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Showing posts from 2012
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Monday, December 24, 2012 Christmas Eve  Awaiting Baby Jesus at Basilica San Juan Don and I drove  9 hours from Orlando to Buloxi Mississippi and stayed at a Casino Hotel there for the night. After a nice Senior buffett breakfast at a nearby Casino, we drove another 9 hours to SanAntonio, Texas and stayed at a Marriott Residence Inn - enjoyed the manager's special dinner and nice breakfast. Mary investigated the evening Riverwalk Lights - chilly night since a cold front (from Canada of Course) came through that afternoon. Tuesday, December 12/12 After a hearty breakfast at the hotel we drove the 4 hours to Trophy Gardens in Alamo and set up for our winter stay. Since we have been here, Mary has been teaching her exercise class for 3 monings, Don is back playing Masters Slow Pitch in McAllen in the competitive league, we bike and golf and swam etc. Mary went to see "Beauty and the Beast" play at the Sharyland High School in Mission, donated blood, cleaned the
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Friday, December 7, 2012  Katie's Birthday - Magic Kingdom - Disney, Orlando Florida Got up early to make it to the front gates of Magic Kingdom before opening to see the Disney Characters arrive  on the Train. Katie got her Birthday Button at the Town Hall and all day the staff wished her "Happy Birthday" which she loved. On entering the Magic Kingdom, we hurried off to Fantasyland, which had just opened some new attractions and we visited the "Beauty and the Beast" area, then on to "It's a Small World", a 3 D show and more rides. We dined outside the Sky Cafe for lunch, Jacob fell asleep on the peoplemover ride in Tomorrowland and Hannah enjoyed a nap at the same time while Diana, Tom and Katie snuck off to Space Mountain and Oma minded the sleeping children. A picture with Santa was tried but Jacob doesn't seem to like Santa yet. But he did like some other Disney characters. We lasted all day until 7PM with our last stop at the Child Care

update to Florida

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Monday, December 3, 2012 Crab Trap Xmas Tree in Duck Now located at Summer Bay Resort in Orlando Florida Don and I survived our Dr Oz 3 day detox/cleanse and enjoyed the rest of last week in Duck NC. Diana visited with Jacob and Hannah on Friday, Nov 30 - her birthday. We visited Duck Donuts, had lunch at The Blue Point and went swimming with the kiddies in the big resort pool. Diana and Jacob @ Busch Gardens Saturday morning we packed up and drove back to Chesapeake. Katie arrived at Tom and Diana's last night. Saturday afternoon, all of us but Don went to see the beautiful Christmas light displays at Busch Gardens. We stayed till after dark and then returned home to get packed for our Orlando trip on Sunday. Sunday was a 12 hour drive to warmer weather  - destination of Summer Bay Resort in Orlando Florida. We rented a 2 bedroom unit that is on the 4th floor of one of their buildings. It is a lovely place with lots of pools and things to do. Tom and Diana and kids wil
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Saturday, November 24, 2012 Photographer session at 8 AM on the home turf and it all worked out better. Christmas card worthy. Ate more turkey, pumpkin and the TV played more Football games but the kids are fun to be with. Hannah hums and smiles and is rolling all over. Jacob keeps busy and can work an iphone better than I will ever - and he is 18 months old. At night we watched the TV documentary on "The Dust Bowl". Sunday, November 25, 2012  (Our 34th wedding anniversary) Poor Jacob and Tom are not up to top form today - darn cold. Don and I moved on down the road to Duck, NC - only an hour away. We checked into Barrier Island Station - reserved through a certificate from Sky Auction a few months ago. We have a lovely 3 bedroom unit on the top (3rd) floor with a view of the ocean. This resort is showing it's age but is nice and quiet since it is off season and has a nice indoor pool and access to the beach. The picture above is taken from our balcony. Monday,
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Thursday, November 22, 2012 Thanksgiving Day Had a lovely day with the Chesapeake Marsdens. Some neighbours had an outdoor funnel cake party at 11 AM and we had our delicious turkey dinner around 2:30 with the Pugh family from next door. I made some pumpkin pies from the farm picked Halloween pumpkin. Friday, November 23, 2012  Black Friday Today we went to Virginia Beach to meet a photographer for shots of the family on the beach. It was a nice day but there was some wind on the beach and the kids weren't too happy there. Jacob did notice that walking in sand is a bit different. Tom was happy to get an online purchase for a 60 inch TV from the Black Friday Sale from Amazon though.
