Page Layout & Painting Technique

A Memory for All Seasons – make a layout using 2 pages. One side is geared towards 2 seasons, as is the other. Use seasonal photos showing you or your kids doing something that has become a tradition or represents that season just by looking at it.

*taken October 2006


Shaving Cream Technique – you need cardstock, shaving cream, pan, ink refills, striating tool, cardboard and paper towels. Fill pan with think layer of cream, add several drops of ink, leaving space between colors. Pull ink across cream with your straight tool. Lay cardstock on cream, make sure entire surface touches. Life cardstock off and scrape – do not rub off excess. Let dry.

Birds & Trees

Common Trees – I never knew how many different types of palm trees were grown. Living in NY I thought they just had plain old palms. Wrong. Some of my favorites are: Royal, Foxtail, Coconut, Bottle, and Christmas. You see many Sabal, our state tree, and Palmetto Palms around Florida. These trees are tropical in nature and are great for hammocks and tikis.

*Taken on Sugarloaf Key

*Foxtail Palm – one of my favorites

Our area is great for bird watching since it houses so many types of birds. Common Birds include Osprey – look for these in ball fields nesting on top of high lights, Hawk, Sandhill Crane, Pelicans, White Ibis and Heron. You can walk the Great Florida Bird Trail east section at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge http://www.fws.gov/merrittisland/

*Pelican flying in Sebastian

St. Augustine Part 2

St. George Street – is a pedestrian only street with a colonial feel filled with sights and smells. The street ends near the Old City Gates and the Oldest School House is located here. I found some areas a little to “touristy” with many cheesy things being sold but the specialty shops were nice. If you make it off of the street without anything sweet – more power to you because the smell of ice cream cones, fudge and desserts is overpowering.
Spanish Bakery on George St.
I ate here on a recent class trip with my son. It is quick and cheap for the area. Limited choices, but for $5.50 you get an entrée, rolls, drink and cookie. Rolls are awesome and they even sell them or loaves of bread. It is on the north end of George St. and tucked away behind a gate. Outdoor seating is available.
Lighthouse - http://www.staugustinelighthouse.com/ this was a must for us. Ticket prices were reasonable. To get there we had to ride the trolley and then get on our beach access bus, which was included in the trolleytour, across the bridge. Currently the Bridge of Lions is being reconstructed. The lighthouse can be seen on the trolleytour but driving up to it was exciting. It was advised to us to go early during Florida’s rainy season because they will shut the lighthouse down if lighting is near. So we went first thing in the morning. If you have ever been up the steps of a lighthouse you know how your legs can feel, but the good thing about this one is the steps are against the wall and not in the center. Eight landings are spread out over 219 steps so you can stop if needed. Each landing has a solid base and a window…the only breeze you will feel in here. My kids had no problems getting to the top, I cannot say the same for the 2 adults. The top offers a great view of SA and a welcoming breeze! You can see the Great Cross across the water which stands 208 feet; this is also a stop on the trolleytour.

Once you are done in the lighthouse you can tour the innkeepers home and read some of the history. They do sell food – very reasonable (chili hot dogs, chicken, ice cream) and ghost stories if you ask the right person. We ate our meal in a nice area out front with huge Oaks covering the sky. After we walked through a wooded area in the back that was slightly hilly. Defiantly a must see for visiting SA. Next time maybe the moon tour!!!

Castillo de San Marcos – http://www.nps.gov/casa I have read reviews on the fort and one thing is true – if it is sunny & hot, plan accordingly because the fort does not have air conditioning J the price is great and kids (under 16) are free, tickets are good for 2 days. Check times on the schedule and you can observe a reenactment of the cannon being shot off the eastern side of the gun deck on the 2nd level. It is loud!!! Tours with Rangers meet on the first level and they also have a self guided tour brochure in many languages. Total you will spend about 1-2 hours at the fort. The kids got a little bored but I think the temperature had a lot to do with that. The bookstore sells water for $1. Lots of walking, great views and photo ops.

