Easter in St. Augustine

St. Augustine is the oldest city in the United States founded in 1565, 42 years before Jamestown, VA.  Interesting fact: It is the oldest city in the United States, but... not the first.  Pensacola was the first city in the U.S. founded in 1559, but three weeks after being settled everything was wiped out from a hurricane and the city was not rebuilt until later.

We spent four days in St. Augustine over Easter weekend and had such a great time!  There is an endless amount to do there.  We loved walking the huge historic district which includes the oldest house and the oldest school house in the country.

                   What used to be the world famous Ponce de Leon hotel is now Flagler College                                   The Castillo de San Marcos (Spanish Fort from the 1500's)
                                    Cannon firing at the old Spanish fort



                                              Favorite street performer

                                   Yummy Spanish bakery
                                     We've been deprived of Mexican food
                                   Riding the trolley!
                                  Baby Cooksey tummy picture!

Florida Road Signs

One of the many reasons I love Florida... the road signs. Alligators patiently wait for pedestrians to 'move to the side of the road'. This is one road I will not be hiking/biking on.

Tres Amigos

I was just looking through some pictures and found some winners. The infamous Halloween 2006. Although it is nowhere near Halloween, these pictures bring a smile to my face. What a great night. Too bad Kjersten wasn't there, because i'm sure she would've looked just as attractive as the rest of us.

Blah Blah Blogging...

I am a blogging slacker. However, I am resolved to better document our time here in Florida. For my lack of blogging, here are two funny videos that I'm sure make up for my absence of new posts.

I love my Mac!

So, last week we went to a Christmas party for Mitcheal's work. It wasn't the best Christmas party I've every been too (it started at 11am, but everyone pretended it was an evening party). There was a 'talent show' and employees turned in videos of themselves doing funny and or talented/not so talented things. It was a recipe for disaster with people filming their kids singing things like "Grandma Got Ranover by a Reindeer", only somthing their own parents would find hysterical. However, there was one bright shining moment during the afternoon christmas cheer. A woman that Mitcheal works with belongs to a group called the retromaccast. She created this lovely little video for all the mac lovers, and I believe she won a contest with mac for it. Enjoy!

Hello Polaroid!

I have a new favorite application for my mac!  We all love the beautiful vintage look of polaroid pictures.  And unfortunately, polaroid announced that they will be discontinuing their polaroid film early next year.  But, not to worry, THIS wonderful website has an application you

 can download and it turns your photos into polaroids.  Not quite as cool as the real thing, but still produces some beautiful photos.  I found the website via THIS lovely little blog.  Here's a few I made today!

Lake Jackson

A few weeks ago we visited the beautiful Lake Jackson.  It is in the little town of Florala, Alabama, about 40 minutes north of us.  We had decided that we were going to go camping, but couldn't decide between Lake Jackson or the Chatahoochee River.  I've always thought of the Chatahoochee as such a symbol of the South and thought it would definitely be the ideal place for a weekend camping trip.  So, we called the state park and asked if campfires, swimming, dogs, etc. were allowed.  To our excitement all of the above were permitted at Chatahoochee state park.  However, the park ranger advised us against letting our dog swim.

"Why is that?", asked Mitcheal

"Well, you don't want him gittin eatin' by a gator." replied the unconcerned park ranger.

"Eaten by a gator?  So, is that something that happens frequently?"

"Well, we had a dog git eatin' right off the dock last year."

"Wow", Mitcheal responded "So, you said it was okay to go swimming.  If there are that many gators in the water, is there any danger of a human getting eaten by a gator?"

"Oh no," said the park ranger "If you see a big one, just get out".

So, it was decided! We were off to Lake Jackson, which after another phone conversation was deemed 'safe' because there were minimal gators (I would have been much happier with no gators, however, that is not easy to find in these parts).  Only a 40 minute drive north and we found ourselves in a picturesque little town filled with historic southern homes and big front porches with rocking chairs.  The town feels like it was frozen in a 1930's film about life in the south.  

If anyone is taking a road trip through the southern states, Florala, Alabama is definitely worth a stop.  We had a great time taking swimming and exploring and made it through the weekend gator free.

     There were trees surrounding the lake

         Lots of Spanish moss

       Ozzy chasing the ducks

        My favorite tree