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Family Fun and Run in Disney
Posted by Tina on Thursday, March 11, 2010 - 02:22 AM
(0 Reads)
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Tina writes " Gene and I spent three days in Orlando with Yoyi and Arturo, Cristy, Gloria and Paul, the grandchildren,and Dan in the Tree house Villas in Disney World. Dave and Lori stayed in the nearby Saratoga Springs Resort. We all arrived on Friday - beautiful blue skies and 60's temps greeted us and made the entire visit quite pleasant. During our stay we visited Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, and Epcot over the weekend and on Saturday morning Dan, Dave, Gloria, and Paul ran a 5K Run through Epcot. Cristy ran her 13 miles on Sunday morning - happy to see absolutely beautiful weather instead of the rain and sleet that prevailed in the January half marathon.
The Tree house villa was nestled among the cypress trees and though we saw only squirrels and songbirds it was fun " camping out " in Disney! Paul went all out Saturday night and prepared grilled hot dogs and roasted marshmallows for Smores!
Gene got to ride "Soaring" twice on Sunday and Alexa got to ride it for the first time that day! When the ride started she called out a nervous" whoa" but with reassurance she handled the experience remarkably well for her age.
Of course I have to mention the luncheon with the Disney Princesses in Cinderella's
Castle. The meal was quite delicious and having one princess after another visit our table was a delight for Alexa and the Lords at our table. Yes, our server named Tina Marie consistently titled Arturo and Gene as " my Lord" whenever she spoke to them.
And yes they enjoyed the royal salutation!!! But it was Paul Andrew who got the kiss from Sleeping Beauty! That lad is quite the charmer....
"
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Valentine's Day
Posted by Tina on Monday, February 15, 2010 - 01:41 PM
(9 Reads)
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Tina writes " Woke up at 6:45am to feed kitties and checked the temperature outdoors- 38 degrees! Yes, this has been a different winter in Florida. In all my travels in the last five years I have sought cool locations with scenic mountainous terrains. This winter Florida has definitely provided the cool- in fact this past week every state except Hawaii had snow on the ground!
In the afternoon Stephanie and her sister Jessie came over to visit and brought us gifts- a matched pair of Valentine glasses and a lovely Valentine Day card. Tootsie and Simba quickly ran to their kitty sitters and were ready for lots of playing.... After their visit I prepared a roasted turkey breast with all the fixings. I ate very little stuffing- I have been somewhat folllowing the Paleo Diet which does not allow bread - but once in awhile....I have been back on my exercise routine since the school district began free classes at a nearby school. Pool at home too cool for water aerobics.
In the evening we headed over to the Three Oaks Banquet Center for some dancing- the only thing I wanted for Valentine's Day. We danced for two hours-plenty of slow dancing for snuggling between the lively musical selections. It was so love-a lee ......
"
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A Cold Snap to Remember!
Posted by Tina on Saturday, January 16, 2010 - 01:29 PM
(12 Reads)
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Tina writes " It was as bad as predicted- the Gulf of Mexico temperature dropped to 48 degrees and the temperatures last Monday and Tuesday morning reached 29 degrees! I wore my winter coat to school for a full week and my winter gloves. The windows in my classroom leaked air so badly that the temperature was 50 degrees by the windows in my classrom.....
It finally made the low 70's yesterday so the Big Chill of January 2010 is now a memory. The snook in our normally warm waters and tropical fish farms in Tampa and South Florida took a major hit but this is the way of nature. Nature's plan works in the long duration but seems often cruel in the moment.... At least those chubby manatees set their GPS for the warm waters of Florida Power and Light and made it through this ordeal! Though in some ways this is not the best maneuver for these gentle mammals.After several nights in the garage our orchids are back out in the lanai. We are not placing them out in the yard just in case OLD MAN WINTER decides to pay another long visit!"
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South Tahoe- A Winter Wonderland
Posted by Tina on Saturday, January 09, 2010 - 01:40 AM
(10 Reads)
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Tina writes " We began our trip heading to Sarasota to pick up Dave and Lori. Lori and her mom Edna served a delicious Christmas meal when we arrived and afterwards we enjoyed a nice visit at her parents lovely home which is situated in a quiet area with plenty of trees and nature. My kind of place! We still had about 50 or so miles to the Tampa Airport - hoping for no traffic issues- and to our delight everything went well.
Flying on Christmas Day you would think would be quiet but surprisingly the US Airways flights we booked were full in Tampa and Phoenix! We stayed at a very nice Best Western by the airport in Reno and on Dec. 26th we shuttled by bus to South Lake at Stateline, Nevada. Our condo on Kingbury Grade was about 5 miles from the casinos and Lake Tahoe. The location on Quaking Aspen Rd. was just over a thousand feet above the lake ( elevation at Lake Tahoe is 6500ft.)and provided a scenic view of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and Carson Valley. Every morning at sunrise I would open my eyes and feast on the glorious beauty of the distant mountains as well as the majestic pines that stood beyond our balcony. Each day it flurried -one morning the pines were like a picture post card - dusted with snow like a sugar coated donut.
Dan literally skiied the entire Heavenly Mountain- his skill level is a high level blue.
Dave has advanced as well and is now skiing blue runs. Lori ,unlike me in Beckenridge, hung in there and made it through the difficult fist timer skiing experience. After the 3 days of skiing was completed we then took the Gondola at Heavenly Village up to the Adventure Park and snowtubed. The next day we headed to the Humboldt- Toyaibe National Forest and snowmobiled through the beautiful snowy countryside.
Lori taught me how to play Craps and we had fun winning( some of the time) both in the Tahoe casinos and the beautiful Peppermill Casino in Reno. We had perfect weather during our trip and no travel issues. However, since we have been back home we have had 2 nights below 35 degrees and in the next 3 nights we are expecting 2 nights at 31 degrees. Looks like I brought home some of that winter wonderland- all except the snow!!!"
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Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Posted by Tina on Thursday, January 07, 2010 - 01:12 AM
(13 Reads)
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Tina writes " I was prepared for some freezing temperatures and even the 20's in Tahoe but upon returning from our Christmas vacation I would never have guessed a full week of 30's and 40's in SW Florida ! According to the meteorologists it has been 80 years since Florida has had this long of a cold snap! The highs the last 3 days has been in the 50's!
As soon as school dismissed for the holidays Dad,Dan, and I headed over to Miami to visit Paul , Gloria, our adorable grandchildren, and Gloria's family. It was brisk but very comfortable and great weather for outdoor birthday parties . I tagged along with Gloria, Alexa, and Paul Andrew and enjoyed seeing all the little sweethearts at play. We also watched video of Alexa and Paul Andrew in their school Christmas performances. Alexa amazed us with her stage presence, singing and then bowing with obvious delight! Paul Andrew was such a patient fella- he stayed put in his chair without a fuss and only once did he began to slide down in his chair .... Can only imagine what he was thinking through the whole performance!
It was wonderful getting together with Gloria's family - we made the trip over early before Christmas since December 25th we would be heading to Lake Tahoe with Dan, Dave, and Lori. Alexa and Paul Andrew will be ready for a winter wonderland trip in the years to come and hopefully Grandma will still be in snowtubing shape... That's another story!"
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