Arr, She's 70

My MIL, Carol, turned 70 on July 9th!

We decided to do something special for her this year as it's a pretty special birthday.

And what would any person want to do for their birthday celebration?

Well a Pirates Adventure, of course.

Keay, Carol, Goestov, Diana, Darin, and I headed over to the other side of Orlando to see the show and to celebrate.

This show was similar to Medieval Times, but with Pirates.

Arrr.

Waiting to be seated.
We were with the Red Pirate.

The ship - and characters

Basically, pirates had overtaken a ship along with the captain and his daughter. There was dancing, fighting, acrobats, games, and fun. Ended up having a happy ending. (I'd sure hope so.)

Happy us - beer was included!

So was birthday cake!

Dinner was actually very good. And we got seconds (I think our waiter liked us.)

The whole evening was surprisingly really fun - totally would recommend it. We've done other shows like this, and we've always had such a great time.

Can't wait to do another!

And, I think that Carol had a fantastic time as well. She really enjoyed being with her family and doing something different - plus there were pirates. How could it get any better!

The Fourth

We celebrated Independence Day this year in the neighborhood of Darin's parents and sister/BIL.

It was the first year of their area doing something special for our nation's birthday - and we were all exited to get the chance to see what they had up their sleeved. And by they, I mean the people who were supervising the fireworks.

After a nice dinner with Darin's family and our friend Suzanne, we headed out across the street near the lake, sat down, and waiting for the activities to begin.

Pretty!
(not sure if this will work)

The problem overall about this year's celebration was the weather. It was pretty rainy outside with lots of clouds and no blue/clear skies. We had plans to do a lot more, but ended up watching a movie on the actual 4th. We also went outside and watched our neighbors light up the sky.

Afterward Jake, Uncle Sam, and I watched other cities' displays. And sang songs. And cheered! And probably scared Darin with all of our patriotism.

It was a great night - simple and sweet.

Uncle Sam and Jake

As a side note, Uncle Sam came to work with me the next day and every one was (and still is) greatly amused. He's decided to stay at work and make sure we're all playing our taxes and being honest.

Our goal now will be to dress him up for upcoming holidays. He currently has a guitar and sunglasses.

Updates to come.

Summer Trip to SC

I swear we go to SC for more than just going to the beach.

We do like the beach a lot - but we live 30 minutes from Cocoa Beach, so we should be able to contain our excitement for the beach and not go every time we go up to visit.

Yet, we always end up going at least once. Whether it's with the dogs, Darin and I alone, KC and I alone, with Margie looking for turtles, or just to talk a walk. We go there.

I guess we are beach people.

This is not a bad thing.

***

KC is making the trek from up 'there' to down 'there'. If you know her, you know where she's going. On her way down 'there' she stopped for a much needed vacation at her folks. Whenever she's up in SC, I go up to see her (and her dogs. I'm realistic).

We went a couple weekends back - hadn't been to the east coast of SC since December! That's the longest amount of time since I have not visited. Crazy.

Anyway, headed up on Friday afternoon.

Jake (and Darin) were troopers as always.

After a nice dinner on Friday night, a great morning sleeping (me), and fishing (Bob, KC, and Darin) on Saturday morning, we headed 5 minutes away to the beach.

It was a beautiful hot humid day. Sunshine, here we come.

Had a terrific time up there as usual.

And got to see creepy things:

Grasshoppers. Like 4 inches long.
Yak.

Tomatoe or Tomato

I have to admit that Darin has a green thumb.

His babies have been doing very well; we water them in the morning and afternoon, give them plant food, and make sure they get lots of sunshine. (We do live in Florida!) I never though that we'd have so much luck with our garden.

For some reason, the zucchini haven't been doing too well. I think Darin planted them too close together and they got too big too soon. They seem to be trying again though, so we'll see.

***

Have other photos of other veggies though:

(1) cherry tomatoes

(2) green bell pepper

(3) jalapeno pepper

Our neighbors were getting excited after seeing some red pop out of our mini-garden. Darin and I both think that we'll have a gazillion tomatoes. I've never seen so many before. That we have probably over 20 of the 8-rows (see picture) - incredible.

We were planning on making a pasta salad that our friend Kerry used to make. I was thinking a caprese salad as well would taste pretty good too. Numm. We will have to see how good everything grows!

Now we just need to make sure Jake doesn't learn how to eat the veggies off their stocks. That would be bad indeed.

New House Post

My parents built a new house in their neighborhood. A green house!

It was funny how things turned out - because of the market crashing, short-sales taking too long, and getting to become very close with their neighbors - they built a house just down the street from their rental.

First, their view and backyard:

My Mom's garden - first years are always the hardest for gardeners.
I think they go to the nursery a lot!

Pretty tree and view of the sound.

Inside (Darin and I had been inside the house at Christmas, it was just not painted or made-up like it was now!):

Great room.

Master bedroom.

And the other pictures I took of the other rooms were very blurry so I didn't add them. There were two more bedrooms and bathrooms too. There was this great big tub in the master bathroom that my Mom picked out. Fantastic!

But mostly, there was this sweet girl:

I feel so much joy when I see how happy my family has become. It truly was a wonderful experience to see the little knick-knacks here and there around the house. It's their home now, and mine by proxy. Makes visiting all the better!

Sailboat Adventure

While we were walking the dogs one day while I was visiting my parents, their neighbors came up to us and asked whether we would like to join them on their sailboat for a night cruise around the island.

Wow!

None of the three of us had ever been on a sailboat before. I feel like the giant-gene in our family somewhat prohibits us from going into tight enclosures, but we were excited to try and hoped we wouldn't drown. (We brought life vest just in case.)

We were guests of Don, his wife Doreen, and their son Scott. The boat The Flying Scotsman was in harbor to get it's belly painted. We were just lucky that it was there for us to see and travel upon!

