March - Mamma Me-a

My mom made her first trip to Florida to visit me - yay! I've now finally gotten all the family to make the trip at one point or another. It was a special trip because it also combined her spring break from school and her birthday, which was all the excuse I needed to take her to the California Pizza Kitchen, and her first time to Chipotle - yum!. We tooled around town and got to enjoy the non-summer weather--now that it's August and mid-90's every day, I'm really missing thoughts of a balmy fall/winter/spring!

We visited the Holy Land Experience, which my dad and I had cruised by when he helped me move down here and I had always hoped to take both of my parents, but my mom and I were able to enjoy it with just the two of us too. It's a Christian theme park, with admittedly...chipper...music (I couldn't think of any other adjectives that weren't just mean), but it was really neat to be in a faux-Israel atmosphere. I'm assuming no animals were harmed in the process of replication. There are little plays/mini-musicals that they put on throughout the day depicting various parts of Jesus' life such as the wedding at Cana, the healing of the centurion's servant, and the crucifixion, which brought me to tears. The staff focuses on non-confrontationally but very emphatically sharing the gospel or pointing to Christ in each of the different parts of the park, including a really large miniature of the city of Jerusalem, and my favorite - a small theatre re-enactment of the tabernacle and a priest's duties. All the lighting tricks they used to bring it to life reminded me of my uber-fledgling theater days at Pilly and Celeste and Dani's stage craft!

I thought I had some pictures of the outside through the gates when my dad and I drove by back in 2003, but all I can find is this one I took on my cell phone on my visit with my mom (yes, I forgot my actual camera every time we went out!).

We also stopped by St. Augustine, which lays claim to being the "oldest continuously occupied settlement of European origin in the United States." I like it for its fort, Castillo de San Marcos.

and its really cool old buildings, some of which used to be world-class resorts at the end of the 19th century. The one below is now part of Flagler College.

We also had a day at the beach, which I think was my mom's favorite, but I didn't get any pictures of us there. There's just something so peaceful about sitting on the beach staring out at the ocean and feeling the sun soak into your bones and the breeze stirring off the water...hmm, I think another trip is in order for me!

Last, and maybe or not least, we thought we'd take a trip to the local zoo. It was no Minnesota Zoo, but it did bring me back to days of field trips to the Como Zoo. Except I don't remember any alligators at Como.

I don't think my mom realized how extensive my snake phobia is until I hid behind her when we walked through the reptile room!

And there were other denizens that were particularly stoic, no matter how much we tried to provoke them...

I made a few new friends too, and my mom considered leaving me there, but that would make it tricky for her to negotiate a trip back to the airport, so we left intact the way we came.