Our little Chia Pet!

He's been threatening to do this for a long time....first he had to wait until he retired, and then when he retired he wasn't so sure. In a burst of confidence on Tuesday while we were visiting Patrick's, he decided that this was the day!! We let him loose and when we met up with him again, this is what he did!! got a crew cut!!!

Proud as punch at what he'd done...and now it won't take him so long to get ready in the morning...no comb overs to deal with and no hair spraying! He's a free man now:)

Another day in Paradise

Here come the Fishermen! Look at all the gear they're bring down with them....fresh bait, fresh beer.....

Paul headed across the street first thing this morning, over to "Diamond Castle", the local Pawn Shop and bought himself a 11' surf casting rod...this has to do the trick!!

It's quite a production to get setup.

You have to make sure that the bait is right, the tide is right....the beer is cold enough...

Then when it's all setup, you can sit back and wait for them to bite......

And wait..... and wait....

And again today.....NO FISH!!! not even stories of one that got away!

Now Julie and I had quite a productive day. After walking on the beach, sun tanning on the beach, fixing lunch, showering....we went shopping......and shopped...and shopped...and shopped:)

Yesterday when we went to the Flea Market, Paul wanted to get himself a shark's tooth necklace to go along with the ankle bracklet he found on the beach earlier in the day.....

Is he a cool dude, or what???

Julie caught a fish....bare-handed!!

Paul was up at 5AM and couldn't get himself out the door fast enough to start walking the beach.

He ran into a fisherman from Indiana callled "Mansfield", stopped and chatted with him for awhile, asking him about what type of fish he was catching, where the best places were, what kind of bait was the best etc. etc. By the time he got back to the Condo, he was wound up to get out his fishing pole and head over to "Shut Up and Fish" (the local bait tackle shop) to buy shrimp and all the other gear he needed.

He grabbed breakfast, all his gear (plus that much needed Playmate cooler that had a few cold beers) and out the door and on the beach in a flash!

Julie headed out about the same time for a run. She ran into "Mansfield" and also stopped and chatted with him for awhile.....the old fisherman thought it would be a hoot for her to bring a fish back to Paul, so he gave her a white fish and off she jogged to show her husband her prize!!

This pelican is waiting to swipe someone's fish...will it be Julie's or Paul's??..oh, yeah...Paul hasn't caught a fish yet!

He tried

and he tried

and still no fish...but he did hook a big one......that got away!

After dinner, he and Guy headed out on the beach again, this time in the pitch dark, to try their luck. Julie and I are here sitting on the couch and can hear those two hooting and hollering to each other and just heard Guy say "Good Job, Cuz...way to go"....so we're thinking he must have finally caught the big one!

Post Script.....they just came up, both soaking wet, claiming Paul caught a white fish the same size as Julie's.....but.....he threw it back???!!!????

Julie & Paul finally arrive in Florida

After having their flight cancelled Friday afternoon, Julie & Paul were able to book another flight, arriving in Orlando a little after noon on Saturday. The airport was still backed up from the storms the day before and they sat on the runway, waiting for a gate for almost an hour. The baggage claim wasn't any more efficient, where we waited another hour for the luggage.

Arriving in Cocoa Beach, windows down, warm air pouring into the Van seemed like heaven to these 2 from the Northeast. No more shoveling for at least 9 days put a big smile on Paul's face:)

We quickly grabbed a sandwich and cold drink on the balcony, they headed out for a walk on the beach.....somehow, we ended up at "Coconuts on the Beach", the Tiki bar that is only a few doors down from our Condo. We had a few adult beverages and a plate of nachos and we were all happy campers!

Kennedy Space Center

On Monday, Anita and Don came down from Deland to spend a couple of days with us. We went to KSC for the day. This is our 3rd visit there...the 1st time we came was only 6 days after the Challanger disaster and the mood at the Center was very somber. ...the 2nd time was over the Holidays 1999-2000, and we were able to visit so many more sights than now. Since 9/11, security has been noticeably tightenend and areas are now closed off to the public whereas before, were opened.

We just missed the Endeavor travelling down the track to the launch pad. Her journey is an extremely slow one, only moving a few feet an hour. Her flight is scheduled for March 11th at 2:30 AM. Melinda will be visiting with us then and we have tickets to all go over to KSC and view the launching from the Visitors Center. They tell us its a once in a lifetime experience, so we're happy we were able to get tickets...it will be well worth losing a little sleep over, I'm assured.

Do these look like a trio of prospective astronauts???

Before they left on Tuesday, we all took a stroll on the beach..one of our favorite things to do.

Breakfast always tastes better on the balcony, overlooking the Atlantic.

Another awesome day:)

It was another awesome Florida day...temps were about 79.4 (again)..sunny, water a greenish blue, a few small white clouds drifting by..what more could anyone wish for?

After going to church, (yes, Family, we go to church just about every Sunday!)...I will digress a minute by telling you a funny story...when we were coming out from the service this morning, a young man asked me if we were from Maine? I wondered how he would know...Guy was singing, but I didn't think his accent was that pronounced...no it was his shirt!! He was wearing one of his favorites, the one with the chart of Mount Desert Island...and this guy was studying his shirt, trying to figure out where it was from.....and finally figured out it was from Maine....His parents live in South Paris!!

