Christmas in Florida, 2013

Way overdue in posting these pics from our trip down to Florida this past Christmas!

 Fanning Springs.  I think it's my favorite spring so far.

We also checked out Rainbow Springs.  Pretty, but I don't like it as much as Fanning or Manatee.

Stopped at the 4 E's boat ramp to grab a cache.

I like this picture...can you see George?

We spotted this cutie in Okeechobee heading over to Platt's Bluff.

 I think he's adorable!

One of the trailheads for the FT, near Platt's Bluff.

I only got a couple pictures of Christmas morning in Okeechobee :(

The gorgeous Pandora that Sam got me.  I am still in shock over it!

The lock at Taylor Creek and Lake Okeechobee.

George had to do a little yakking on Lake Francis.

The day Sam was getting ready to drive back to Miami, he checked and his car was totally out of oil and one of his tires has TWO screws in it!  So, he called work and told them he wouldn't be making it back.  Mom followed him to Sebring to have it checked out....

The cost of repairs was way too much...more wrong than we even imagined, so his Grandma decided to just buy him another car.  Merry Christmas, Sam!!!

Before we drove back to PA, we found some palmettos to plant in the front yard at Lake Placid.

I think the yard is going to look awesome when they grow and start to fill in.  I love planting native!

Trailer Trash?  Maybe to some, but we love this little place!  It's been in the family since about '71 and I hope it always stays in the family :)

Doing a little caching in Okeechobee.  We had a DNF, but it was still neat to see this old Tantie Schoolhouse.

So that was our Christmas.  As always, I swear to post here more often!

Changes in Latitude

We went down to Florida for Christmas.  It was weird not being able to go "home" anymore...my Florida home is now our place in Lake Placid and it was nice being able to spend some time there and get a few things done that had been needing to be done for a long time.

We flew into FLL on Christmas Eve and spent the night with my best friend, Lois.  Aidan got to spend the night with his father. We finally got to see Sam's apartment, which is really cute and has way more space than he kept saying.  That night, Lois had to work, so we took Sam out to dinner at one of the few places open, a really killer Thai restaurant that none of us had been to before.  It may have been an odd Christmas Eve dinner, but it was SO good!

Christmas morning, we went to IHOP with Lois and the place was PACKED!  Then we dropped Sam off, picked Aidan up and headed to Lake Placid and Okeechobee.  After unloading our stuff in LP, we made the 45 minute trip over to Okee to have Christmas dinner with my mom, sister and brother in law.  Sam even managed to drive up on his own.  It was great being all together.

The next day, Sam drove back to Miami complaining of a really sore throat.  Turns out he had strep throat.  Poor guy...I don't know how many trips over to his apartment we made to check on him.  He had a raging temperature and just felt awful.

I forgot to mention that since I no longer have a vehicle down there, Lois had let us borrow her car.  She walked to the Turkey Point bus stop and rode in on the bus.  A 3 mile walk.  Thankfully she got rides home with a co worker who also lives in her subdivision.  I swore to her the next time she comes up here, she won't be renting a car, but using mine!

We had to fly back to Pittsburgh New Year's Eve so we could be there for the Polar Bear Plunge in Connellsville.

Yes, we went from this:

...to this:

(This post is very late...I started it, then forgot about it!)

Holiday Weekend Caching

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Every holiday, we manage to run out and grab at least one cache.  Well, this long weekend, we managed to get a few, including 3 puzzle caches - one of which was out 1,700th find!  The black thing that Aidan is holding is a magnetic keyholder.  One of the most hated, and yet overused cache containers out there.  BUT, urban caching can be limited as to places for hiding an ammo can, so we put up with the key holders.  At least this one required some thought put into solving the puzzle (and thanks to Lj for bringing it all into place!).

Friday, my love and I paddled the yak out to Chicken Key so he could get the cache that's hidden there.  It's only about 3.5 miles roundtrip, but throw in currents and winds across an open Bay and it can seem much further.

The water was too cold for me to swim in.  Couldn't make it in past my crotch!

The water was so clear, but it's not the pretty blue you see in the Keys.  And no sandy beaches, either!

And let's see...the day before that was Thanksgiving and we had dinner with good friends at Texas de Brazil on Miami Beach. Not bad, but not the usual turkey dinner!  Afterwards, we were all pretty stuffed so we walked to go find a cache nearby.  It's pretty strange that Miami Beach doesn't have more caches than it does...odd.

So that was my weekend.  The Christmas stuff is down from the attic, but we've yet to start decorating.  I do NOT do Black Friday and have no shopping done yet.  As much as I swear "Next year, I'll be done by Halloween", it never happens.  I fully plan on scurrying around like a chicken with her head cut off all the way up to Christmas Eve, buying presents.  Unless I do like I've done before and just try to make my presents.

Meh, why worry about it now?  We have, what...25 days before Christmas...plenty of time....yeah...

A Visit with Santa

My friend Sandcastle Momma has a post about seeing Santa at BassPro Shop. Well, we took Aidan to BassPro to see Santa over a week ago and I completely forgot to post the picture! So, here it is...



Now Ann did a much better job and posted lots of pictures that show how really wonderful the whole set up is. Eventhough we went to two different BassPro's, the main loook is the same. So if you just pop over to her place, you can see basically the same things we saw. (Stupid me didn't think of bringing a camera, d'oh!). It is much more elaborate than any Mall Santa set up ever could be...it is just beautiful. Plus, when we went, it wasn't crowded at all! 2 kids in front of Aidan and 2 after him. Santa was able to take the time to really talk with him and listen to what he said. I think it was very special.

Oh, and what was the numero uno thing that Aidan asked Santa for?

