Part Three - Silver Springs

 Part three! This was my FAVORITE day of the vacation. We went to an animal park called Silver Springs which had lots of different animals in natural settings. the park was very well kept and extremely nice.

The front entrance :) The whole park was very pretty and the weather was absolutely perfect

Being eaten by an alligator? Oh yes :)

Pretty bird! He was mean though - he kept trying to bite me!

They had several animals shows where they brought animals out and had them perform for you. This bird could say all sorts of phrases and made us all laugh a lot!

Turtles sunning themselves on a log :) Cute, aren't they?

WE GOT TO HOLD A BABY ALLIGATOR!! He felt pretty cool. Don't worry, his mouth was fastened shut! My mom was really loving it, can you tell?

They gave tours in glass bottom boats. There were two routes and we got to go on both of them. Our captain on the first ride was very fun and informative, and the second had beautiful, clear water! Very cool :)

They also gave a jeep tour through another animal section with bears, llamas, emus, and other neat critters. We go to see emu eggs! And a zebra striped jeep? I think yes! :D

Isn't this the coolest carousel ever? I was bummer that i didn't get to ride it, but I did get lots of pictures :)

There were a TON of alligators!! They had literally hundreds. This was the biggest, and whoa, he was HUGE! I love how he's smiling for the picture.

White alligators are so cool. I had never seen one before. He looks like he's just a plastic model floating in the water, but they assured me that he was indeed real :)

Ahh, the beautiful palms and lovely, well-kept grounds. I loved being able to enjoy greenery and blue skies in April! NY is not very pretty in spring. God allowed us to go at the prefect time.

I got a souvenir - a soft, plush white tiger! He is so snuggly. I named him Libre, which is Spanish for free, because he is a free spirit. Haha!

Oh, I had so much fun that day. if I lived down there I would definitely get a membership so I could go more often. God's creation is so glorious and I am always refreshed when I get to spend a day enjoying the outdoors.

Florida pictures {Parte dos}

Well, time for post #2 about Florida! After a relaxing Thursday of just hanging out ans swimming, I visited my wonderful friend Katy and got to see her tiny, 2-day old baby boy Elijah! Oh, it was so precious. I spent the night with Katy and Jason's siblings (who are some of my best friends) and we had an amazing time together.

Finally!! Holding the darling baby boy <3

Such a cute, grumpy little face!

The next day my mom and Grandma and Zach came by to pick me up on the way to the beach. It was late in the day when we got there, but it turned out to be perfect because the crowd had diminished and the tide was high. I really loved how warm the water was, and how cool it felt to be hit my the waves and try to ride over them. Also, I especially enjoyed how soft and white the sand was - perfect for sculpting! I made a castle before we left. And I got to collect some shells. :)

On the way to the beach for the first time ever!!

Mom had SO much fun in the water - she stayed in longer than any of us!

Not a very pretty picture, but it did look nice in person :)

What a masterpiece! I had so much fun making it and I thought it looked pretty good.

You know how people always write their name and their lover's name in a heart in the sand? Well, I decided I would do that too! :) <3

And, a picture just before we left. It was starting to get dark, and it was very peaceful.

Just those two days were packed with many wonderful things, and that was just the beginning of the vacation! We made lots of memories to take home. :)

Florida Photos - Part 1

 Well, I finally have pictures from my trip to Florida. It took me a while to get them on the computer, sort through all 8969875105 of them, and to all the adjustments necessary to make them presentable. I have so many wonderful pictures that I will have to do quite a series of posts to upload even a sufficient sample of them for you to see. :) So here are pictures from the first couple of days.

My first time flying! I know this isn't the most spectacular picture, but let me just say, it was BEAUTIFUL in person! I have often seen other people's airplane pictures and thought "Ehh, that's not so great, it's just the sky." But seeing the clouds and the brilliant blue from above for the very first time... breathtaking.

 M and my dear mother on the plane. We were so excited about what adventures the week would hold! Or at least I was. She was was much more peaceful. :)

 Zach and I! Since Cody and Erik are gone now we have bonded more than ever. Spending the whole week together, we learned a lot about each other and had lots of fun. And btw, don't I look tan in this picture? I came to FL with a tan and went back to NY without one. Since when does that happen?! :P

 I tried to read but discovered that airplanes do not make ideal reading nooks at all. So, I just let myself get lost in all of my thoughts - deep ones, hopeful ones,  random ones, and all sorts of other miscellaneous ones and pointless ones. <3

 Grandma's mobile home, which was home sweet home for the next week. It was actually quite nice. It had a screened-in porch, which was fabulous for enjoying the cool evenings. The indoors was neat and nicely decorated, with all the comforts of home. 

