Alligator Farm & Pirate Musuem

I'm glad my family appreciates my love of museums. I love goin, but not by myself hence the reason why I haven't been to all the ones in St Aug.

We got our tickets from MWR on base so they were cheaper. Even wit all our discounts and me getting in free to a couple of places we still ended up spending like 300 bucks on all our activites. Sure didn't phase me any. That means we would have lots and lots of fun. :D

Alligator farm was first on our list of the day. They had like 37 alligators chilling in one cage. They cracked me up. They are the most lazy creatures ever. The would waddle for a couple of steps and then just crash, their tummies never leaving the dirt. They had albino gators and a couple of crocs. They also had snakes and other reptiles. We sat in for a show were they talked about some of the reptiles and their stats. I was nerding out.

We managed to get their in time for their showing of them feeding the alligators. They have little pellets that they eat. Since they float in the water they can actually see them. It looked like little dog food pellets. And for treats they feed them whole chickens. Gross. You could see all the flies coming off the chicken.

Next was the pirate museum. I love pirates. I'd be a pirate if I could. LoL. But not a dumb drug smuggler like nowadays. A swash buckling bad ass from back in the day. They had a 'scavenger' hunt for the kids. Of course I did it. My prize for finding them all was a temp tat. Heck yes!

They had a lot of interactive things. You could fake fire the cannon and pick up a musket. They also had these boxes that they had put smelly things in the and you had to guess about what the cargo was. Things like lime juice and rum and tobacco. There was a computer that you could flip through the digital pages and read all about the influential pirates.  I think we damn near stayed until they closed.

One of the coolest things they had was were you walk into a room and sit on the bench and throw on some headphones. Someone was creative enough to come up with a sound system where it sounded like you were a prisoner and Blackbeard has just been captured. At times it sounded like some one was whispering in your right ear and then would jump to your left. It would sound like their were footsteps on top of you. It was awesome. LoL

Randomness from St Augustine

One of the perks of having my parents out with me was having adventure time. Although they like to have everything planned and organized I still managed to get us a little lost and on our toes.

I had looked up previously of a vegan restaurant. So that was one adventure. Them vegans must be makin some good money because all the fancy organic crap ain't cheap. LoL. They had some food I never thought to mix. They used nuts in pretty much everything. I had some sunflower seed 'burger' and Dad ate some burrito thing. LoL. Mom stuck with a salad. It was def an experience then an actual meal. I think within like 2 hours we were ready to eat again. One of the sodas they had was made from fermented mushrooms. That was a drink that you needed to get used to. I drank more water then soda. LoL. They made chips from corn and dehydrated them so that way it was still "fresh".

As per Mom's request we found her a quilt store. I think stores like that need a bench and a tv to entertain those who accompany the quilters. LoL

We saw a lot of fun random things. They had a hot sauce store that had tons and tons of diff hot sauces. One of the sauces being called colon cleanser. They also had several jerky outlets. That's where we tried kangaroo jerky and had cans of smoked rattlesnake.

the Lighthouse

So me and my pictures always fight about how to do it all pretty like from my phone to my laptop. Ya'll will just have to deal with all the pictures being weird. :D

Mom and Dad got here and I was so excited and nervous all at the same time. Nervous because I don't remember really every spending that much alone time with them. LoL. But I was mostly excited.  As we are driving home from the airport I sat in the heat of Florida in Sept wishing for a sweater. Everywhere we went they HAD to have the a/c on full blast. I was freeeeezing. I had forgotten how mild weather CO is. haha.

We ended up going to St. Augustine quite a bit. There is a lot of musuems to see and a lot of history and touristy things. The first day we went was also a big 2 day concert in which included Mumford and Sons.. Their trademark sign is a moustache. So everywhere we went they had moustaches. It was awesome, even the lighthouse had giant 'staches on it. But sooooo sooo many people. We ventured to the other side of the city to get a tour of the lighthouse.

