Fall Nature Walk at St. Marks Wildlife Refuge

St. Marks Wildlife Refuge is a local gem.  It is so beautiful and peaceful and only a quick 25 minute drive from our house.


St. Marks was established in 1931 to provide a wintering habitat for migratory birds and it is one the oldest refuges in the National Wildlife Refuge System.


We love to go their on weekends for a short hike or even just a quick drive to take in the scenery and relax.


October is my favorite time of year to visit, because it is the time of the monarch butterfly migration.  They are everywhere!  And because of all the Fall wildflowers in bloom, like Goldenrod above, one of my favorite flowers.

St. Marks is right on the Gulf of Mexico and you can walk along the beach.   Penelope loved checking out all the little crabs up and down the beach.

We even got to see an aligator!







Or on Facebook!

Yosemite National Park Trip on Parenture

I had a guest post over on Parenture yesterday about our time at Yosemite National Park, when we went to California this summer.


Parenture is a pretty great family travel site, but it is not your average family travel site, where Disney is the main topic. This is a real travel site for travelers, who happen to have kids!   All kinds of cool and inspiring info.


Have you ever been to Yosemite?  Did you do tent camping or stay in Curry Village?  Or in a lodge?

By Best Kids Health Blog

Ft. Walton and Destin Beach Trip

Last week, we went to go visit my husband Peter.  He has been living at a condo on the beach for three weeks.  It sounds luxurious, but he hasn't been able to go to the beach, pretty much, at all. He has been busting his butt, working 12 to 15 hours a day, digging through trash.  Yes, trash.  He is a engineer, and his firm is doing a pilot study (fancy word for experiment) in an attempt to make methane from bacteria in food trash (sort of like how fermentation works to grow good bacteria and enzymes).  It's a pretty cool experiment, if you can over look the whole digging-in-trash-all-day part.

Anyway, so we went to visit him and had some local fun. We, of course, spent lots of time at the beach.

We stayed at Destin West.  I was pretty impressed with how family friendly it was.  There was a lazy river and a family spa at the pool.  Almost everyone there was families with young children, so whenever we went to the pool, there was always a little tot for Penelope to make friends with.  Staying in Ft. Walton Beach, is way more affordable than staying in Destin, but the beach looks exactly the same!  And Destin is a short drive away, so you still have access to all the restaurants, shops and amenities.

We went to the Gulfarium.  And I pretty much felt like an asshole the whole time.  Ever since seeing the movie The Cove when I was pregnant, I swore I would never go to Sea World or anywhere that had captive dolphins again.    Penelope loved it, of course, and is now obsessed with dolphins even more than she already was. I am obsessed with dolphins too.  I spent many weekends of my childhood swimming with dolphins in Key Largo. When I was pregnant, I went to go feed and play with dolphins at the same place in Key Largo. I wanted to swim with them, but they don't allow pregnant women to do it (apparently the dolphins know that their is a baby inside and they are worried the dolphins will get too excited and head-butt you in the belly).  While there, we bought her a book about dolphins giving birth and nursing, and because of that book, she loves dolphins.  We also bought her a stuffed Mama and Baby dolphin that she adores.  In the gift shop, at the Gulfarium, I bought her a little plastic dolphin.  She calls him dolfy, and she clutches him in one hand and Mickey in the other.   She tells anyone who will listen about the "dolfies jumping in the wate."

Anyway, I once read, in a Doreen Virtue book, that dolphins like interacting with humans.  They see it as a higher calling, to be like earth angels and aid humans in their spiritual journey and help them remember their connection to Spirit.  And to the credit of the Gulfarium, the three dolphins that they had there, two were born there; a brother and sister and the mother was 28 years old, so they must be treating them well.  That is what I am going to keep repeating to myself, so I can sleep at night.

She also really loved the fish tank.

We went to the Air Force Armament Museum.  Penelope really liked looking at the airplanes and helicopters (panes and ah-ca-ca, as she calls them).  We couldn't really spend time reading or looking at the exhibits in depth, such is life with an almost 2 year old,  but she really got a kick out of getting into one of the cock pits and trying on pilot, bomber jackets. My Dad is a retired Air Force pilot, so it was cool to pay homage to all the past men and women who served in the Air Force.

