Florida

Kevin and I just got back from a week in Florida. We started out in the Tampa area, where his parents live. We visited the Lowry Park Zoo and met this guy--he ate a cracker right out of my hand!
And then we socialized with these little lorakeets--they drink nectar from cups. I don't think Kevin was as excited as I was to have tiny bird feet scuttling all over his hand.

See, I have a much bigger smile on my face! The lorakeets and I are posing with Kevin's parents, Maria and George. (As you can see, we are dressed for chilly weather--it was about 60 degrees that day, and the native Floridians were panicky about the cold! I laughed so hard when I saw a sign at McDonald's that said, "Brrr, it's cold out there! Warm up with some hot chocolate!")

We also went to Homosassa Springs Park, where they rescue injured manatees. There were some gorgeous flamingos. I wouldn't want a plastic one in my front yard, but wow, the real ones are amazing!

I had never seen an ibis before, and was really excited to snap this guy's photo. Later, as we had to stop our car to let a flock of ibis walk across the street, and as I shooed them away at various picnic areas, I realized that they're probably about as common as pigeons in Florida. Still, they're very cute!

After leaving Tampa, Kevin and I drove on Rt. 41 towards Ft. Lauderdale to see my aunt and uncle. We stopped several times to look for alligators. Unfortunately, because the weather wasn't very warm, we didn't see any gators basking in the sun. We did spot a few floating in the water, and when we looked closer, we realized that there were also a bunch of manatees--they're hard to see, but they look like big potatoes floating under the surface of the water. You can make out their little noses coming up for air.

It is really hard to get a good photo of a manatee! Even in the best of conditions, like at Homasassas Springs, where they're lined up at the salad bar, they're not so photogenic.

The best shot I got of one was in the underwater viewing area.

Oh well, I'm still thrilled that I got to see them out in the wild, even if it does look like I just took a picture of some underwater rocks!

We went through some beautiful swamps on our drive on Rt. 41.

And more swampy goodness:We did spot a few gators swimming around, but again, it's hard to get good photos of submerged animals!

It was much easier to get a good photo at the park! Those are some brave little turtles!

After a wonderful dinner with my aunt and uncle in Fort Lauderdale, we drove down to Islamorada. This is the view from our hotel room:

We took a walk on the beach and found this little guy swimming in the shallows right by our feet!

We also went snorkeling, but I have no photos of that. It's too bad, because we saw some amazingly beautiful fish. It was our first time out, and I definitely learned a lot about what not to do! I get seasick, really, really seasick, but more than anything, I wanted to go snorkeling. I probably overdosed on Dramamine because I was so determined not to get nauseous. My plan worked--even though the water was choppy, and we had to ride on a boat for 30 minutes to get out to the coral reef, I felt fine. I got my flippers and wetsuit on, adjusted my mask and snorkel, and I started swimming. It was awesome, and I was so thrilled to see so many amazing fish--striped ones, spotted ones, spiny ones, every color of the rainbow. I don't know if it was because of Dramamine-induced drowsiness, or if I'm just an idiot, but I would see something, get super excited, forget I had a snorkel in my mouth, and try to tell Kevin to "Look over there!" and get a ton of seawater in my mouth. Or I'd see something, get super excited, and try to get a better look by lowering my head, and get a ton of seawater down my snorkel. All the Dramamine in the world can't save you from a belly full of salt water, so I spent the last 5 minutes of our snorkel trip gagging and retching in the water--I'm so much fun to vacation with!

The sunsets are gorgeous in the Keys, so we made sure to eat dinner on the Gulf side every night.

Another extreme sport I really want to try--kiteboarding! I chose to just watch this time.

We also went kayaking through the mangroves.

We saw lots of egrets, herons and ibis, tons of fish, and this guy:

Iguanas are actually an invasive species, and DNR traps them and euthanizes them, but we decided to let this one hang out in the mangroves in peace!
On Saturday morning, we had a long drive from Islamorada all the way back to the Tampa airport. We got up at the crack of dawn (which was very painful after the fruity drinks we had the night before!) and started driving. We made a quick stop at the Shy Wolf Sanctuary in Naples. A friend from New York who winters in Florida volunteers there, so we stopped by to say hello and to meet some wolves. Like this guy:

The first time a wolf put his mouth right up to my face, I was a little worried that maybe he would bite my nose off or something, but he just licked me. The wolves, wolf hybrids, coyotes and foxes at the sanctuary are so sweet and gentle with people, and I loved petting them.

