you're in you're numb anyways, so....lol.

Sid walking on the pier:


View of Clearwater Beach from the pier:




Pelican on the pier. He's smart. He waits for the fisherpeople to catch fish and feed him instead of getting his own food:

After spending the entire day at the beach we drove an hour to an outlet mall. We didn't have much time there b/c my aunt was expecting us for dinner, we didn't have our cell charged and couldn't call her to say we'd be later than expected. So we hurried back and had another awesome dinner on the deck.

Fun In Florida- Day 3

Day 3

What else? THE BEACH! My aunt took us to Honeymoon Island where we took a ferry to another island called Caledesi Island, rated the number 1 beach in North America. Absolutely beautiful.

With my aunt, waiting for the ferry:


Check out all our gear. We packed a lunch and brought our snorkel sets:

On the ferry:

The view from the ferry. This is the beach we were at the day before:

The beach:

The water was way too cold and I went in once but my husband had a blast snorkeling. We spent some time walking along the beach together (the sand is like talcum powder) and searching for interesting shells. My favourite shell that I collected was a sea urchin. There were tons of them. I found a couple of sand dollars too.

Pelicans in the water:


Sid playing in the water:

After a fun day in the sun we went home, showered and went to Olive Garden for dinner. Mmmm! Another great day.

Fun In Florida- Day 1 & 2

Happy New Year all,

I've been overwhelmed and sick since returning from our trip.

As many adoptive parents have experienced this week, I had a total meltdown yesterday afternoon. On Monday we were sent an email from our agency regarding the new policies and court procedures set in place by the Ethiopian government. This is going to make the wait for a referral longer and also lengthen the amount of time it will take to have a successful court. I was so sick on Monday that I couldn't even process or comprehend this information and Tuesday afternoon I came back to reality and simply bawled until I couldn't breath anymore...then I cried some more. This sucks. I have also been told that the wait for a referral is now 8 to 10 months instead of 6 to 8 months. I do not see how we will get through court before the closures in August or how we will be bringing our baby home this year. Happy Frickin' New Year. Yet again another disappointment to get over, I have to re-adjust my thinking and toughen myself up for an even longer wait. 2010 it is. How are we supposed to get through this...how am I supposed to continue my regular life and pretend to be happy when really I'm not, I'm miserable. It is a good thing I don't really want to be around people b/c they really wouldn't want to be around me.

I am going to B.C. for the weekend to attend my niece's wedding and have to clean my entire house to allow my husband's family to use our house for the weekend (and we're not even going to be home). I need to take a break and share about our time in Florida.

AHHHH, Florida. I didn't think about adoption for days. I left my life and had a wonderful time.

We left on Christmas Day (airmiles doesn't have much more available at that time of year) and thankfully our flight left close to on time...I think in all it was about a half hour late. It was announced that they were asking us to wait 20 minutes for another flight attendent to show up or else they were going to cut 16 people from the flight. We had no problem waiting, lol.

We arrived in Orlando and then drove to Tampa/Clearwater in our rental car without any trouble, except it rained (actually poured) for about an hour. We were quite worried about this, but that was the only precipitation for our entire visit. The temperatures were actually unseasonally warm for the week we were there.

When we arrived at my aunt's house we celebrated Christmas by opening gifts just before midnight (got it in in the nick of time, lol). My aunt gave me a digital photo frame (for pics of baby, of course) and gave my husband a book on Africa.

The next morning we set off for the beach. We ended up at the causeway where the locals go. It is not a touristy beach full of crowds. The water was quite cold and we waded often, but mostly we sat in the beach chairs, chatting and soaking up the sun. I spotted 3 dolphins making their way through the causeway to the open water so Sid and I ran down the beach after them. So beautiful!

This beach also had fun shells and tons of pelicans to watch as they bomb the water, diving for fish. I love watching those pelicans! I think I could watch them all day. What a great way to spend Boxing Day!

We had a traditional Christmas dinner that night (Boxing Day) and the coolest thing was we ate dinner outside on the deck. It was so warm with a light breeze.

Truly a relaxing and fun day. It was so great to not think about work or adoption for once.