January flew by...... Mom's Big 75th party.....and swimming with the Manatees

OK...not doing too good with keeping up with blogging, sorry. It's just not the same when you are doing day-to-day and not on vaca. January was a busy month. My sisters and I and Brad, Britt and Brooke (older nieces and nephew) planned a surprise birthday party for my Mom....she was 75 on Feb 2, but the party had to be on Feb 4. We flew in one of her best buds...Betty Alexander from OK...that was fun.
Then we had invited 100+ to a Broadway Birthday party at Southside Theatre Guild for a cocktail hour and appetizers....a Broadway show, then a dessert reception. It was wonderful. Ken, Patty, Charlie, Kathy, Tommy and Robert all did a fantastic job...Mom had a blast and was oh so surprised. We worked hard on this, and it turned out perfectly....we thank all that helped make it happen and all that attended.

Mom with her brother Bill, his wife Frances and sister Renie on the end....lookin' good!!!

Mom with grandsons Chad and Brad

Chad and his mom Kelley (my sister)

Our bartender and my good friend Reba

All Mom's daughter's....(in birth order, not sure we know how to stand any other way)

Debbie, me, Kelley and Shea

This cake was really cool, made by friend Susan, it is really a bunch of tiny boxes put together and they each have party treats in them...what a cool party gift.

We had other desserts...and we did light this cake and sing....absolutely!! 

Mom with Chad, Brad and great-grandson Quinton...he was all dressed up

Does it get any cuter than this???

The weekend after this I went to Miami for 3 nites to visit Linda K. I'd been to visit in Maine, but wanted to also visit in FL. It was a bit cool, but we still had a great time...the relaxing was very nice. Thanks Linda....enjoyed my visit very much...

The next weekend I headed for my home in Sarasota....was cravinig my own bed. It was a holiday weekend and I was ready to do something on my "bucket list". I was headed to Crystal Springs to swim with the manatees......
It had to be a early start....be at the dive shop at 615a....OMG.....but it was worth it. Crystal River is 72 year around...so with a wetsuit I was just fine. The water was peaceful and after some instructions on do's and don'ts, we were off.
We rode about 10min and came to a cove. They anchored and we all slipped into the water off the back ladder very quietly. There were 3 on the bottom below us and it was sooooo cool watching them. We stayed there about an hour then several other boats came and it got very busy. So, we pulled anchor and headed for another spot. We saw some others but they were swimming not being still so we kept moving. We went into another cove and saw only one and that one had a "tracker" attached, so we left. The Wildlife Assoc attaches floating trackers to some manatee for study purposes...you cannot get close to them....so we did not stop.
We continued to look, but eventually had to give up and head back. It has been very warm in FL this winter so the manatees have been ok in the ocean...it is the cold that drives them into the river...so all total we probably saw 12 or so.....and though I didn't get to touch one, it was still very cool. Check....can take that off my list, although I might like doing it again...was only $45 so not bad on the budget.
Back to the hotel and a shower and some breakfast and then off to River Side Resorts to see Monkey Island.... www.riversideresots.com
It's a very tiny man-made island at this resort where the first owner kept his monkeys. Well, that was many yrs ago and those monkeys are now in "monkey heaven", but they now have new monkeys and they are fun to watch.....that was cool.
Then off to Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park.....this was cool. Yes, these animals were in captivity, unlike the manatees I'd just seen, but they were still fun to watch. Gators, hippos, LOTS of birds, black bear, deer, bobcat, 2 manatees that were there for re-hab....and many other animals. It was a great way to spend a few hours and the weather was perfect. Then it was time to head back south...it was a 2.5hr drive home. It was a gorgeous day and was a nicer drive home than it was the night before since it had been dark and rainy and plenty of traffic.
It was a great 1 night get-away.
The next 2 days were spent with neighbors and beaching it....was a great weekend.
Then.............screeeech...........put on the brakes, back to ATL and reality, cube world. That's ok, I'm grateful for the job and will one day enter the world of NO schedule.
Until then............

