Navarre Beach, Florida

When my parents retired several years ago, they moved to a town called Milton, which is NW of Pensacola. When we visit, we always head to a gorgeous beach about 30 minutes from their house on a strip of island called Navarre Beach. Most of the island is state park and preserve, with only a small area built up with hotels and homes. We always see dolphins when we swim there and the water is usually clear and the sand white as sugar.
http://www.navarrefl.com/
These pics were taken abouth 6 months after the hurricane, though, and the water was still choppy and 'stew-like' with debris floating in towards the beach. There was still massive damage to the beach, the hotels and homes, and the roads. Most of the asphalt had been lifted up and the bulldozers had pushed much of it into piles all over. And bits of asphalt and wood were deposited throughout much of the sand, too.
Also, our favorite restaurant in Navarre, called 'Cowboys', had been destroyed by the waves that came up and through and washed everything out into the the Gulf.
It was so sad to the unique and popular restuarant just sitting there, with no windows and hardly any walls, just like an empty shell.

Lions, Peacocks and Hurricanes

While visiting my parents in Milton, Florida, we often like to drive to Navarre Beach, which also has a small, close-up-and-personal zoo, where the animals are usually within arm's reach and there is opportunity to notice intriguing and fascinating details about them.
We were not dissapointed on this visit, except for the fact, that this was after the hurricane that struck Pensacola in 2004. We arrived about 2 weeks after the hurricane, and for many of the animals, such as the lions, that week was the first time they had been able to come outside, because of the damage sustained to the zoo and the enclosures.
There was alot of flooding and tree and fence damage. The lions, 2 females and a male were in a grouchy mood, so we were within 2 feet of snarling, lunging, angry lions.....and the noise and tension were huge! What was even more disarming, was that we were standing on a sliver of concrete, wedged between a chain link fence that enclosed a leopard, and this chain link fence that seperated (by less than 12") another chain link fence that contained the 3 snarling lions! There were a few moments there that the few who were standing so close, had that 'get the hell outta there!' feeling! But we also didn't want to miss such a rare and special moment, too.
In one of the pics you can see Jackson & Jeremiah looking sad, while in front of a peacock. They were very sad for all the animals that had lost their homes, or been hurt or killed because of the hurricane. They were very sensitive to wat they saw and experience while at the zoo and in Florida. The damage was shocking and quite impressive to all of us.

Giraffe Tongue

There is a fabulous small zoo located near Pensacola, on one of our favorite Florida beaches, called Navarre Beach, which is basically
an island. The animals are very close, most within touching distance, which gives the rare opportunity to observe minute details and behavior of these beautiful wild animals.
One of our favorites is the giraffe enclosure, which has a viewing/feeding platform, where people can have the opportunity to pet a giraffe between the eyes, feel it's 'horns' and have the giraffes wrap their rough, wet tongues around your fingers while you feed them. Way cool!

First Doll

Jenna fell in love with Ariel when she started watching The Little Mermaid videos. We found this doll by accident in the clearance section for $1.00. haha! She carries it everwhere. What is even cuter, is that her brother Jeremiah, had a crush on Ariel when he was 4 years old. When we celebrated his 4th birthday in Disney World, he insisted that we wait 45 minutes in line so he could meet Ariel in her grotto. I think were the only family with a little boy waiting to see the little mermaid! tee hee!
But Ariel doted all over him and he was so tickled!
I look forward to taking Jenna to Disney World so she can visit with the princesses and characters. We have such a great time there together.