Friends and Family...

We had some friends and family at Disney at the same time...got calls from both to come over...so, you know we headed over.....stayed at The Dolphin...great place and was a great location to meet folks at The Boardwalk.

We meet Deb, Joe and Tyler on The Boardwalk for dinner...then a little strolling after that....
About 3 weeks ago another good friend had visited and we sent Deb a picture...

so you know Deb and I needed to send Tracy a picture....

The 3 of us worked together for many years....was good to see them both. Though we stay in touch, we don't get to see each other much...so I really enjoyed both visits. Miss u gals!!!
Was great to see Joe and Tyler too...been a very long time.

We did a little window shopping and dreaming.....I'd love to add this art to my guest kids room.
Not sure it's in the budget....but I liked looking.

We rode the boat around to the other side and enjoyed some great ice cream at Beaches and Peaches....yum...we big folks visited while Tyler got to swim. Finally we had to say good bye...but we had a great time.

As we approahed The Dolphin this is what we saw.....

We had a great evening....thanks for meeting us guys...we'll do it again....soon.

The next morning we were up and out and headed back to The Boardwalk to meet Denny's family. ...2 grandsons....David and Joseph and Mom...Kim....had been a while since we'd seen them all, we had a terrific visit.

Kim, Denny, Joseph, David, me.....was a hot day, but a wonderful reunion.

After 3 hrs of visiting we headed home and they headed off for more Disney fun...we left just in time, the rains came. We drove in and out of rain all the way home, but we made it. What a great time it had been. 

Thanks for asking to come visit guys....we really enjoyed it....see ya real soon!!!

Bike Rides.....Wild Life......What's that???

I've been collecting pictures from bike rides....we see so many cool things when we ride. Some of these are from just yesterday, some area few months old....enjoy....we always do.

 Sandhill Cranes mate for life....and are always around....love seeing them with their babies.

This bird thought if it stood still we wouldn't see it, or it would be hidden...was funny

This owl was sitting on the back gate one nite when we came home...sat there several miutes...

Deer.....see lots........

Look at my rack!!!!

Ya never know what your gonna see...a bird, a plane....no....it's am Ultra Light....looked like fun.

You have to look hard....this baby armadillo got under the bush before I could get a good picture

Peaceful...........

A fawn...see the spots....

And Momma close by.......

We see a good many Hawks....they're beautiful.......

All the way down to the cool insect.....

I was on the way into Publix....they were leaving...wonder what they needed....bird seed!!!!

This bird was pink.....wow....

GROSS.....we see it all

Hope you enjoyed our trip through the zoo we live in!!!!

Family Time....Happy 4th of July....

Every summer my sister Kelley and her family come for vacation...we have a blast. I've been bringing the kids to FL with me since they were 4 and 5 yrs old....lots of good memories. This years vacation started a bit different...the kids got to come early with Mom and Shea...so, as they were making their way down I75 we met them in Clearwater and we went to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium...was time for the kids to meet Winter and Hope...the dolphins from the movie Dolphin Tale........Shea and the kids check out one of Winter's prosthetic tales...she's grown since she got here, so she's had to have new tales made....it's very cool.

We saw the turtles, shark....all the neat stuff and then headed to Crabby Bill's for lunch. They headed to Ft. Myers for a week of vacation and we headed home.

They had a good time in Ft. Myers but drove up to our house July 3rd in time to see the parade....

We're a small place...but our parades aren't too bad.......here come the flags to kick it off.

Wells Fargo........pretty cool

July 4th is always the big offshore boat races...so it was all about the boats...

And cool cars........

Now you knew Bud would have a boat......

On the 4th we all had a great BBQ lunch at the house then we headed to our fav beach to hang and see the fireworks.....it was a great show too.

After the fireworks and some folks had left, I had bought some Chinese Lanterns...they are really cool but a little delicate...Shea finally got this one to go... 

Shea and Chad got this one to go finally.......the wind made it a bit challenging

UP...UP and away....we did 3 of them and it was amazing how high and far they would go before burning out....well, that was fun, but now we still had some time to hang since we didn't really want to sit in traffic......so we went on scavenger hunts....

You'd be surprised what folks leave on the beach....I'm sure lots was left by accident cause they couldn't see their stuff anymore....Chad found this kiddy chair...what a hoot.

We found 1/2 case of water, noodles, 2 other floats, scooping net, flip flops, headband, shoulder bag..it was crazy.........but it was fun.