December was a whirl-wind

Wow...December did not disappoint...it was busy like always. Delta hosts a Military Holiday Lounge during this time of year for about 6 weeks. I really like being able to thank our MIL folks for their service...so I do lots of baking and put in a good bit of time volunteering...so that's a busy time for me. Then there is the decorating at Mom's and all the family baking, buying and wrapping. There's never a moment to spare.

I also had a surprise visitor...Glen from www.tosimplify.net, I'd tracked his adventures for some time and we'd done some email. He was on his way back south, the north was getting a bit chilly. We had a nice dinner and Mom, Shea and I got a sax concert...too cool. Thanks Glen, we really enjoyed the evening.

Christmas Day was busy as always...the whole family was at Mom's...15 of us plus 1yr old Quinton. It was a fun time. The next day we started shopping for events in 2012...the sales are great. On the 27th I came down to Sarasota....oh yeah, New Year's in the warmth...can't beat it.

There are some fun things planned for 2012, but since they are surprises I can't really talk about them...but stay tuned.

I wish you all a Happy New Year.....may 2012 be awesome....I for one, am ready to bid 2011 farewell!!!

Holidays...and a new Family addition!!!

Welcome to the family my little great-nephew Quinton McKinnon Carter born 11/11/11....he has my Dad's middle name...I think that's cool. I didn't take new born pics, but I love this one....he's about 6mths old.

Since vacation things have been very busy....have had several family birthdays and the holidays have started. Thanksgiving was as always....lots of folks at Mom's...the weather was nice so we could spread out. I had a little heart procedure done to fix a slight electrical issue I've had, so I was rather out of it for this holiday, but I'll be good for Christmas. I also got a cold, and just now shaking that...so will be glad to get back to normal. Thanks Denny for helping me last week, sorry I gave you my cold.
Work is fine....it slows a bit during holiday time. Next week Delta opens their holiday Military Lounge and I'll be volunteering and donating baked goods and such to that...is always nice to give back and help this time of year.
Thanks to my travels this year, I have almost all my Christmas shopping done, so I'm a bit freed up for other things. Good thing I didn't need to shop any after Thanksgiving sales, I was just not up to it. but I missed having the fun.
Very soon I will start helping Mom with her wrapping and more decorating.....let Christmas begin!!!

Clearing Customs....what a hoot!!!

This is about 30 days late...sorry.
Our flight home went very well....I slept most of the way this time so it went faster. The flight attnd gave us all Customs Forms and that's when my debate began. I was worried about my wild boar salami. I decided it best to be honest...I was affiliated to Delta and if caught, might not look too good. We landed and I was off the plane in a hurry....was anxious to get it over with. Cleared the first re-entry point just fine, but then had to claim luggage and clear again. Since I had put on there that I had the wild boar...I was sent to the "special" line. They were very nice but they took it. Said that there were viruses in Europe we didn't have in the USA and these can be transmitted through meat products....so, bye bye cool salami....sorry family I tried.
Now...off to recheck bags so they can meet me upstairs....and clear security one more time...how weird. OK..bag checked and off to security line....had never had to do this before...it was just like the security at the front of the airport...no liquids...3oz or less on other stuff...etc. Oops..got a problem....in the Paris airport I was determined to spen all my Euro's....so I bought some pastry things, no problem, but I bought a jar of jam....was bigger than 3oz and I was going to loose it. So, back I go to a DL counter...I had to "check" or rather send my carry on bag up stairs to baggage claim, with my jam in there or I'd have to give it up. NO way....I'd lost my wild boar, so I put it in my bag and "checked" it....this was beyond stupid and they even admitted it....and said they were changing this in 2012, but for now, these were the rules. By now I was sweaty and tired and sooooo ready to be out of customs and that airport.
Finally I clear security and head for baggage claim, get my bags, get on the bus that goes to the GO, get in my car and head home. Was really good to get to Mom's. She was there and was cooking my request....veggies....love you Mom.
I bent her ear for hours telling her about our trip and showing her my treasures. It was a wonderful trip....I'd love to go back to Italy. I'm glad I've seen Paris and all the things you are supposed to see....but, may not rush back.
Susan, you were a great traveling buddy....we are thinking of Ireland next.

