Sharks and Manatees and Seals, Oh My!

I've been spending most of my time at school and church lately, as the renovations still aren't done. It's exciting, though, so I'm happy to do it. Plus, not having anyone to come home to makes me not really want to be at home as much as possible. So I've been kind of MIA lately, too busy doing nothing exciting to really update.

Thursday, though, I did something amazing. During an amazing meeting of the minds about a week back, six of us at school decided to make "Sister Fanny for President" t-shirts and wear them to school. Sister Fanny is the wonderful nun who makes our copies at school. And we love her. So, on Thursday, we made t-shirts dedicated to her candidacy. We are now the envy of everyone at school and will make a killing on black market t-shirts. We can use the money to support the Educators' Fund for Social Enhancement, aka a fund for Happy Hour on Fridays. A. Mazing.

Friday night I promised my kids (I teach basically every junior on the football team) I'd go see thier game, so I did. There's nothing I love more than highschool football in Miami... except nearly everything. Still, I think it's important they see me there, and the Royal Lions won so it all worked out. Go Lions!

Yesterday, The Weave came down for a late birthday celebration (she was back in MI when I celebrated) and we had a lovely outing to the Miami SeaQuarium. Two co-workers of mine share a house with two other guys, one of whom works at the SeaQuarium. Long story short, they hooked Annie and I up with 50% off passes and we got in for half price. This was a key decision because it really wasn't worth full price. Half price, however, was rockin'.

It's sort of smaller than I expected, and most of the place seems to be based on shows--seals, manatees, dolphins, an orca whale, stuff like that. It's a pretty cool place as far as being able to learn a lot, but it's not a huge aquarium or anything.

Anyway, I took a few pics to document the day. This is the view of Miami from inside the park. The park's on Key Biscayne, so this is looking at down town Miami, across the water.

Seals are always just about the cutest things you could ever want to see, so this guy was no exception. I like them because something about thier eyes reminds me of Lancelot--maybe it's the deep, dark, roundness of them or something. Anyway, this guy (or gal) was super cute and smiling.
The sea turtles were SO CUTE. They were just like the ones in Finding Nemo! And they were HUGE. They were hangin' out with the alligators in their own little area in the park. There were at least five of them.

I learned quite a bit about manatees while I was there, due mainly to the fact that The Weave is slightly obsessed and we spent a bit of time there. Turns out, thier closest living relative is the elephant. I never knew that! Thier skin, life spans, gestation periods, and body sizes are all similar. Also, a manatees front flippers are very similar to an elephants feet. Crazy, I know. All the manatees in the park were rescues, and they work to release them if possible.

In the reef exhibit, I saw these cool guys--sea horses! I can't believe I actually got a decent picture of one.

It was a great day with perfect weather. After the park, The Weave and I ate lunch at Panera and she went on back to Boca.

Tiffany and I then took a study break (for her, not me) to the bookstore where these two freshmen LOVED us. They were precious and adorable. And the whole situation was hilarious!

Last night, I went over to Fredy's for a delayed birthday party. He cooked and it was amazing (of course) and we just hung out and eventually played Apples to Apples, everyone's new favorite game, discovered on Thursday while making t-shirts.

A five day week lies ahead... I'm not used to it!