New Years Eve

 We spent the morning cleaning then swimming, sitting in the hot tub, laying around outside on the lounge chairs reading until supper time. Some of the adults went for walks, some went shopping but the kids stayed here and played in the pool and hot tub. later in the afternoon even though it was only 66 degrees outside the sun was so hot they ended up playing in the shade.

We ordered Asian barbeque for our dinner tonight. Right before Nolan went to get it we heard a crash then lots of sirens. It turned out a red pickup had rear ended a car at the stop sign. They had to bring in an ambulance, lots of police cars, and a fire truck.

The intersection was blocked for over an hour. The police arrested someone as they were handcuffed then placed in the back of one of the cars. The stretcher was used to put someone else in the ambulance. Nolan was able to go the other way to pick up the food.

We had fed the kids earlier as they didn't want to eat this kind of food but the adults thought it was delicious. the kids were given glow sticks for the pool and hot tub.

After our dinner we celebrated Rhoda's 40th birthday early as we won't be together on her real birthday. Nolan picked up a very fancy cake at that Seed to Table store.

We are all too old and with Sarah and Nolan leaving in the middle of the night we could not wait for midnight. We called all the kids outside at a minute before 9:00 pm. A couple across the street came out to walk their two dogs just as we started the countdown and when it hit 9:00 pm we started yelling, "happy New Year!" We got some strange looks. No we weren't drunk just tired! Israel brought his light up football he got from great Grandma at Christmas.

David and Israel purchased sparklers for all of the kids and they had a good time with those.

As soon as that was done all of Nolan's family were in bed. The van was all packed earlier in the day. David and Stephanie's family left and the rest of us went straight to bed. We never heard the fireworks going off at midnight around this neighborhood. Either this house is well insulated or we were really tired.

One More Day

 The deep freeze didn't quite make it here but it was for sure a bit cooler this morning. We decided to go to the Naples Zoo and made it there just before they opened at 9:00 am. We decided to do the boat ride first as we didn't want to wait in line.

We wanted to feed the giraffes and went to stand in line for that. While we were waiting we learned about a giraffe's vertebrae and saw the bones of the head and neck.

They had 4 large giraffes but none of them were interested in eating from anybody's hand. Instead they went to their usual feeding spots.

Mark thought he might have pulled a muscle and couldn't walk. I flagged down a lady driving a golf cart but she wasn't allowed to take him but she told us where there was a bench to sit and rest. We did that then slowly walked to the front of the zoo and rented a wheel chair for $16.00 for the morning. 

The zoo was a lot of fun. We left there for that big store called Seed to Table. That place was packed. We were dropped off as Mark was still having trouble with his leg so tried out one of those motorized carts. 

The store was so packed with people after trying to drive it over to check out the sea food selection he ended up taking it back and just using a regular cart. That too was in the way and we didn't plan on buying anything so went upstairs to eat some lunch. Rhoda and Lee's family had already ordered and their food looked and tasted delicious according to them. Rhoda ordered the ribeye sandwich. It was thick and medium rare. Lee ordered the Philly Cheese steak and his was also delicious. They ordered chicken fingers for the kids.

Rhoda's ribeye looked so good we ordered one to split. It didn't come and didn't come. I took a picture of the gingerbread house while waiting.

It was almost 1:00 pm when our food finally arrived and it was two thin pieces of meat charred to a crisp, tough and chewy.

While Mark was out searching for the waitress the kids found the dance floor.

I had promised to watch grandkids back at the house at 2:00 pm, there was not enough time to re-order so we ate it anyway. Worst steak ever. The waiter didn't come back to give us the check so Mark had to go find her and felt so bad for her as she was the only waitress upstairs that he gave her $5.00 tip but he at least told her the food was terrible. We made it home by 1:40 pm. The hot tub felt wonderful. The kids enjoyed the hot tub and pool. When they were done swimming Rhoda organized a jump the broom game.