Docks.

The boat. 30 ft sailboat.

Main sail. Very beautiful.

We arrived on the boat, sat down, and Scott and Don headed us out of the harbor and into the open sound. It was a beautiful day, though a bit chilly - especially on the water. We had our sweat shirts on, so we were fine! Doreen had brought some food for us (cheese and fruit with crackers!) which was great to snack on and just look around us.

Water, water, everywhere...

Me, Mom, and Doreen

Don at the wheel.

Baker was out and majestic.

Mom and Dad

We were out for quite some time, and then turned around and came back. Though it would have been amazing to see whales, just the water and islands were enough. For our first time sailing, I'd say we were spoiled. I can't imagine sleeping on the boat though - it's a bit cramped. Downstairs was a sleeping area, mini-kitchen, spots to sit, and a bath room. Poor Darin wouldn't have been able to stand up without hitting his head (it was about 2-3 inches above my 5'10" frame).

Side note: My Dad meet Don awhile ago (Don and Doreen were neighbors) and had started going to his rowing club with him. Twice a week they row together - such great exercise and fun!

Old Neighbors in a New Neighborhood

Monday morning, some good friends of my parents (and me too!) stopped by for a visit. They're from my old home town (Dave was a teacher with my Mom), and we've known them for a long time. Their dog Wrigley was one of Cricket's best dog friends (and still would be if he'd visit too).

They were in town to watch the Cubs play, to visit my parents, and to do an Ultra Marathon.

Yikes.

They were big walkers - they take walks in the morning, night, before dinner, before we even got up.

On Tuesday afternoon, we headed to a near by town and their brewery.

This time I tried the root beer (which had an interesting flavor) and my Mom was the lush and got the sampler. Though I have to admit I probably drank as much as she did because she doesn't really like dark beer.

Beer!

And friends!
Dave, Dad, Mom, and Nancy.

After lunch and wondering around for quite some time, we ended up going to my parent's favorite nursery. It was crazy big! And everything was in bloom: roses, fuchsia, orchids. Amazing.

The barn with the traveling roses.

And behind the barn were animals - sheep and goats. Scared me to pieces with their weird noises. Guess I'm not too comfortable with baa-ing.

Dave, Mom, Nancy, and Dad

Notice their Cubs-wear. Will get to that later!

Weekend with Dad

Look at what greeting us upon walking into my parent's (new!) home on Saturday morning:

Mr. Grumpy (Samson)

And Ms. Sunshine (Cricket)

The puppies were visiting! My parents' neighbors Cheryl and Gary (they lived across the street - now up the road) let their dogs visit Cricket during the day while they're gone. Such a tough life those puppies have. But I love them. And even though Samson growled at me for half the day on Saturday, after I gave him some cheese he started loving me. And even licked my hand.

Okay, on with things.

My Mom had make a fantastic dinner for us: salmon and mahi on the grill. With a very tasty cranberry salad. I can't believe the four of us at so much food. It was a little embarrassing actually. But man was it good! She even made these chocolate cake things with chocolate and raspberry topping. Drool. Didn't do too much. Watched tv and read our books.

***

Sunday was Father's Day! I don't remember the last time I was with my Dad on Father's Day. Either I'm up with Bob in SC or we celebrate with Darin's Dad. But June was a strange month to visit - so it was normally just a phone call.

This year we made him dinner.

(He specified what he wanted. It was very cute actually.)

He got pork steaks, grilled with bbq sauce. Green beans. Mac and cheese. And strawberry shortcake cake.

I was in charge of dessert:

Dinner was great. Dessert was a little too sweet. We decided it needed a little less cream cheese icing - though I have to say when I got up the next day it was all gone (Mother).

After dinner we went for a walk around down the new path and near the water. Behind their house in a new neighborhood (without houses) and a road down to the water. From there, there was a new bike path and another path that took you right down to the water.

Their new driveway!
(It was COLD. Like 65. Yikes.)

Slug. Yak.
We counted over 30 on the way back up (smaller ones though).

Beautiful wildflowers!

Spanish Bluebells

Down by the water - like a 5 minute walk from the house.
Cricket, Dad, Samson, Dru, Sydney, and Mom

So sweet.

Tootles - love that Sydney

The walk was quite nice. The neighborhood over from theirs had this incredible outside seating area - made with stone and greens. Almost for something like a wedding ceremony - it was beautiful. Don't know why I didn't take pictures. Also went in one of the housed they're building. Nice.

Ended up going to look (at a near by mountain 'top') for the sunset, but it was pretty cloudy. Pretty colors though as usual!

It was a great day - and even though we didn't play softball or go bowling, we all had a wonderful time together.

Friday Night: Lauren's Birthday

On my way from Sacramento, we fly basically North. Across Oregon. Very near Mt. Rainier. So majestic and beautiful. Went by other mountains too. Not 100% sure which ones they were but they were awesome.

Mt. Rainier

We landed in Seattle at 9:30 pm on Friday night.

And I was picked up from the airport by my sister and Lauren. In going-out clothes. Ready to hit the town.

Now what Lauren didn't know was that we were meeting other people out to celebrate her 30th birthday. And she was super surprised.

Got her.

We were in the Ballard area of Seattle. All we really wanted to do was go dancing, but there wasn't really much dancing around. So we celebrated and talked to random strangers. It was exciting.

Before Birthday Shot.
Dru, Lauren, Biz

Yo.

Long shot of Biz.

And then she insisted we had Rainier beers.
Fantastic.

Actually ended a great night out - where we stayed up until 2:30 pm. Ben climbed up a tree. Most people ended up in a hot tub. We ended up sleeping until 9 am or so and getting some Top Pot donuts for breakfast. It was a win-win situation.