Our tour guide really liked to talk but she knew what she was talking about. She went into detail about all the ship wrecks of the area and the dig sites and stuff like that. It was really cool to see the concretion on the iron. Apparently iron is the only metal that as it sits in the salt water will attract everything around it. So when they pull up a cannon or whatever they first have to soak it enough to get all the things it's collected off it, things like candle sticks or mullet balls or spoons.  It takes like 4 years to even get a cannon to it's on display body.

Dadda and I walked the some 220 ish stairs to the top of the lighthouse. Back in the day they'd have to carry a 5 gallon bucket of oil for the light every 2 hours or something like that. Ridiculous. LoL. Momma stayed safely on the ground and in the shade. The view was great!

Framily time pics

My phone is actin all crazy so hopefully this works. Lol

"Framily" time

* I started this at Starbucks where I had WiFi on my laptop...but my laptop's battery drained. Thus I have all the places where I was gonna put pics in. I finished this on my phone so all the pics are at the bottom. Enjoy!

For the first time since being in the Navy I finally got the chance to not have to share my time with Myra. Not that I don't mind it, but it's hard to squeeze in the appropriate Squid time with family and friends. She flew out with Bruiser and spent 10 days with me. We both agree looking back that it made us miss each other more. I believe because it was how it used to me, just me and her being rowdy. We are both planning on her moving out to FL when I get back from deployment. That'll be really exciting!! I have missed them both so very dearly, seeing my puppy nearly put tears into my eyes!!

(pic of all 3 of us)

A bonus of my bff being here is she agrees to adventure time. We decided to go to an arboretum one day. We found some funny named plants. It was nice to just walk around and talk about nothing and everything all at the same time.

(pic of farkleberry)

 It's funny how life is sometimes. A couple years ago all I dreamed of doing was working out and getting paid to do so. My was wanting to join the military. The joke is that we switched lives. LoL.

(cups in shirt)

About an hour away is a town called St Augustine. It has a lot of fun things to do there, a big tourist spot. They have Ripley's Believe it or Not and a bunch of museums. I plan on taking the 'rents when they come out. We had to plan for an activity that we could bring the little boy along with. We decided to go to the Fountain of Youth. My has better pics since I was on doggie detail but I scored some good ones.

(pic of me and Bruise on dock)

 They had  a planterium that I thought was wicked awesome. I had never been to one before. Part of the program was they made the globe ceiling like we were in the center of the earth looking out to Florida and followed the Spanish's path to St Augustine. I don't think Bruiser liked the dark room, but he sure was happy to be out of the heat!

(pic of me and my on dock)

 After that we went to another little building on the grounds and they had a short program about the Earth being 2D.  They had workers who dressed up in the old era clothing and talked about how they would make boats and their houses and things like that. The park was pretty big and had cannons that would shoot off. We were walking towards the dock and Bruise got a wild hair and just started playing and almost skipping through the grass. So of course we ran around like wild children trying to tire him out.

(pic of My in tree)

 They also had funny named animals so I just took pics I thought were funny.

 (pic of titmouse)

Before their arrival My and I had decided on some of the things we would do while she was here. The important things, celebrate Christmas, recelebrate birthdays, and go to the beach.

Christmas in Aug was a brilliant idea. We didn't really have any "Christmas" decorations so we just decorated everything, including ourselves, in red and green. We got a paper palm tree and some chem lights and taped them to the wall for our tree, angel on top and everything.

(pic of the red & green)

 Since My 's family is Jewish she's been coming to the Graff home for the holidays. However our tradition is once Mom and Dad were asleep, we'd finish wrapping the presents and drink cider and watch some of the Christmas classics. Since I'm a chatterbox we would always end up talking about our lives and the things that were important to us. Part of the Graff tradition is to bake yum yums. So that's what we did. We baked cookies (from scratch no less!) while Year Without a Santa Clause was blaring in the living room.

