Florida

As we've been home for two weeks, I think it's high time I blogged about our trip to Florida.

The trip down was fun, but I've always loved being in the car. We listened to music, played the alphabet game and admired the scenery.

The mountains near Chattanooga were my favorite part of the trip. So beautiful.

The terrain changed the most in Georgia. Northern Georgia has a lot of hills and pine trees. Once you get past Atlanta, it is a lot flatter with cotton fields and peach and pecan orchards.

There were a few palm trees in southern Georgia, but they were mostly planted around buildings. It was really exciting when we reached Florida and began to see them growing naturally in fields.

And, of course, when we arrived at our Grandma's house, I got my picture with the palm tree in her front yard.

While we were in Florida we took a boat ride through the Everglades, drove along a stretch of water and counted 50 alligators, and went to Epcot for one awesome day. All of these were amazing, but the thing I will miss the most about Florida is this:

The water was cold, but it felt great to wade until your feet went numb, then stretch out on the sand until you were warm again. I collected a pile of shells, too, walking along the beach with my feet in the water. I went all the way in and played in the waves, one day, which was insane but fun.

And if the water was too cold you could always play in the sand.

These are my brothers. The little one is Andy, and the one with no head is Kevin. He dug a deep hole in the sand (he ended up hitting water eventually) and stuck his head into it, balancing with his hands on the edge of the hole. Yep, that's talent.

This is me and all my siblings. And my nephew. Isn't he the cutest? I'm the one hiding in the back, peeking over the baby's head.

This was my favorite vacation ever.

On the way home we stopped briefly in Metropolis, Illinois, the home of Superman.

This statue is bigger than it looks. I was barely as tall as his leg.

Well, that was our trip. Before you go I have a brief tale of today. 

Last night the snow started falling and it hasn't stopped since. We've gotten about six inches. Normally I would be ecstatic about six inches of snow, but not when I had somewhere to go. Today was supposed to be my first day working in the writing lab at school and I was very excited.

This morning I woke up early and got ready to go. I walked out to the car through the bitter cold. I braved the elements, driving on slippery, snow covered streets. I drove to the school, 35 minutes away (45 in the snow)-- only to discover an empty parking lot.

That's right, I was so excited to begin work that I forgot to check the school website. We were closed due to "inclement weather." Something tells me this should have occurred to me earlier.

~Jane~