Sea Turtle Action

So, I am really terrible about organizing my pictures. As I was going through them recently I came across a lot of pictures and stories I never told of our vacation to Florida in 2013.

We stayed for two weeks at my parents beach home in St. Augustine, FL. If you haven't been to St. Augustine and you live within a days drive-GO! Seriously, I don't know what you are waiting for....aside from the beach there is so much to do there. It is a fantastic place, and I basically grew up there and never get sick of it! Anyway, back to the turtles....

This was a fantastic trip and there was a lot of late season sea turtle action happening. Usually by late July all the turtles have laid their eggs and a lot of hatching is happening, but this time around we saw tons of tracks....

One other amazing thing that happened....my brother and I went for a very late night walk around midnight, neither of us could sleep and needed some quality sibling time I suppose so thought a walk and a drink would do us some good. Well, we happened to get lucky and actually saw a turtle who had just laid her eggs and was covering the hole, then made her way back to the ocean. We of course watched from afar as she made her way back to the ocean but it was pretty amazing, something most people never get to see.

We didn't get pictures of her because 1) we didn't have our phones and 2) we would have needed a flash and the turtles are very sensitive to light. The positioning of the moon guides them to and from the ocean, so any lights on shore and things like flashlights and camera flashes can disturb this, so if you ever see one just know your memories are good enough, let them alone and quietly, from afar watch them. Also, never ever touch them or the eggs.

Another interesting thing about the turtle we saw is she laid her nest really far down on the shore, super close to the ocean. There may have been something wrong with her as we've never seen a nest that close to the ocean, even the "turtle patrol" woman said it is very unusual for that to happen.

This was after the "turtle patrol" had come by, they saw the nest and were worried the eggs would get crushed by passers by or be endangered by the incoming tide, plus it was right in the middle of the driving path so they moved the nest, higher up.

This is the nest after they moved it.

Crabs can sometimes dig down and will eat on the eggs, that hole indicates something most likely got down there. :( There are several other predators that can snack on the eggs so these little guys have a lot to go through to try and survive.

Here are some more fun next pictures:

We wanted a picture with the nest, this was a good as it was going to get ;)

You can see from this picture how close that next we saw was to the ocean, I was standing at the shoreline....

Once the "turtle patrol" finds a nest they mark it with pink ribbon, then as the gestational period goes on they then mark it with different colored ribbons and will add cones around it as it gets closer to hatching to keep people away. The patrol will come down and check on the nests and make sure all the turtles made it, if there are some stuck they will help un-stick them or they will dispose of them if they didn't make it,. They also use this I believe to sort of track the turtle population.

This sign goes on all nests because believe it or not people are dumb enough to disturb these nests and steal eggs...

 Nests at sunrise....so beautiful!

If you want to read a little more on Florida sea turtles check out these websites:

Sea Turtle Conservancy

Vilano and Crescent Beach Turtle Patrol

Fish and Wildlife Research Institute Turtle Research

Sea Turtle Tracking

This was one of the greatest experiences of my life and I was so excited to see it with my brother because I hadn't seen him in nearly 4 years! So, the fact that we, like idiots, went on a late night walk with no flashlights during a full moon and got so lucky was fantastic! Spontaneity has its perks! 

Have you ever seen a turtle lay eggs or seen some hatch?

September Blogging Challenge: What is your favorite season?

This one is difficult for me to answer. There are so many things I love about all the seasons! We are entering fall and I love it because of the leaves changing (now that I live somewhere where the leaves actually do that), it's the season of mine, hubby's, and the kiddo's birthdays. Plus, there are a few holidays. I love winter because there is Christmas-DUH! I love spring because everything is coming into bloom and turning back to gorgeous. It's just life. But, I have to say my favourite season of all time always has been and always will be....

Img Credit

I love to be warm, have the sun beating on my skin. Hubby says I am a lizard. I love going to the beach, hanging out at the pool, spending time on a lake, in a boat, surfing. I love being able to do yoga outside, hike trails, and just see sun every single day. I love being able to take vacation with my family and spend the long days with my daughter who is home from school. Here are some highlights of our summer vaca....

Kayaking and taking goofy pictures!

Finding tons of turtle nests and seeing a mama turtle lay her eggs

Watching the Sunrise with my brother

Taking crazy amazing cheer photos of my daughter in the sun.

Going back to visit my old high school stompin' grounds at Jax beach!

