Local Fun in Apex...

It brought back good memories of gem mining in our backyard when we went to this funny little place in Apex. The kids enjoyed finding polished rocks; Veronica also found an arrowhead among the discarded rocks on the ground. Later in the day, we went to Apex Lake to introduce Rachel and Ben to geocaching.

Our 5-night stay at Erika’s was very relaxing and low-key with several delicious meals courtesy of chef Michael. It was very sweet of Erika to host a swim party at their community pool for some of Veronica’s 3rd grade classmates; Ashlynn was thrilled to see Holly from our old neighborhood. We also enjoyed seeing our old neighbors, Dave and Elise (and really appreciated the loan of Dave’s car), and visiting our house for the first time since the reconstruction. Jon Provost, our contractor, was nice enough to meet me over there for a walk-thru and I was really impressed with his work.

Best Friends...

After Florida, us girls went one direction while Jimmy went another--we headed to Raleigh to stay with Erika and Michael while he went to DC to stay with Jim and Nina. Veronica was especially excited to see Rachel, who’s been her best friend since she was five (her mother Erika is one of my closest friends and her brother Ben is great friends with Ashlynn). One afternoon, I took the girls to the North Carolina Museum of Art. It had a major expansion since our last visit in 2009 and we were very impressed with the new building, which included both of these cool contemporary pieces (the massive one on top was made out of recycled aluminum and copper wire). It was especially fun looking through the Dutch and Flemish paintings in the Northern European collection.

Let the Real Adventure Begin...

The calm of our trip changed abruptly when we arrived at a spring where a local hermit lives. The rental guy failed to mention that this particular hermit was Naked Ed. He had a series of funny signs on the path to the springs, where he’s been hanging out since the mid-80s. He told us that if the kids wanted to get naked, then us adults would have to get naked, too. We appreciated the offer, but kept dressed. While the kids enjoyed swimming in the spring, Jimmy and I explored his hut and had a nice chat with him. Just for the record, despite standing next to him, he was discreetly positioned so I didn’t see him in all his glory. During the next portion of our journey, an electrical storm hit. With two kids in a metal canoe, we quickly tried to get to the side of the river. I stupidly stepped out of the kayak too quickly and managed to fall into the swamp. Later when we pulled over again to get out of the storm, a giant spider settled on my foot. Then when we thought things couldn’t get any stranger, we paddled past a dead deer in the water. While we had a great time, we were all ready to get off the river. Check out the video that Veronica made about our day.

A Kayaking Adventure in Central Florida...

After our visit to the Alligator Farm and dinner at the beach, it was time to head to Gainesville for a few nights with Vivynne and family. Our big adventure was a 4-hour kayaking trip down the Santa Fe River. Tony had to work, so he missed out on all of the excitement.

The first half of the trip was actually very calm. We had a picnic before we hit the water. We had one metal canoe, one double kayak and three single kayaks. There were no rapids or even a current; there also weren’t any signs of alligators, but we did see a lot of turtles. Part of the river was wild and part had houses along the banks. We laughed when we saw this sign: Trespassers will be hogtied and told they have a purty mouth.

Zipping over the Gators...

It was impossible to capture what they were zipping over, but they assured me that they were going over a lot of behind-the-scenes enclosures with small gators and crocs (they would have had to sign up for the longer tour to go over the main enclosure with the giant gators). Clearly I’m the only chicken in this family!

Crocodile Crossing...

When the girls heard that there was a high ropes course over the enclosures at the Alligator Farm, that couldn’t wait to sign up. Unfortunately, Johnny had to leave for a sailing regatta and Jimmy was too short, so the girls had to go without their cousins. Of course, their dad went along, but their mom stayed on the ground to take photos.

Alligator Farm...

Yet again, we expected the Alligator Farm to be cheesy and it wasn’t. Debbie and Jimmy arrived to join us in time to see big Jimmy and the girls zipping along. Then we went to see the rest of the park,  included a feeding demonstration in the main enclosure (the caretaker is about to toss a rat in a gator’s mouth with just a stick to protect her).