Xmas And Our Migration To Florida

Cindy turned in her last grade the week before Christmas, cleaned out her office, surrendered her key and officially retired.  In celebration of the season and the occasion I spared no expense and got the best Christmas tree I could find!

Sarah, Joel, Badger and Eliott arrived on Friday night.  Apparently they have recently joined a local charity dedicated to providing Christmas trees to the elderly.  I guess ours names came up on the list so they delivered a 20 foot tree.  They even brought lights...(Nathan, Heather, Kristen and David brought ornaments!)

'Lovey', the special Christmas Elf assigned to the Mulder's knew that Badger and Eliott were traveling to 'Nana and Grandpa's' house and decided to come along.  Otherwise Santa would not have know where to bring the presents.  Also apparently 'Lovey' is required to report back to Santa on how everyone is behaving.   

The "Elf Home Insertion Program" (code named snitch) comes with several important rules...one of which is that you must never ever 'touch' the elf.  Thus it was that Nana in her never ceasing effort to keep the house neat almost blew Christmas.  Badger had to be reassured that grandmother's get a 'pass' from Santa's elves for 'touching' Lovie.  Fortunately for all, Santa did arrive that night with presents!  Nana  received a stern warning and promised to do better next year.

Eliott got to take several long rides and didn't fall off once!

Badger served as a 'beta tester' for Uncle David's newly released App (Gridlock Empire...99 cents)....apparently Uncle David didn't know many 4 year old with Droids...

Nathan and Heather got to sit in Cindy's chair and I waited 4 hours to ask about more grandchildren...A personnel record!

Nathan had to go into the Jail Sunday morning to visit some people...but Aunt Heather got to reconnect with her niece and Badger got her nails painted...

David and Kristen settled into their new couch...They did promise to pick it up in the spring....ditto for Sarah and her new recliner....

We opened presents and ate way too much ham...

Eliott helped in the kitchen....

By Sunday afternoon the presents were open and the kids were gone....I was running a fever and wondering if my lungs would come up with my next cough...we looked out the back door and saw this....two hours later we packed the car...turned off the water...turned down the thermostat....stuffed the cat in her carrier and  left for Florida...(I'm pretty sure we turned off the coffee pot).... 23 hours later we were sipping coffee in our back yard...dressed in shorts and t-shirts...We are truly blessed by God...life is good...

IRON GIRL CLEARWATER 2012

They got here around 5:30....

 And they ran the five k...

 In record time...

 Ie. the fastest they have ever run 5k....

 They got really cool metals....

 And a saltwater bath for the ride home....

Val got a little wet on the ride back...I guess a boat ride home wasn't such a hot idea...

LORRAINE COMES TO FLORIDA

Cindy and I were worried that nobody would visit us in Florida...by our last count we had 20 over night guests since our arrival in January...how cool is that!...

Our most knowledgable visitor was Lorraine Vandenberg who apparently was very familiar with the night life in our area...

She took us out for dinner and drinks at several bars, including one where everyone was very happy.  (Lorraine's word)  I got pinched twice going to the bathroom.


She took us to a Bingo game hosted by Traila Park...I hate to say it about any woman...but she had to be the homeliest gal I've seen in years...(the goatee didn't help much)... 

Her partner Miss Richard was a lot better looking and danced around a lot...she was apparently in need of an operation (gall bladder I think) cause she kept dancing around collecting dollars...apparently her health insurance didn't cover it so I helped out a little...

We didn't get to see all of Lorraine's favorite places... We didn't have time for the dog track, poker club and biker bar but she promised to introduce us next year....

Escape From Wisconsin

Wayne, Janet and Jacob arrived last week for a visit. Wayne of course ran into the house, took off his parka, mittens, galoshes and long johns. He spent the rest of his stay in his underwear (which is pretty normal for northerners in this part of Florida). Here he is admiring our metals.

Jacob was amazed that we had a TV

He was even more amazed that we have a back yard.

We went to spring training in Lakeland and watched the Tigers.

Janet showed Val how to use her phone to make phone calls.