Visiting with my parents

Making s'mores with GIANT marshmallows!

So.......... that is my favourite season...which is yours?

Will My Days Ever Be Normal Again?!

Well, today is Tuesday. I arrived home from my nearly month long holiday way too late last night. Today I woke up way too early for a wayward traveler at 6am, threw in a T25 video to complete, jumped in the shower, fixed some cereal and a banana (thankfully my wonderful Mr. did a little shopping for me on Sunday) jumped in the car and began the three hour sojourn to Seattle-Tacoma International to pick up the teenager's dear friend who flew all the way up here from Florida. Let me tell you, I may sleep the next three days! My internal clock is all kinds of messed up. I can say though we have had a ton of fun. I do love traveling and being busy so this really has been super fun for me. In keeping with my travels for just a little longer I am going to share a fun activity we did during our vacation....kayaking!!!

This took quite a bit of discussion because my brother and his wife had never been kayaking before. My brother is the type of guy who won't really jump into anything with out really knowing how to do it. He wanted to do a guided tour but I wanted to take the teenager and wasn't paying $100 for a guided tour. So, I convinced him to go to Anastasia Water Sports. We called 24 hours in advance to reserve two tandem kayaks. When we got there at 9:15, just 15 minutes after they opened they were ready to go. They asked us to give them a little time to get everything all set up because they open at nine which really means they get there at 9 ;)....life is a beach afterall! So, the guy gives us a little instruction (it is pretty much get in and paddle lol) and we were off. If you've never been you do get a little wet when kayaking so make sure you bring a water proof camera or a case for your camera. I wouldn't really recommend bringing a cell phone or anything like because I think it would detract form getting in touch with nature.

Anastasia Water Sports is located in Anastasia State Park off of Salt Run. Salt run is a nature preserve area so when you go out you can expect to see a lot of wild life! But, as you pull out if you are going out a low tide you'll easily be able to touch the bottom of the run. There are also lots of people out fishing and one guy was even sitting in his beach chair in the middle of the run! So, going at low tide is a great time to go if you were wanting to get out of your kayak at all. The guy who helped us load into our kayak's even said that a lot of people get out at the sandbar's and tan, swim, etc. So, as we begin to kayak there are tons of fish jumping and a lot of birds. We then came along a couple of, what we believe, are porpoises swimming and jumping because they were obviously finding some good food! I got this great picture of them swimming and even got a great video! Check those out here:

Porpoises splashing!

It was such an amazing experience I was so glad to get to share that with my kiddo! We were even able to work the tandem kayak together really well....(last time was a nightmare lol). So, we kayaked for a while it was probably a couple of miles...we did a total of two full hours! We went all the way down to the lighthouse and close to the Conch House Marina. The kiddo an I were getting tired so we didn't go the full way to the Marina but my brother & sister in law did and they said it was beautiful. The kiddo and I just sort of floated around the run, enjoyed the quiet, and just the nice bonding time. 

Have to be careful in this area as there are "rocks"...obviously lol!

I approve of this activity! Tons of fun!

All-in-all I definitely recommend Anastasia Water Sports. They have the best prices I've found in town for renting and they seem to have plenty of kayaks to go around. The people who work the desk seemed very organized and super polite.

This was my favorite activity we did on vacation I think. It was peaceful, we got a lot of sun, I got to spend time with three of my favourite people in the world, two of which I don't get to see too often. I will say though kayaking isn't necessarily for the faint of heart. It takes a lot of upper body work so I wouldn't take anyone under age 10. 

TGIF!!! Knock Your Socks Off Margarita!

Yes, I am still on vacation. So, why am I so excited for the weekend?! It means I am that much closer to being back with my hubby! I have had a FANTASTIC time while on vacation but I've been away from him for over two weeks now and I miss him. Not to mention I've been away from home for 21 days and am ready to get back to the comfort of home. My Mother of course did an amazing job as hostess, after all we got chocolates on our pillow at night.

But, after a good long while there is nothing like the comforts of your home. I have a super cute post coming up that features all the pictures I took from the travel photo challenge I printed off before I left! But, today I do have a delicious cocktail recipe for you since, after all, it is FRIDAY!!! 

