Dolphins!

This weekend Suzy and I went down to Captiva Island and went on a dolphin cruise. It was really fun, who doesn't love dolphins?! They are very playful and curious animals, and apparently the more noise the people on the boat make the more the dolphins jump and play around. Here is the video that Suzy shot...

While down in that area we also went to the Thomas Edison & Henry Ford Winter Estates, here are more pictures of the rest of the day.

I love Florida sunsets, Suzy and I took a walk the other night and this is the sunset that we enjoyed.

The Edison Home, Suzy listening to the audio tour.

Their nice porch that goes all the way around the house.

Sitting on a bench in the shade listening to the audio tour while looking out over the river.

A huge mansion under construction on Captiva Island.

Suzy in front of the Henry Ford house.

Dolphins!!!

more...

A baby dolphin and the mom...

It was hard to get a nice picture with 80 other people leaning over the edge of the boat getting their hands in the way.

4th of July

Yesterday we went to the Tampa Bay game. The Devil Rays played the Royals. The Rays are the #1 baseball team in the country right now. They just swept the Red Sox. It was a fun game and they won 11-2. It was also $1 hot dog night. :) That always makes the game a little more fun. It kind of evened out the $5 soda we bought.

On the way home there was a really nice almost sunset on the bridge. It was a beautiful day and we really liked the clouds on one side.

This picture is from the other day when it rained a lot. We found a tree frog on our back sliding glass door. We see toads a lot, but the frogs usually stay in the water.

This is a turtle that we saw at the gator river. He was right up by the dock where we look for gators. He was just eating away.

On my birthday we went miniature golfing at a place I like to call Gator Golf, although that's not the real name. They had a pit with probably 20 gators stuffed in it. They didn't look all that comfortable. This one had a turtle on its back and didn't really even seem to notice.

This is a bird that we see a lot around here. It likes to stand like this to dry off its wings.

Thats all the random things we've been up to. Hope you're having a fun summer too!

Driving to Florida

Now with better photos!

This post has been a little while in coming, but I finally am posting some of our pictures from our drive from Sunderland to Florida. On the first day we stopped and went to Gettysburg, which was a great place to see. We had a ranger guided tour that was fantastic. The second day we drove to Charlotte, NC. On the way we stopped in Buena Vista, Virginia (where my brother and his wife went to school), where we stretched our legs and walked around the campus (the big red building). We stayed the night in Charlotte, and went to Church there on Sunday morning, then we drove to my Aunt's house in Newnan, GA. The next day we went to the Margaret Mitchell house and MLK Jr. historic sites in Atlanta. Next we drove to Orlando and spent two nights there. While there we drove through my hometown of Saint Cloud, went on an airboat ride on Lake Tohopekaliga, and kayaked at DisneyWorld.



This is us posing at the center of the Rebel line looking across towards the Union line about a mile away.


Suzy loading the cannon on Cemetery Hill, a Union position.


This is the monument in the Gettysburg Cemetery.


This is the Virginia Monument looking across the field towards the Union line on Cemetery Ridge.


This is Devils Den looking up at LIttle Round Top at Gettysburg, the site of some of the fiercest fighting on the second day, July 2, 1863.


This is the Old Main of Southern Virginia University in Buena Vista, VA.


Suzy in the doorway from Gone with the Wind movie, in the Margaret Mitchell/Gone with the Wind museum.


Suzy outside the Margaret Mitchell house in downtown Atlanta, GA.


MLK Jr's grave site.


Casey on the beach at East Lake in Saint Cloud


Suzy on the beach of East Lake in Saint Cloud.


Suzy during our airboat ride on Lake Toho, in Kissimmee, FL.


Kodak moment.


Pretending to drive the airboat.


Beautiful Florida. This is Shingle Creek, the headwaters of the Everglades.


Kayaking at DisneyWorld.


The rather large gator we saw on the airboat ride, estimated to be about 10-12 feet long.


Kayaking at Disney.


Kayaking at Disney, I had to lean back to be in the shot.

Gator-Spotting

I don't want to overshadow Suzy's post below, but I had to explain Suzy's new favorite activity - Gator-spotting. When we first arrived in Florida we went on an airboat ride and saw a rather large gator in the lake we were on (picture in a future post). Suzy has really enjoyed the abundance of wildlife encounters here in Florida but especially the alligators, cause they are cool. Anyway, there is a small river, the Braden River, that is near our house. A few nights ago we decided to go down to the river where there is a wooden pier that overlooks the river. We went because the gators come out to hunt at night, and dusk is the best time to see them. That night we saw one quite large gator (probably 12 foot or so) and a smaller medium sized one (4-5 foot). Last night we decided to go check it out again, with a camera this time. We were lucky again, this time spotting three gators, with the help of a flashlight (their eyes glow when you shine the light across the water). One small gator swam right up close to the pier we were on. Below is the picture of the small gator and the sign on the pier.
Make sure to read about our trip to New Hampshire and Maine below.