Back to the Land of.....

.......HEB; Bill Miller's iced tea and Mexican food! Yeah!!!

We had dinner with Gary and Lynn; Jerry and Judy; Peggy and John and Phyllis yesterday - good to connect with old friends! By "old" I mean long time friends not their age!!!

On the Road Again

We have had a leisurely trip to San Antonio. We stopped in Biloxi, MS and had lunch with Kyle's dad, Wendall - his mom is in San Antonio for a ladies week-end - and then spent last night in Sugarland/Houston. We met our nephew Kyle for dinner at one of our favorite Mexican food restaurants - Lupe's - the very best beef fajitas ever!! Pigged out!!! Sent Heather and Kyle this picture just to rub it in!
Love seeing all the wildflowers along the roadside in Texas!

Epcot

We've been busy lately with a hectic social schedule! We met George and Sue; Brian and Barb; and Brooke and Patty last Thursday - us girls went shopping and the guys played golf - then we all went out to dinner. Carlos and Megan made it to Nashville and then were having trouble getting a flight to Florida but finally got the last two seats on the last flight to Tampa. So, we left Mitchells and picked them up around 10:45pm. We had a quiet day on Friday - grilled out and chatted and then our whirlwind week-end began!
We biked about 20 miles on the West Orange Trail on Saturday and stopped for lunch in Winter Garden about half way. Then we got "cleaned up" and went to the Villages for dinner. The kids were impressed with what a "happening" place it is! We went out for breakfast on Sunday and then met Ray in Lakeland for the Tigers game against the Astros. The Astros won but it was a fun experience. They play poker - Texas Hold 'Em - at the clubhouse on Sunday nights so we took Carlos and Megan up there, introduced them and they joined the game. The came home the winners - Carlos said they should start playing the "Winnabego RV Circuit" and make some money!
Monday was spent at Epcot - haven't been there since 1992 - it was a beautiful day and not as crowded as we anticipated so we did it all! We were wilting around 4pm so we stopped to relax and have a beer/wine in Italy. Carlos said "I can't imagine bringing kids here!" We were tired just dealing with ourselves! We had reservations at a nice Mexican restaurant for dinner and had planned on staying for the fireworks but decided we would leave a little earlier and miss the crowds. The annual flower and garden show was there so the gardens were gorgeous.
We took them to the airport to catch their 6:45am flight and then came home and went back to bed! We had to be re-energized for golf at noon!
We left for Texas this morning - needless to say we did not get an early start but, hey, we are retired - we don't need to be in a hurry! We really enjoyed the park, the people and the area and have decided we will return next winter.
Roger will get me settled in Texas and then fly back to Florida and Oklahoma on business.
Our thoughts and prayers have been with Marion and Dave - they are now back in Michigan - Marion fell and broke her right humorous and her left wrist and David has been in the hospital. We know the boys and family and friends are taking good care of them.

Happy Birthday to Me!

I had a great birthday yesterday - I'm still celebrating but not counting!
Samantha and Emily called and sang "Happy Birthday" to me on Friday night- which is their Saturday morning. They are just too cute! On a countdown to see them this summer!
Roger said "you don't have to do dishes or anything today" - so we ate out all day! We went out for breakfast and then drove to "The Villages" for a movie and then dinner last night.
We have heard a lot about this area since we have been in Florida so we had to go check it out and read about it online. It is an age restricted retirement community about 20 miles from here near Ocala. It consists of 26,000 acres - 62 "villages" or subdivisions - 77,000 residents - 9 championship golf courses (some with 27 holes) - 29 executive 9 hole courses - 2 historic town squares with nightly entertainment - and any amenity you could envision!
It is all accessible by 87 miles of golf cart trails! The parking lots are full of golf carts not cars and you should see how some of them are decked out! They make a statement! From the looks of this community the Boomers are doing well! We are going back this coming week with Bob and Joanne - the guys will golf and us girls will shop and then meet them for dinner.

Fort Wilderness

We took our bikes to Disneyworld yesterday and rode around the campground, Fort Wilderness. You have to pay to park but then the whole area is open to explore - great bike trails. We were surprised to see many vacancies, guess it isn't the peak spring break time yet. The campground appears to have been updated since we stayed there years ago when the girls were little - all are paved,big rig sites with full hook-ups.
Carlos and Megan are visiting next week-end so we will go back and go to Epcot with them.
Roger and Ray went to a Tigers spring training game on Wednesday - saw the Astros beat the Tigers but had a good time.

The Florida Flywheelers

Today was my lucky day - I got to go to the Florida Flywheelers Antique Tractor Show with Roger! Actually, I was happy to go - it was payback for him going to Chinatown twice while we were in Kuala Lumpur!
This was unlike any other tractor show. The grounds cover about 100 acres with many permanent buildings. Many of them privately owned and containing personal collections of antique tractors, farm equipment, trucks, cars and implements. There is an old fashioned village with all the establishments you would expect to see - many with people doing demonstatrions of long forgotten skills. There are all sorts of RV's parked all over with their tractors and junk sale items nearby and everyone drives an ATV or golf cart! It was more flea market than tractor show - but they did have a tractor pull and parade.
It was 90 degrees with no shade and between the tractors and the ATV's the dust was horrible! I wore my comfortable flip flops and my feet and legs were black with soot! Glad we had time to come home and shower before meeting Ray and Kyle for dinner!
We saw many one of a kind items. Where else can you sit in an pink ATV named "Little Booty II" eating a fried Oreo cookie watching a girl crack her bull whip with one hand while she smoked her cigarette with the other!!
Sorry, AnnaLee and Salle, I could have bought you antique tractor earrings but Roger wouldn't let me shop!
Roger got several comments on his "3rd Annual Mackinac Bridge - Antique Tractor Crossing" hat - other Michiganders that also did it!

Lift Off!!

We drove to Titusville, FL Thursday and watched the space shuttle launch. How awesome! We saw it lift off and then several seconds later heard it!
A beautiful day so we saw it clearly.
We rode with Dick and Sally, and their friend Andy - Brian and Barb and George and Sue followed us. We packed a lunch and got there about 1:00pm for the 4:50pm launch. We found parking spots across the street from a McDonalds and view spots out back so we had food and bathrooms handy!
Ray and Kyle Lasich were there too. Ray is in Florida for about a month - for the launch and the Tiger's spring training. Kyle flew in Wed. night and will leave on Sunday. We'll be able meet them for dinner on Saturday because they are staying not far from us.
We are so fortunate to be able to see one of the last shuttle launches - cross it off our "bucket list!"