Wednesday Equals Beach Day!

I am so grateful to live in Florida. Even in November we can spend time at the beach in our bathing suits.
Husband starts a new job after Thanksgiving so we are enjoying the time we have off together.

Yesterday I said, Husband - take me to Caladesi!
And he said, OK.
And we loaded the kayak. And we put on our sunscreen. And we went to Caladesi and it was good.


We always see something interesting on our trips out there. This time we saw this Cormorant trying to take down what we are guessing is an eel?

It was a gorgeous day.
The water was a bit chilly but not too bad and the weather was beautiful.


This is my treasure I found. I also found a little tiny worm shell, a few limpets and a sand dollar among many other shells.


I thought this seaweed was interesting. It was thicker than I usually see lol.


Lots of birds yesterday.

Til next time Caladesi!

Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo

If you haven't been to this zoo - go! Husband and I hadn't been since college so we were excited to see what was new.
We saw everything possible and I fed and pet everyone I could. We also took a safari ride and got a different view of some of the more exotic animals.


I think feeding the giraffe was my favorite.


That's my hand.
I really think we could be friends.


I always hit up the petting zoo's too.


This is Husband's favorite - the Okapi. He looks like a cross between a horse, a zebra and a giraffe but he is most closely related to the giraffe. See his long tongue?

We saw penguins...
Meerkats

Wallabies


And lots of monkeys




We spent about an hour watching the orangutans. They are an interesting family.
Here is the father.


This is one of the adult females.


Here she is with her baby. There was another female with a young kid and she did not like this lady monkey. She took all her things and threw them in the water. All of the girls watching were so upset with her.


We saw some very interesting birds.



And I pet the stingrays!





Definitely one of my favorite things to do.




This guy was so funny. He put all this hay on his head and then he couldn't get it off!




There were so many things to see and do at Lowry Park Zoo. We didn't see any of the shows because there were so many animals to see but we plan to do it all eventually. Have a terrific Tuesday everyone.

Pumpkin Waffles

It's that time of year again. Time for foods made with pumpkin! These waffles are delicious and I say, why have regular waffles when you can have pumpkin waffles?
The recipe is here . I didn't make the cider syrup but I don't see where that would be a bad idea ;)

I like to use an actual pumpkin whenever possible.
I cut off the top and then cut it into quarters. Then scoop out the seeds and throw it in a pot on the stove. Boil it for about 20 minutes and then scrape out your cooked pumpkin.

This is what it looks like.
Of course you can buy a can of pumpkin puree if you'd like to make your life easier.

Separate your eggs.

Stir up your dry ingredients.

Mix in your wet ingredients.

Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form (this takes forever).

Then dump your dry ingredients right into your wet ones.

Mix that up a bit and add the egg whites.

Gently fold them until they are incorporated.

Pour them into your waffle iron and they will come out looking like this.
Absolutely marvelous!

This is one of our favorite recipes with pumpkin. But there are so many delicious pumpkin dishes out there. We will try them out and let you know which ones are worthy of trying. Have a perfect evening everyone!

Renaissance Festival 2011

Last weekend we spent some time in central FL with Husband's Aunt, Uncle and Cousins from Hungary.
They are only able to come to the states once every year or two. This time we headed over to the Renaissance Festival.

Here is Laura watching the Human Chess Match.


Everyone was interested :)



We saw lots of animals - the owl was my favorite.



The girls were pros at riding horses.

Sheila's turn.


And here is my mother-in-law's kitten because he is cute.