Pieces of the Sea

In response to a special request by Ms. Blueistheteacher, here are the souvenirs that we brought home from Tom's in St. Augustine, Florida.

All of these stray pieces remind me of a wonderful poem by Pablo Neruda called

Of Solitude And The Sand

On blue shores of silence

among the things the sea throws up,

let us hunt for the most petrified,

violet claws of crabs,

little skulls of dead fish,

smooth syllables of wood,

small countries of mother-of-pearl;

let us look for what the sea undid

insistently, carelessly,

what it broke up and abandoned,

and left behind for us...

Let us look for secret things

somewhere in the world,

on the blue shores of silence

or where the storm has passed

rampaging like a train.

There the faint signs are left,

coins of time and water,

debris, celestial ash

and the ireplaceable rapture

of sharing in the labor

of solitude and sand.

Souvenirs

While in St. Augustine we stumbled across a real treasure.

A bone fide seaside souvenir shop!
It isn't that souvenir shops are hard to find, but most of them, nowadays, sell more swimming trunks and flip flops than good old-fashioned souvenirs.
When I walked into Tom's I actually got weak in the knees.

Rows upon rows of turquoise and sea foam green shelves lined with nautical treasures.

Bins of glistening shells, knobby white coral, pale pink sea fans hanging from the ceiling.

There were tiny wooden ships and ridiculous little animals made out of glued-together shells.

I was in heaven.

I combed the place over three times before I settled on a few treasures to take home with us.

The boys each picked out a shell and a treasure map.

We left happy, clutching our bits of the sea to bring home with us.

Castles In The Sand

Temporary masterpieces

By The Sea

I am finally making good on my promise to show more vacation photos.

Our day at the beach was glorious.

The boys were overjoyed, as you can see.

We splashed our feet in the water even though it was absolutely freezing.

We collected shells, walked along the beach and built sandcastles (pictures coming soon!).

The seaside always feels like home to me.

I love it so.

Harry Potter Fever

We are big fans of Harry Potter around here. O just started the series a few months ago and has been voraciously tearing through them ever since. I literally have to pry the book out of his hands at meal times.

So we were exceptionally thrilled when we got the chance to go to Universal Studios, while on vacation, and visit The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

It was so much fun!

Apart from the amazing shops, we had Butter Beer and Pumpkin juice.

The boys were each given a wand by their exceptionally generous grandmother.

O chose Sirius Black's.

H, who doesn't mess around, chose Voldemort's.

It really was amazing to see so many parts of the beloved books brought to life and the timing, for O, was just perfect.

Disney

Here's Part 1 of my vacation posts!

We had so much fun at Disney World that I can hardly describe it all.

Most of my family went so the boys had their cousins to play with and I had my amazing mother and sisters to visit with.

So much fun!

We rode rides, ate at crazy restaurants, bought light-up balloons, watched parades, took train rides, saw pirates and ghosts and spun in giant tea cups, just to name a few.

Our favorite little out-of-the-way place to stop and get a funnel cake dusted with powdered sugar.

Chock full of ghosts.

The Sci-Fi Diner where we ate lunch. Even though it's indoors it is made to look like an old fashioned drive-in at night. The tables are shaped like cars from the 50s and the movie screen shows snippets from fabulous old sci-fi movies.

I'm Back

Hello!

I'm back!

Sorry for the long lapse between posts. Our family was wisked off on an expected and deliriously enjoyed trip to Florida. Then we returned home and came down with colds. I'm currently on the mend and will be back to posting with lots of pictures from our trip.

See you very soon!

King's Island

Last month we were invited to go to King's Island with my family for my darling niece's birthday. We had so much fun!! We stayed until closing time even though it was a school night. We rode rides, played games, got wet on the log ride and took pictures in a photobooth. Another highlight? Having my fortune told by Zoltar.

He told me I needed to get up earlier in the morning.

Harrumph.

A Ghostly Encounter

While in St. Augustine we took a walking ghost tour. First, I have to apologize for the crummy pictures. We were in such a rush that I forgot my camera and had to make do with a cheap disposable one. The pictures leave much to be desired. The tour, itself, was a lot of fun. It started off at the sufficiently creepy Spanish millitary hospital and then continued on around town. There were two very old cemetaries that housed oak trees hung with spanish moss, former mortuaries that are now bed and breakfasts and an old millitary fort. We didn't see any ghosts but we heard a lot of macabre stories-an exploding corpse, people accidentally buried alive and a honeymoon suite that used to be an embalming room(They don't tell their customers). All in all, a fun and spooky experience.

A Little Bit Of Heaven

Sorry that it has been so long between posts. It's always hard to get back into the swing of things after a vacation. Florida was wonderful. Being on the beach was absolute heaven and St. Augustine is such an amazing town. We fell in love with it. We spent our time there exploring all of the lovely little shops, cafes and museums. It's a town that is brimming with charm and history. The last picture shows the amazing restaurant, Harry's, where we had dinner. We sat outside under flowering trees lit with Christmas lights and ate by candlight. Afterward we took a carriage ride tour of the town. On our last night, we took a walking ghost tour which was both lovely and creepy. I don't have my pictures of the tour ready yet so I'll have another post devoted just to that. Until then, Happy April!