water

So today I was feeling a little bit blue, about the same color as the skies look.
We'd be leaving soon, and I was getting a little torn about that. Also, not to mention, my aunt is currently in the hospital. She lives alone in Sarasota, Florida. My mother called, called, and called her on the phone, but no answer for days. Finally the cops arrived at her house. She's been in the hospital since, and my mom still won't tell me what's wrong. So, we're heading down there soon to go see her.

But as of now, I'm just having fun by the water.

I kind of have this love - hate thing with water. Like I mean I love the water, I love how it looks, how it feels between my fingers, how the wind creates waves and you throw a rock in and there is all these little ripples along the surface. It's awesome, water is cool, but I also fear it.

All my life I'd have nightmares of being trapped under the water, and I don't mean one or two, it's an on-going thing that happened several times in one night. It's not just recently, either, it's been happening since I was very little. This underlying fear of drowning, of not reaching the surface. If I was swimming and the water was above my shoulders, I'd have a panic attack. But I worked up my strength last summer, and my swimming abilities were good enough I was confident of being in the water, until i almost drowned and died. But we won't talk about that now, because, look~! I went from the swamp to the lake and I found an alligator :D

Alligators in the Wild

For me, it's become a very common sight to see Alligators in the wild. In fact, I'm seeing them on almost a daily basis. Today in particular I rode my bike down the road a few miles over to the hidden lake way back into the woods. While the weather is nice, the little ones have been poking their heads out the water. Today I saw four young ones!

Don't worry, I keep my distance and they keep theirs! I've noticed here there is the biggest alligator, who must be the dominant male. Some smaller adults, and then the few young alligators. I think it is very fascinating to observe them, and it's cool because most people don't get this opportunity.

Along with the alligators, this lake is home to many species of bird and water turtles. I don't get close enough to the water to see if there is any fish, but it's possible they live here, too.

I often wonder how old these guys are, and how long they've been living in this lake. Studies show they can live up to 50 years in the wild, that's a long time for an animal!

These fellas' are generally pretty chill, I've noticed they just love hanging out and basking in the sunlight. It's pretty cool.

Fun with Kiddos & Alligator Lake

So as I have mentioned before - I'm a wanderer. 

But today, the adventure was a little more exciting. 

A few weeks ago I was riding my bike alongside the road, and I noticed a big path going into the woods. This is about a mile away from our house, and I thought 

"Hmm, I wonder what's back there."

Here it is, weeks later, and I decided it was time to take a little stroll over there. I parked my bike in the weeds and I began walking. The first thing I noticed was the I-Kid-You-Not gazillion mushrooms.

But then I noticed it - 

the lake

Yes, I found a hidden lake. And I cannot even begin to explain to you the rate my heart was rabidly beating. With every step, I was worried,

"what if I get caught?"

"am I trespassing?"

But, I went for it, and I kept walking. 

It's funny, you know, because in that moment I was just thinking to myself, "ahaha, it'd be really funny if I saw an alligator" AND I KID YOU NOT

I LOOK UP AND OH

HEY LOOK

IT'S A FREAKING ALLIGATOR

This is me in this moment:

NO, NO, BAD BAD ABORT ABORT ABORT

and I was literally shaking soooo bad, I couldn't even keep the camera steady. This was amazing, it was exhilarating. And I was worried I'd die. But I kept on moving.

Oh, big mistake, I was several feet away from three smaller gators, and in the distance I could see another. I was done... it was time to go home, and I was glad I got home, because Joshua & I played with our friends, Savannah and Cameron. 

We had a fun time, and afterwards, it was the potluck!

Kathrine Abbey Hanna Park, FL

Today we went to Kathrine Abbey Hanna Park in Jacksonville, Florida. :)

I was suuuppper excited for today, just because it was so nice to get out of the camper and go for a little drive.








The park has several large lakes, along with beach access to the ocean, yay!

It is currently the 'off-season' here in Florida, therefore the kayaking and boat rentals weren't available today, but we had fun walking around the trails and eating a picnic lunch!

I've seen alligators in aquariums and at the zoo before, but I've never actually saw an alligator in the wild before!

Not until today, at least. I ended up wandering on my own for a bit, I tend to go at a slower pace than the rest of my family, considering I'm always stopping to take pictures of flowers, or something another that catches my eye.













So anyways, here I am walking down a path, and there are some people not far from me, one of them suddenly says, "do you see the alligator?" I walk faster over towards them, only to look over and see a gigantic alligator just hanging out on a log. I pretty much freaked -





my heart was racing, pounding out of my chest even. I felt so nervous and yet excited,
I was shaking all over. I ran back to find my family and I shown them the alligator as well, it was pretty awesome :)

Afterwards, we even saw an armadillo!!






Later on we drove over to the beach, and spent a few hours walking along the shoreline.

That's where we saw a group of dolphins! It was so amazing, I've never seen this many wild animals so up close before now!! :)

I didn't get a picture of the dolphins, by then it was getting clouded and dark and it started raining, so we had to leave.

I had such an awesome day, I really loved this park and I hope we come back here again sometime!