Bonnie Lads and Lass

These photos are from the Northeast Florida Scottish Highland Games back in early spring. It was really cold, wet and miserable ... not at all like the actual Scottish weather!

I think the headless displays are just the best for kids.
Mine love them and I have a hilarious peek at the event we went to.

Catching Fish and Swimming with Sea Turtles

We thought it was so cool that we were on the reef and this heron shared space without flying off.

Then we watched him catch this fish. He then left us.

This was how close the sea turtles were with us in the water. They stayed for a while, then darted off.

Good Morning Sunshine - Melbourne Beach

Okay, this was so worth getting up every single morning at 6:00am. Each was better than the last. We checked in this gorgeous light how many sea turtle tracks we could see on the beach where the mamas came up to make their nests.

Opportunities

In Jacksonville's International Airport, there is a gem, the Haskell Gallery. This gallery is prior to security so is available to all that pay for parking. We hadn't spent any time hanging out randomly until the other night, and found it to a be a wonderful little treasure. They had two artists, both worked with fiber, but had such wonderfully contrasting styles. The kids loved both, and spent a bit of time thinking about the different pieces. There were postcards at the entrance and they used the white space on the reverse to draw a fiber art design influenced by what they had seen. It was a nice stop when most of the shops are closed in the evening.

A1A from the Car - Worth It

If you have a chance to drive up A1A starting north of Daytona Beach, take it. It is a slower ride, but the view is worth that toll.

The Classic Flagler Beach Sign Stands as the highest building on the beach side on all Flagler Beach.

This is the view for miles.

Tidal Pools in Northeast Florida

Beaches near Marineland, FL and Washington Oaks State Park have cocina formations that are super cool at low tide!

Watch for Jellies!

Blooming Right Now - Central Florida

Azaleas are still kicking!


Classic Hibiscus

Beach Season is Open

This is not our first trip to the beach this year, but the number of other beach goers on our favorite beach show that the season has begun. Usually every direction is empty, but on this sunny Friday, it is populated. Okay, so all of the umbrellas are from our group, so you see it is still quite a paradise with plenty of open beach space. We were lucky enough to watch the space shuttle go up during our trip right on the beach. When I see pictures from up north, beautiful snow globe photos, gorgeous peonies and lilacs ... I remind myself that this week, when my Minnesota cousins had snow, we were here at the beach.

Welcome to Florida, Juice at the State Line!

I know just about everyone in the world thinks palm trees and beaches when they think of Florida, but that's just not right. If you want to consider a masterpiece of orchestrated landscape here, you must experience the orange groves. Not the south Florida ones, but the mid to northern Florida groves, ones that gracefully rise and fall over slight hills near Ocala. The sweetest flower is that of the citrus tree, there is just a hint of the fruit that is to come. In the rush of tourism, the classic Florida orange grove has been passed by, the interstates taking up less arable land, and the real estate on it's edges turned over to cultivate Starbucks and McDonalds.

Stop at the State Line Welcome Center, take a cup of complimentary citrus juice (and darn it, even the grapefruit juice is good). Look at some of the brochures for Walt Disney World, Busch Gardens, Miami Beach and possibly even the Keys. Spare a glance too, for the traditional Weeki Watchee, Silver Springs and my favorite, Cypress Gardens. At the Welcome Center they had displays for children to pose as a skier or southern belle for pictures.

By the way, this wayward child is hanging by his left hand, you can see his fingers at the top, which makes his head look a bit odd. He is only exceedingly dirty because he stole all the oreos from his siblings' stash as they exited the car, then crammed them ALL into his mouth.

Horse Riding Hairstyles for Girls

Being of a modest home, riding lessons is not an endless line of checks dashed off. It required a bit of thought, review of budget and a long talking to with the horse obsessed child.

Currently it had come to her attention that her hair usually looked messy. Why? I sent her to lessons with her hair up in a ponytail with a cute homemade bow wrapped around. It seems that the ponytail was yanked downward in order for her helmet to fit properly and much snarling ensued.

Ever the internet mom, I searched riding hairstyles and came up with nothing useful. So, I am going to post some experiments and post them here. It's better than a whole lot of nothing, right?

First, side braids:


Single Back Braid with Rubber Banded Bow:

This is what it looked like before I added the helmet.