tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45198481930274940982023-11-16T05:58:09.169-05:00Show Us The WorldWe decided that instead of waiting until someday, we would live our dream now. Our journey began with our two teens and pets and we made our way across our country, seeing sights and making new friends. Since then, the teens have grown up and are making their own paths in seeing the world and we are still seeing our country and making new friends.Show Us The Worldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06444255663345917343noreply@blogger.comBlogger1010125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519848193027494098.post-48695074316658219902014-03-09T21:59:00.001-04:002014-03-09T21:59:58.378-04:00We Did It. We Bought a HouseYou can read about it and our first week here: <a href="http://gypsytailsandtrails.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Our Newest Blog</a>Show Us The Worldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06444255663345917343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519848193027494098.post-74494454395119955742014-03-02T12:36:00.004-05:002014-03-02T12:39:20.421-05:00Tomorrow's the Big Day!Tomorrow we sign the papers and do the official closing on the house we are buying. It has been a really odd journey back into the home without wheels world so far, so I hope that it is a bit more quiet once we move into the house. We haven't even shared it with that many people personally and we laughed about that fact the other day when I wrote something on Facebook and our friend Dee saw it and asked about it.<br />
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The conversation between Nathan and I afterwards went like this.<br />
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Me: I accidentally outed us on Facebook. (then went on to explain)<br />
Nathan: <sigh> (sigh) I can't believe you did that. I can't believe everyone knows. </sigh><br />
Me: I know. But we are moving Monday. So I'm pretty sure everyone would have figured out something was up then anyway.<br />
Nathan: I guess. (sigh)<sigh> It's just....I don't know...It's just so embarrassing! </sigh><br />
Me: I know. We gotta face up to it sometime though.<br />
Me: <nods head=""> I suppose so. (huge sigh)</nods><br />
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I am guessing our full time friends will get this completely. And the rest of you can consider this further confirmation of just how odd we truly are.<br />
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Living the life in limbo land!Show Us The Worldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06444255663345917343noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519848193027494098.post-82535064445277922222014-01-23T13:46:00.004-05:002014-01-23T13:46:52.268-05:00Visit to Lake Placid<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Last night we drove over to Lake Placid to meet Rich and Donna for dinner. I have missed Donna so much since they moved into their house. I got used to seeing her so much this summer and enjoying her company, that it seems hard to believe it has been months since we have really spent time together. <br />
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After arriving at their house and seeing a few of the new changes/additions to it, we drove over to a Mexican restaurant near their house. Here are Donna's pictures of the place:<br />
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We loved catching up with them! Donna and I mostly talked about house stuff, which is still very strange to me. I guess very soon it will seem very normal again, but we are still transitioning. I am glad she is at the point she can answer a bunch of questions for me and did. Thank you, Donna!<br />
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The food was fabulous! I wish we had a place this good near where we were moving to! <br />
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The time we had together was wonderful and it flew by. We are making plans to hopefully get together when Lake Placid has their next Farmer's Market. Hopefully it warms up by then!Show Us The Worldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06444255663345917343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519848193027494098.post-53557874569447098112014-01-01T02:31:00.002-05:002014-01-25T14:46:33.023-05:00Happy New Year<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We rang in the New Year in a very quiet manner this year because we have both been fighting some bug. So we stayed home and watched movies, and listened to the fireworks and cheering outside our window.<br />
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We also took the time to discuss what we though the New Year might bring for us and what our goals for this coming year were. We had planned to "hit the road" again this spring. Something we've waited two very, very long years for. It seems that might not happen in exactly the same way we thought it might though.<br />
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Because during those two long years of primarily being in one spot, something happened that has changed our lives in a pretty big way. I fell in love. It was not something anyone could have expected, and yet it isn't hard to believe that it did. After all, the guy I fell for is handsome, rugged and really smart and fun. Who could resist that combination?<br />
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The truth is, I fell not only for him, but for a bunch more spectacular creatures at the sanctuary I enjoy spending time at. The more I spent time there, the more all of them became a part of me and this love has changed me. I was in denial over how much so until we went away to The Villages this past summer. I discovered that while I loved our time there, I missed the horses so much so that I seemed to only be able to go a few weeks away from them without seriously missing them.<br />
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This led to some talks about what to do about that, and long story short: we are now considering buying a house so I can foster some of the horses. The long talks between Nathan and I were not so much whether to do that or not. It was kind of a no-brainer to do it given my love for it. The part we needed to figure out was how to blend that with being full timers. Because we are full timers, no matter what else happens in our lives. Just like we are parents, no matter what happens else happens in our lives. We haven't just been traveling as in it was one thing on a long list of things we have done, but we are gypsies at heart as in that's who we are. <br />
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I have found in sharing this past week, that there are those that get that and those that don't. So I share and if they get it, we talk about it because they understand the fears and sadness that go along with the huge sacrifice of surrendering some parts of the full timing lifestyle that we have enjoyed for years now. If I share and they don't, I quickly just move onto parts that they hopefully can relate to. I understand that unless you have lived it, there isn't any real way to "get it".<br />
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So why write all of this out here then, if I know that many who read it really won't "get all of it"? Because it is a part of our show us the world journey, even if the way we are doing it might be altered due to new things in our life. <br />
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So as strange as it will seem to most, this is not us settling down or a entering a new chapter in our lives. It is us adding to the life we have and enjoy and figuring out how to add more to it without taking away from the parts that are most important to us. And it has been no small task to figure out how exactly that will work in real ways.<br />