Unril then ....back to work....need to make more, so we can spend more!!!

Yuck.....I'm back at the office.....good-bye vacation...hello Reality

Our last dinner in Paris was at a close cafe'. Susan wasn't hungary as she'd had a bigger lunch...I'd enjoyed my soup, but needed a bit more. So, it was finally time for a hamburger with a fried egg on top. I'd forgotten that's SOP for European burgers and Susan was very skeptical. So, I ordered a burger and FF. It's really very good....perhaps not something I will start cooking or ordering in the states, but .....when in Paris!! Good thing it was a short walk home, it was starting to rain. Susan showered and jumped in bed...it was goign to be an early morning.

Yes, all good things must come to an end. The alarm went off at 445a on Tues morning....I hit the shower and sleeping beauty moaned....Susan is not a morning gal!! But she was dressed by the time I came out of the shower. We had a 530a airport shuttle pickup. We finally made the decision that metro or bus was just more than we wanted to hassle with and we kept getting conflicting info...so when we were offered a direct airport shuttle for 18euro each, we jumped on it. This turned out to be a perfect plan, especially since we woke up to rain. This shuttle was small and had picked up 4 others before us. After us we headed to Orly for them. That turned out to be 15min....we had to laugh since when we arrived at Orly we took shuttle/bus/metro and lots of walking and managed to turn a direct drive of 15 min into a 3hr adventure...wow, lesson learned there. After leaving Orly it was about 45min to CDG. We were there in plenty of time. Susan had spent enough in one store to get a VAT tax refund form. So we got that handled. The scoop on the very expensive VAT is that if you spend over 180 euro in one store, AND you ask for the tax refund form you can get that stamped at the airport and get is refunded. However, if you spend more than that but in man y different stores....tough, you can't get any back. Well, that was my case.....so I just eat that!!!
We then got checked in at Delta....we were both a little over 23kg but were told we were ok, and that we would definately get on. Wow...we never hear that....very cool. Yahoo, no more baggage issues and we knew we had a seat, just didn't know which one. Mattered not, we were ready to head home. Then we were off to get a bite of something and head to the gate to wait. Duty free shops were open, nothing was too appealing...so off for coffee and pastry. However, I spotted a Laudree' store, yummy macaroons and other goodies. So spent my last 25 euro on goodies...some I ate, some actually made it all the way back. Susan enjoyed her last pastry and cappuccino...then, we were off to the gate to wait. Boarding started very soon and went just fine.
We were on and ready to go..............

Good bye Paris...........soon we would be back in the land of knowing where to flush a toilet, understanding directions, being able to read a menu............but for me, having to go back to work....yuck....

10hrs later we landed in ATL.........not too bad a flt, I slept 4hrs...woohoo. Susan didn't sleep as well. We got seperated in customs....but probably a good thing since I had to go through the "special" line because I was honest about having "meat products"....I had bought some wild boar salami that was vaccumed sealed...but that didn't matter...they took it. So, I'm guessing some customs official enjoyed my special treat last night!!! Bummer, that was supposed to be part of my Italian night of cooking....oh well....I've got soem other goodies. Susan breezed through and was re-checked for her Indy flt.....I got stopped again because of a jar of Plum jam but I worked that one out. I told Susan to go ahead I ahd no idea how long I was going to be in customs.....I was getting to know them all!!! I finally got cleared and headed out.
As I drove home, it was interesting to actually be able to read the road signs.....it was 74 in ATL and was good to be home. Mom was waiting on me and had fulfilled my request om veggies for dinner. I talked her ears off for about 3hrs then we had squash/green beans/cremaed corn and BBQ chicken.........wow that was good....thanks Mom.