There is a large area outside of planes and then regular museum exhibits inside.

And I can't go visit that area, without doing a little shopping at the outlet mall.  I didn't really need anything, but I got a cute long sleeve t-shirt for Penelope at Crew Cuts and some Micheal Kors sunglasses for me.

Have you ever vacationed in the area?  What is your favorite thing to do there?

By Best Kids Health Blog

29 South, The Best Restaurant in Fernandina Beach, FL

If you are ever in the Fernandina Beach area, you MUST stop what you are doing and go to 29 South restaurant.  The food is Ah.Mazing.  But it is also the kind of place where you feel like you are getting good Karma by supporting it. They get their food from their own garden out back, or from a selection of local, organic farmers.

Fernandina Beach, is a place that is near and dear to me and my husband's heart.  We just love the town, it is on our very short list of places we want to live, if we can ever escape the death grip Tallahassee holds on us (I love it here, don't get me wrong, but we want to move the beach one day).  We also got married there in 2009, when I was very pregnant with Penelope.

Recently, we stopped by for a night, on our way to Savannah, to get a quick, celebratory, anniversary lunch in.   We went last year for our anniversary as well, hopefully, we can make it a yearly tradition.

This is their backyard garden.  How cute is that sign?  I need one for my garden.  Recognize that dress?  It's from her 1st birthday party.  One of my favorite things about pillow case dresses, is that they turn into perfect tunics as your child grows.

Using cement blocks, as a border, is such an easy way to make a garden.

Here is a picture of us last year, before we went to 29 South for dinner.  This was our 1st wedding anniversary.

And here we are at our rehearsal dinner.  So much fun.  I can't freaking wait till my hair gets that length again. It's been a year since I chopped it off as short as my husbands, never again.

This is the Chef on our Rehearsal Dinner night.  I can't remember who got him to take a picture with us. I was highly embarrassed at the time, but in the end, I am glad we have this shot.

Do you have any great restaurants in your town that have their own garden and support local farmers?

Savannah Farmers' Market

Last weekend, while in Savannah, GA visiting a dear from high school, we went to the farmers market. 

I am in love with Savannah, regardless, but I was super impressed with their farmers market.  It had lots of vendors and plenty of consumers.  It is in a beautiful location, Forsyth Park.

We got there about 10:30a and it was bustling!  They had some really cool things for sale, like fresh watermelon juice, homemade ice cream and homemade popiscles.  Peter, my husband, could not resist the popsicles.

They had a table of pastured farmer eggs.  Dozens and dozens of eggs, stacked up for all to see and buy.  I haven't looked into yet, but based on the display, I am sure the laws are different in Georgia.

The farmers market is under all these magnificent Live Oaks.  I live in Tallahassee, Fl with plenty of Live Oaks of our own.  But their beauty never ceases to amaze me.  They are amazing trees.

 At the other end of the park, is a big Confederate monument, a water fountain, an outdoor concert area and then a playground for the kiddos.   Penelope loved the playground.

Here is a picture of my friend's daughter, Brielynd.  This picture a little teaser to an upcoming tutorial.  Are they not the cutest things you have ever seen in your life?  They strolled hand and hand for awhile and I took like 50 million, bajillion pictures of it.

Then we stopped at a cool natural foods store, very similar to my local shop, New Leaf Market.  They had a really great selection of products, but it was in a very tight space.  They even had raw milk for sale.  I am pretty sure I convinced my friend to switch her family to raw milk, so that was pretty exciting.  I love converting people to traditional foods, it's kind of becoming a little hobby of mine.  

I got a fried cheese and avocado sandwich while I was there too...  OMG, it was amazing.  I would have taken a picture, but I inhaled it.

At the top of the isles in the natural food store, where these cardboard pieces of art.  Savannah is such a hip, artsy little city.

Have you ever been to the Savannah Farmer's Market?  What is the farmer's market like in your town?