Sunshine State! Day 8

It was so wonderful to arrive in Florida and see my niece Kristy, her husband Cary and the boys!  I haven't seen them since August!  She has welcomed us with open arms!  She outdid herself by making us a yummy breakfast of sweet potato hash browns and breakfast meatloaf!  Thanks Kristy. 

      Today we plan to go to St Augustine and see a St Patricks Day parade. Sight see a little. The parade was fun. Scottish bagbipes, storm troopers wearing plaid and pirates with green hair!

 I really do love the color green!

 Two of my favorite people!

 

 

     Then we checked out the fort. castillo de San Marcos. 

I got a smile!!! doodah~doodah!



What a beautiful city!  So warm. It made it to 90 today. 

     We played putt putt. 

I think the boys liked putt putt better than the fort. 

 

Audrey pointed out this kid who looked like a young version of her cousin Devon!

 

 

 Shooting the cannon!

 Kristy, you are the most optimistic girl I know.  I love you!

Time for lunch on one of these quaint brick streets.

We chose Italian at Nonna Trattoria!

Ice cream for dessert!

 Hi my loves!

 

 Cool dudes!

 

 We hope its not poison ivy!

 

St Augustine is definitely a city I would like to visit again!

Day 7. Car ride

Looooong dAy in the car

Very windy and cold on the coast this morning so a good time to take a drive to Florida!  We plan to visit Kristy and Cary in Ponte Vedra Florida. I am excited to see where they live. It's nice to have a vision of a place when you can only talk on the phone most of the time. 

     Dunkin donuts first for coffee is a must!  It is supposed to take 6 hours. It ended up being about 9!  We were all a muttle irritsble but finally we arrived. Kristy welcomed us with lasagna, salad and brownies!😊

Day6 Real Estate Day

Pretty chilly day.   About 55 compared to yesterdays 82!  Breakfast buffet today. French toast with strawberries! 

     We have to meet Stacey from Blue Coast Realty in Hampstead at ten. We want to get a feel for some of the neighborhoods in case we relocate. We saw one house that I particularly liked. It was a double house; so perfect for an in-law apartment if I can get Mum and Dad to come for a bit.

                   We shall see. 

                   Is the 111 a sign?

     Then after looking at 6 different places we deserved an ice cream. 

Went downtown to a candy/ ice cream parlor.

 Homemade waffle cones. 

I had chocolate with chocolate covered cashews. Mmmmm! 

Too chilly to even lay out because it is so windy. Girls are chilling. I went to fitness room and did half hour on the elliptical then Paul and I took a walk on the beach and then back along Lumina Ave looking at all the mansions. 

     Paul and I went out to dinner alone tonite. He had a pork chop with some kind of peanut "Chow" topping. It was delicious. I had shrimp and grits!  I could not believe how delicious the grits were. Rich and cheesy and creamy and definitely not gritty!! Restaurant was 22 North. I highly recommend it. 

  Then we played a couple of games of pool. 

Tomorrow we head to Florida to visit Kristy, Cary and the boys. 

Day 5 Beach and Aquarium

My pretty girl!!

Hanging out at the  hotel this morning. I went to fitness room and rode the elliptical while watching Fraser. Love that show!  Then Paul and I walked on the beach for a bit. We saw a mailbox beside a dune. Curious, we opened it to find notebooks and pens where you could write your names, dates and any inspiring ( and some not so inspiring) messages.  Cute idea. 

     Then we lay on the beach for a while. Audrey is very happily tanning the entire time. 

     This afternoon we drove to Carolina beach which took about an hour. It is so much like Cape Cod here but the houses are all up on stilts. Probably because this area is referred to as Tornado Alley. 

The colors are bright;  turquoise, purple and  yellow. We planned to take a ferry over to a little town called Southport but of course we got to ferry and it wasnt operating for some reason. It is a bit foggy out. 

So we went to the aquarium instead. 

The first thing we saw was a Bald eagle. He is two so he wont get his white head until the age of 4 or 5.

This eagle is tame enough to walk over to a human~

This eagles name is Maverick and is comfortable with people.

 

Albino Alligator

Faith and I are in the Hurricane Tank

Wind up to 88 mph!

 

I love the jellyfish!

 Paul was fascinated watching the seahorses!

     We were so hungry and looked for a pizza place to eat at on the way back.  We pulled into three different spots to get one but they were all take out, no dining in.  Kind of strange, considering their are restaurants everywhere but the pizza places were all take out.  Finally we found a place called Marcos Pizza who let us dine in!