Supper was spaghetti with meat sauce, fried in butter French bread, salad, chips and for dessert Israel made chocolate covered strawberries. The kids were hungry and most of the food was gone. While Israel was cleaning up from the chocolate covered strawberries he had a good idea, smeared some chocolate on some toilet paper and set up the bathroom in Rhoda's and Lee's room as if Zeke had an accident. 

When Lee walked in we told him that Zeke was in the bathroom for about 20 minutes then when we asked if we could help him, he said no. Lee walked into the bathroom and immediately called for Rhoda. We were laughing so hard that Rhoda figured out right away it was a joke. Even Lee had to laugh. Tomorrow is our last full day here. We will need to enjoy the warmth at least one more day.

Another Sunny Warm Day!

 Mark woke me at 3;45 am and as my eyes don't work so well in the morning I just assumed it was 4:45 am and got up to make the coffee. It wasn't until I had downed the first cup of the day that I realized it was only 4:00 am. It was a long wait for Sarah to wake up  so I could borrow her keys and go to Walmart for tonight's meal. Mark went with me and we bought hamburgers, sweet potato fries, more bread, some half off donuts and a 5 pound bag of potatoes. We got back in time for breakfast. Sarah and Nolan's family and David and Stephanie's family went to the beach after breakfast. Mark and I stayed home as we needed to stay out of the sun. Rhoda and Lee's family drove to the Everglades to take an airboat ride through the mangroves then the alligator farm. Below are a few pictures from the day. They are all ready for the day. 

Below the girls are playing with the blocks before leaving for the beach.

Below are Zeke and Israel ready to head out to the beach.

The girls enjoying their shades.

One of them found a mussel and thought it might be an oyster that contained a pearl. Below Nolan is trying to open it.

No pearl

Rhoda sent back some pictures of their outing today.

Below is the board walk over some of the everglades.

Zeke fell asleep on the airboat.

This airboat ride wasn't as exciting as ours was the year before.

They got to see and hold the alligators.

They went to a grocery store called Seed to Table. It had a food court in the middle. They have free babysitting for the kids with a 'real' gingerbread house while the adults shop. It really was made with ginger bread and candy.

Lee had to check out the maga beer.

The food was good and they brought home gourmet cookies.

Nolan grilled hamburgers for our dinner and we had all kinds of delicious toppings. Sarah made a jalapeno cream cheese topping. We had fried eggs, bacon, tomatoes, pickles, pepper jack cheese for those that wanted the jalapeno topping and all kinds of usual toppings. That was served with salad and sweet potato fries. I also baked 5 pounds of russet potatoes. We ate a few but most of those will be used to make appetizers for the new years eve party. We had a fun evening, the kids played in the pool and hot tub then came in later to watch a dragon movie while the adults visited. Another sunny beautifully warm day!

Another Beach Day

 We were up early today and served a breakfast of pancakes, sausage and eggs early as some of our group wanted to go to an early service at a church they found on-line. Mark and I chose to stay home and listen to the Christmas service on AC Central as we didn't have a chance to do that. Even before that was over the group that left were back. They got to the church and it was closed. They looked for another church but that also was closed. Sarah and Nolan went to a bakery and had church themselves. After church we all packed up and headed to the beach. It was again a warm beautiful bright sunny day.

We always show up pretty early so get prime real-estate. You can see the shade tent Rhoda found in the trash in the picture above. 

Israel and Elisabet went to Walmart early and bought sun glasses for all the kids.

Soon it was hot enough to go swimming. Today they found lots more sand dollars then Israel found this huge snail. He was a little worried to pick it up so Nolan did that for him.

We discussed eating it but Lee found out they were protected in Florida waters so let it go. The snail inside was bright orange. It was fun to watch it come out of the shell to escape.

When a dolphin swam by a crowd came out to watch.

That dolphin came within a few feet of Lee and the girls who were walking.

Lee took the video below. Iris thought the dolphin came to them because she was calling to it.

We packed up around 2:30 pm to head back to the house. Tonight we ordered Indian food and it was delicious. The kids are all back in the pool and I am reading the next to the last book. I may need to find a second hand shop that sells books to make it through for the 3 days. We heard it was warm at home (almost 60 degrees) but cloudy then within less than 2 hours a huge storm came through that dropped the temperature 30 degrees and by tonight they will be down to 12 degrees. That means our weather down here will get cooler but not tomorrow. The cold will come on Tuesday and Wednesday, bright sunshine but only a high of 66. We will be glad for the hot tub.

