Delray Beach pt 3

We had enough decent weather for Esther and I to film our latest movie from Van Tuyl Productions, "The Hunt". (For other movies from Van Tuyl Productions, click here).

6/9/16

We had a few days where it was lovely weather for ducks, and whaddya know but one did show up and start swimming around the pool. At first, it looked like he only had one leg, but it turned out he actually had the usual two.

Fun and Games at the Beach

Hello, folks! This is the second post about our recent trip to Delray Beach (first post here). I'm shore you'll want to sea some pictures of the ocean, so here you go (goodness, wasn't this pun-ishing to read?).

6/2/16

Things That Go on in a Thousand Mile Car Trip

     Greetings, fellow Earth-dwellers. You've probably been wondering what I've been up to since my last post (was it really back in November that I last posted...?). Well, one thing my family and I did recently was to take a vacation to Delray Beach, Florida! 

     Our new minivan was much easier to pack than our old car had been. (I had a lot more stuff than you see here when my parents picked me up from college earlier this month though.)

Yes, that's a lot of stuff... 5/31/16

Fun and Games at the Beach

1,000 Things to Do on a 1,000 Mile Car Trip

     My family and I just got back from a two-week vacation to Delray Beach, Florida! We had so much fun there, this is going to be the first of several posts about our time there.

     It's a 1,000 miles from here to Delray, and as many of you know, we drive it in two days. So what do Esther and I do for a thousand miles in the backseat? 

     Read on to find out.

Florida Vacation (Part 2)

Hey everyone! Well, I finally got around to finish going through the rest of the photos of our Florida vacation and posting them, so here they are!

(Here's Part 1 if you missed it: http://countrygirl-writer.blogspot.com/2014/06/florida-vacation-part-1.html )

Esther and I built a sandcastle! 6/3/14

Unfortunately, Esther got sick with a stomach bug for a few days the second week we were in Florida. We were all going to go to the Gumbo Limbo Wildlife Preserve, but since she was sick just my dad and I went. It was a really cool place!

They had a rehabilitation center for injured turtles. This one's a loggerhead turtle. 6/4/14

They also had some really big fish tanks. This fish was smiling for the camera! 6/4/14

We went to Butterfly World on June 5. It was so much fun -they had butterflies everywhere, and some of them even landed on us!

This Blue Morpho butterfly landed on my mom! 6/5/14

They also had rainbow lorikeets there, and we got to feed them!

One of them decided to land on my head! 6/5/14

My mom fed them too. 6/5/14

Family picture ~6/5/14

One of the butterflies landed on my arm! This is another Blue Morpho. 6/5/14

I was able to complete two drawings while we were in Florida (quite an accomplishment if you know how slowly I draw!!) I haven't scanned in the other one yet, but here's one of them.

Graphite pencil on cardstock -June 2014

All of us went swimming in the ocean the last Friday we were in Florida. Unfortunately, my mom and I ended up getting bitten by some sea lice (baby jellyfish). It was kind of like being bitten by a bunch of mosquitoes.

My dad, Esther, and my mom ~6/6/14 

We took some family pictures on our second to last day in Florida.

6/7/14

6/7/14

6/7/14

6/7/14

We took one final walk on the beach the morning we left Florida. The ocean was so calm and still!

Me, my dad, and Esther ~6/9/14

Looking for shells one last time 6/9/14

6/9/14

Florida Vacation (Part 1)

Hello everyone! We just got home from a 2-week vacation to Delray Beach, Florida! It was so much fun!

      We drove over 1,000 miles from our home in Virginia to Delray Beach, Florida (a 2 day car trip!). The route we took is traced in blue on the map.

Directions to Delray Beach, Florida: Get on Interstate 95 and drive for 1,000 miles. 

First day of the trip! We drove about 10 hours the first day.~ 5/25/14

At the North Carolina welcome center ~5/25/14

We got to the Florida state line early the second day, but it was still another 5 hours to Delray Beach. The entire two-day drive took about 14 or 15 hours.

