What I've been up to Lately

---First published on stephen-blog.com when I used that site--- I was in Florida the last 2 weeks! It was a very unexpected vacation, we did not even know we were going the day before we left :) We had talked about going to FL some time this year, but did not think we were going so soon. Every year Dad's Parents stop by us on their way from MI to FL. This year we went with them! Grandpa and Grandma have a place in a park near Ft Myers that we stayed at. In the park there were heated swimming pools that we went swimming in. Esther learned to swim. G&G also have a golf cart that was fun to drive. There was a lake in the park that I saw a snapping turtle in that was around 14 inches long. Since there was a freeze the day before we came down there were lots of dead fish on the beach, and the water was cold, but at least we got the ocean and beach to ourselves :) It also made the fish come closer to shore. We saw: small sword fish, a puffer fish, lots of little fish, catfish, starfish, and horse shoe crabs. On a different beach we saw a dead iguana that was 2 - 3 ft long (I have no idea where it came from). On one of the beaches there was a dock that went out about 200 ft or so - there were also buoys about 150 ft out or so. Dad swam out to one and I was going to  but we went on the dock first and a guy that was fishing caught a sting ray.............I decided not to swim out that far.......... On another beach called shark tooth beach I found 8 shark teeth, all of them small, but still very nice. I don't know why there are so many shark teeth there.............. We went to manatee park and saw lots of manatees, I also saw a carp. Throughout the whole vacation I saw lots of birds. The first Sunday we went to the Church in the park and heard a great sermon, the 2nd Sunday we drove through alligator alley, did not see any alligators, and visited The New Presbyterian Church.  For anyone who does not know - it was part of Coral Ridge until they had a split a few months ago (you can learn a lot by searching online). On the way back we did not see any alligators either, I am not sure why because we went through it last year and couldn't pass 100 yards without seeing one. We were supremely blessed by God for giving us a great, unexpected vacation. BTW: I have not posted very much or read many blogs lately and hope to do more blogging in the future.