ROADTRiP [AGAiN] WiTH THE HiSKEYS

FEBRUARY 25th
[[on the road again, just can't wait to be on the road again.]]
Another road trip, another day. But this day is special because I'm going to see alligators, and so is my mom, my dad, and Michael, but I get to see them. We went on a power air boat and it felt like you were on a ride or watching a movie that used a green screen. it was really fun, but loud - you had to put ear plugs in. Probably about ten alligators encountered us while on the boat. An alligator even went under boat, or we ran over it. oops. We also saw an iguana and some birds, and a few turtles. There were baby and big alligators. After the boat ride we went to an "alligator show" where they played with a big alligator and let Michael hold a baby one. Then there were about twenty alligators piled on top of each other in a cage out of the water but seeing the ones in the wild were more thrilling. Then we went to the gift shop and went to the road.
We got to the house.
We left the house.
We went to Mallory square, which apparently is some famous place, then we watched the sunset and looked at the shops around the town. There was this really cool wire guy who made animals out of wire and there was a cute manatee and a penguin, but it was too expensive for me to buy and stare at and leave in my room.

FEBRUARY 26th
[[everybody was snorkeling.]]
Snorkeling is a different story, but it's the story for right now. My mom really wanted to go, so we got on our bathing suits and headed out. Clearly is was not as simple as that, but it was simple for the people not planning it, like me. Anywoo, we went on a boat called the..... err... never mind. i don't remember. I'll ask my mom, she said it was the "Caribbean Spirit." Oh that's right, it's ringing a bell now. It was my first time since the Disney Cruise when i was six! I was very scared, but calm at the same time. I was more nervous. I guess.

There were a lot of cool fish and sea life. I loved the parrot fish the best. They are my favorites. I used to think they were rainbow fish, but now i know they are parrot fish. My mom and I stayed together the whole time and we saw this midnight parrot fish that was four or five feet big. Midnight parrot fish are black and have these bright blue scales on the top. They are really cool and we followed it around for a bit. The water was chilly but it was also windy and it was a hard day for snorkeling or so they said. I hadn't been snorkeling for seven years so i thought it was easy for me. I was really happy we got to go and i can't wait to see what other adventures we'll hit along the way!

Signing out and lovin it

biking in fla

Pete here and posting on the family trip site.

I got a “new” bike!

A couple days ago I forked over $45 for a used beach cruiser bicycle to get back and forth to the library where I can study.

With only one car, and a limited budget, I set my limit at $50. I spent the last $5 on some handle grips. I am still trying to wedge them on the bike.

Yesterday was the maiden voyage. I rode the bike to the library one mile, two more to the beach and another two back to the condo.

If you’ve ever had a beach cruiser, you are glad the area is totally flat. With no gears, and only one speed, you pretty much are forced to go at a leisurely pace. Slow might be the best word to describe the pace.

It’s interesting to go slow.

Most of life the last 20+ years have been in the fast lane. Going 100 MPH it seems like.

Yesterday, I noticed so much.

I said hello to people at bus stops, many of whom looked pretty hurting.

I noticed the smell of cars, even though this sense of mine rarely seems to work.

I saw all these little shops for varieties of food and services.

I stopped at the top of a drawbridge and just looked at the water and those on their boats for a while. I just breathed in the moment.

I saw a little cigar shop and stopped and watched a guy roll a few. Pretty cool.

This simple one speed bike.

Takes me on a different pace, one I remember from a distant time.

In touch.

Aware.

I am downshifting even without gears.

New Blog, New look

You may have noticed i have a different layout, or you may not have. Well now you know i have, because I've told you.
Anyway, we went to the beach today, for a while. I woke up at noon (perfect!!) and we drove to the beach at around 1:00. Stayed there, for how long? 4 hours or so. It was warm, but the water was a tad chilly. It took forever to get my mom to wade herself in over her ankles. My dad came in, without my knowing, and scared the heebers out of me. We read. We listened to music. We lay there, how boring. We applied mucho lotion. We got burned, not me! I was putting lotion on almost the whole time. We ate. We walked around to see the shops. We drank water. You get the idea.
Driving home took a little longer that i hoped it would. I was tired and wanted to be at the house we are staying at. Eventually we arrived and lounged as soon as the luggage from the trip to the beach was hauled in. A few trips worth of stuff. Well only one, because we had three people. Michael will be arriving here shortly, tomorrow! We gave him a list of things to bring to us; the forgotten things.
I let my mom cut my hair tonight, so it's shorter. Not too short, my bangs we cut, nothing else. Don't worry!!

Annalise, signing out!