Knock Your Socks Off Margarita

• 1/4 cup of Everclear (Yes, this is potent thus the name knock your socks off ;) feel free to sub your favourite tequila, but it may not be quite so knock your socks off)
• 10 Lime's, Juiced (or 10 oz of fresh lime juice)
• 2.5 cups of water
• 1/2 cup honey (or to taste, we wanted ours a little more tart)

Combine all in a very large mason jar. Shake until combined. Pour into glasses over ice. Drink responsibly!!!!

Well, I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend! I know we are off to enjoy our last two days with my folks!!!

Wow! What a vacation!

Hello everyone! My posting has been sort of erratic as we've been on holiday. I did an initial post here about our vacation. It was really more of a fun little photo dump but here is a bit more info about our actual trip. There are some things I am excluding just because I think they deserve their own posts!

The first place we visited is the place I grew up: Jacksonville, FL.

My parents and my in-laws live just a few miles from one another. While here the first week we didn't actually do a whole heck of a lot honestly. We mostly hung out a home. We did go shopping, trying to find the husband a Jacksonville Jaguars Jersey. Since they've just come out with new ones we sadly had no luck, but that's how it rolls sometimes. Some things we did get to do that we were looking forward to included mostly eating at restaurants we don't have up in Canada. So, here's the low down.

Image Credit

Bono's Real Pit BBQ. I grew up eating this stuff, my brother worked there for quite a while when I was younger so this place is near and dear to my heart. They honestly have the best sweet sauce known to man. I picked up quite a few bottles and am shipping them back to our place in Canada!!!

Next we checked out Chick-Fil-A and got a chicken sandwhich. Let me tell you no matter where we have traveled there is no chicken sandwich like that of chick-fil-a. We won't have it again for a very, very long time, so I really savoured it!

Image Credit

Next was Chili's. Hubby really loves those chicken fingers! Get them done extra crispy with an El Presidente Margarita. Yum, yum!

We got some really great quality time in with the family too. I think it's really important to state here that good quality family time doesn't have to mean you spend a ton of money to be together. We had a fantastic time watching wrestling with my mother in law and father in law. As well as going to the beach and playing in the waves with all of my nieces and nephews and my brother in law and sister in law. We also spent a lot of time at my in law's pool as well as playing board games.

Beach we grew up going to! Pier used to be awesome and have a cool restaurant (it was probably really crappy lol but as a kid it was fun to go to). 

My new fave game! The Mr. is going to be sorry he let his family introduce me to this! ;)

The second place we visited: St. Augustine, FL

Ok, so this was supposed to be just a one week endeavour. But, due to my ever increasing fascination with sea turtles in turned into a two week ordeal. 

The first day there we actually surprised my nephew. My brother & sister in law knew we were coming but my nephew, who sees my daughter every year almost, didn't know. So when we walked in it was a huge surprise. He was so cute & so bashful when we walked out of the room after he got here! But, the next morning we saw this at the end of our boardwalk: 

A fresh turtle nest and tracks! It was so amazing that same day after doing quite a bit of running (6 miles) we had a bbq with some family friends. I don't want to violate anyone's privacy by posting pictures so I'll stick to showing off my plate of food: 

And here is my watermelon cake:

I will post a tutorial on how to do this soon! 

The next morning we did a really long run and decided to eat out at our favourite restaurant in town (just 3/4 of a mile from our place) Southbeach Grill. This place is so delicious and so dependable. Only once or twice can I ever remember waiting for a table. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are all equally delicious. I will be doing a whole other review on this later as it is a family favourite and I want to make sure I give it the glory it deserves. ;)

On our way home we had this weather on the horizon: 

So, we headed into town to go to the carousel when it decided to start raining. Instead of letting it dampen our day we headed way into town to the outlet mall. I will have pictures to come of what goodies we got, but I will say we got some amazing deals!!! It could just be I am used to Canadian prices, but we got almost all of the kiddo's shopping done for back to school and I managed to get a few fun things ;)

The next few days were full of swimming, surfing, and just generally enjoying the beach. My brother and I went on a late night walk on the beach and got to see the most amazing site I've ever witnessed: a sea turtle laying eggs!!! I couldn't believe our luck! Even if I'd have had my camera I wouldn't have take a picture as it would have been too dark and I wouldn't have disturbed her with a flash. We watched her for a few moments but were so nervous about disrupting her that we turned and walked away when we came back she was already gone. She layed her nest a little to close to the water so the turtle patrol did move her nest to closer up by the dunes. 