The Old Jail – one of the main stops for the trolleytours, also the Florida Heritage Museum is here. The jail was built in 1891 by the same people who built Alcatraz. We took the tour and were led by a women dressed as though she just stepped out of history. She talks as to you like you are prisoners and takes you around the jail area cell blocks and death row as well as the side that housed the Sheriffs family. Lots of photo ops outside, I thought it was interesting and was glad we went.
St. Augustine Beach - even though we live near the beach here in Melbourne, SA beach is different. They have more of it for starters. The sand is a nice white color with hilly dunes and rock areas. It’s amazing how many kinds of sand & beaches Florida has. Don’t forget SPF!
St. Augustine Beach Dunes

Ghost & Gravestones Tours - http://www.aghostlyexperience.com/home.html We originally were going to do a walking tour, well my daughter & sister in law were because I couldn’t talk my son into it at all. This tour was recommended, it was higher priced but on a trolley instead. You go into 3 “haunted” places during the tour. The night before my son finally agreed to go, actually he was bribed. I love Ghost Hunters and knew SA was a well known area for sightings so I was excited. The tickets are purchased through trolleytours and while doing so they continuously run the episodes of Ghost Hunters that took place in SA several years ago. The tour was about 1.5 hours. They sold out quickly so if you are going to do this one get your tickets early. My thought on this tour is that it was fun. We did visit all 3 areas but none were particually scary, plus we had a crying child in the group who kind of overpowered anyone else that may have tried to communicate J including our guide. I prefer something more factual and I think I prefer walking as well. The trolley tour was drama with people dressed up telling stories. But it worked for the kids because they loved it.

St. Augustine

St. Augustine, the oldest city in the United States, is an area full of charm and history dating back to the 1500’s. Yeah that’s old! Learn some of the history before going so you can see the areas with more of an interest. Names you often hear while touring include Ponce de Leon and Henry Flagler. You can visit many places that played a part in our past including the Fountain of Youth or Castillo de San Marcos.
We did a recent trip there, me, my sister-in-law and my 2 kids. Before going we came up with a list of things we wanted to do while there and looked into many options. Coupons are available all over St. Augustine for different things – I suggest you wait until you get there to purchase tickets to all the places. You can buy in bulk and save even more; we found the best deals through Trolleytours. Another common sense tip, during the week you have way less of a crowd. Our stay was Thurs – Sat and what a difference Saturday made.
Best Western Historical Inn – an average hotel room layout, beds very comfortable – trust me…I was sick the first night and they worked well for me! The best part was location and convenience. The front desk placed a call to the trolley and we were picked up within minutes. Continental breakfast included – bagels, cereal, juice/coffee, muffins, and fruit. This would not have worked well if my husband was there, but it was fine for the 4 of us.
Trolleytours - http://www.trolleytours.com/ - we decided ahead of our trip that we would purchase our tickets for the trolley simply because it was cheaper on line. We got our money’s worth and then some. This is not a great buy for someone staying a day but for us staying 3 days it was perfect. The price includes a pass for 3 days. The trolley has 22 stops and you never wait longer than 15 minutes. You can get on and off as much as you want throughout the day until it stops running around 6pm. Each driver shares facts and history but they all seem to have different stories. Upon ticket purchase you get a rain poncho, hot days they give you a cheap fan, both free. Your price includes admission into the Florida Heritage Museum which is a neat little place. We basically breezed through it but found 2 sections interesting. It offers another level of insight to Florida’s history. Trolleytours also sells tickets to area attractions; the more you buy the more you save. After comparing their prices with the prices we would get with local coupons we found they offered more of a discount. One thing – we ended up purchasing tickets to the “Old Jail” and then found out it was a stop for the Ghost Tour that we also were going on so we could have saved that money.
**If you are driving yourself around SA keep in mind many places charge parking fees.
Ripleys Believe it or Not - http://www.staugustine-ripleys.com/ This was my 2nd time going to St. Augustine’s RBN and I have to say it will by my last. It is similar to all the other RBN, mostly you are reading things and looking at photos. The last time I was there was over 12 years ago and I really saw nothing new so that was disappointing. The most fun is at the end when you look through a 2 way mirror and see people making fools of themselves trying to roll their tongues….an area you just left and did the same. I was also suffering from a terrible migraine at this point and felt RBN was over stimulating. My kids, age 12 & 9, loved it though.
Oldest Wooden School House - http://www.oldestwoodenschoolhouse.com/ seems like a must see when in SA. The rickety house was built over 200 years ago and you can get a feel for how they taught and ran the school with the talking diorama of a class. The upstairs is closed and after going up on one of the steps to try and look there I can see why. I have posted photos taken of a window. We immediately saw something on the camera but could not recreate it. Interesting….

This next photo was taken following the first one, same window