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Tuesday, November 20, 2012 ON THE ROAD AGAIN Left Lakefield around 9 AM headed for the night in Scranton, Penn. Great day to travel with a stop at Duty Free @ the 1000 Island Bridge. They were having a special day of sampling and you got to spin a wheel at the checkout that gave discounts. Don got 10% off Tom's beer request and I luckily got 75% off my $20 chocolate purchase for Diana. Checked in to the Residence Inn (Marriott) by 4 PM. Spent a little time in the evening at the big mall next door. There was a Best Buy and it already had a few people stationed outside awaiting Black Friday specials? Wednesday, November 21, 2012 After a lovely breakfast at the Inn, we drove off for Chesapeake, Virginia by way of the coast and sea tunnels to avoid Washington on this busy travel day before Thanksgiving. Another great weather travel day. Arrived at Tom and Diana's by 5 PM. Don and Tom took off at 6 PM for a AHL hockey game between Norfolk and Charlotte. I got to enjoy little

New York City Trip

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NEW YORK CITY trip   October 17 to 23 2012. Hello from the Laguadia Plaza Hotel   Wednesday, October 17, 2012 Southwest Flight So they offered to send us to Chicago on an earlier flight today since our plane was delayed from Orlando and we would probably miss our connection in Baltimore. So we were on 2 full planes today - at the back - not together - but we got here at 5:30  - rather than a 7:45 flight out of Baltimore. We got a shuttle over to this hotel and now we are going to scout out some dinner. We would have sent a note from Chicago but we could not get an Internet connection. Thursday, October 18/12 Empire State Bldg Rockefeller Square Arrived at our apartment right on time at 5 Pm and the lady was right here and we got settled. We picked up some wine on the way to the apartment and now having a much needed drink. So this is what we did today: Got up at 6 am and took the 7 am shuttle to the subway and got squished to Manhattan and got off at Grand Central
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March and April 2012 Summary We have been back home in Lakefield as of Tuesday, April 10/12, so there is a gap in this blog for March and the beginning of April that I will attempt to summarize. From February 28 to March 12, I was in Chesapeake, Virginia. I had the pleasure of looking after our first grandchild, Jacob (9 months old) for a week while our son Tom and his wife Diana spent a well deserved vacation in Mexico. Here is a picture with Tom and Diana with Jacob and this is what Diana wrote on her Facebook page on March 26/12. " Forever in our arms, Jacob William David! With full hearts we are proud to announce the adoption of our son, born in Virginia, on May 30, 2011. Welcome Home Jake! We are also happy to share that our “forever family” continues to grow through the gift of adoption. We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Jake’s baby sister, due June 3 . Please continue to keep our family and our children’s very special birthmother in your thoughts and prayers – all
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Just to catch up on our weekend activities before the month is over. On Friday, Feb 24, Brenda and I went to the Rio Grande Valley Quilt Show at the McAllen Convention Centre. Neither one of us are quilters - just quilting admirers. So we didn't have to spend all our money on material and patterns. It was a rainy day so we had a nice lunch at Mimi's Cafe and then stopped to shop at Steinmarts too. On Saturday morning, Ron and Judy, Don and I went to a Blini and Piroghie Brunch at St George Orthodox Church in Pharr. Blinis are crepes that w e filled with different jams - even Nutella. There was expensive Russian t ea to drink too. We all chose blinis so the piroghies were untried. On Sunday our street - Masters Drive had their block party. It was held on Lot 595 - which is the lot we are moving to next season - it has more concret e than the lot we are on now. We already moved a shed that houses a washer and dryer onto that lot. It was a pot luck celebration and there seem to b
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Haven't blogged for awhile because the weather has improved and couldn't stay inside when it is beautiful outside. So I have to mention the highlights for the past 10 days. On Wednesday, Feb 15/12 about 30 TG Bike Club members participated in the McAllen Golden Years Bike and Birding Event at Bentsen State Park (about 30 minutes away by car). We traillered the bikes there and then rode around the park. We saw kisadees, red shouldered hawks, greenjays and altamira orioles, plus 3 milk snakes sunning themselves in a creek. Don got to go to another Killer Bee Game but unfortunately the bees lost that night. I didn't get to this one since I had Cuddle Club at the hospital that night. Feb 18. I attended the Pioneer and Ranching Craft Day at the Museum of South Texas History in Edinburg on Feb 18. There was entertainment and demonstrations and lots of Winter Texans there because it was a nice day even though the weatherman said we were to get 50 mph winds - which luckily did no