"A big, big kitchen!!!"

"A big, big kitchen? If I bring you one, you have to promise to bake me lots of cookies!"

"Ok, sure. I will. I promise."


I think it caught ole Santa a little off guard, but hey...I think there is not one thing wrong with a male wanting to cook. In fact, I think it is wonderful!


Yes, I think he is going to become a world-class chef one day. Watch out Gordon Ramsey!

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And while it's there, click on the link on the left about Burger King creating a meat scented body spray. That is just wrong on so many levels...

O Christmas Tree

Hard to believe this tree took HOURS to put up and decorate. I see a much smaller, real tree in our house next year!

My friend, Bee Dancer (aka Jersey Girl) sent this to me the other day. These are what every geocacher wants for Christmas:

Twelve Travel Bugs

Eleven Geocoins

Ten Lock-N-Locks

Nine Ammo Cans

Eight Bison Tubes

Seven Caching Buddies

Six Log Books

Five Pocket Queries

Four Wheel Drive

Three Space Pens

Two Hiking Boots

And a Garmin GPS Receiver

I'd be happy with a 4 wheel drive...JEEP! If you're feeling generous, let me know and I'll give you the address where you can have it delivered ;)

I ate Bambi...

...on Christmas Eve, and Bambi tasted real GOOD!

We went to my sister's for dinner on Christmas Eve. We were told my brother-in-law was grilling steaks. They looked like filet mignons and smelled wonderful! After everybody cleaned their plate, my sister (with a smirk on her face) asked me how I liked those "Omaha Steaks"? I knew right there something was up. You see, I've always refused to eat deer meat. I'd had it once in Texas and it was awful. My sister always told me I'd just never had it prepared right. She then announced I had just consumed deer. In fact, if you look at the picture below, you can see the remains of the Bambi we ate that night... it's the "European" mount in the center...just the skull and antlers. Can you see it?

Before the joke was played on me...a cozy table was set.

Ha, Ha! You ate a deer!

That's not his wine, I promise you!

He looks like a puppet. I have no idea what he was pretending.

My Mom and sister watching Aidan open a present...a talking Steve Irwin doll. I want one!!! It's very cool. He doesn't just talk, he tells entire stories!

I'm afraid of what will be on the menu next year, but if it tastes as good as that deer did...

BTW, things are thawing out here. It got up to 60 degrees this afternoon and tomorrow is supposed to be in the 70's.

Christmastime in the Gables - Seeing Santa for the first time!

Tonight was very special. Aidan got to see Santa for the first time! He was so cute. He walked right up to the big man, reached into his pocket and pulled out a note he'd written earlier today. It went something like this..."SANTA. LOTS OF TOYS. GO CART. AIDAN :)" Of course Santa opened the note and read it out loud, and told Aidan that he had "Three bags of toys" for him in his sleigh!

OMG, Santa! C'mon...Here is my letter to you: "Dear Santa, Since you told my little one that you have 3 bags of toys for him, I am requesting financial backing asap so that I may go out and fullfill your statement, otherwise I will be facing a zillion questions and ultimately heartbreak at not being able to purchase enough toys to fill 3 bags. Next year, watch your mouth, Oh Most Jolly Rotund One". Sincerely, a slightly po'ed Mom.

Aidan had a great time climbing on the igloos and sleds that the City of Coral Gables had set up.

Lots of kids and lots of lights. They even had snow! (FYI for any non-Floridians reading this...our "snow" is nice, white sand brought in and spread out over the grass. Better that that northern wet mushy stuff)

The big, beautiful fake tree set up in front of city hall. The picture doesn't do it justice. Very pretty.

My Family Traditions (or lack of?)

This week, The Most Humble Housewife (http://blog.humblehousewife.com/) is the host of Fun Monday. She wants to know about our traditions...

"I want to hear about or see a holiday tradition, recipe or event. It can be any holiday you like or that is special to your family. With Thanksgiving and the Winter holidays coming up, those would be especially apt, but anything that is special for your family is fine. If you have pictures - it's a bonus! Whether it's your Mom's famous stuffing recipe, going caroling on Christmas Eve, Diwali dances, or even the inevitability of Great Aunt Polly having one too many brandies and knocking over the Christmas tree - I want to hear about it!!!"

Well, we don't really have any traditions in our family. We used to, when I was growing up, but not so much these days. When I was little, we'd spend Christmas Eve at my Grandpa's house, and a little bit at my "Gommy's" house. Yes, my grandparent's were divorced. Christmas morning, I'd wake up early and go wake up my mom and dad. Mom would get up, but Daddy rarely did. It was ok as long as I didn't have to wait on him to wake up to open presents! After opening the presents, I'd be all excited, waiting for my sister to come over. She got married when I was in the first grade and I idolized her (I still do). She always had the coolest presents for her little sister.

Later, my whole Dad's side of the family would meet over at my Aunt Mary's house for brunch. It was always the same...scrambled eggs, grits, cheese souffle, toast, bacon and sausage. YUMMY! I always had to sit at the "kids" table which sucked. I had no cousins my age. All were (and still are, d'uh) either younger or older by a few years. I guess it was ok. I always had fun.

Now most of my Dad's family is dead or moved far away, so all those traditions of my youth are gone. It's sad, but at least I have good memories.

This has got me thinking that I should try to start a few traditions for my little one. As it is, the only thing we do every year, without fail, is drive around to look at Christmas lights. We always end up at the Clott's house who have always done this HUGE Christmas lighting extravaganza. It is awesome. We usually go there more than once!

But I really need to think about starting some more traditions than that. So thank you very much for this week's topic! You have really given me something to think about :)