Our day at Bok Sanctuary and more

Today the kids and I drove over to Winter Haven to see Jen, Jeremy and the pups at Jeremy's parents home. So good to see them. I can't tell you how much I have missed them. I'd say I'll be glad when this year is over and they come home but who knows where those two will end up when this adventure is over. I am so very proud of them though, for living "their" life. They are young and ready to conquer the world ~ in so many ways, I envy them ~ having said that I still miss them like crazy and would love for them to be closer.
After saying hello to everyone and the puppies too we (all of us and Jeremy's mom, Chris) drove over to Bok Sanctuary which is a National Historic Landmark in Lake Wales, Florida. We took in the gardens and the tower but chose to skip the Pinewood Estate. It's a 20 room early 1930s winter estate. While I would have loved to see it, especially all decked out for the holidays I thought it might be pressing it with the kids. As it was, we had a wonderful walk through the gardens. I was very impressed at Chris and Jeremy knowing the names of almost all the plants. I'm very limited in my knowledge of flora and fauna but I do appreciate the beauty just the same.

The mosquitos were still pretty agressive but once we got out toward the open area of "The Tower" we were fine.
The kids favorite part was the Koi pond. They were some pretty big fish who are very used to being hand fed so as soon as you get your hand close to the water they all come up to the surface and Nathaniel got to "pet" a few.
They have bell concerts at the Tower and it's actually a person playing the bells in the tower. I have to confess I had trouble identifying most of the selections but then I'm not really up on my classical music. I would definitely like to get back there in the spring when everything is in bloom including the orange blossoms.
Once we left there we decided to see "Enchanted." I mostly wanted to see it cause it had McDreamy ~ I mean Patrick Dempsey and the commercial did look funny. While it wasn't my all time favorite movie, it was entertaining and had some very funny parts. I think my favorite was Susan Sarandon's portrayal of the evil Queen Narissa.
Later that night Richard drove over to meet us (he unfortunately had to go into work) and we all went out to dinner with Jeremy's mom, dad and twin brother to celebrate the boys 28th birthday. The meal was good but the company was great! We always enjoy spending time with the Cox's. It was a late day/night though and we headed home to get ready for our adventure the next day... stay tuned! So, how was your day?