(pic of My licking spoon)

We ended up singing Christmas carols at the top of our lungs and playing cards. I had a friend come over and it turned into the 4 of us, roommate included, two-stepping in the living room. It was a lot of fun. I'm thinking that I might have Momma save me Christmas in a box for when I get back from deployment. That way she can get all the decorations for super cheap. :] I think for all the holidays that I end up working or that don't go my way I might just re-celebrate them. Why not!?!!

Myra's do-again bday was that she wanted a girly day. We went out and got our hair done and pedicures!

(pic of haircuts)

For my out of date birthday I wanted to get tattooed. This tattoo has a story to it. Myra's mother is hippie, a 100% down to Earth hippie. Although some of the stories she's shared with us I never wanted to hear there is one that has stuck with Myra and me. She talked about 'waterbed parties'. You show up with your date, a couple of couples jump into bed and you just do what you do and you leave with your date. There was no jealousy, no awkwardness, just free love. That's the phrase that stuck, free love. I wasn't about to seek out a waterbed or give the milk away for free. What it turned into meaning for us was to not be angry towards people. That people suck at we all make mistakes. That because you got burned by someone doesn't make that person a mortal enemy. You put a band aid on and you move on with your life. Its not always a bad thing to jump, sure you might belly flop (cough cough my marriage haha) but the lesson you learn from your flop was worth it. We used to give ourselves sharpie tattoos of free love. And since Myra knows some Hebrew she used to write hers always in Hebrew. Hence the reason why we have free love in Hebrew.

(pic of tattoo)

Beach day!!!

(pic of 3 at beach)

Since being stationed near the ocean I have put on my bucket list that one day Bruiser would get some sand between his paws. Bruiser was so funny. He didn't really like the sand all that much. I laid out a towel for him and he didn't leave it for the first bit. Luckily it was kinda an overcast day so he wasn't dying of heat.
(pic of Bruise on towel)
We sat for a long time just listening to the waves and just being still. The water has always had a calming affect on us. We finally got up and carried Bruise into the sea. We didn't get really deep because I had on a tube top and I didn't want him spazzing out and stripping me. Haha. But when we put him in the shallow part he froze. It was the funniest thing. As me and My were busting a gut he finally got the picture and walked out, then took off towards the city. I think he got used to it the more we were there. Plus his drama was rewarded with lunch meat. We walked along side the beach and made him step in puddles. Oh! And all the ladies love him. We had a couple of ladies come up to love on him.  As we were leaving we decided to drag Bruise to the water again. This time we were gonna put him in a little deeper to see if he'd swim at all. As the wave was rolling in he got the picture and paddled as much as his inch and a half legs would let him and he made it out. Myra grabbed him and sat in the water with him for a bit. He actually turned in the water and started walking back in towards her. We were surprised.

(pic of my bruise)

We took a Sunday cruise. So we got lost on purpose. With the radio blasted and my Garmin locked and ready to go we had not a care in the world. We started flipping a coin to figure out which way to turn. We saw some cool things. First, the sign in front of the Baptist church.

(pic of sign)

This made us laugh hysterically. Probably more then we should've.. but there was also copious amounts of RedBull pulsing through our veins. We took turns taking pictures next to it. As I step away from the sign a devil plant grabbed ahold of my calve and ripped it up. I was so upset and it stung! I kept telling My she had to go on without me because i was injured....soooo dramatic! LoL.

Next we found this wacky giant golf ball thing. No idea what it's purpose was or why it was there. There was no golf course around. Just super random.
 (pic of My kicking)

One of the best things about the visit was that I finally felt like I had a home here in FL. So far I'd really just felt like I was going to the apartment to sleep, shower and store my stuff. She made it come alive and put good memories into it. One thing we ended up doing a lot was after dark going to the swimming pool and swimming around like crazy kids. We decided it's never a good idea if you want to take a former lifeguard on a romantic date involving water. Spitting and snot is just what is taught...not very charming... we found it hilarious!

It was really really hard to see them go. Before she had even gotten through security I was boobing. My emotional state was so low to the point I got lost in the airport parking. Poor Momma and my frantic crying call. LoL. I took it pretty hard that she had to go back to CO but I wouldn't change it for the world.