The Remaining Catch Up Information

Day 84 - Siesta Key - Mid 70's Mostly Cloudy and VERY Windy:

What a day! We all got up at a reasonable hour...well except Kris but that's normal!! Ben and I had been planning on going to our first polo match since last Sunday as we had tried last week but the match was cancelled due to wet fields. Originally it was going to be just Ben and I again today but with a lack of beach perfect weather, Shana and Kris decided to join us. It was so neat! We made our way to the Sarasota Polo Club for a 1pm match. As we arrived there were lots of fans out tailgating, playing pass, listening to music, and truly enjoying the weather. We had read that it was a great place to tailgate but were not expecting as many people as we encountered. None of us really new the rules but we learned as much as we could while we were there. Polo matches are four on four with two refs. They play six chuckers each of which is seven minutes and thirty seconds long. After each chucker they change horses so that they don't get too tired...we also learned that they can change within a chucker but the play will not stop for that...we only saw it happen once and it was during a penalty shot. During half time all the spectator get to go out on the field and stomp the divots...think Pretty Woman! It was quite fun.

We returned home just in time for the Colts/Jets game. I fell asleep and I pretty sure Ben did too! We then made our way down to the beach for the sunset drum festival. Apparently they do this every Sunday evening around sunset. It was quite a scene. The drum crew was great...the rest of the people well...let's just say they were a unique crowd. We returned home and I made Uncle Dave's Mexican Roll-Ups! They were delicious...a little spicier than we remembered but great nonetheless. We are now hanging at the house watching the Saints/Vikings games while both Kris and Shana are at work. Everyone is off tomorrow so we'll see what adventures are in store.

Miss you all!!
Love.

Day 76, Day 77, Day 78, Day 79, Day 80, Day 81, Day 82 and Day 83 - Siesta Key - Varied Weather:

So I am not even going to try and do an entry for each individual day. Instead I am going to recap our week. The photos will be on the correct days as the camera makes it nice and easy for that.

For the most part we have had a low-key week of hanging out with Kris and Shana, going to the beach, and exploring Siesta Key and the greater Sarasota area. We've played A LOT of board and card games. We are big fans of Phase 10 and Skip-Bo to keep entertained. One evening we did make our way to the bowling alley. Shana and I naturally were there for fun but boys will be boys and in turned into a friendly competition. The end result of full games was a tie at two games a piece. We all did well...and at one point had four consecutive strikes!

Ben and I took an afternoon to explore the Ringling Museum. Yes, I am talking Ringling as in the CIRCUS! It was a pretty outstanding place. We first went into the two Circus Museums. In the first one there was a model of what a "circus town" looked like. It was AMAZING. " The model is a replica of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus from 1919 – 1938. It was created over a period of more than 50-years by master model builder and philanthropist Howard Tibbals." ("Circus Museums". The State Art Museum of Florida, Florida State University. 01/24/2010 .) The pictures do not do justice to actually seeing it in person. As you walk through, the lights actually dim in the museum and the model lights up so you see what the circus would have looked like at night. I wish that the circus still looked like this...it was a whole world of it's own and a true event to attend. The second museum had some of the wagons that they used to travel on and also had John and Mable Ringling's personal train car that they would travel in as the circus made it's way across the country. It was HUGE and beautiful. They are in the process of restoring it so it is not complete but you still can see how gorgeous it was...it was truly like a home. Throughout both museums we also got to look at a number of costumes and props that were used in the circus.

From the museums we headed into the Ringling home. It was quite a place. Located right on the water. The house was enormous and full of art and a lot of unique furniture. We weren't able to see too much of the house without a stiff fee for a private tour but we were able to see almost the whole first floor which included Ben's favorite...the Pub. After walking through the house we headed outside and walked the beautiful grounds. This included a rose garden and a secret garden (Mable's private haven). We also located the graves just behind the secret garden and paid our respects.

The last stop was the Art Museum. To this day Mr. Ringling is the only private art collector to have a museum built just for his collection and to have it maintain it's works through time. The museum was VERY large. The art was not my cup of tea but it was stunning to think that he collected it all on his own.

A wonderful note: In his will Mr. Ringling left his estate to the State of Florida. It is now property of the University of Florida and is open to the public seven days a week. It is free to walk the grounds but the circus museums cost money every day. The art museum is a fee everyday EXCEPT Monday. A stipulation in Mr. Ringling's will states that the art museum MUST be free to the public one day a week to keep art alive. It was an outstanding day and Ben and I wished we had arrived early to spend more time in the circus museums...they were so fun!

On a separate day, Shana, Kris, and Ben headed to Tampa to visit Busch Gardens. I am not a roller coaster fan and so I stayed here to hit the beach. Based on the photos they had a GREAT time. Ben had been talking about this since we left and so I was excited that he had the opportunity to go with friends. They are considering going again as we got tickets that give them unlimited access until December 31!

Ben and I took trip to Venice one day this week as well. We had read that this beach was a great place to find SHARK TEETH. It was a pretty nasty day with lots of fog and wind but we braved the elements for the adventure. Unfortunately we did not find a single tooth after over an hour of exploring. Be was really disappointed! We were not the only ones looking though. There were a lot of people looking and some even had special sifters on long poles to help them get shells...we're guessing they may have had better luck. Venice Beach also has a long fishing pier that we walked on and watched a number of fisherman trying to catch the big one.

Other than that it has been a week of laying low. We've both managed to do quite a bit of running...Ben far more than I, but I'm working on it...it's a long process to get back in shape and I have no patience! We will do our best to keep our update more frequent now! Thanks for checking in.