At the same time, it infuriates me that this sanctuary needs to exist. These are wild animals who should never have been kept as pets. Unfortunately, a lot of the southern states don't have many regulations about owning wolves and other wild animals, so people buy them, get them home, and realize that they can't be trained like dogs, or that they're destructive and dig and chew, and so they get rid of them. The lucky ones end up in sanctuaries. They're too tame to be released into the wild, but too wild to live in a home.

Anyway, I'm very glad I got the chance to see them, it was definitely an experience to remember. I'm sure that the poor guy who had to sit next to me on the plane will definitely remember too--the wolves smell kind of wild, and after petting and hugging several of them, I'm sure I did as well!

We had such a great time, and definitely hope to make a tropical escape part of our winter routine!

A Solid Decision

Kevin started his new job at the beginning of December, and this week, for the first time, he is on an international trip. He is in England for five days...after coping with five week long international trips at his former company, this is nothing! It's so great, I feel like we finally have our life back! (Also, at the old company, Kevin flew coach on Continental. Now, he either flies in the company jet, or, in the case of this trip, business class on Virgin Atlantic. Yep, I think this was a good career move!)

Old Dog

When we were in Chicago, I got carded at 3 different bars, so I guess I have been feeling a little young and sassy lately. On Saturday, I decided that I was young and sassy enough to try something new and exciting, and I even managed to talk Kevin into risking life and limb with me--that's right, we took a snowboarding lesson! We ski. We aren't great, but we have schussed down intermediate trails in Lake Placid, Breckenridge and Lillehammer without falling. I didn't think that snowboarding could be that hard...I was wrong!
We went to a tiny little ski center by our house because they offer good deals on lift/equipment rental/lesson packages, and also because their hills looked small and gentle. Our instructor was maybe 16 at the most--I was right, snowboarding is a young and sassy sport!
He told us how to put our snowboards on, and after a couple of frustrated minutes, I was ready...all I had to do was stand up. Which I couldn't do. At all. Every time I started to stand, my snowboard started sliding, and I ended up flat on my back. Finally I flipped over on my stomach, got on my knees, and then, gracefully, butt in the air, I walked my hands backwards and I managed to stand. Young and sassy indeed--I believe I have seen toddlers right themselves using this technique!
Once I was upright, I snowboarded about 2 feet, and then firmly planted my face in the snow. The instructor explained that I needed to keep my toes up to avoid pitching forward, so on my next try, I fell flat on my back. This pattern of me struggling to stand, snowboarding a yard and then slamming into the ground went on for a good 15 minutes...I got snow in places that I didn't think snow could go! Up my nose, in my ears, in my underwear and beyond... Finally, after about 4 miserable attempts on the bunny hill, I kind of got it. I still fell 3 times on one tiny hill, but between the falling, I was sort of steering myself, and sort of slowing down and stopping when I intended to, and sort of loving it!
Kevin was also kind of getting the hang of it, so our wise teenage instructor decided we were ready to try the ski lift. Which we were not. Getting on the ski lift was okay, and riding the ski lift was okay, but disembarking was, um, agonizingly painful. I glided off, and for a couple seconds, I thought I would make it, but then I crashed. Kevin, who was right behind me, crashed into me--a snowboard with a full grown human attached hurts like hell when it rams into your shoulder blade! After I got my breath back, I did make it down the ever so slightly larger and steeper hill. (Don't get me wrong, I still fell, repeatedly, but moments of actual, honest to goodness snowboarding happened, too!)
I ache all over now--Advil helps a little, but I have been walking like an octogenarian since Saturday night. Who's young and sassy now? Not me! I used muscles I didn't even know I had, and I bruised every square inch of myself. I now know that skiing is nothing like snowboarding, in fact, just about every technique I would use to steer, stop and just keep myself upright while skiing caused me to pitch face first into the snow while snowboarding. Despite all the frustration and pain, I loved snowboarding, and I can't wait to try it again! Kevin is not so sure--I think he'll stick to gliding down mountains on his skis, while I tumble and crash down bunny hills on my snowboard!

