Beach photos-Florida 2016

We had a great, albeit brief, vacation in Florida this past week.  We drove down on Saturday and arrived just before dark.  Ben had to rush to the beach just to see it.  We had barely taken everything out of the car!!!!

There was a huge storm right before we got there and there was quite a lot of ocean life washed up on the shore.  We found this sea slug.....

and this Portuguese man-of-war that I am so glad we did not stand on.  There were a bunch of them washed up on the beach, but this one was the biggest.  Apparently, they are very rare, but not where we were!!!!

We had some great days where we could lie around on the beach.  Sam's not a big beach laying person, but did manage a little while

Maggie, of course, is the water baby of our family and will go in the sea when the rest of us are way too cold!!!!  She looks so happy doing it, too!!!!!

Sam and I took many walks on the beach, it was wonderful.  I took this picture of Sam and his little friend-there were loads of sandpipers, but I could not get close enough to take any pictures of them

We found this piece of driftwood covered in barnacles.  I might have to get an enlargement of it to hang in the bathroom

Wednesday was our sunniest and warmest day and we all went in the water for at least a little while

There is always some time to soak up the sun.....

Ben took the free time to catch up on his anatomy reading!!!!

Ben's Parent-Teacher conferences

I went to almost all of Ben's conferences this week.  I missed out on his woodwork teacher, but I think that's probably OK.  Overall, everyone loves him.  He works really hard and has done an amazing job this year in high school.  We have noticed a huge change in him, even between this semester and last semester.  The most amazing thing is that he has pulled his physics grade up from a C to an A- and is one of the best in the class.  His favourite teacher is still his maths teacher and I think he may be getting her next year for geometry, which would be great.  Everyone is very impressed with his studying habits and says it will set him up well for the next few years.  I hope he can keep this up!!!

They did a practice ACT and he did not score very highly, certainly not high enough to get into medical school at this point, but maybe he will continue to improve.  I'm just hoping he changes his career goals at some point so he isn't too disappointed if med school doesn't happen.  He has certainly come a long way since he first started school, so who knows.....

February trip to MBG

Ben was not feeling well so we did a child swap and took Maggie to the February MBG trip.  Of course, she wasn't too happy about it, but she played along as best she could.  The camellias are still flowing in the Linean House

....and the citrus trees in the Linean House are further along than they were in January

We found a few early bloomers, which was nice

Quite a few of the bulbs were starting to bloom.  I can't see crocus and not think of mum always saying the birds ate ours as soon as they came through!!!

There were quite a few clumps of snowdrops

Lovely osteospermum in the Mediterranean garden

The Japanese garden looks beautiful any time of year

The witch hazel is an early bloomer....

We found quite a few hellebores flowering.  I planted 3 in our new garden and I may even get some flowers this year, but mine look nothing like this!!!!

Good picture of Maggie actually smiling!!!!

Trees look beautiful against a blue sky even if they have no leaves....

Mum and Dad's 60th Wedding Anniversary pictures

The orchid show at Missouri Botanical Gardens

On our February trip to the Botanical Gardens, we decided to go and take a look at the orchid show. I thought it would be a bunch of orchids in pots, but how wrong I was. This might be the best show I have seen there, and I've seen a few!!!!  I'm so glad we made that decision.  No commentary, the pictures say it all....