A Visit to Remember

It's been quite a week! Bill's daughter Laura, hubby Tim and their four teenagers arrived from wintry Colorado last Wednesday and we headed to Fort Myers to spend a few days. Three of the kids had never seen the ocean so the beach was our first stop.

We arrived at Fort Myers Beach shortly before sunset. A cold front with fabulous billowing cloud formations was rolling in over the pier. The couple in the foreground was embracing - perhaps sharing their first kiss. It was beautiful. Click on the image for a larger view - it really is a pretty shot.

The family: Kyle, Quinton, Hannah, Tim, Laura and Nate.

Quinton is a senior at Hanover High School.

Nathan, also a senior at Hanover, turned 18 during their visit.

While in Fort Myers, we visited Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, Lover's Key, Six Mile Cypress Slough; ate raw oysters at SOB's and mediocre Mexican at Times Square. The kids enjoyed their evenings at the pool, the hot tub and fishing the Parker Lake ponds. On Saturday, we drove to Ocala and treated the family to a catfish dinner at Stumpknockers on the Withlacoochee River. We visited Cedar Key and spent a day fishing and kayaking down the crystal clear Rainbow River in Dunnellon before they departed for Daytona Beach, Shades of Green in Orlando, Cocoa Beach and Universal Studios. It was a wonderful visit and I will post more pictures later.

All About Gabriel

I've spent the last 10 days in Maryland with my daughter Pamela and her family. Her oldest son, Gabriel, and I spent his last full week before beginning kindergarten together and we had a great time. Once we got Mommy, Daddy and little brother, Sebastian off to work and day care, we had the day to ourselves to play.

Gabriel is an excellent baseball player! He is so good, I was nervous pitching to him for fear he would hit me with the ball. My fear was realized when he hit a solid line drive to my left knee. Ouch.

I brought lots of projects with me. Gabriel is a very busy boy so I wanted to keep him occupied. This day our project was painting sun catchers as presents for the rest of the family.

Gabriel also loves TV - but we try to limit how much he watches. It went on for 15 minutes at a time when I needed a rest.

Everyone likes to eat so we made goodies for the family. In this picture, Gabriel is making yummy chocolate chip cookies. We also made apple cake and later in the visit, his baby brother helped me make brownies.

After the line drive to my knee, I decided it was safer to take him to the batting cages where he quickly went through $10 in tokens practicing his batting. Gabriel is so good - the family in the next cage came over and asked how old he was. They couldn't get over how many balls he hit over the fence and out of the park. I also invested in a bag of Whiffle balls - deciding they might be safer for the back yard than regulation base balls.

On Sunday, the whole family headed to the local pool. Gabriel is learning to swim and was anxious to show me what he had learned in summer camp.

He's a cutie - don't you think?

Two more cuties - Daddy and Sebastian. Sebastian had just fallen on the cement and had two new band aids - one on each knee.

On Monday, Gabriel started kindergarten. His new school is about a mile from home so he will be taking the school bus - but on this, his first day, he was accompanied by his mom and both grandmothers. We all had cameras - much to Gabriel's embarrassment. Gabriel made a deal with his mom that in the future, all hugs would be taken care of BEFORE they get to school! Kisses are completely out of the question!

Sebastian just turned two in June. He's a much quieter child and enjoys playing with the many toys in the house. When I first arrived, he wouldn't even look at me and hid his face. He warmed up after about an hour. Sebastian is a lover and likes to sit and cuddle. I couldn't get enough!

I had a great visit. During the week, I also had the opportunity to visit with grandsons Dylan and Zachary and see oldest son, Rick, his wife Lisa, oldest daughter Laura, and her partner Cheryl. I'm back in Colorado now but I'm already looking forward to my next visit!

Epcot and Ocala

Okay, okay - it's been over a week since my last blog and my "regulars" are getting antsy -- well at least one is. You know who you are.

And quite a week it's been! A week ago Friday, Bill and I met daughter Pamela, husband, Orlando and my handsome grandsons, Gabriel and Sebastian, at Epcot for the day. Bill earned his ticket volunteering at The Bridge - a non-profit center for at-risk youth in Fort Myers.

Gabriel had his face painted like a tiger. He was very proud and scary.

