2013 Summer Road Trip - Tallahassee

After Weeki Wachee we headed north to Tallahassee for two reasons: one, to tour our state capitol building and two, for Mackenzie to visit Florida State University.

The Florida capitol building dwarfs in comparison to the capitol in Austin but this one does have something unique. The historical capitol is actually no longer in use. Instead, our legislatures use a modern 22 story building directly behind the capitol.



The 22nd floor is composed of wall-to-wall windows which provide tourists with a 360 degree view of Tallahassee and 25 miles beyond. Mackenzie was able to get her first glance at the FSU campus.



After the captiol we landed on Seminole territory.



You would think that Mason would get bored touring different campuses. Luckily, he enjoys the stadiums.





Have we seen the last of Tallahassee? I'm not so sure, Mackenzie was very impressed with the university. The city, well, not so much! Next post: The Big Easy

2013 Summer Road Trip - Weeki Wachee

Weeki Wachee is a town with a name as quirky as its main attraction – the famous underwater mermaid show. At Weeki Wachee Springs State Park, the water bubbles up from the aquifer at a consistent 74 degrees. It is so remarkably clear that you can see the limestone walls more than 100 feet away. Inside the theatre, located 20 feet below the water’s surface, human mermaids have been performing for more than 63 years.





Almost every little girl growing up in Florida dreams of becoming a mermaid. Mackenzie went through that phase back in 2001 so we took her to Weeki Wachee for the first time when she was three years old.



A lot of famous people have visited Weeki Wachee over the years and numerous movies and television shows have filmed on location at the state park. Most recently the mermaids were shown in Kelly Clarkson's music video. See if you can spot them.



Okay, could you spot them? If not, here is the actual footage that they sent to Kelly Clarkson.



Speaking of mermaids, did you know that it is an actual career not just a job? There is one mermaid from the 1960's who still works at Weeki Wachee. She currently assists in the scuba instruction.

We plan to return to Weeki Wachee in the near future, not to see the mermaids again but rather to kayak in the clear spring water. Manatees frequently swim in the spring and we hope to get an up-close and personal view.



Next post: Tallahassee, our state capital

Note Worthy News

Guess who will be playing a drum rather than cymbals in the fall? Mackenzie tried out for bass and was awarded bass 4! She has been taking private lessons since November and has worked very hard to get where she is now, and we are so proud of her. Bass drums range from 1 (smallest) to 6 (largest). Needless to say, Mackenzie's #4 is rather large, she can't even see over the top.  Each of the drums at Gulf Coast are named, Mackenzie will be playing Prince Tyrone which has been handed down to her from a senior who has played him for the last three years.  She is, coincidentally, following the previous owner's footsteps.  This senior played cymbals her freshman year, and then bass 4 beginning her sophomore year. She was relieved to find out that Mackenzie would be playing Prince Tyrone because she knew Mackenzie would take good care of him.

Class of 2020

I learned something new today. Mason will be in the graduating class of 2020.  I guess I had never taken the time to calculate what year he would actually graduate.  I heard it for the first time today as he walked across his elementary school stage for the last time as a 5th grader.

The audience was entertained by a small group who sang My Country, 'Tis of Thee.



Mason was honored with the President Obama's Gold Seal Award for Educational Excellence.
 






Congratulations, Mason! You are now officially a middle school student!

Salvador Dali

We headed out of town on Memorial Day for a quick excursion to the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg. The museum is home to 7 of the 18 masterwork paintings by Dalí, the most of any museum in the world.

The building is amazing just on its own.  It is a simple rectangle with 18-inch thick hurricane-proof walls out of which erupts a large free-form geodesic glass bubble. The view from the bubble was stunning. 





For lunch we decided to try something a little different, the Hangar Restaurant and Flight Lounge located at a private airport off the Tampa Bay.





Mason enjoyed getting a up-close view of a helicopter taking off.

Pride and Honor

Mackenzie had the honor of performing at a Memorial Day service at her percussion instructor's church.



We had the option to just drop Mackenzie off but decided to stay and enjoy the service.  I'm so glad we did, it was actually very interesting. Numerous patriotic hymns were sung and a memorial wreath was presented for local police, firefighters and EMT's who had lost their lives in the line of duty. The names of Naples soldiers from World War I up to the Iraq/Afghanistan Wars were also read.   



Mackenzie performed percussion with a brass band from the church.  They played the U.S. Armed Forces Medley. This was an exciting song because members of the congregation stood and were recognized as their service branch hymn was played.



This event was a milestone for Mackenzie. This was the first time that she had been asked to play percussion outside of a school event. She and her fellow freshman classmate, Zack, were personally chosen by their instructor to perform.

Another Letter (even better)

Just as Mackenzie was recovering from the honor of the academic awards, she was handed another surprise. The GCHS band hosted their annual band banquet last Friday night.  The banquet is a fun ceremony where the school celebrates the success of the band and gives out a number of individual awards to students.  My elementary school was hosting its annual carnival that same night so I toyed with the idea of skipping the banquet all together.  However, I made a quick last minute decision to sneak out of carnival and headed over to the high school. I arrived ten minutes after the start and saw Mackenzie along with all the other freshman leaving the stage after receiving their Varsity Letters for band. I settled in my seat thinking that I had missed Mackenzie's excitement for the evening.  Boy, was I wrong!  One of the first awards given was for the "most improved" freshman girl for the entire band.   You can't imagine my surprise when Mackenzie's name was called. With over 100 freshmen in the band, this is such a big honor for Mackenzie. We are so proud of Mackenzie; she entered into marching band with no prior experience and has excelled!     



Sadly, Mason has ended up with a walking cast for the next four weeks. This has ended his current basketball season and put a damper on some of his upcoming 5th grade graduation activities. Hopefully he will be given a removable cast which shouldn't interfere with any of his summer plans.