The neighborhood bear...

For the past few months there had been reports of a bear living in our neighborhood. I didn't really believe it until I saw it for myself to be honest and recently we've started seeing her pretty regularly. Her favorite place seems to be the tree in our neighbor's yard and watching her has been such a treat. Black bears are generally not dangerous but it is advised to keep a distance and we are working with the neighbors to cut off their food supply (trash, bird feeders, dog food etc.) so that she will move on to a less populated area for her own safety. But for now, she has been an extraordinary sight and I have a whole new appreciation for these beautiful creatures...

Animal Kingdom:)

It was really lovely to see Pete, Ali and her sweet friend Meghan at Animal Kingdom on MLK weekend - we had such a blast!

Feeling better and enjoying the outdoors again...

As soon as we got home from our Xmas trip, I went to the doctor's and got some meds. Within a few days I was feeling so much better and able to get out and about - Florida is so beautiful at this time of year!

The manatees are back at Blue Springs State Park...I've never seen so many there!

Mama and baby...

A pregnant cow....

It's so good to be (almost) back to normal!

Iceland - part two

We flew priority class to Iceland which was totally amazing - particularly given that we were still feeling unwell...

For my first meal in days, I had a traditional Icelandic Christmas dinner - it was delicious!

We stayed in an apartment right in the downtown area of Reykjavik...

But even though it wasn't crazy cold (right around freezing), the winds were so icy and my chest infection made being outside really difficult...:(. I did manage to get out for breakfast one morning with Gail though which was really nice...

And we booked the famous Golden Circle tour to see some of the sights and learn a bit about Iceland...

We saw where the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates meet...

With only 4 hours of light a day in winter, it never really feels like daytime. It's a haunting and mysterious place...

At the end of the day, we saw the famous geysers erupting:)

And then back to bed again:(. For the New Year's Eve celebrations, I stayed in the apartment on my own. Luckily the fireworks were everywhere and I got to see a bunch right outside the front door!

On our last morning in Iceland we went to see some of the sights of the city...

Iceland is an amazing place, but I'll be honest, I was relieved to get back to the warm air and get to see a doctor. Hopefully I'll be back to normal soon and ready to start the new year over:)

U.K. - part one

We left for the UK on the 23rd December but I had developed a chest infection by the time we arrived on Christmas Eve:(. We did manage some fish and chips on the first night though...little did I know that's the last time I would eat for the next 2 days...:(

I did manage to get out of bed once to take a little walk down to the pharmacy to stock up on meds...

But other than that, Mike and Maddy got sick too so we all stayed in bed and missed Christmas and Boxing Day altogether:(. We did manage to get up for our anniversary for a couple of hours...

And I went to see princess Skyla and meet Sasha for the first time:)

Maddy went  to Manchester for a reunion with her Critter Care family - we saw snow...well kind of...

Right before we left, we had a lovely family get together at Steve and Kayleigh's new place:)

Brief but sweet:). Until next time...and hopefully we'll be feeling much better next time!