Manatee World

We went to a Manatee center yesterday to learn about Manatees and possibly see one. I'll tell you right now, that we didn't see one there. There are an endangered species. I did learn quite a few things about Manatees though like how they eat 50 to 100 pounds of vegetation a day! No wonder they are so big. We also learned that they babies are normally about 5 or 6 feet and weigh 900 pounds or so. The manatees can grow to 16 feet and weigh 2000 pounds!!
we watched a video from about 1965, or that's what my dad said. It was very informational. That's where i learned the things about manatees. We got to see a manatee skeleton and it was interesting. I got to buy a manatee stuffed animal at the gift shop and my mom got a manatee travel coffee mug.
Today was so fun! My mom went on a walk and came running back. Between breaths, she claimed she saw a manatee in the water. My dad and i got in car, (i was still in my pajamas) and drove to the water. It wasn't that far away, but far if you had to run. The manatee must have been a baby because he was small, but cute. You could see the barnacles on his back and the scars from the boats hitting him. Later we went back, but he wasn't there. I hope he found his mommy or got back to his herd. Manatees normally travel in groups, and aren't normally in this area. We showed some people and they said they had never seen one in this area or never seen one in the wild. We were very lucky to see one on the first day here!!!! We watched him for probably around 45 minutes and Michael had to go to the airport. Oh yeah, my Mom also drove back to the house to get Michael, so he could see the manatee. The manatee swam all over, and got close to the edge so you could really see it up close. You could tell why they got hit, because they stay so close to the top of the water. They have to breathe every five minutes, so we got to see him come up for air a lot! We were so excited, at least i was!! That's one thing to check off the list off things i wanted to do.
When my parents told us we were going to Florida, i said i wanted to see a Manatee in the wild, and they said that was a slim chance, but we got too!!!!!!

Unpacking, 6 days, 1575 miles

Pete writing

6:30 PM on the 10th (Rachel's Bday-no pity, she played golf at Pinehurst today) and Annalise and I are waiting for Carolyn to pick up our first round of groceries here at Publix here in Lauderdale.

Glad to finally be here-lots of time in the car, but will be glad to unpack

Annalise set the time for us to get here-in time for American Idol tonight

Spent last night with Rick and Kelley Gebauer and got to see their city and church up in Lakeland-once you've been to someone's house, community and church it just changes the way you pray for them

Going to start unpacking and getting settled

I'll let Annalise share about the trip to the Manatee center on her own

Pete out

Surprise!

Just pretend like i posted this on February 8th, because that's when this story comes around.

My family and i went to an epocolipstick (my mom calls it the church episcopal), and it was...eeerr... not very funtertaining. I had some cake, but not the icing, the icing was bad. Then we traveled on home, and did the puzzle. They were working on this 1000 piece puzzle (too much for me) and it was almost done. I decided to come in at the end and pretend like i helped the whole time, i helped some but not very much. The puzzle was finally done, except for three pieces, and an extra one left over. There was a random piece that must have gone to another puzzle, we didn't know how it got there, but it was there. We were missing three vital pieces to the puzzle, but they were gone. My Aunt Michelle and their family really want a dog, so she took us to a dog place. It was so sad, all the dogs looked sad and had a troubling past. it was one of those rescue places. They found a really cute dog, but she looked scared. her name was Martina, and my cousin Joey really wanted her. Aunt Michelle said they should think about it, so they'll have to tell me if they end up with Martina or another dog.

My dad had told me he had some surprises for me along the trip, and tonight was my first. My parents told me we were going to a show, and then in the car i kept asking, and they said some more of the epocolipstick music with an organ. i said i didn't want to go, but i was already in the car. We finally got to the parking lot, and i saw a sign saying that the Winter Jam 2009 was here. That was my surprise. I got to go to a funtertaining concert! We came at 4:10, when the concert was supposed to start at 6, and it didn't. It started at like 5:30 or something like that. My dad is friends with TobyMac, (you'll guess how, but they met at a golf course!!!!) and we got in early and got to meet TobyMac later. His friend Gabe let us in, Gabe's in the band too, and we got to pick our seats. We ended up moving four times. We were really close though and we couldn't hear for a while after. I think my hearing is just getting back to normal. After Hawk Nelson (one of my favorite bands) played we went "backstage" to meet TobyMac. There really wasn't a backstage, it was just rooms away from the noise. I've met TobyMac before, but i don't think he really remembered. I mean if you're famous, you'll probably meet a lot of people. How could you remember all of them? After him and my dad talked about golf for a while, he learned that i really liked Hawk Nelson. Toby pulled them out of their dressing room and I got to meet them!

Left to right: My Mom, Justin (drummer), Daniel (bass), me, TobyMac, Jonathon (guitar), Jason (singer), and Daddy.

This is just me and the band.

daddy's view first 24

Fun getting to be with my sis on her birthday-can't remember the last time this happened. Took her out for a little pancake breakfast at Evan's restaurant-a place her kids use to ask to go when they wanted to go to "heaven".

Long day in the car yesterday-good 12 hours and our vehicle is packed to the hilt with two months worth of stuff. Not much wiggle room.

It was not a stressful day, it was more of one realizing we were getting to pursue a dream-of being together and having an adventure and knowing we would be pursuing God as a family and discover Him ourselves outside our normal environment.

Off to a good start.

We'll be here for 4 days-gonna see friends Matt Hawkins, Bubba Chrismere and Scotland Wright this afternoon.

ROADTRIP!!!!

I'm using my dad's computer to write to you all about the trip I'm on. We're in the car and you'll never guess how bored i am! it's 6:05 and we are in, um.... Where are we, dad? Getting ready to cross into South Carolina. Oh, okay. We are getting ready to cross into South Carolina, in case you were wondering. My dad has this wi-fi chippish thing, that you plug in and can use WI-fi no matter where you are; that's how I'm writing here, in the car!
My family and i are driving ten hours today to get to my aunt's house. Her birthday is tomorrow so we get to be there for that. I can't be live it is snowing at home. I'm so jealous, i can't be there for the "blizzard". After our ten hour drive (not including the tons of stops!), we will be at my Aunt Michelle's house for four days. Then Florida here we come, and to Rick's house. He was my youth leader at my church.
Anyway, I'm signing off now, so I'll check back later and write some more.
BYE
-Annalise