Fluffy Goes to Florida

Hi Kids -- and Mr. Wonderful, Vanilla, Teddy and Oso,

I'm so glad I have a name -- and I think it suits me. I AM fluffy (although I have to say I am a bit jealous that my brother bear got named Mr. Wonderful. After all, I'm pretty wonderful myself.) I'm getting ready to go on a trip this week -- to Minnesota. But I wanted to tell you about the trip Miss Elaine took me on right before school started.

You can see the beach in front of our hotel at the top of this post. We stayed at the hotel at Amelia Island Plantation. Amelia Island is off the east coast of Florida about as far north as you can get. The Plantation is on the south end of the island and has lots of places for people to stay -- or live. And the nice thing is, the people who built the area left so many trees. This is the oldest tree on the island. It's between 300 and 400 years old.

Miss Elaine thinks the beach at Amelia Island is wonderful -- she went out every morning to watch the sun come up over the water. I stayed in bed. I DO NOT LIKE SAND IN MY FUR!

She took me with her when she visited the nature center and I saw a turtle.

Miss Elaine took a Segway tour and she didn't take me -- she didn't have an extra hand to hold me with. Did you know that Segways were invented by a man who invented a wheel chair that could climb stairs?

One afternoon we went to Fernandina Beach, the main town on the island. Amelia Island was once a haven (that means a safe place) for pirates. We found several pirate statues and Miss Elaine made me sit on them. I would like to find some buried treasure -- but not if I have to dig in the sand.

Love,

Fluffy

Florida Adventure Part 1

Hi Kids,

Miss Elaine and I have been to Polk County in the middle of Florida. We saw lots of really cool things. The picture above is in a beautiful garden in Lakeland.

We ate at lots of different places and we shopped some, too. Miss Elaine let me ride this antique rocking horse -- but she didn't buy it for me. I guess it wouldn't fit in the suitcase!

One day we went to a neat museum called Fantasy of Flight. They have lots of airplanes there. Our guide was called Smilin' Jack and he was dressed like a 1920s barnstormer. Do you know what a barnstormer is? I bet you can look it up.

Among the planes we saw was a replica (that means a copy -- not the real thing) of Wiley Post's airplane, the Winnie Mae. Wiley Post was a famous aviator and inventor and he was from Oklahoma.

Another day we had an outing at a dude ranch -- River Ranch. Our horse's name was Gus and he was a really good horse. We rode through a pasture with rodeo bulls in it and along side a pond and under trees that had Spanish moss hanging on them.

After we went horseback riding, we went for an airboat ride. We saw nine alligators. This one was the biggest. We called him Big Al. He was about twelve feet long. If you don't think that's very long, lie down on the floor and let your teacher measure you. How many of you would have to lie head to toe to be as long as Big Al? I'm guessing three -- let me know if I am right or wrong.

I had such a good time on my trip that I'm going to have to write one or two more blog posts to tell you more about it. Look for another one soon.

Love,

Vanilla

Teddy Takes (Another) Holiday

This post if from Teddy's October 2nd to 5th trip to Rosemary Beach, Florida.

Teddy's been on vacation while I've been working. Okay, so working and Rosemary Beach are oxymoronic! My work consisted of living like the other half -- more like the other one per cent! Rosemary Beach is elegant and expensive and oh, so relaxing. My apartment was a in carriage house -- upstairs over a garage with a loft bedroom. The chauffer never had it so good! Teddy didn't enjoy the beach as much as I did. He wasn't fond of sand in his fur. But he did like stretching out in a beach chair and, later, doing the same by the pool. Teddy particularly enjoyed riding in the basket of my tricycle!