Seven Months in Florida

Here we are, seven months into our new home of Florida. Starting to enjoy cooler weather -- in the morning -- for like an hour. 

Below I have a little company while I drink tea. I just love the lizards.

The kids and I started our school year at the beginning of September, but we took a day off to utilize some free tickets a friend had given to us to go to Bok Tower Gardens. Here are some of our sites:

One evening my husband was up on a ladder trimming the palm trees when he yelled out loud. He said something fell out of the palm tree, and there it was yelping and screeching on the ground. It was a nest of baby squirrels. And here came Mama across the roof of the house, ready to jump at my husband. OK, I'm exaggerating. We thought she would attack him, but she was more afraid of us. 

I collected all three babies and put them together in a small box and left them under a nearby tree. She gathered them up, one-by-one, in her mouth like a mother cat, and took them over to the neighbor's yard, whom I am sure are so very grateful to us. 

Dance classes have begun, and it is my 14-yo's first real pointe class. She had to soak her feet the first night, which I suppose means it was a good class.

My husband and I and our kids attended the Always Ready Conference at R.C. Sproul's Reformation Bible College. It was instructive and edifying, and the campus is beautiful. 

My 14-yo (who actually celebrated her 14th this September) had a birthday week. She made herself macarons one night, and she's getting better and better at it. 

One night she wanted sushi, and we took her to a Japanese restaurant. The waitress heard it was her birthday (week) and brought her a birthday "cake." 

Another day we went to Coquina Beach. Always a favorite.

The next day we went to Florida Botanical Garden on St. Pete's. We visited Heritage Village and toured the House of Seven Gables (no relation to the novel). 

Being silly:

She has a fear of crocodiles, poor thing. 

Saturday night we returned to St. Pete's to enjoy the Florida Orchestra for "Pops in the Park." It was excellent, and it was such a beautiful night that it was difficult to believe a destructive hurricane was on its way, predicted to hit Tampa (so they thought) in two-three days.

Finally, for birthday DAY, after church, we went to the Lakeland Escape Room. It was our first experience, and even with six of us, we needed all the helps we could get; with three minutes to spare, we solved the puzzle, only to be arrested (part of the theme) and jailed, and had to escape our cell in three minutes. Didn't happen; but the employee felt embarrassed for us and let us go. 

I'm trying to look like a detective, with the prop, but I'm no such thing. All I contributed to the game was breaking open a locked drawer without using a key, and pulling the clues out from underneath. Oops.  

Today is the last day of September, and we are exhausted. We experienced our first Florida hurricane on Wednesday. I'll have to write another post about that later. Right now we are without power, water, internet, and cell service. We are running our fridge and freezer off a generator, but gas is scarce. It is a rarity that I am able to use my phone as a hotspot to even finish this post. Not sure it will post tomorrow, but maybe we'll have power by then?