My Kind Of Town

Chicago was awesome (well, it was insanely cold, WAYYYY colder than central New York, but still, it was awesome)! Kevin had to go for business, but since Chicago is the city we lived in when we first got married, and since tomorrow is our 8th anniversary, it seemed like the perfect time for me to accompany him. We stayed overnight in the suburbs on Friday with one of my best friends from college, Jen, and her husband Steve. Jen drove us in to the city on Saturday, and we took a trip down memory lane...here's our first home at 1000 W. Washington St. We had a loft in this building--1/2 of the building was a book binder and 1/2 was a Nabisco factory. Our loft was on top of the old oven!
Directly across from our old loft is Harpo Studios--we saw the limos pulling up every day, the lines of people waiting to see a taping of "Oprah," but we never saw the woman herself. No luck this trip either--she is elusive!

After a yummy brunch at Le Peep (which is housed inside our old apartment building) we were done reminiscing and ready to see some new things. Our first stop was The Drake...it's a gorgeous old hotel ovelooking Lake Michigan. I always was curious about what it looked like inside, and I finally found out, as that is where Kevin's company paid for us to stay. Woo hoo!

Another first for us was a trip to Millenium Park to see the "Bean." I loved it and took a ridiculous number of photos...the only reason I stopped was because I could no longer move my fingers to work the camera due to the frigid weather!

A view from under the Bean:

And yet another Bean picture:

And finally, me and Kevin in front of the Bean:

And part of the Chigao skyline including the Sears Tower seen through the gridwork of the new (to us anyway) amphitheater in Millenium Park:

After hitting a few bars in the Gold Coast, we decided to end the night on a nostalgic note. We cabbed it back to West Loop and ate dinner in Greektown, then finished up the night at our old neighborhood haunt, Emmit's. A scene in Ocean's 11 was filmed at Emmit's while we lived in Chicago, and I remember how excited the waitresses were because they got to meet George Clooney and Matt Damon. This visit, we didn't actually get to sit in George and Matt's booth, but it was still a perfect end to the day.

Oh yeah, one other first for me--Jen made me get on Facebook! I'm always the last to jump on these trends...I don't think I really used email until 2002. Now I have another way to procrastinate, I mean, reminisce!

Yep, It's Still Snowy Out There

Bandit & Big Bertha

An 18 year old cat was recently dropped off at the animal shelter. I can't fathom how anyone could own an animal for 18 years and then just take it to a shelter, and situations like this make me kind of bitter towards people. Of course the cat, Bandit, ended up getting sick--she was stressed out so her immune system faltered, and there are so many germs at an animal shelter. Young cats generally recover quickly with antibiotics, but I was scared that such an old cat wouldn't stand a chance, so I ended up fostering her until she got better. Here she is hanging out under the Christmas tree:
I learned many things during her stay at my house. Useful things, like if you are trying to squirt a syringe full of Pedialyte down a sick cat's throat, and said sick cat squirms and writhes and you accidentally squirt it into your own eye, it stings like a bitch! And similarly, if you are trying to squirt Zithromax into a sick cat's mouth, and said sick cat squirms and writhes and you instead squirt it into your own mouth, it is sweet and sticky and will make you gag (not so much the taste as the realization that you probably squirted some sick cat saliva into your own mouth too!) I also learned that a sick, old cat who crawls into my lap and starts purring and kneading her little paws will melt my heart. Finally, I learned that there are some truly wonderful, generous people out there--Bandit was just adopted this weekend. The family knows she doesn't have lots of time left, but they wanted to give her a good home for the remainder of her life. I am so happy for her, and it makes the inadvertant Pedialyte eye wash totally worth it!

On a completely unrelated note, our 14 year old TV gave up the ghost a couple of days ago. Kevin and I discussed it and decided that we would get a moderate sized plasma flat screen to replace it. You know how when you go to a Christmas tree lot, and all the trees seem really small, and you end bringing a much bigger tree home than you had intended, and then you end up lopping a bunch off the bottom just to make it fit in your house? Yeah, same thing happened at Circuit City--the TVs all seemed kind of small and unimposing, so we ended up getting a 50" model. We can't lop any off the side, so I guess we're stuck with a ridiculously massive TV. We have named her "Big Bertha":

And yes, we watched "Darjeeling Unlimited" starring Owen Wilson for Big Bertha's maiden voyage, and no, it was not very good. And then we watched the "Daily Show" starring John Stewart, which was very good indeed!

Pretty Snow and Ice Courtesy of My Little Norwegian Friend

The teenager who used to catsit for us in Norway emailed me some photos of the frozen Gjovik landscape. So pretty! Much nicer than what we have going on in New York--we got over a foot of snow, which was gorgeous. Then the temperatures soared up into the 40's, so now we have slushy, muddy puddles everywhere. Yuck!