He really wanted to make sure the artist did a good job and I was exceptionally pleased that he sat so very still the whole time she was working. Afterwards, we went to lunch and he found a mirror in the restaurant. He kept going over to see how he looked. It was very cute!

Pamela and Sebastian. I wish it had been warmer but the kids didn't seem to mind the chilly weather. Pamela is wearing Gabriel's "ears." They just did not go with his tiger face!

Sebastian was a little young for most of the rides but he seemed to enjoy the sights and sounds of the park anyway. Bill got him to take a short nap while mom and dad went on the rides with Gabriel.

Here we are - Pamela with Sebastian, me, Gabriel and Orlando. Mickey and Minnie are in the background - along with an unnamed couple who was in the wrong place at the right time.

We had a great day and enjoyed the kids before heading north and dropping off another load of furniture at our storage unit in Ocala.

On Monday at 11:30 a.m. we made settlement on our new house in Ocala. At 1:00 p.m. Stanley Steemer came to clean the carpets, at 2:00 p.m. the guys arrived to measure the floors for new carpet and flooring, at 2:30 p.m. Jeremy arrived to set up the Internet and after that our new bedroom furniture arrived so we could spend the night in our new house. It has been non-stop - buying, fixing, adding, assembling new, etc. ect. We actually made friends with our sales-person at the furniture store and purchased some new furniture she had stored in her garage. I'm waiting for the last of it to be delivered any minute.

This is an endangered fox squirrel and we took this picture across the street from our new house. The locals call it a raccoon squirrel because of the dark face mask. It is the largest species of squirrel in the U.S..

One of our priority jobs was putting up a bird feeder in our open backyard. Our first visitors were Bluebirds followed by Chickadees - lots of Robins, Cardinals and Blue Jays. This is going to be fun!

This is our new bedroom...

And living room...


eating area in the kitchen...

and Florida Room. A Florida room (I learned) has both screens and windows under air and heat. We had a lanai in Fort Myers - which is an outdoor room with screens. In Colorado we have a patio. Regardless of the name - it's where we spend most of our time.

Our Cross Country Trip

We had quite an adventure traveling from Colorado to Florida via Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, back to Kansas, onto I-70 east through Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, onto I-95 and south to Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia and finally, Florida. Naturally, there we several stops along the way.

We spent the first night in Fredonia, middle-of-nowhere, Kansas. It was a nice clean small town and we wished we had more time to explore, but we needed to get on the road south to Miami, Oklahoma to visit Susan "Clare" Connell. We had a lovely visit. She took us on a tour of the historic Coleman Theatre (http://www.colemantheatre.org/). It has quite a history!

Our next stop was Shell Knob, Missouri. Our good friends, Mike and Mel have a beautiful, welcoming home on Table Rock Lake. Mike took us out on his boat fishing and I caught a bass. I'm sure it was record size, but being a nature lover, I threw him back before the press showed up to document the occasion.

On the last night of our 3-day visit, the boys, Bill, Mike and neighbor Tom, cooked a fish-lovers feast. We had giant crab legs, two kinds of shrimp, catfish, salmon, baked potatoes with all the fancy toppings, salad and hot apple crisp with ice cream. There were also plenty of adult beverages. It was a fun night!

Mike, Melanie, Tom, Bill and Cathy. I am, of course, behind the camera. Mike and Mel have great neighbors and we enjoyed spending time with them.

We left the camaraderie of Shell Knob at o'dark thirty for a brunchtime rendezvous with a girlfriend from high school that I hadn't seen in over 35 years. Susan looked exactly the same - the years have been good to her. She has a beautiful home outside Kansas City but we had to eat a delicious homemade brunch and run - heading east to Pennsylvania. I so enjoyed getting together again - catching up on our lives - that I completely forgot to take any pictures!

We spent two days driving to Gilbertsville, Pa to visit daughter, Laura, her wife/partner/spouse (I never remember which they prefer) Cheryl and my eldest grandson, Zachary. The trees were just starting to change. We were there probably a week to 10 days too early for the full fall colors. This tree is in Valley Forge Park.

We saw some birds we don't usually see in Colorado or Florida. This is a Tufted Titmouse. We spotted it in Laura & Cheryl's backyard, a bird-lover's paradise. OK - I get the tufted part - but what in the world is a titmouse? According to Wikipedia, tit means small and mouse comes the Old English, 14th-century name for the bird - mase. The spelling was changed to mouse in the 16th-century - probably by Walt Disney.

