A Trip To Saint Augustine, Florida

Yesterday we headed north and east towards Jacksonville, Florida to visit some of my bestest friends from High School. Dave and Mara live in Saint Augustine. We have never been anywhere in Florida outside of Orlando and Clearwater, so it was really neat to see the old town and Dave even gave us quite the history lesson while we were there. We toured an old fort right on the coast line and visited a really cool lighthouse (MY FIRST!!) We also walked up and down this old street full of shops and restaurants. The first old school house is there. Also all along this street are places where you can sign up for ghost tours and haunted tours of these old buildings. Dave told us "Ghost Hunters" has filmed their show there twice. That was right up my alley, but not so much for the boys... or the kids for that matter.
There are 2 cemetaries along this area as well, and at the end of one is this very odd tree. It looks like a palm tree that is growing out of the trunk of a pine tree. Legend has it that if you kiss under that tree your love will remain strong forever... so of course Dave encouraged us to do so, and we happily abliged.
After we finished touring old Saint Augustine we grabbed pizza and headed back to Dave and Mara's house. The kids had a sleep over with the Hranac boys. Korbin (12) who was born my senior year of high school, Gavin (8) and Aidan (6) were soooo excited to have Paige and Cole spend the night. Mara is a nurse (suprise, suprise) and works night shift in the ICU, so she had to go to work. Big bummer!! Dave gracefully lent us their bed and crashed on the couch. Just before turning in for the night we stayed up to watch some sci-fi, superhero movie that Robert and Dave were really in to. I fell asleep on the couch... shocker!

The next morning I woke up early and Dave, Mara and I sat and relived the glory days of high school. We caught up on the recent past and laughed a lot. We talked and talked until Mara conked out on us on the couch and then Robert and I slipped out silently. It was such a nice visit and I only wish we could have stayed a lot longer! Dave and Robert seemed to really hit it off and that was important to me. I miss them so much already!
After leaving Saint Augustine we decided to hit Sea World one more time. Jen and the kids were going to meet us there but decided against it at the last minute. We only wanted to stop in briefly to see some of the animals we missed the first time.
Our main priority in going back was to see the dolphins up close and we even got to feed them! It was such an amazing experience and worth every blazing hot minute of waiting in the sun. We bought 3 trays of food for them so the kids and us all got a chance to feed them. Afterwards, we were walking out of the dolphin pool and saw some of the dolphins were playing with basketballs and soccer balls. We were lucky to get another spot up close and one of the dolphins brought a ball right to Paige. She got to toss it out and actually PLAY with this dolphin! It was so fun for her.
After the dolphins we saw the Sting Rays, the Penguins, the Alligators and the Manatees. We also hit the underground viewing areas for the Manatees and Dolphins. It was really neat. If you have never been to Sea World, I highly recommend it!!