Home, Halloween, Chalk, Dolphins

So apparently in adding all of those pictures, I completely skipped over an entire month.  So here's the adventures of my second month here.

This was at Lido beach from the pier after having dinner at The Salty Dog, right before Autumn left.

Pelican on top of the shop on the pier.  It was posing for us.

View of Lido Beach.

Caitlyn attacking a pumpkin to get the seeds out.

Rubio.  In the sink.  Scared me SOOOO bad. He didn't seem to happy that I woke him up from his nap and turned the light on.

All of the stuff I got from the retired teacher's garage sale.  Not sure how it's all gonna fit back in my car but I could pass it up!

Fall.  Home.  2 things I missed a lot while here.

My awesome pumpkin carving skills.  Sunset at the beach :)

Mine, my mom's, and Ryan's pumpkins.  The debate over mountains vs. beach continues.

 Ryan and I before his banquet the weekend I went home.  Such good timing.

Shadow!!

Goodbye Ohio :/

Skyway Bridge in St. Pete.  So much higher than it looks in this picture.

We also went to a Chalk Festival.  People from all over the country came to participate in this.  The roads were shut down and sections were taped off.  These artists were incredible!  This one is the beginning of a lion.

The 3-D toy box.  My favorite until someone pointed out the creepy doll with needles in it.

Such inventive ideas.  This one the image was difficult to see until you look at the reflection in the metal pole.

A really long mural of 8ish cats from a famous painting representing deceased people.

On the very left is a real person, but the little kid, yeah that's out of chalk.  My favorite and most realistic one I saw there.

Beginning of the monkey.  The bananas are real.

Oh the dolphin statue/fountain.  I had seen this online when I found out I was going to Sarasota, and was determined to find it.  It was still light out when we began our search.  Needless to say by the sunset in the background, it took us a while.  But we found it!

Mission accomplished.

Sunset at Marina Jack's (which by the way, is where the dolphin statue/fountain is in case you ever try to find it).

 

There have been so many other things I wish I had pictures of, but these will definitely remind me of some great memories when I leave.

Thanksgiving Round 1

Thanksgiving was a lot different for me this year.  Instead of being at home, surrounded by family, laughing about the ridiculousness of most of the dog show, attempting to finish a puzzle, and watching football, I was here, in Sarasota.  I was not too thrilled about being away from home for a holiday for the first time, but I did make the most of it.  Here are some of my adventures...

 

I started off by waking up at 5:45 in the morning in an attempt to run a 10 mile race, only to get there and find absolutely NO ONE in the parking lot.  I later realized the link was from 3 years ago...oops.  Since I was already up and ready to run, I went back to a park to run.  This is part of one of the loops there, and yes, that is sand I was running on.

A beautiful pond with lily ponds.

 The murky pond with beautiful yellow flowers.

Me.  Still smiling.  ELEVEN MILES later.  Amazing start to my day.

 

After the run I walked around for a while.  This is the observation deck at the park.

Yes, my Thanksgiving day race run consisted of palm trees this year.

Later that day, right outside of the Cabanas.

At the beach.  First time I had seen someone windsurfing!

Gecko, one of the trillions around.

 Other views of the Cabanas.  On the left you can see the side of one, they're kind of like garages only they have a bathroom, kitchen sink, changing room, and usually couches and chairs in them.  One the right is a view of the open area between the two rows of them.  It was absolutely gorgeous that day.

 Outside Julia's apartment/condo.  Nothing like having a palm tree and bright flowers welcome you back in November.

After the beach I got to Skype my family for a while.  It was great getting to see them but not so great knowing we were all in different states, and Thanksgiving wouldn't be the same this year.

 For Thanksgiving dinner, I went to my Supervisor's house.  There, I was greeted by nearly 20 Chihuahuas (not exaggerating).  There were 9 puppies about a month old and I believe like 8 adults. 

Yes, we did wear Pilgrim hats the ENTIRE meal.  We were also told we were not allowed to get off of the Mayflower until 6:00.

 

I'm not sure why this picture refuses to line up with the rest of them, but after dinner we headed out to the fire.  This was definitely the first time I have had Smores on Thanksgiving.

Although the day was not the same without my family, I do think it turned into quite the adventure.  Now off to my Mentor Teacher's house tonight for Round 2 of Thanksgiving 2012.

Miscellaneous Pictures

I haven't taken many more pictures since I've been down here, but here are some from the past few weeks.

 

The biggest stingray I have ever seen.  It's body was about 1 1/2 to 2 feet long and its tail was another couple feet.  Sadly, I'm pretty sure it was dead.  The waves were still hitting it but it hadn't moved in hours :(

The sign I found on my way back from Panera with some of the girls from The Shore.  If only Milford was really just right up the street.

Attack of the seagulls part two.  I had popcorn (which I now realize is not the smartest choice to bring to the beach) and these birds flocked around me.  They would walk right up to me, squawking and getting more of their friends to join.  I kept getting up and chasing them away for a good half an hour.

 

VICTORY!! They did NOT get my food this time :)

One of the random bugs I have found on the beach.  Still not sure what it is.

Beautiful day at the beach.  I haven't been to the beach much in the past month, and now it is getting colder and windier.  I wish I had taken advantage of it more when I had the chance.  And after a visit from Colin, I know I'm going to be even more bundled up when I get back to Ohio than I had thought.  I was freezing, goosebumps and everything and he wasn't cold at all. 

One of my friends had just gotten really excited about seeing a plane write something in the sky the day before because she had never seen that, and the very next day we see this being written on our way to Disney!

Drawbridge to Siesta Key, the first and only time I have ever seen it up.  Of course I was already 20 minutes late for yoga by the time it started going up.  I didn't end up going to yoga but was pretty excited I finally got to see it up!  (Although now I'm terrified of it going up while I'm on it.)