First in line, every time (Epcot)
First in line, every time (Epcot), originally uploaded by ohhector.
I can honestly say that this was the best birthday I've ever had. It was officially today, but I had a little shindig last night at my new place, also as sort of a house warming thing as well. I kept the list small, and mostly to people I knew would get along with each other. I made them all bring food or plants...which was great, because now my balcony has a nice start!
It was a fantastic evening, with lots of great moments and great people.
Alas, I slept not a wink last night. So when I woke up at 745 to get ready for father's day breakfast, it was with about an hours worth of sleep. I got up, got ready, and met up with my dad at IHOP. My grandparents and aunt got there, then my bro. Had some yummy french toast.
After that, we went back to the grandparent's place, so they could cut some cake for me. As usual my aunt went crazy decorating. This time she also got a ton of inflatable guitars and microphones, so we could all take a photo with them. It was hilarious watching my grandparents like that...haha.
I passed by my house real quick to say hello to mom and gma, and then came back here.
I probably SHOULD have napped, but instead I got ready for an everglades bike adventure. I drove up to plantation, met up with Gary and Carolyn, and we were on our way. We went to the last rest stop on Alligator Alley before Naples (I think) and took the Florida Trail north on our bikes.
Great time! We didn't see a LOT of wildlife, but it was fun. I love Shark Valley but it's really just a paved pathed with nature around it. THIS, was a real nature trail...there is a path but it's not really paved, and rough in points. Lots of dips and mini lakes haha. There were a lot of things to explore, and my favorite part was at the end right before we turned around, JUST past the campsite....the trail finally went INTO the trees and there was a nice canopy for a little bit.
On the way back we had an incident with a snake. A pretty big one (we initially thought it was a diamond back, but now we think it might be a copper head?) was smack dab in the middle of the path. I tried to scare it away with smacking the ground near it, but that just pissed it off...haha. Gary tried the same with a palm tree frond, and ended up just dropping it on top of the snake. We got by, but I remembered we had seen some hikers on the way back so i didn't want them getting accidentally attacked but this damned snake we just hid haha...so after a bit, Gary managed to get the frond off it, and we went on our way.
I am pretty exhausted, but I loved this weekend. Amazing times, amazing friends, amazing gifts. Even those I didn't see, were still with me all weekend. While I did try to avoid naming names on here due to the sheer number of them, I will definitely thank Denise for helping me clean up this apt Friday and making everything shine! Haha.
And a big thank you to all of you...you know who you are, and why. You are all amazing, and I love you all.