Blue Springs Adventure -

Hey y'all! :) 

I have something fun for you to watch today! :) This past Sunday, Mrs. Gilchrist (Miss Judy) and I were talking, and she mentioned that when her friend from Colorado came, they were headed over to Blue Springs State Park. Well, I'd been aching all winter to go and see the manatees, and so I asked if I could come as well, and she said yes! Then on Monday night, I thought "We will be RIGHT by EmilyBrower...I'll just write and see if she wants to meet us there.", hoping it would be alright (I was pretty sure it would) with Miss Judy. Turns out, when I asked Miss Judy the next day, she said that she was thinking the very same thing, that we should pick up "Jean Marie's friend in DeLand" to go with us!! Great minds think alike. ;) It was so kind of Mrs. Gilchrist to let us join her and Miss Nancy, and I had a wonderful time!!! Thank you so much, Mrs. Gilchrist! 

We started out at DeLeon Springs Sugar Mill for a pancake breakfast, oh the memories there! Then we headed over to Blue Springs State Park. If y'all don't know, the manatees winter there, the spring is 72 degrees year round, and even though that's too cold for a FL girl like me to swim in, it is perfect for manatees! Plus, the water is SO clear that you can see right down to the bottom! I had not been there since I was a little girl, and same with Emily. We called it a "field trip". hahaha. 

A few stories to go with the video: 

* While we were eating pancakes, I look out the window and see a red and white plane zoom past, about 10 feet above the water. My brain went crazy in seconds, trying to sort out what just happened, and what on earth that was, because no plane should fly that low. Well it was a float plane! It zoomed in, and landed right there on the water, and docked at the pier, and the pilot and his lady walked in for a breakfast. Oh Florida, I love you. haha. What a surprise though!!

* Miss Nancy and Miss Judy and I had such a great time talking and laughing in the car.....Miss Nancy kept mentioning songs from the 50's and 60's, and she would say "You probably don't know these.", and I would say "Well actually, I probably will....", and Miss Judy would start laughing because she knows me and she knows I love Big Band. hahahaha. It was so fun being with them. :) 

* Another story ... you will see this huge gator in Emily's pictures when she puts them up. Well we were walking, and we passed this tourist (one of many), and he stops Emily and is pointing something out to her on the opposite riverbank. She turns to me with a look of shock, and calls me over. I walk over with a placating smile on my face, thinking she is humoring the over-reacting tourist. Um. NO. There was a gator lying on the opposite bank and it was huge and fat. I'd say.....maybe a 14 or 15 foot gator? Length wasn't really the issue. The fatness was the issue. Its head was ginormous. I instinctively tightened my grip on Georgia in my arms. hahaha. It was insane!! We were super glad it was way far away. :) 

* Watching the manatees was wonderful. They were cuddling and swimming and flipping their tails in the air, and rolling over and having a high-ho time, and we had just as great a time watching them. It was a beautiful day, warm, with just the right amount of breeze. Well, Emily and I were walking off a high-railed dock to go to another one, and I was holding Georgia. I could hear these tourists talking behind me, and I kept thinking "Surely they know I can hear them, right?". They were talking about how I shouldn't be holding Georgia because I might drop her....I should put her in the stroller....such a high threat level....blah blah blah. Meanwhile, Emily is walking along, and half listening, and I'm clenching my jaw and telling myself "Don't turn around, don't turn around, don't turn around....", because even though all I would say jokingly was - "Don't worry! I have a death grip on her!", I wasn't quiiiiite sure I could pull it off and have it sound completely nice. 

Because .... WHAT. I have both arms wrapped around her, I'm completely focused on her, and there is no way on God's green earth I am dropping her. So after they drifted off.... loudly.....I told Emily what they were implying, and SNAP. The Momma genes switched on. "Oh my gosh. Where are they? What do they look like? Why didn't you say something?" hahahaha. Those tourists got off easy....between the two of us. So then it turned into a huge joke. Just one more thing that makes me so glad we can laugh about stuff like that, and hold each other back too. hahaha. It was so ridiculous. 

*When Emily first got to the park, I went to get Georgia out of her baby carrier, and picked her up, and oh, she just melted right into me. I sighed and looked at Emily and said "It is like the first time I held her, every time.". There is such a connection to praying over someone since before they were known, to 5 weeks, to full term, to infant, to sweet 5  months and 2 days of her. She is so precious and I just adore her to pieces. Emily took some photos of me holding her and they just make my heart sing. 

Ok! Enough stories! Here is the video. :) 

I love y'all!!! Have a wonderful rest of the week and weekend.
Oh, and a shout-out to Manda Rose, whose birthday is today!! Love you, sweet friend.
May God bless and keep you, both now and forevermore. Close to His side until we behold His face!
~ Jean Marie ~

P.S. Thank you so much for sharing in my joy over my haircut!! It has been so fun hearing and seeing reactions to it. :) I am loving every second of it, and really enjoying how little time it takes to style it!