Our Happy Thanksgiving

I think I will change my layout almost every time I post a blog! I love all the different ones out there. But I am sooo not ready to add the Christmas one. Not yet. I can never get into Christmas until a week or so before it. Don't know why... Just cant. Oh well. On to more fun topics. Did everyone have a nice Thanksgiving? Since living here in Florida and not having family around, our last 2 Thanksgivings have been quite different than we ever had in AZ or WA. Last year we spent the day at Universal Studios. This year we were going to go to my coworkers house, however, on Tuesday, Mike got a work call in Fort Myers. Then he got a call in Naples. Both places had issues that may or may not of been resolved by the fix he did. Which meant, he would work until late Wed evening, drive home, then possibly have to go back very very early Friday morning. So we did a typical Mike and Corinna move. The boys and I went with him, and we stayed until Friday. (Christina flew to Uncle Leonard's & Aunt Michelle's in CA, and the rest of my family drove/flew there as well). The hotel Mike found was typical for us. A one bedroom with full kitchen. Plus it had cocktail & hors d'oeuvres from 5-7, and Wed night BBQ night. Perfect! Free food and drinks!! A heated swimming pool, and a 5 hole putt putt course.

The boys had a blast swimming. The water was warm, and they just jumped right in.

Here, Caleb asked Mike to write "daddy" on a piece of paper, and he wrote 'booger' instead, so Caleb put him in time out.

I had premade some Pumpkin Ginger Soup and Salad to take to Diane's, so we decided to pack a cooler and bring it with us, along with carrots and a few other goodies. We stopped at the store and picked up a rotisserie chicken, 100% natural potato flakes (no fake crap), and Natural Turkey Gravy. I used the maple syrup from the full breakfast the hotel provided, and made maple glazed carrots. None of us are pumpkin pie eaters, so we bought vanilla ice cream (for Zachary) and Caramelized Pear and Candied Pecan Ice Cream, and whipped cream for us. Everything was waiting for me to quickly prepare in our kitchen when we got back from our boating excursion. We debated about what kind of boating trip to take. A Chartered 93ft Luxury Yacht, fancy lunch or dinner included? A chartered fishing excursion? Or rent our own party boat and explore by ourselves. OF COURSE we picked the by ourselves one! We left early Thursday morning, and spent until 5pm on the boat. What a wonderful fun time we had!!

There were about 6+ dolphins out frolicking in the waters. Unfortunately we were so busy watching them that we didn't take any other pictures.

Caleb loved driving the boat!

So did Zachary. Mommy just watched them, and enjoyed the ride.

Here, there was one lone bird following us, and I threw a piece of Chex Mix Cereal up, and he caught it. The next thing we knew, there were a dozen birds following us. We kept throwing the cereal in the air, and most of the time the birds caught it! This was while we were cruising along at 25 mph!

Bye Bye city! Key Islands, here we come!

hmm. I am not sure who is driving our boat. Zachary?

We bought a dozen live shrimp to fish with. Zachary enjoyed helping watch the pole.

We are all water signs. The only thing missing in our wonderful Thanksgiving on the water was Christina.

We caught a fish! Turned out it is a Lady Fish. While it is edible, it has many many small bones, and can easily turn mushy when cooked. It is a bottom feeder fish. We put her back in the water after a short time. But it was still fun catching one.

She was about 22 inches.

We actually snagged another fish. It must of been a HUGE one, because Mike felt it grab, and then he had to hold on. It thrashed for a second or two, and then broke our pole in half. See ya!

There were dozens of birds just sitting and enjoying the scene.

While we were fishing we parked at a Key Island. The boys enjoyed running up and down and picking up seashells. Zachary even found two sting ray skeletons. Unfortunately, as I type this, I remember that they were packed into our snorkeling gear bag, which we didn't unload. UGH. The smell is making me very sick right now. GROSS!! Memo to boys: Lets leave your smelly sea creatures behind from now on!

Almost 11 years and still as in love as ever. AWWWWWW.........

This pictures says it all for me. My toes in the sea water = Happiness.

We had a fun day! Of course, now Mike is begging to get a boat of his own. After all the bills are paid off, and the Surprise house sold, then YES. Until then... We will enjoy these moments as much as possible. And be THANKFUL for all the blessing that we do have.

It is pouring rain today, and there are tornado reports. So I will stop this blog, and post the rest of the pictures I was going to post later.