This is a Mockingbird, another backyard visitor. Yes, we see them in both Colorado and Florida, but it is a good picture, so it's included. This guy was quite the singer.

Since our visit was short, I wanted to spend as much time as possible with my grandson, so we kept him home from school to go on an educational field trip to the Daniel Boone Homestead.

The Daniel Boone Homestead, located near Reading, is a state historic site which preserves a number of historic structures, most moved from other locations and not part of the original Boone farm. Daniel Boone's parents first settled the site in 1730. Daniel was born in 1734 and spent his first 16 years here before his family migrated to North Carolina.

The original Boone house (what is left of it) is to the left. Later owners added on.

The barn where two horses, a gaggle of geese and one cat lived.

There is a nice walking trail through the 579 acres of open space. This Bluebird was enjoying the nice day too.

To the left is the Bertolet House. It was built in 1737 in the Oley Valley and relocated to the Daniel Boone Homestead in 1968. The Bertolet House is an excellent example of eighteenth-century Pennsylvania German log architecture. In typical Germanic fashion, the fireplace is centrally located and opens into the kitchen, or Kuche. Behind the fireplace are two rooms. The larger is the parlor, or Stube, and the smaller is a bedroom, or Kammer. Medieval architectural influence can be seen in the building's asymmetry, steeply pitched roof, flared eaves and casement windows.

To the right is the Bertolet smoke and bakehouse.

This water-powered, vertical-blade sawmill was built around 1810 and moved here from its original site. As you can see, it was a beautiful day for a leisurely walk.

Laura and Zachary.

My grandson, Zachary.

After touring the Boone Homestead, we headed towards Zachary's school so he could take a history test. We got waylaid at this old Gilbertsville schoolhouse that is currently being historically renovated.

These are the his and her bathrooms - single seaters. At the same location was a city-owned RC flying field - which is the real reason we stopped.

We never did get Zach to school. It was much more fun playing in the backyard. Cheryl has worked hard on the landscape. They have a natural pond with frogs and plants. Their four dogs have lots of space to run and play. Zachary let me take a picture of his new friend before he let it go in the flowers.

They have a fire pit in back of the house that Laura built and we spent the evening sitting around, enjoying the company and the warmth of the fire. We had a wonderful visit.

This is my oldest son Rick, wife Lisa and grandson Dylan's home in Birdsboro, Pa. Rick has been working to renovate it and has done a remarkable job. Lisa is artistic and her creativity shows on the inside as well as the outside.

Lisa grilled some steaks and we had a delightful dinner and lively conversation. Rick was commenting that his beard is growing in grey - so he shaves more often!

Lisa does not like to have her picture taken. She was cutting apples for apple crisp. It was delicious!

The three of them obviously get along well.

Dylan loves to ride his bike and posed for pictures while he showed me his tricks.

Dare-devil Dylan: he is his father's son!

Moving further down the coast, we stopped in Silver Spring, Maryland to visit daughter Pamela, husband Orlando and their two boys. This is my newest grandson, Sebastian. What a cutie. I can't believe how much he has changed in the three months since I last saw him. He's walking -- no, running -- everywhere and just learning to go down the stairs backwards. Please notice the Denver Broncos jacket he is wearing. His father probably took it off him as soon as we left.

Sebastian's big brother, Gabriel -- mesmerized by the TV. Gabriel will be 5-years old later this month.

We got the thumbs-up! Our visit was short - just a couple of days - but it was great seeing them again. Bill took over the kitchen - much to Pam's delight - so I'm sure that we will be invited back.

We left Maryland early Sunday morning on the last leg of our adventure and made it all the way to Florida, spending the night near Jacksonville, and arriving back in Fort Myers Tuesday morning. Our adventure did not end there as I wrote in my last entry.

Our home is now back to normal. Son, John was here for 3-days of eating, sleeping, swimming, sunning and relaxing - with a short visit to NGC and lunch with David Vagi, wife, Ana and beautiful baby daughter Sabina with a little work on his computer thrown in to round out the days. We sadly took him to the airport on Friday.

Today is cool - high temperatures only in the 70's. Bill is off with his buddies flying RC airplanes and as soon as I'm done here I will straightened up the house to get ready for company this evening. Life is good.