This was the turtle nest my brother & I saw laid late in the night. You can see where the turtle patrol had already dug it up. An interesting thing my brother & I noticed was that they make one set of tracks coming up and a second set going back out!

This is the next all moved. They have it nice and snug up in the dune away from the drivers and away from the pedestrians. There were 136 eggs!!

In all the research we have done my dad came across a video of a loggerhead that a couple took on our beach back at the end of may! Here is the video, it's well worth a watch! They are an amazing creature. So giant and strong!

We then had more fun swimming and just enjoying the sun! Then, at some point (days are sort of running together on me here) we went to a fantastic restaurant for dinner called The Floridian. This place was so delicious I decided I will do a whole separate review on it later. I really want to be able to highlight it.

After we did lots more working out, the men went fishing and made us fresh fish! My Aunt and cousin came to visit us so that was nice! We then went out kayaking one day. I will be doing a completely separate post on that as the company we rented from was great and the whole process was very easy. We were able to see a ton of wildlife and just really enjoy the time with my brother, sister-in-law, and daughter. I was so glad to be able to bring my kiddo along on that. It was an incredible experience. Plus, it really helped us reach a new level in our relationship having to work together to row that kayak (which previous experience told us could be disasterous ;))!

We've also been to the farmer's market, made s'more's, and saw this adorable little turtle!

S'mores with GIANT marshmallows!

Strawberry lemonade slush at the farmer's market at the St. Augustine Pier!

View of the market.

Cute turtle we saw crossing the road in Anastasia State Park.

But, this wasn't all we did! We also did a couple of hikes, had BBQ at a cute little shack, and got to see the remains of a really old plantation. I will do reviews on all those later as I want to include tons of pictures and really encourage anyone in the area to go check it all out! ;)

Well, I hope you enjoyed my little photo dump and the little bit of info I was willing to provide!

Tell me, where did you vacation this year?

My Vacation...so far...

Hello!

I keep saying my posts have been sporadic because I am on vacation. Yes, vacation for just under an entire month is what it winds up being! Yes, I am 100% spoiled thanks to my great parents and awesome hubby.

So, we left July 5th. Hubby came with the kiddo and I for the first week so he could see his parents as well. Here's a little photo dump: 

On the plane ready to go and acting goofy!

View from the plane a little while before we landed at our final destination. Not sure what city it is, but loved the view!

Delicious Peanut Butter Chocolate shake from Johnny Angels. 100% decadence. Complete review to come.

Me and my honey at Johnny Angels. We were listening to some pretty fab karaoke.

Breakfast at Mom's. Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Protein Shake.

The Pier I grew up frequenting. Love this place!

Hard to see, but that is a sea turtle nest our shadow's are looming over!

A watermelon cake! Watermelon is inside...'twas difficult to make the frosting stick, but I got it eventually.

Storm moving in.

The kiddo, me, and my mom at the ocean for a walk.

All you need is love! <3 p="">

Surfin'!

Delicious local place. Working on an extensive review. Totally amazing!

Strawberry Lemonade slush at the Farmer's Market.

Farmer's Market at the St. Augustine Pier.

So we've had quite a beautiful vacation so far. I am working on reviews of a few restaurants we've been to and fun places to visit while in the Jacksonville/St. Augustine areas of FL. Both area's are cute and unique. I grew up frequenting both areas as they are just an hour from each other. St. Augustine is a quaint little vacation spot, which also happens to be the nation's oldest city. It is famed to be the location where Ponce De Leon thought he found the fountain of youth! But, it is a city full of fun and unique shops, eateries, and other activities. Jacksonville is my hometown. Named for no other than Andrew Jackson, who has several other cities named for him throughout much of the south eastern US. It has a cute, fun little downtown area as well as a fantastic beaches area (as you can see from my Pier pic above). 

While on vacation I've been really working on my photography with my DSLR as well as my iPhone believe it or not! I've used this tutorial to take better iPhone pictures. I also printed a Travel Photo Checklist to follow to get all sorts of fun pictures! During our downtime I am working on making Love Doodle thanks to this inspiration on Pinterest! I'll post once mine is complete!

If you are looking for some more summer fun to be had at home check out my Summer Pinterest board and my Summer Fun board.

I hope everyone is having a great summer so far and whether you are doing a big vacation or a staycation you are finding lots of fun and exciting things to keep you occupied!!!

(P.S. if you want follow be on Bloglovin'!)