I'm Published

So... Do you like my new layout? Its so ME! Purple!! And hearts!! I found a few other ones that I would like to apply as well, so don't be surprised if it changes soon. I also put cute little boxes of sayings on the side. Cute huh? Mikes brother Kevin got in Saturday evening. Since my birthday is tomorrow we were originally going out then. But I got to thinking...Sushi on Tuesday night might not be the same as Sushi on Sat. Also we wanted to go to the Cigar Bar next door. It would definitely be more fun on Sat night than Tues. We are not having fun or anything are we?! Kevin eats sushi on a regular basis, similar to Mike and I, so he pretty much knew what he wanted. But we did talk him into one of our favorite dishes, Shrimp Heads. Yum! We ordered 3 rounds (6 total) He did eat one, but wasn't terribly impressed. That's OK, more for the birthday girl! Then after stuffing ourselves full of sushi and sake, we headed next door to the Cigar bar. Kevin bought each of us a cigar that was very good. I enjoyed my 'cigaretto' while he and Mike had some big fat cigars. Then Kevin disappeared for a few, and came back grinning like a Cheshire Cat. Oh boy, what did he do? This is a Cigar Bong. You can choose from quite a few flavors. He let us guess for awhile. Mike and I were totally surprised at how easy this was to smoke from. The flavors were wonderful, and you never felt like you were smoking a big heavy cigar. He choose Mango and Mint. Yummy! Very smooth. I kept thinking it tasted like chocolate mint. Very impressive! We had so much fun, I am wondering if we can do it again Tuesday? The boys were very disappointed that Uncle Kevie was not going to hang out with them all night. They were so excited to see him, you'd have thought it was their long lost uncle or something. Even Zachary couldn't wait until his computer game was over, and ended it early just because "Uncle Kevie is so fun to play with." They really have fun playing with him. They cannot wait until Uncle Kevie is back on Tuesday to Play with them.

Meanwhile the boys are enjoying a golfing road trip. They headed down south Sunday morning while I recovered from the biggest hangover in a very long time. Damn Sake!It looks like a wonderful golf course right on the ocean, in Palm Beach. I know they are super competitive, so I can only imagine the betting that must be going on. But as long as they are having fun....! Today a letter I wrote to the Editors of our Orlando Sentinel newspaper was published.

Yeah me!!

During our election Florida had Amendment 2 on the ballot. It was there so Gay Marriage could be outlawed. Well first of all, it is already illegal in the state of Florida, but now that they passed it, it is ILLEGAL. What??? Basically it bans any persons from being able to get health care coverage for a 'significant other'. Or having any rights as a 'significant other'. This is not only for Gay people, but for couples who, for whatever reason, decide to live together rather than marry. (including older couples whose pensions and social security etc would be less if they remarry). Having been in the Salon business all of my adult life I have been around Gay people. My brother is Gay. My husbands Aunt is Gay. To me, they are just like every single other person out there. They work. They pay taxes. They enjoy movies. They enjoy going out to dinner. They enjoy spending time with family. They enjoy spending time with friends. They are intelligent. They are absolutely NO DIFFERENT than any other persons I have had the pleasure of meeting. I find it so irritating that people in today's society can look at other human beings and decide that THEY have the RIGHT to DENY basic rights to them, just because they are slightly different. This is a society that has now elected a half white-half BLACK person to be our President. When our grandparents were children, Black people were targets of so many hate crimes. Even when our parents were kids there was still segregation. Yet, they are no different than you and I. And now society has waken up to that fact. There are as many wonderful Black, Hispanic, Jewish, ETC people as there are 'white' people. Yet the Gay community is STILL being discriminated against. This will end someday. And it will start with us. With our generation that grew up with other races of people as our friends and family members. Just as our children will grow up with Gay people as their friends and family members. There will be a day where discrimination against Gay people will no longer be tolerated.

Its exciting to know I had a say in this matter. Now if only more people came forward like me, maybe our children will grow up in a society that no one is discriminated against, because we are all Human Beings that deserve FAIRNESS!

Christina and her friends had a birthday party for Big Mike. He is the guy sitting in the center. This is Christina and Katelyn goofing off. Do they ever do anything else? lol Here is Christina and Ashley having fun. Oh my. Christina is 'dancing' on our neighborhood sign. Too cute aren't they?

Pictures of Mom2 & Dad2's Visit

Well, the In Laws have come and gone. Its so funny how in the middle of the trip it started to feel long for them and us, but by the time the end is here, you are wishing it was a little bit longer. We had a very nice visit with them. And I think they enjoyed their visit here. Mike and Caleb picked them up from the airport Oct 28th. Caleb was so excited to go and get them, so I was a tiny bit surprised when they walked in the door and said that he NEVER said a word to them. I don't know why, but for some reason both of the boys are quiet around adults. Until they get to know you that is. Which soon became apparent to Gramma and Grumpa. By the end of the first week, Caleb was Mr. ChatterBox. Zachary did OK, but he never really opened up much to them. But that is pretty much his personality, and nothing personal. The Kitties sure found them interesting tho. One cat, PeekABoo kept stealing Grammas socks and knit hat. And they all found Grumpas lap was soft and warm.