I'm hoping to cook my Italian dinner next week...need to hurry before I forget all that I learned.

Well....life will get routine again, so blogs my get few and far between.....thanks for following, it was a wonderful 50th celebration!!!

The Party is over......

Our last day on vacation and in Paris. We started a little earlier today and the shower was actually warm...woohoo!! We went up the street just a little bit and stopped at a cafe' for croissant, hot chocolate, fresh OJ and a cappucinno. Then we were off to the metro, underground subway, to a shopping area. We decided we were at sight-seeing overload.....so we wanted to shop and move slow. The metro ride was easy and soon we were at a HUGE store Galleries Lafayette. It had many levels and many high-end things. Gucci/Fendi/Channel/Prada/Omega...etc. You get the idea. This is the 2nd most visited attraction after the Louvre. The world's leading dept store with 100k visitors per day!!! Yep it was crowded. You would not believe the stained glass dome and the decor. It was an open floor plan type building....you could see floor to floor if you stood in the middle.

One entire floor was nothing but shoes....Brooke, you would be in heaven and very confused. I tried to take a picture, but I was stopped....sorry. We finally experienced macaroons. We had been told, we HAD to try them and that they were nothing like the ones in the USA...they were correct....they were heaven and in flavors. We made some purchases, but not enough to likely help their economy too much. We walked the streets a little and came across one street covered in newspaper...there had been a protest earlier. The protest was about the press hacking into personal cell phones and emails to get news. It was a mess...they had closed the street.

We decided it was time to eat...so we picked a sidewalk cafe'. I had french onion soup and creme' brulee'....Susan had a roasted chicken and FF and dark chocolate crepes....all very good.

Back in the street and a little more shopping, then headed back on the metro.

We are staying in The Latin Quarter...District 5. When we got back we walked a little and discovered many things closed today....we had been told that places were closed on Sunday's and Monday's....and seems like our area of town was that way. So, we picked good to go to another area yesterday and today and we walked our area on Sat nite when we got here. We have had some really good "dumb" luck.....and God has certainly guided us, perhaps He felt sorry for us goofballs!!

We are both getting tired.....we have no clean clothes and are ready to sleep in beds that are a little softer than plywood. Both of our suitcases are messed up, so they will get replaced, but they will get us home.

Our flight back looks good, but we will need an early start, will have to be on the metro by 0500. We will take the metro part way and a bus or taxi the rest of the way. No more worries about the weight of our bags. We will both be glad to see that Delta check-in counter something familiar, and hopefully english speaking. We have done ok in Paris, but have had a few communication problems. Was a bigger challenge than Italy because we had to start thinking for ourselves.

We are pre-packing now and may go out for a short walk and a small dinner, then an early nite, because it will be an early morning!!!

We have both truly enjoyed our trip.....and are already thinking about Ireland...hummm!

We hope you all have enjoyed following us.....it was not always easy staying awake to blog about our day, but we know in a few months when we want to look back, we will be glad we did, and we were glad to hopefully entertain our friends and family. We have both traveled a good bit, but we agree this trip was like no other.....it had been terrific.

Au revoir Paris............

We traded heat in our room for hot water!!!

The heat in our apartment in Soriano never really worked right...but the hot water in the shower was amazing and there was plenty of it. Well, in Paris our room is toasty but if u sleep late like we did, your penalty is a lukewarm, rather cool shower....wonderful!! We are already scheming on ways around that....maybe shower at nite...or maybe up earlier...we'll see.

We already miss having someone else think for us and guide us like we had in Italy...but we'll figure it out. As we walked the streets near the hotel last night we saw lots of open fruit and vegetable markets, SEVERAL beauty shops with folks getting hair done, many flower shops, pastry shops and one chocolatier....no, I didn't buy anything....but I will today. While eating dinner we watched a woman rolling her own cigarettes, she had this great gizmo that rolled the tobacco into a small roll, she had bought "empty" cigarettes and once rolled she "stuffed" them....ok, guess she had a particular taste in tobacco, or maybe that's cheaper....who knows, but it did entertain us. We actually managed to have a one course meal and no dessert. Susan said Paris will be our step-down program back to reality. We will not be perfect here, but we will do better than last week.

