A Ghostly Birthday

The evening started off casually enough with a friendly gathering to celebrate a friend's birthday. There were appetizers...

And tasty treats in the form of Birthday Cake shots!!! That's what you call festive!

Around sunset, things got a little strange. A hearse arrived to chauffeur us around the city. This wasn't your average sight-seeing tour though.

No, this was a ghost tour of the nation's oldest city! Oh yeah, we were in trouble!

First stop, a National Cemetery and mass grave. The cemetery itself isn't creepy. It's quite beautiful, actually, and small in size. The cemetery covers approximately 1.5 acres, and you can't miss the three pyramids that line one side. Those pyramids mark the mass grave of 1468 unknown soldiers that died fighting the Seminoles.

I won't spill all the secrets & stories from the evening because honestly it was such a great experience, you really should consider taking the tour yourself. In fact, I must remember this adventure as a potential outing for any future guests that are brave enough to accept the invitation! Oh, and did I mention that the guide includes several pub stops along the way? Definitely a good time & a very happy birthday!!!

Creepy Critters

It's every child's favorite time of the year...Halloween! Rivaled only by Christmas, I'm sure. Jaxon and Baylor have been anxiously awaiting permission to suit up as Darth Vader from Star Wars and Snake Eyes from G.I. Joe, and FINALLY the highly anticipated moment had arrived!With the official holiday falling on a Monday this year, we decided it might be fun to engage in a little warm-up trick-or-treating with friends at our local Alligator Farm. Needless to say, the boys were thrilled with the idea. While cleverly disguised as a construction worker, Ethan didn't seem too threatening. However, this big green guy resembling a ferocious alligator wasn't about to fool us into letting our guard down. No sir! That gator is not to be trusted! Without a doubt, he'd be looking to swipe our candy or even worse take a bite out of one of the gang!
I'm sure little defenseless Grace looked like a tasty morsel!
This fellow was much smaller in size, but just as creepy as that shady alligator. He kept a careful eye on the boys as they visited his trick-or-treat station. Jaxon and Baylor didn't seem on bit intimidated by his evil gaze as they eagerly reached out to pet him. While less than thrilled by the experience, the lizard was tolerant of all the attention he was receiving on that particularly spooky evening.
The reptile fun continued as we made our way down the trick-or-treat trail. There were more lizards, turtles & tortoises, bugs galore, and my personal "favorite"...SNAKES! Ugh!
Lots & lots of snakes. Oh joy!
By comparison, the meal worms and maggots seemed like no big deal!
All kidding aside, it was a night of family fun made even better by the company of our friends. The brotherly love was flowing as you can see by this picture of Baylor shoving Jaxon's head into the gator's mouth. The bond those two share is amazing, I tell ya!
Sure the critters were creepy and the moss-covered oaks created spooky shadows, but the evening was filled with the magical laughter of carefree children enjoying one of their favorite times of the year. What else could a parent ask for?