Happy Halloween! Caleb was a Fireman, and Zachary was Nemo...Again... He likes to wear his costumes 2 years in a row. Thats OK tho, since it saves money! They trick or treated with their friends Avery and Cooper. We had a Halloween Party, well, I should say Christina and her friends had a Halloween Party. There were dozens of kids that showed up. I'd guess about 40-50 friends. Mike and I also had some friends over. My co-worker Diane, her hubby and their 2 sons (16 & 22) and our Scottish friend, Lynne came over as well. A few parents dropped their kids off, and they stayed and visited as well. It was a lot of fun, and a great turn out! But for some reason, we were all too busy talking to get any pics of the party! Mike had to work down in Boynton Beach area, so his parents were able to go along and visit a friend of theirs, Julio, who lives in the Miami area. They also went to the Keys for a night. They were gone for a few days. I set Dad2 up with a BLOG of his own, since he normally writes Diaries of all their trips. He is a wonderful story teller, so I encourage you to read his BLOG at http://brownsblather.blogspot.com/

These pictures will go with his stories. Watch out for the Alligator!! Sunset at Key West Key West is so pretty! This is the view from the hotel room. The hotel is in the distance. This is at the museum in St. Lucie County. This house is over 100 years old. Mike and I took the boys there this past summer. (Zachary's birthday blog) His parents had a great time seeing Mike at work, (see he really DOES work!)

We took them to Cocoa Beach, along with 2 of Christina's friends. We all had a great day watching the "kids" play in the water! Yes, that IS Grumpa holding up his shorts. heehee! Im not sure who is having more fun. Caleb or Grumpa? Christina and her friends had fun feeding the birds our left over chips and sandwich crumbs. They were taking it right out of their hands! Again, for the detailed story, check out dad2's blog. In this picture, Caleb is singing "You Are My Sunshine, My Only Sunshine" to me. How SWEET is he?! Here we are taking a Boat Cruise around Winter Park, which is only about a 15 min drive west of our house. I had no idea it was there until my clients told me about it. It is several lakes, with canals running between them. It reminded Mike and I of Paradise Valley on the water. Check out Dad2's blog for his take on this trip! I wonder what this beautiful house cost? 2 million and up I imagine. Here is one of the canals going under the street. Here they are at Jungle Adventures! Caleb was brave this time and touched the snake and alligator, but not Zachary! Go figure. Christina's school did so well on their FCAT's that they became, not just an 'A' school, but an 'A+' school. So they had a big celebration, that was fun to attend. We had the Ducks visit us again. They know we normally throw them our stale tortilla chips, or old food from the fridge. This day, we threw them carrots, celery, and potatoes. They did NOT like the veggies, and started booking it out of there. So I found some old tortilla chips from the Halloween Party, and they were much happier. What picky things! In the middle of all this, Zachary lost his 2nd tooth! The tooth fairy left him money and fairy dust on his bed and floor. The next day, him and Avery gathered up as much of the glitter as they could, sprinkled themselves with it, and tried to fly. Gramma and Grumpa got to visit Zacharys school several times for lunch, after picking up Caleb. Nice face Zachary! One evening, when Mike and his parents were down south, I was in the family room and saw movement on the patio. EWWWW!! It is HUGE! Normally, I like to keep our screen door closed, but sometimes NASCAT is still out, so we have it slightly open for him. Caleb loves to wear his hats. This is one from Mama Ginny and Papa Bill. He loves to play dress up. Here he is pretending to be a Police Officer. The night stick is his popsicle. This was our last dinner together. Christina babysat while Mike and I took them to one of our favorite restaurants on the Indian River. Which is on the west side of the 'spit' of the Atlantic Ocean. Good food, great company, beautiful view. Yep. This is why we live here. Although Mikes parents left before the Space Shuttle launch, I thought I'd add this picture in here. We stepped outside just before countdown, and saw a most beautiful sight. Right when the rockets started up, the sky turned bright orange, then the shuttle lifted off. We had such a great view, right in our yard. We could see the shuttle until it disappeared behind trees about 3 minutes later. What an awesome spectacular sight. Everyone in the cul-de-sac came out to enjoy it. 9 more launches to go, before its possible retirement, but this may be the last Night time liftoff. (I don't know why.) There are lots of pictures, but you should defintely read BrownsBlather to get a more detailed account of their vacation here.