We walked back to the condo and changed into our beach clothes...this was definitely a beach day.....I spoke with both my Daughters on the phone, trying not to gloat too much as I described the scene as they both sat there, gazing out at their snowbanks and stoaking the coals once more. Julie and Paul are heading down here on Friday, and Melinda on the 3rd....I hope this glorious weather continues so they can also enjoy heaven!!!

There is a tiki bar, about 200 yards from us called "Coconuts on the Beach"....because Florida allows booze in public, I'm guessing this is one of the reasons this place draws such a crowd. There was a band playing and those young people were out enjoying it all today....I'm wondering just what it's going to be like when Spring Break happens!

The surf was excellent today and those surfers were taking advantage of it. This guy was fun to watch...He went way out with his wind sail and it made me nervous to watch him...these guys have to have to be in terrific shape to be able to do what they do.....

Guess who won another lottery??? Certainly not the one like he won last fall...we're not sure if it's worth $4.00 or $8.00!!!!

LOCATION...LOCATION...LOCATION....

You Get What You Pay For!!!

About a month ago, while we were down at Patrick, we checked into the Travel Agency to see what kind of a Military "deal" we could get on a Cruise. The price was right, so we conferred with the Thomson's and all agreed to take advantage of this great offer!

On Sunday, we drove over to Port Canaveral, which is all of 15 minutes away from our condo, to board Carnival's "Sensation" for a 4 day cruise to the Bahamas. We were already a little apprensive because Jim and Pat had picked up their tickets etc. at the Air Base and ours were not there....hummm.... Guy dropped us off at the gate and went to park the car. We knew something was amiss when he came around the corner with his face as red as a beet and sputtered not entirely under his breath. They had charged him $60.00 for parking the Van....The travel agent had told us not to worry, there was plenty of parking at the terminal, leaving us under the impression that it was free!!

The next obstacle was appearing at the counter with no tickets! thankfully we were blessed with a super friendly and helpfuly agent who took it all in stride and after a brief delay, we were waved aboard the ship!

Another mis-guided information we were given was that the entire cruise was casual and no need to bring any formal attire aboard....WRONG!!! On the night of the Captain's Dinner, we still went, sans ball gowns and tuxs, and I'm sure much more comfortable than most of the other guests.....

I think the biggest disappointment of the cruise was the location of our cabin.....needless to say, it's all about LOCATION...LOCATION....LOCATION....We were in the bowels of the ship...one more flight down and we'd be in the engine room, which meant we were just above the engine room!!! All night long, we could hear the engines, slowing down, speeding up, adjusting.....pumps pumping....chains rattling....We had to laugh, otherwise, we'd all be so depressed, we wouldn't have enjoyed the cruise at all.

We couldn't get to our rooms for another 2 hours, so what to do...but start eating!!! Isn't that what cruising is all about???

We went through the Life saving drill, hoping we wouldn't have need of these jackets again..

This was amazing to see...The pilot leaving the ship, safely boarding the Pilot boat....Naturally, Jim had to tell us many stories of pilots not safely making this transition.....

What more can I say about this picture???

Pat got herself a tatoo!! Now before Kelly, John or Jimmy have a stroke about "Grandma" getting this, it's an air brushed one and should be gone before you see her again!! That away Pat:)

Monday we stopped in Freeport, Bahamas

They offer many excursions while cruising, even though these pictures are fantastic, the beginnng of this tour was not. We were bussed to Lucayan Harbour after a very long walk from the ship to the bus....(we felt so sorry for the older people who had a hard time walking) ...we were put on an old rickty bus and ended up way in the back seats where we couldn't hear the driver/tour guide, so we missed the entire "historical commentary" and when the guide pointed to either side of the bus to see what in the heck he was talking about, we couldn't see out the window because the windows had so much film on them, even the sun couldn't shine through.



When we finally arrived in "town", we were dropped off, given a ticket for the ride back to the ship by another means of transportation which wasn't really clear to us and left on our own to do whatever....We had a real sour taste in our mouths by then so were clearly elated when we started to explore on our own and discover the beauty of this island.

I love this picture of the sailboat on the ocean...the water was just glistening as the clouds gently floated by....what a picture!


The lap pool stretches right out to the beach..how cool is that??

I was trying to get the sailboat centered in the middle of this gazebo....and I almost did!

This resort was amazing...we bought a couple of pina colados and made ourselves at home, sitting on a couple of these beach chairs, pretending we were one of their guests.

Believe it or not, we were served Maine lobsters that night in the dining room and they were pretty darned good, too!



The Hotel was built around this lighthouse...pretty neat, heh??

We visited Atlantis in Nassau

Tuesday, we were in Nassau and decided to try our luck with another tour. It proved to be a good decision this time. It was a beautiful day and after walking all around the city in the morning, we took the afternoon cruise over to Treasure Island and toured Atlantis. What an unbelievably gorgeous hotel. I can't remember how many separate aquariums there are...what a fantastic feeling to walk through the "caves" and see thousands and thousands of fish swimming over your head. The fish above is a gigantic grouper.

These 3 pieces of artwork are valued at over a million dollars EACH!! Doesn't the one on the left side look like sea-glass? Wouldn't you love to find this when your searching for seaglass, Julie??

Of course, we couldn't let this Kodak moment pass by...

Check out these boats...I mean yachts!! I have never seen a gold boat before and this one was so huge and magnificient...Guy said if he could have this one, he'd even let me use one of the rooms as a sewing room!! Made me stop and think for a minute....

Every one was bigger and better than the next one. Wonder what famous people own all these??