I don't know what these flowers were called, but they smelled SOOO good! And I just loved the way they seem to cheerfully overwhelm the fence as they burst through every gap.

 I had never seen Spanish moss before, so i was quite fascinated by it. In the end I decided that I think it is very ugly, but it was a cool part of the Florida experience. :P

Palm trees!! Since I have heard so much about the tropical look of Florida, I couldn't wait to see all the palm trees. And, as you see, I was not disappointed. :)

 Strange spiky bush in the garden... very different from northern plants, to be sure!

Oh, and orange trees! It was neat to see groves of orange trees overflowing with fresh oranges. I never did get to eat one straight from the tree though. I don't know why... I totally should have! 

 And I suppose I will end this post with a picture of my adorable new bathing suit! We had it custom ordered and it turned out quite nicely. I had actually hoped for it to be a tab bit longer, but that's okay. And what's really neat about it is that it has shorts attached under the skirt! Very handy indeed. :) I totally love the colors. And, although you can't see it, my sunglasses have little jewels that match my suit. Sweetness! We really enjoyed having a pool to swim in whenever we wanted to. Swimming is SO fun! 

I guess that concludes the fist part of my Florida posting. Hope you enjoy the pictures - have a lovely day everyone. :)

Florida!

Hello everyone! I am in Florida right now and LOVING my vacation. It's been a bit of a rainy day but that's okay because we have plenty of other things to do. We went out to breakfast at Golden Corral this morning (delicious!) and I am STILL not hungry at 6 PM! Lol :) Right now I'm sitting on the living room floor of my Grandma's mobile home watching Family Feud and eating peach rings. This morning we went to a flea market and I found some great deals. At one booth I bought an amazing birthday present for my best friend which I am tempted to keep can't  can't wait to give her, and at another I got some cute seashells with pictures on them as a souvenier for myself and two of my friends.

So far the best part of my trip BY FAR has been seeing Katy, her family, and teeny tiny baby ELIJAH SAMUEL! He is so beautiful. He's quite a little grumpyface! Usually his face his scrunched up in some adorable way, even though he's quite peaceful and content. Hopefully I will be able to upload pictures when I get home - I don't have a card reader with me.

After a fun morning with great friends yesterday, we went to the beach. The taste of salt, the feel of the warm waves, and the soft sand all added up to an amazing experience. Feeling like a master builder and artist, I created my first sandcastle EVER which I am quite proud of. And, I collected a few pretty seashells of various colors.

Well, soon I will have plenty of pictures and LOTS more to say. Hope you all are enjoying your weekend as muh as I'm enjoying mine!

Adventures

Well, life is as busy as ever! The past week has been mostly just school and normal life, but tomorrow I leave for Florida! I am am So excited because 1) I have never been to Florida, seen the ocean, or even been on a plane before so it is a new adventure, and 2) My very dear friend Katy happens to be 10 minutes away from where I am going (my grandma's cabin) and she just had her first baby very early this morning so I cannot WAIT to see them both!

My life is a wonderful adventure these days and I am loving every minute of it. Here's a sampling of some of the wonderful things going on in my life these days:
1) Practicing Moonlight Sonata (3rd movement) for a recital on may 17th, and my part of an 8-hand arrangement for church in 2 weeks
2) Reading the book Radical and studying it with our youth group
3) Planning for a month long trip to Arizona this summer to intern with a missionary pastor's family in a Hispanic church plant (which happens to be only a few hours from the Grand Canyon - maybe I'll get to see it!)
4) Going on a plane for the first time this week
5) Looking into/praying about going to New Tribes Bible Institute after high school
6) Going to Florida, seeing the ocean, and maybe even swimming with manatees - how cool is that?!
7) Seeing a friend who is now married, in her own home, and a mother! I can hardly even comprehend it!
8) Going to a "Heart of Addiction" counseling conference next week at our church
9) Watching another brother move away and my last one preparing to be gone for the summer - yikes!
10) Experiencing my walk with Christ becoming more personal than ever in prayer

I am so blessed!