Gentle Giants and more

Yesterday we went to visit the Manatee Viewing Center at Apollo Beach. It was an amazing and somehow odd meeting of two worlds and we were so happy we went.

The Manatees, gentle large sea mammals, need a number of elements to survive and thrive...shallow, warm waters, an abundance of sea grass and the other vegetation they eat, and safety from predators. Unfortunately, people and pollution have so drastically affected the shallow waters of Florida that these gentle giants are now endangered.

Interestingly, groups of manatees now congregate around industry plants as they warm the waters. Such is the case at Apollo Beach where there is an electric plant warming the shallow waters of an inlet. Tampa Electric created the Manatee Viewing centre across the inlet from it's facility and it is now a wildlife preserve where the manatees are protected. Interestingly, the water here is very clean...clean enough to drink apparently - even the clouds rising from the stacks are mostly steam.

This is a wildlife preserve and other than viewing the manatees from various decks around the inlet, human interaction is prohibited...in the photo below you can just see the snout of an adult manatee with a baby tucked close to the left - that's as close as you can get (note the picture at the top of the blog is from a book!)...

The girls enjoyed learning about the manatees at the various study sites at the centre...



In this picture, Cassidy is holding a manatee rib - they are very very heavy as the ribs act as weight to keep the manatees on the ocean/river floor where they sleep and feed...



Cassidy is the size of a baby manatee!


At one of the viewing sites...

Walking through the mangrove marsh around the center...


Stopping for lunch...the picture of Cassidy with mac and cheese is for her cousin Sophie, who would have loved it! And I included a copy of the menu...we could not believe how inexpensive the food was here...crazy!

On the way to and from the Manatee Viewing Center, we had to cross the Sunshine Skyway bridge ...this is the longest cable main-stay bridge in the world. Last year we had to cross it once and it freaked me out...the walls on the bridge are really low and driving in the outside lanes frightened me - and I am not afraid of heights!!! When I realized that we had to cross it yesterday, the girls were thrilled and I was not. However, I decided to distract myself by taking pictures as we travelled across it and it wasn't so bad. These pictures do not do the height and "scariness" justice.

We ended our day with dinner at Woody's on the water...dinners in baskets (shrimp and chicken and corn dogs and fries - yum!)...

And Shauna, this self-portrait, taken late in the day by a rather weary mom is to show you my tan is coming along....

Love to all - we miss you Kim and Sophie!

Catching Up

Busy busy busy...St. Patrick's Day party, more beach time, more pool time, a movie out for Kim and I, birthday celebration for dad, and *sniff sniff* Kim and Sophie left for home this morning. In between, I am fitting in some CMA work, so the blog has been neglected!

But for all of you blog-obsessed, here are a few pics from the last 4 days...

St. Patrick's festivities (yes, that is Cass behind me)...

Catching some rays!

Resting from all the hard work that vacation brings...

Dad's birthday at the revolving roof-top restaurant nearby - gorgeous night! Unfortunately, all the good family pics were taken by Kim, so I'll have to post those later or she may post them to her blog over the next few days!


In the next pic, we are looking toward our condo from the restaurant...click to enlarge...see the row of low white buildings at the top, centre of the photo? That's our home away from home this week!



Frolicking on the beach outside the restaurant...


The reason there are not more pictures of Bryanna. on her own..


My wonderful sister...miss her already!

Goodnight for now!

We Are Go For Launch!

We just returned from two days exploring the Kennedy Space Center - what a blast! hee hee. As it is a 2.5 hour drive from St. Pete's on the Gulf Coast to Cape Canaveral on the east, we decided to spend the night so we wouldn't have to rush (by the way, if you ever need an excellent hotel on a budget, consult with my sister...she is an expert of internet searching!)

Yesterday we spent time exploring the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center which is an amazing complex of IMAX movie theatres, a Rocket Garden (filled with replics of all the Nasa rockets and space modules)...

fun play centres for the kids...

a memorial to astronauts, one of the out of service space shuttles (wow)

and a cool cool cool space shuttle simulator which replicated an actual shuttle launch--yours truly and Bryanna went on that while Kim and the little girls watched from an observation area (as they were too small to go inside). We then ended the day with a visit to the Astronaut Hall of Fame. Kim and I were fascinated to read the history of all the astronaut teams - all the tragedies and the triumphs. What a phenomenal history there is in NASA's space saga.

The girls were more interested in all the interactive exhibits...

Of course, my daredevil Bryanna had to try out the 4 G-Force Simulator. I was terrified for her but she was determined to go and she, well...see the following for the whole story!

Waiting for the simulator to start...

See the Simulator in motion!

The astronaut emerges...

But today is the day that Kim and I were waiting for. We returned to the Visitor Centre and caught the bus to take us out to the launch area observation tower. We passed the Vehicle Assembly Building - where they attach the shuttle to the rockets (the building is the third largest in the world....see the red stripes in the flag on the building? The longest stripes are 20 stories high.)



I loved viewing the launch pads from the observation towers...

And Kim LOVED the Apollo Saturn 5 rocket...

I loved watching movies here too of the entire history of race to reach the moon. I was amazed at how much I didn't know!

That's it for today...check Kim's blog soon for more.

Bye!

Surf's Up!

Today was the annual Mississauga picnic held in Fort Desoto National Park...an amazing place with great beaches and picnic areas and no touristy stuff! We had a full day there picnicking and playing games, looking for sand dollars (no luck) and surfing the waves...well, the youngest Thompsons anyway.

Unfortunately, little Sophie was recovering from either a dish of bad shrimp or a 12 hour bug and wasn't quite up to the excursion ("But I was REALLY looking forward to that picnic!") Promises of another picnic on Wednesday cheered her up and she rested at home with her mom.



We're happy that she feels much better now...

Enjoy some of the pics of today...






And from our balcony this evening, we actually saw the space shuttle launch into the sky from Cape Canaveral on the opposite coast!



A great end to the day as tomorrow we head to the Kennedy Space Center to introduce the three girls to the wonders of space - we can't wait! (Sorry, no laptop while we are away for this short road trip so back on the blog on Tuesday evening.)

Love to all our friends and family! (S, I am working on the tan as fast as possible! AM, loved the pics of our girls on your blog.)