The Merry Marsden Travels

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 ...

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 ...

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 kid...

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,...

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.

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   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 ...