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Sunday, February 12/12 Well it has been a cool rainy week in South Texas - not what we had signed on for but we can't complain about the rain because of the drought that Texas has experienced in the past year. We have kept ourselves busy by shopping, going to see the movie "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" with Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock and a young boy actor who had a difficult role that he did very well. It was $5 Movie Monday. Don only got to play ball on Monday and Tuesday mornings - Wednesday and Thursday were rained out but he did go to Umpire School from 9 to 4 on Saturday. We checked out a few Thrift stores and I could not resist the urge to pick up some glassware to make a few pole toppers - that will perch on top of sawed off golf clubs - since there are no cross country ski poles here to be had. On Friday night, Bonnie and John, Brenda and Rick, Maureeen and I went to a local theatre group's production of "The River is Gold" - a bit painful but
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Tuesday, Feb 7/12 Time to catch up again on what we have been doing down here in Texas. On Jan 31/12, I attended an evening performance in our Rec Ctr of "Gold Wing Express" - a white father and his 3 Indian sons - bluegrass country band - great guitar and banjo playing and lots of fun too. Don and I drove the hour down to South Padre Island on Groundhog Day, had lunch at Pirate's Landing in Port Isabel and then went over to the Island. We met up with our friend Tracy Logan and h er 4 month old daughter Emma. They were down from Lakefield area to visit Tracy's parents who winter on the island - from the Chatham area. It was Emma's first time to the beach and she slept through it. On our way back to Alamo we stopped at the new Bass Pro Store in Harlengen but didn't buy any of their boats or anything. These stores are a work of wildlife art inside and always worth a good look around. We have been to see some movies on Mondays - $5 ticket for Seniors all day
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Cuddle Club - After passing a background check, then a urine drug screen test I received a Cuddle Club Volunteer Badge from the Women's Renaissance Hospital in Edinburg ( about 20 minute drive from our park). This idea came from a lady in our park who was delivering knitted premie hats to the nursery in this hospital and the coordinator at the hospital asked if she was there for the "Cuddle Club" - to hold and rock babies in the nursery. She told us about that and I said if she would like to do that, I was interested too. So now there are 8 ladies involved. 4 of us did our first shift last Wednesday evening from 5 to 8 PM. In the time we were in the nursery there, 5 babies were born. The moms are only in for about 24 to 36 hours after a natural birth and 2 d ays for a C-Section. So we got to hold brand new babies - feed some. All the mom's rooms are private. There are about 500 babies born each year in this hospital. It is a real privilege to hold these beautiful newb
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January 18 to 28/2012 It has been a busy 10 days. We enjoyed a Dinner Theatre on the 20th that was put on by the talented McAllen High School Choir students (20 of them). Their program was called "I Walk with Music" - a tribute to the music of Hoagy Carmicheal ( a Jazz musician/songwriter born in 1899). Some of Hoagy's hits were "Georgia On My Mind" and "Star Dust". The dinner and show took place in a church hall which was decorated in the school colors of purple and gold - including satin chair covers and gold presentation plates. The catered chicken dinner was served by students. The choir boys wore tuxedos and the choir girls wore an assortment of fancy formal purple gowns. On Sunday the 20th I took 2 lovely older widow ladies from the park out for lunch and then to the South Texas Museum in Edinburg to listen to an author who wrote a book of short stories on the famous King Ranch of Texas. She wasn't very interesting but a generous patron of th
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Update for Jan 18/12 So from the last entry we have to catch up on a few things. We went to a dinner theatre in Alamo one night put on by the Halbrook Family - 2 adult sons playing guitar and banjo accompanying their mother and a few others. Mother cooked the chicken dinner - couldn't recommend the dinner or show and if we had driven ourselves to the event we would have left but we were with the Wilder Bus - from our park. It was a painful event best forgotten - no pictures either. I did a Guided Bird Walk at the Santa Anna National Wildlife Refuge that is about 9 miles south of our park and borders on the Rio Grande River. It was Winter Texan Appreciation Day so there was no admission and free draws - I was lucky to win a beautiful butterfly mug. Also enjoyed a fun 90 minute presentation by Luciano Guerra - a nature photographer who does Birdwatching "Texas" Style - just google his name to find out more. On Sunday, January 15/12 I drove a few ladies to see the Mariachi A
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Saturday, Jan. 7/12 Happy 2012! Check out the beautiful Christmas display at the Catholic Basilica nearby - "Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan Del Valle National Shrine". Check out www.sanjuanbasilica.org for more info. We celebrated the New Year quietly but the surrounding neighbourhood doesn't. The Texans seem to love fireworks. The booms start at Christmas and continue to New Years. There is a frenzie of booms as soon as dark comes on New Years Eve and you would think war broke out by midnite! We thought maybe fireworks were inexpensive here but that isn't true either? Now the first week of 2012 is over. I have been busy teaching exercises classes - mat class on Tuesday morning, 30 minute low impact class on Wednesday morning and a combined low impact/mat class on Thursday morning. The lady who regularly leads the 1 PM aquacize class was away this week so she asked me to fill in so I did that 30 minute class every day this week too. Monday morning I go out for a