Vacation Part 3

After the Castillo de San Marcos fort, we headed out to Anastasia Island State Park for some fun in the sun! It was beautiful there.

Ben is getting is toes in the sand with help from his Paw-Paw and Granny Cheri

Does it get any cuter than little kid footprints?!

Adam is in search of the perfect wave. I don't think he found it there. The waves were pretty mild.

Nonetheless, we weren't taking any chances!

Ben loved it when the waves crashed up on them! He'd lick the salt off his lips just afterwards.

Some quality father-son time building a castle. Adam kept saying that he was building it for Ben, but he was having way too much fun for it to have just been for Ben!

Yes, he made us take pictures afterwards!

I didn't do anything cool like build a sand castle or play in the waves with Ben (although I COULD have made a sand castle with all the sand that was in places it shouldn't be after we left..)

The coolest part of being at Anastasia Island was when we saw the satellite after it had just been launched. What a neat thing to see and to be there on the beach seeing such a sight.

Vacation Part 2

While we were down in Williston, we went swimming at a couple of the many natural springs in that area. The temperature is 70 degrees, but it feels more like 40 to me! It is soooo cold! But Ben loved it after he got over the initial shock. Me, on the other hand..Here's Ben swimming at Manatee Springs. We also swam at Fanning Springs which feeds into the Suwanee River.

We also visited Cedar Key, FL which is one of the oldest ports in the state. I had the best fish sandwich at a little cafe there! Here's some highlights of the town.

Ben on a manatee.

Here's my dad at an old homestead there that we toured.

A view of downtown from a distance.

We saw a couple of dolphins swimming out a little ways too, but every time I tried to snap their picture, all I got was the splash they left behind!

On Saturday, May 31st, we took a daytrip to St. Augustine. It is about two hours from my dad and stepmom's place. If you have never been there, if you ever get the chance, go! There is so much history there and so much to do and see. We visited the Castillo de San Marcos, a really old fort. We got there just in time to see them shoot off a cannon.

There was a parasailer out in the distance that we watched nervously. We weren't too scared for him though since they only shot a blank. :-)

Here we are with one of the volunteers. I'm sure they love when tourists such as we were bug them to be in their pictures.

Here comes a litte tourist! Man, we've got to do something about his hair! One of the watchtowers overlooking the Atlantic.

Sometimes I've Got to Get Away (Vacation Part 1)

...which I did with my family these past couple of weeks. (Adam came back a week earlier than myself and Ben.) We had such a good time visiting family, sightseeing, and enjoying the beautiful weather. On Saturday, May 24th, we attended the 50-something annual Chessher Reunion held in Baker, FL (in the panhandle area). My paternal grandmother is a Chessher. She celebrated her 92nd birthday just a few days after the reunion. She gets honored every year at the reunion for being the oldest living member of the family. What an amazing lady she is! She had 10 kids, raised 13 kids, took care of my Aunt Mary who had Downs Syndrome who passed away last year, and has just been such a strong example to me and my family. Ben also got the award the second year running for being the youngest member of the Chessher family in attendance. (It would have gone to his cousin Zac, born three weeks after Ben, if he had been there.)

On Memorial Day, we were in Williston, FL just south of Gainesville with my dad and stepmom. My cousin came up from Orlando with her little boy Zac. This was the best picture I could manage of those two little busy bees together: (Zac is on the left, Ben is on the right.)

The next day, we went to the University of Florida's butterfly atrium where they breed butterflies and then release them in the atrium and let you walk through, sit on benches or whatever. It was crazy..butterflies where EVERYwhere! You had to be careful where you walked or moved your hands.

My stepmom Cheri and my dad. See the butterfly flying by there?

Ben had to take a breather.

Beauty begets beauty.The result of that begetting..a line of cocoons.

If you stayed in one place for very long, butterflies would take up residence on you. Here's one on Adam's wrist and Ben's shoulder.

Just as Cheri is taking the picture, one lands on her hand.