I just heard Susan holler from the shower...."is this all the warm you get??"...yep, it's chilly. Once out of the shower, she was hunting her pastry and cappucino.....ok, I can see her "step-down" program is going to take some work!!!

It looks like a gorgeous day. We have a small but adorable balcony. We walked out on it yesterday, but it is now blocked with a suitcase...there is NO OTHER room....so we will check the temps once we go out. At least it is not raining!!! We've only had one rainy day so far, not bad. That day actually added to the mystique of the crumbling city we visited that day.

So we're off....look out Paris...here we come!!!

Wow did we cover some ground today....left around 11a, got on a bus and headed for the Seine. We got off and right in front of us was Notre' Dame....and it was Sunday...bonus. We got in the long line to go in and services were going on...very cool. They had a rope around the outside of the seating and we were allowed to walk all the way around and see the service....and hear the organ, very cool. We saw communion, and someone waiting to take your confessions, no, we didn't stop and confess anything, perhaps we should have. After that tour, we left and decided to make a potty stop and get a fresh Nutella crepe. This turned out to be yet another potty lesson for me.....seems the lites in the stalls that are totally enclosed have motion sensored lights.....well, I was sitting and before I knew it, it was pitch black dark....so, if you can get a visual....I'm sitting and flapping my arms around to get the light back on...just as I was about to get out my phone for light it came back on.....wow...what will we learn next. And this time to flush it was a pedal on the floor, always an adventure when you have to go. OK...so we walked the bank of the Seine, watched people and boat tours and just loved being here, it was a gorgeous day. We walked to the Louvre and sat on a bench in amazement. The line to get in was very long....we took a few pictures outside, but we had already decided that we would need to come back to do museums. We needed to hit the highlights in our short visit. So...on we went....passing Museum d' Orsay, The Royal Bridge, Assemblee' Nationale and all the way to the Eiffel Tower.....it's unreal. And, the number of people there was also unreal. The lines to get tickets to go up were all 4 VERY long. Susan didn't want to go up anyway and I didn't want to wait in a line. So after sitting on a bench a while and taking photos...we walked on. We headed for Champs E'lysees'.....this is 4 lane, that is very busy and loud but has THE TOP stores on both sides....this is like Rodeo Drive or in Atlanta...maybe Buckhead or better. Let's just say...when Louis Vuitton has a 3 level one block store with a line outside to get in, you have hit "the shopping" district. We had to laugh when not far down the sidewalk was a Haggan Das Ice Cream that was 3 levels with a line also...too funny.

By this time our one crepe had run out and we were hungry....the menus in this area were very spendy as u can imagine, we finally found a place and were happy to sit for a while. We had chicken and pasta in a mushroom cream sauce. We didn't know the side was pasta, we are both a bit caught up on that but oh well, I had a coke and Susan had a glass of wine...both beverages cost the same. We each spent about $30 on dinner.....but we had to consider where we were.

By now, it was getting to be dusk and we needed to go see the Eiffel tower lit up. So we started walking...again. We passed Hediard shop...it is famous for it's sweets since 1854...you know we couldn't pass that up. We went in and got some chocolate mousse to go.

Not far down the street and we could see the Eiffel tower lit up....wow. It's something you just have to see. It was a lovely night and this was cool.

Now we had to find our way back to the hotel....we ask some folks, got on a bus and headed back. We got mis-guided a few times, but we made it.

Home before 10p....not bad.

We have decided that tomorrow will not be a long walking day....maybe a bus tour, or boat ride, but something easier....we walked PLENTY today.

We have one day left on vacation......then back to reality......

Good night from The city of Lights........