We headed home tired and ready for bed but it had been a fun day.

Happy 4th everyone...hope you had a fun day!!

The Wilds...........and Wild it was!!!!

We slept great and woke up and started rolling, we didn't want to make Paul and Naomi late. I went down and got us a few things for breakfast and brought them back to the room....we had our devotion, some breakfast and packed up. Paul had told me they were hoping to hold church at a park then have a picnic, but the weather didn't allow this...so the backup plan was a school. They have a small church and it was already set up for VBS that was starting that night...so they couldn't hold sevice there.
So we followed them to the school at Honey Run. Their daughter had taught here before she moved. It's a wonderful place.....

Simple buildings, but well built. 

Great playground......

We were meeting in the gym....everyone brought their own chairs.

I loved this very clever height adjustable podium....these folks and the Amish are such great craftsmen.

This Sunday we had a guests minister....this is him and his family...they sang a song before he spoke, it was lovely

I'd guess about 75-100 came....we knew many of the songs they sang and the servcie was much like ours.As you can se all the women wore prayer bonnets and long dresses. More simple, but not as strict as Amish....they all came in cars, no horse and buggys and the man that lead the singing used his IPAD....so, they believe in some modern things,  but not all. We really enjoyed the service, but left quickly afterwards to head to Zanesville, it was about a 2hr drive.

We arrived to a wonderfully cooked fish lunch...and a quick tour of their lovely home. They are in a community of small aircraft pilots. Though Floyd does not fly...they get to enjoy watching them come and go on the grass runway and then out the other side of their house is a beautiful river. Wow...it was lovely.

After lunch they had planned to take us to a place called The Wilds.....a preserve for extinct animals. It was amazing....they had reserved a safari tour on an open truck. The back of the pick-up had benches down the sides. There were 9 of us.....we were close on time so we got in the truck quickly and headed out.

This place was HUGE....they added a zipline a few yrs back to make some money. They are a non-profit and need all they can get.

We headed through the first on many gates....

Our first animals...

These are Bactrian Deer, they come from Asia and parts of th Middle East

These are Persian Onager, from Iran......all the animals are tagged, but these guys won't keep the tags on, so they get the old-fashioned branding....

Meet Tuffy...he's from Africa....on our tour we pulled off the road to get as close to any animals the driver felt was safe, and that was most of them.......

Yes, we got to feed Tuffy....it was SSSOOOOOOO cool!!!

Love this picture, it's like they are having a chat.... 

Give me that lettuce...........

Marilyn loved it as much as I did...

There were other giraffes but the guide told us, as much as they wanted to come over and get some yummy lettuce, they were too afraid....their loss.

 This is a Sichuan Takin...he's from Western China...they have a small herd now and hope to shipping some back to China soon.

Never seen anything like him.........he was cool

This is a Przewalski Wild Horse....from Europe and Asia

Next...Bactrian Camels........they were very friendly.....

They were shedding their winter coat...kinda ugly....

Next we went to an area where the animals needed a bit more cage around them

...these are African Painted Dogs..from Africa..rather vicious.

 These are Cheetah from Africa and Northern Iran

These are Grevy's Zebra....notice their floppy ears.....

On to the Ostrich....the only thing here just for  fun...they are not extinct.

They are aggressive and will bite...

 Look at those toes.....they're weird.....

These are Scimitar-Horned Oryx....from North Africa....there was a baby...so they are doing their job!!!

Now we headed to the Southern White Rhino.....from Africa

This is the Rhino Barn....

Wow what a skull..........

Those are some serious bars to hold them back when they are in the barn..

Floyd was checking out the baby....

 He's the only 5th generation Rhino in existance....pretty cool

Marilyn liked him a lot...

Denny got to meet him...

Momma and baby....they were both very friendly........but felt like leather...

Bye-Bye Rhino barn....we'll come back one day...thanks for letting us visit.

Leaving through the last gate....what an amazing  2.5hrs.....thanks Floyd and Marilyn we had a wonderful time. 

This was the truck we were in........

And this was the ride back to the parking lot.......

We finished our evening with Japanese take-out....was yummy and nice to stay home. We'd gotten lucky all day on the weather, but on the way home the skies opened up and it rained. We had a wonderful short visit....we'll be back guys!!!!

We headed home the next morning....it had been a wonderful vacation, but was time to get back to our palm trees........this had been a wonderful June vacation...I was a bit late posting.

July will be family time....have lots coming to visit.....next posts.....Family Time!!