Holy geez has it been a busy few weeks for us. I'm just now getting around to blogging about the last few weeks, because we've had a couple of trips in there. Mix that in with Calib and Peyton having school and work, and getting things done with Hayden and we've been running all around here at the Waterstrauts.
So, let me take you back to a simpler time- back to on call week. Which, admittedly SUCKED this last time. Asa was getting pages every single night multiple times in a night and I was sleeping like I had a newborn again. It was rough. Plus, you know, Asa can't go do anything that takes him too far away from his laptop, so we had a pretty chill weekend at home. We ran errands and stopped at Blaze for lunch and Wawa for Siptopia. Guys, we have just 12 days left of Siptopia. What am I going to do without my blueberry pomegranate smoothie (no yogurt add whipped cream)?!? I guess I'll have to just enjoy the pumpkin spice coffee while it's still there.
And if you can't go to far on a Saturday, at least you can catch some college football.
Sunday of on cal week we did our usual bike ride, which now includes the Connerton Wilderness Trail. But as it gets cooler (barely- I'm talking TINY TINY amount here people, it's still supposed to be 90 today- which is better than 95 but still it's almost November!), there's a ton more people out wandering the trail. We did catch an alligator sighting though.
I also finally got around to planting all my plants my mom bought for me in the front flower bed. It doesn't look like much now, but I can't wait to see how they grow. They are mostly all butterfly plants and good for bees and such. I'm trying to make a little sanctuary for pollinators!
Of course Sunday is for football. And while I do occasionally miss the baked potato bar, we've had a taco bar every Sunday we've been home so far this season. But, can you really complain when you have tacos, coffee, and football on a Sunday?
I do have some dog pictures for you, before I get into my trip with Asa. I still count myself lucky Etta fit in well with this family. Her and Ellie have been buddies lately.
Plus, you know, she loves us. But especially Asa.
She does wait for me every morning though. That's my coffee spot, and Etta likes to cuddle up with me while I drink it. It's actually lovely. I think I enjoy my morning Etta snuggles as much as she enjoys it.
She still isn't walkable for me, though. I'm not sure she ever will be. She's just reactive to EVERYTHING out there on the 'streets'. But, I have done a good job wrangling three dogs on my morning walks when Asa can't make it.
Some days, or really just a couple days it was cool enough to take the dogs on the whole loop for their morning walk. Unfortunetly, half way though the walk it started downpouring on us.
Hayden and I have been plugging along on school work. This month's Finer Things Book is To Kill A Mockingbird, we're doing some Geometry heavy math, and he's getting better about not complaining when he has Tinkering Tuesday for STEM Challenges. Although, I totally kicked his butt in the 'who can build the tallest straw tower' competition.
Rock Band has also made it's way back to a staple in the household. It comes and goes, but lately it's been here, and it's been loud. But, you know, they love it.
Also, now that I'm writing this blog like nearly a month after I took this picture I have no idea why Calib is standing on the coffee table, but here is his. I think he might be yelling at Peyton about high scores on Rock Band, but I'm not entirely sure.
Hayden's also had some fun library classes lately, but he really enjoyed the water color class. They also just started a home school specific Jr. Woodworkers class, so we're excited about that. He's also been volunteering for the younger kids stuff, so he's at the library a couple times a week.
Asa finished his on call rotation on the 11th, and by the 12th, we were off on another adventure. His boss asked him if he wanted to attend a conference in Miami (since he's clearly closer than all his co-workers in Southern California), and he thought it would be a good experience. Meanwhile, I thought I could finagle a little fun out of the trip. He didn't have to be in Miami until Sunday evening, so we left on Saturday and decided we'd stay in the Naples/Fort Myers area for the evening.
We decided to visit the Ford & Edison Winter Estates and grab ourselves a pass. It wasn't much more than the price of admission and they have reciprocals with three different organizations (for museums and botanical gardens all over Florida!)
When you visit you get to check out the winter home of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. The houses are fun, and you get a little speaker thing to do a self guided tour. Fun fact: Herbert Hoover was even a guest in that dining room.
Of course, Henry Ford spent his winters there too, so there's a garage of sorts to check out all the old cars.
More than the houses, though, the grounds are just gorgeous. It's right there on the water with tons of cool trees and pretty flowers.
It also has one of Florida's first swimming pools!
The caretakers house is turned into a tiny little museum of sorts.
You can also check out his workshop or his little lab too. It's kind of fun to see. Overall, I highly recommend a trip here. I thought it'd be a bit like Monticello, and it wasn't quite that cool- but I am glad we got the pass and I'm hoping to go again, maybe around Christmas time to see the lights!
We stayed at this fun little hotel called Drury Inn, and they had free breakfast, dinner, and drinks!
We didn't go all the way to Miami on our first night because I thought it'd be fun to stop in the Everglades the next morning, so we were up early to make the rest of the drive and stop along the way. We made a stop off at some of the viewing centers and found four alligators along the boardwalk. There were some really big guys (or gals!) here!
Continuing on we stopped at the Shark Valley visitors center.
There is a 15 mile trail that loops around the Shark Valley Visitors Center. You can rent bikes or take a tram, so we obviously decided to rent those bikes.
We stopped a few times along the way to check out some trails. And man, those are some off the beaten path trails.
Halfway through the loop is the observation tower. This is where the tram will take you if you don't want to ride your bike all the way out here.
We rode our bikes out there and climbed up to the top- where you can see for miles and miles. The pictures don't really do this justice. And it feels like less of a big deal getting out there if you didn't know that it was like 95 degrees and we just peddled 7 and a half miles out there.
I tried to take a panoramic picture to get it all in.
Once we were out there we did take a break to eat out peanut butter and jelly sandwiches- which these crows were real interested in.
There was also a fun (and a tad bit scary looking trail) out here. You crossed this little wood "bridge" and into a sort of muddy trail.
And then we found something kind of terrifying.
Inches from the trail was a tiny little alligator hiding in the swamp greens. Like, the tiniest I'd ever seen. Can you spot him? This is terrifying because I'm sure his (or her) mom was around- and this trail was like not elevated or protected at all. Meaning a very upset mama could have easily swallowed me whole. (Were you guys aware of my fear of alligators? I am actually kind of terrified of them. You guys, they're LIVING DINOSAURS!)
Anyway, we high tailed it out of there after our discovery (or at least after we first snapped a few pictures of our discovery) and continued back on the loop for the last seven and a half miles.
At one point Asa spotted another alligator and called me over. I was pulling out my phone to take a picture and the gator totally SNAPPED AT ME! Asa says it was just a warning and I was over reacting. But I am not known to over react to such animal encounters. A gator tried to eat me in the Everglades. I'm an adventurer! I even had my adventurer hat on for the occasion.
Back up at the visitors center we returned our bikes and walked the Bobcat Boardwalk Trail, but unfortunately, no bobcats were found.
And that was that for our morning in the Everglades. We did miss the Bucs game because of it. But, as the Bucs do, they got blown at in London, so we were glad we didn't stick around the hotel to watch them. Plus, adventuring in the Everglades! How fun!
Up Next: A couple of days in Miami.
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