At the Florida welcome center! 5/26/14

Dolphin at the Florida welcome center ~5/26/14

The hotel we stayed at Delray Beach had a shuffleboard court and a basketball hoop, as well as a ping-pong table. Esther and I had a lot of fun with them!

Basketball! ~5/27/14

Ping-pong! 5/28/14

Esther, my dad, and I near the ocean. Look at all that seaweed that washed ashore! 5/27/14

A Goodyear blimp flying near our hotel ~5/28/14

5/29/14

Esther ~5/29/14

My dad, Esther, and I on the beach. 5/27/14

Esther ~5/30/14

We went to the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, about 13 miles from our hotel. It's a 147,392-acre wildlife refuge in the Florida Everglades. It was really cool to see the Everglades!

6/1/14

We saw an alligator! The park rangers said they had named him "George". 6/1/14

I'll post another blog entry soon with the rest of the photos!

Update: Here's Part 2!
http://countrygirl-writer.blogspot.com/2014/06/florida-vacation-part-2.html

Our vacation to Florida (Part 1)

Hi everyone! We got to take a vacation to Florida for two weeks at the beginning of this month. We left on May 26 and returned home on June 11. We drove 1,007 miles from our home to Delray Beach, FL (the route we took is traced in blue on the map below).  

We passed through North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia to get there.

Esther in the car. The backseat was full of our stuff! 5/27/13

We stayed at a Days Inn motel in Kingsland, GA overnight because 1,007 miles is too much to drive in one day! We drove 11 hours the first day and about 5 hours the second day.

5/28/13

The Florida border was only a few miles from the motel we stayed at but we still had to drive another five hours or so until we actually got to to the beach.

5/28/13

Unfortunately, the Florida welcome center was closed because it was Memorial Day. We took pictures of the outside though.

Esther in front of the welcome center. 5/28/13

Scenery somewhere in Florida. 5/28/13

The ocean was pretty rough the first few days we were there because it was so windy (our hair blew all over the place when this picture was taken).

5/28/13

The hotel we stayed at had a shuffleboard court and a basketball hoop. I got the ball in the hoop only about half the time.

 5/29/13

We actually cheated to get this picture. I balanced the ball on my finger for about half a second while Esther took the photo. It took us a few times to get it.

5/29/13

That's croquet, Esther, not golf! Lol  5/29/13

Hula hoops 5/29/13

The ocean was too rough to swim in the first few days we were there so we stood at the edge and looked for shells instead.

5/30/13

 Esther, my dad, and I in the hotel's swimming pool. 5/30/13

I found a huge number of conch shells in the ocean one day. I was standing in one spot and I just kept finding all these shells.

5/31/13

Ping-pong, anyone?

5/31/13

We sat out on the hotel's front porch most nights (except when it was raining).

5/31/13

Unfortunately, it rained most of the days we were in Florida (so much for "Sunshine State"!). My mom took this picture from the balcony of our room.

 6/1/13

We only found one shark's tooth while we were there and Esther was the one who found it.

Esther with her shark's tooth. 6/1/13

Our hotel from the beach.

 6/2/13

The ocean was really calm a few days. We walked way out into the water and it still only came up to our knees.

Esther, my dad, and I in the ocean.  6/2/13

The three of us on the beach. My dad dug the hole because there was a large piece of concrete buried in the sand. I found a few pretty shells in the hole before we filled it in. 

  6/2/13

We saw dozens of these small lizards every day.

 6/2/13

 One of the conch shells I found. 6/3/13

Esther and I swam in the pool a lot.

 6/3/13

Most of the olive shells I found were about 2 ½ inches long  but I found a few large ones.

Normal size olive shell (on right) next to larger one (on left). 6/3/13

That's all the pictures I have for now but I hope to post another blog entry soon with the rest of the photos!