Wayne went for a kayak ride and was very excited to see an alligator in the salt water. Because alligators don't do well in salt water Wayne explained it must have been a crocodile. Fortunately several manatee showed up in the same spot (which we all saw) and scared the pesky crock away. Wayne was very relieved (especially after we made him come in out of the sun for a rest.)

We went for a boat ride and saw manatees, dolphins and a variety of birds. Wayne saw an ichthyosarus and a leprechaun ....(We decided to get him a bigger hat.).

We went to Frenchie's on the water and sat in the shade drinking beer. Cindy told a funny story about dropping her baby brother on his head and most of us laughed.

We all went out to a Steak house that specializes in Happy Hour. After drinks nobody even notices how the food tasted.
They were having a sister look-alike contest and our table won first and

second place.

We hope they had a good time but the only way to know for sure is if they come back next year! (We're starting to take reservations for next winter.)

Susan and Don Visit Bag End

Susan and Don arrived at bag end and immediately begged to see our Donald Duck medals. Don wanted to wear one when we went out but I told him about Florida Law which prohibits falsely claiming to be a half marathon runner. He was disappointed!

We went out to the back yard and Don and Susan were pleased to find that the sun does exist in February. Apparently the wearing of short sleeve shirts was a big thrill. (Michigan people are really easy to please!)

We went for a boat ride on the inter-coastal and saw a plethora of birds and dolphins.

We went to the Pub and had lunch.

At Bag End we had many meals and served only the finest wines and delicacy's. (Unfortunately the only photo I took was of the pickles and diet root beer.)

We went for a church golf scramble and Susan got to meet our Florida pastor. Apparently they have a higher regard and different set of rules for greeting visiting 'church moderators'!

We went to Disney World and met at the Rose and Crown in Epcot for a couple pints.

Donald was really impressed by the robot birds that Disney has deployed on the grounds.

There were lots of signs telling us not to feed the robot birds because it clogs their gears and causes them to loose a white lubrication that helps them run. Don didn't listen.

Susan and Don took us out to a 'tapas bar' on the beach. I think Don was impressed because he just stared at the menu with his mouth open until Susan hit him. The food and wine were perfect and there was a cool one man band playing. The coffee apparently wasn't that good because Don only had four cups.

On the night before they left we went to take a walk on the beach. Don stayed on the board walk. He explained that one of the birds looked familiar and didn't want to take any chances. He saw this.

We saw this.

Susan went shopping with Cindy while Don and I played golf. (He beat me!) Susan bought us a really cool 'bird wine stopper' to remind us of their visit. We call it Don!

Friday Susan and Don wrote an entry in our guest book. (We will be sure and have mints on the pillows next time!) Susan flew back to her hectic life and Don drove North into tornado alley. We are truly blessed to have such wonderful and caring friends and miss them already.

Kristen and David Arrive at Bag End

David and Kristen arrived at Bag End and were greeted by our footmen. (We only call them in for really special guests!)

We went to Disney world where Kristen and I got up at 3:30 in the morning, waited in line with 20,900 other folks and then ran 13.1 miles. We got some really cool medals and I got a certificate from some friends to 'have my head examined'

We went to Crabby Bills where we had a couple of pints.

We went on a long boat ride on the intercostal and saw a 'plethora' of dolphins!

David showed me how to drive the boat without hitting Dolphins (or other things I'm not supposed to hit).

We went to Hogwarts and Kristen was invited for a train ride on the Hogwart's Express. She spent quite a bit of time walking into a wall trying to get on. We had to explain that she was still recovering from running 13.1 miles. They were very understanding and gave her a certificate to have her head examined.

We got to tour Hogwarts castle

Cindy discovered some ancient ruins.

We drank beer at the hogs head pub in Hogsmeed.

David, Kristen and I took a boat ride. It's a little hard to see us but if you look close you can see me screaming about having my head examined.

I had lunch with a squirrel.

Best of all we got to spend time with our kids. We feel blessed that they are a part of our lives.

This is Kristen studying the training schedule for next years Goofy. (She still hasn't used her certificate.)