Verandah Weekend January 23rd and 24th

The Orange River
More Orange River

My first kayak experience.

It's been a while since I have written, but we really haven't done anything to take pictures of until this past weekend. The Verandah's, where we are building a house, had a number of activities last weekend for people to get to meet each other and to promote the area. I took a Yoga class at the fitness center and then John and I went kayaking for the first time. The Orange River is really peaceful and pretty. We kayaked down to Manatee Bay to see the Manatee's. There are so many in the river because it has been so cold and they are trying to stay warm. While we were paddling we passed a couple that told us a guy's kayak was overturned by a Manatee that went under his boat. OK, that was a little scary, but when we got down to the bay...we SAW a Manatee go under a girls boat and jostle her pretty good. I decided then that maybe we should head back!!!! I really wasn't afraid of the Manatee's but I don't like the snakes and alligators! It was fun. Then that night they had an awesome concert in the park and the food was incredible! On Sunday we took the dogs to the dog park with about 30 other dogs. It was fun. Kate actually behaved herself for the most part. Maddie and I entered an event that you had to weave around cones and then sit in a ring. We made it...but knocked down a cone so were out. Then we went on a dog walk for about an hour. The dogs were tired.

I also attended a class put on by Williams Sonoma about cooking. It was interesting. John and I went to a decorating seminar put on by Rob and Stucky which is a nice furniture store here in Florida. Overall it was a good experience.

We have met with the builder a couple times and are starting to pick out things like tile, colors, faucets, etc... Both of us want to be excited, but our spirits are pretty dampened by this economy. I will take pictures of the "dirt" and put them on the blog soon.