Some distressing news came from home. Amy's mare Belle is colicking. She is currently at Dr. Hoerr's vet clinic, he is trying to keep her comfortable and we are praying she will recover. She is not a good candidate for colic surgery because of her age.

Another Full Day

 After a breakfast of biscuits, bacon and scrambled eggs a group left for the water park. Eden and Elisabet decided not to go and stayed here at the house to play in the pool and hot tub. Zeke and River were too short to go on the water slides so they went to a dig park.

They had a lot of fun digging and finding fun things that had been buried in the dig park. Below are videos of Zion and Iris going off the high dive at the water park.

When they got back they had more fun in the hot tub and pool but soon came in to play with slime.

Israel came in with a new set of shades he gave to Zeke so those 2 cousins could be cool together.

They were only $3.00 each so we may just need to go back to Walmart tomorrow and pick some up for the 5 girls too. For our dinner tonight we had the left over steak sliced into strips then sauteed in bacon grease for fajitas. We also served taco meat, sauteed peppers and onions, fresh tomatoes, shredded lettuce, queso, rice, shredded cheese and chips. Everyone was really hungry after spending the day in the water. David and Stephanie moved out of Amy house this morning and when cleaning it they saw a panther in Amy's back yard. Stephanie and Israel both saw it. She thought it was a bobcat not realizing that bobcats don't have long tails. I showed her pictures of the 3 wild cats that live in Florida and as soon as she saw the picture of the panther she exclaimed, "that is what we saw." It wasn't as large as an adult but for sure much bigger than a bobcat. They also saw what Israel called, a BIG Lizard. I think that must have been her resident Iguana. After dinner Mark and I went for a walk to see some of the Christmas lights. 

Mike sent the video below. He got home from Gulf Shores last night and went out this morning to put more bales in and check on the herd.

When we got back from the walk Sarah had all the kids helping her make a big bowl of puppy chow. They even let me help lick the bowl.

 

Beach Burgers and Toys

 Lee and I left for Walmart this morning and saw David driving out of the Walmart parking lot. I wanted to look for half price Christmas table cloths and found 4 rounds and 5 oblongs. We also picked up a pretty big grocery order arriving home just in time to make breakfast. Right after breakfast lunches were packed and we were on the beach just before 9:00 am.

We were some of the first on the beach and had our choice of where to set up home base.

Later this morning they went out into the Gulf and found sand dollars.

Zion found a shell with a live creature in it.

Israel found 5 sand dollars. 

They had a lot of fun building huge sand castles.

At 11:30 am Mark decided he had enough and walked the .9 of a mile back to our house.

We finally had enough sun around 1:30 pm. Lee rode the bike back to get the car. A bunch of us crowded in David and Stephanie's car. Sarah and Eden walked back, and all the rest of the people plus the chairs and shade tent went back in Sarah and Nolan's car. Once back at the house the kids hosed off then swam in the pool or used the hot tub while we read in the shade. At 4:30 pm we were all hungry and ready for supper. The 15 of us loaded into 3 cars and drove to Brook's Burgers. This is the place that serves donut burgers.

6 of them ordered that and 1 ordered chicken strips.

We adults ordered other kinds of burgers but they were all delicious. Below the kids were having fun before leaving.

From there we drove to the second hand store called Once Upon a Child. Nolan scored by buying the Breyer truck and horse trailer.

Everyone got a toy to bring back and some of the kids got new swimming suits. Stephanie told us she needed snow pants for her kids but when we walked in of course this is Florida and there were NO snow pants. 

When we got back those girls were pretty thrilled. Below Zion is checking it out.

Below Zeke is using it for his toys.

We came back to the house, had some ice cream for dessert and now the grand kids are back in the hot tub and pool while  kids are playing a game.

 Mark is reading and I'm very close to finishing my book.