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We have thought long and hard about how to blend all of the parts that are "us" together in a way that is truly do-able. We hope to find a place that is a mix of as little of a house obligation as possible and as much horse friendly land as possible, along with the ever important kind to our budget so we can still move about and see the world that way some too. We'll see how we do with that rather tall order.<br />
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I'm fortunate that unlike most horse people, I have a place for the horses when we do want to physically move about. I'm grateful that being in one spot much of the time will give me time with my children who will all be within driving distance except the one in Michigan that we are working on to get back down to Florida. And I'm really thankful that everyone we have shared this with, is happy for us that we are moving towards something that brings us joy. It's a great thing to celebrate on this New Year's Day! <br />
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<span id="goog_1068910220"></span><span id="goog_1068910221"></span> Show Us The Worldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06444255663345917343noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519848193027494098.post-89552274561908700492013-12-16T11:06:00.000-05:002014-01-26T11:07:43.722-05:00Day 3 of Liberty Cruise~Cozumel<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We were up bright and early again for our first port day. This is a port that we were docked right at the port, so you just get off the boat and walk to your destination. <br />
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We visited Cozumel on our last cruise and enjoyed touring the island with a guide. This time we thought we would go explore on our own. We walked to the place where you can get a taxi ride to anywhere on the island and headed over to <a href="http://www.cozumelparks.com/eng/chankanaab.cfm" target="_blank">Chankanaab National Park</a>. The ride over was maybe ten to fifteen minutes or so, and it was a pleasant drive. We were one of the first people to arrive at Chankanaab so we felt like we had the place to ourselves. <br />
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It was somewhat cold and windy so we were not sure it was quite beach weather. Luckily there was lots of other things to pick from along with the beach. We headed to the ruins first.<br />
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After the ruins, we walked over to see the beach area. It was still pretty cloudy and windy, but we figured we could sit and read books and still enjoy the view. We stopped for a few minutes to see the trainers working with the dolphins. We settled onto the beach and ordered chips and salsa to munch on.<br />
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After hanging out here for some time and being asked multiple times if we wanted a massage, we finally said yes and I'm so glad we did. It was a wonderful massage and it was a great price. We decided to wander around the park after the massage and see what else there was. There was a lagoon, alligators, a Tequila tour, gift shop and everywhere we went, it was beautiful.<br />
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We heard a Sea Lion show in progress, so we joined that even though we missed much of it. Afterwards, they let you come up and get a picture taken with the sea lion kissing you.<br />
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We headed back over to the dolphin swim area after the show and sat for about an hour watching people swim with the dolphins and the trainers do tricks with them. It seemed well organized and it also looked like it was done with smaller groups of people which is probably nice. We just enjoyed watching the dolphins, especially the ones that weren't "working".<br />
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I could have sat there all day long, just watching them swim and jump but we were getting hungry and the weather still was not fabulous so we decided to head back. It was late afternoon by then, so we knew we had just enough time to board the ship and get ready to be first in line for dinner. We took another taxi back to the ship and spent a few minutes looking around at the market near the dock.<br />
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It looked like a lot of other people decided it was time to head back when we did. As you can see, it is still very overcast and windy but the temperatures were very nice so we still enjoyed our day here.<br />
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Back on the ship we rested for a few minutes and then started getting ready for dinner. We still had a full night of activities ahead of us so the day was nowhere near done yet. I only grabbed a few pictures while we were at dinner and they were dancing and singing for us. <br />
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We had a great day and were exhausted when we fell into bed. This was only the first port day, with three more to come. Tomorrow is Belize!<br />
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<br />Show Us The Worldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06444255663345917343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519848193027494098.post-87063299828214544252013-12-15T15:13:00.000-05:002014-01-25T15:14:18.663-05:00Day Two of Liberty Cruise~Day at Sea<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Day two of the cruise was a sea day. We decided the day before to spend this day on the Serenity Deck, which is our version of a spa day. We love this space more than words can describe. We noticed that the little wicker pods that we wanted to sit in only had one that had a cover though. So Nathan got up at 6 am to snag that one and only pod and I joined him a few hours later.<br />
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We sat and relaxed and read all day long. Yes, all day long. We only got up to use to eat or use the bathroom. It was awesome! I could see and hear all that was going on down at the Lido deck while relaxing on our deck. Perfect! Only one shot of the food today because I got so relaxed here, I didn't even take many pictures.<br />
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<br />Show Us The Worldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06444255663345917343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519848193027494098.post-22987131234269877452013-12-14T12:37:00.000-05:002014-01-25T14:22:47.784-05:00Day One of Carnival Liberty Seven Day Cruise<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We have been so busy with other things, we haven't really spent much time focusing on our upcoming cruise that we booked months ago. Nathan booked it for us thinking that after the wedding and due to my dad's death landing on the holidays, that I could probably use it. He was so right with that! Still, I did very little planning for this cruise compared to the others so I was a little concerned that it might not go as well as the others have. I am happy to report that I had no reason to be concerned because the cruise was fabulous. <br />
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We headed down to Miami the night before and had family time. We exchanged Christmas gifts, played games and then we spent the night at Amibr's gorgeous new apartment. Here is a shot of Daniel and my mom chatting. I wish I had thought to take more pictures that night, and of the apartment but I didn't think of until bedtime.<br />
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The next morning, we were up bright and early. Ambir took us to the port, which was wonderful! It saved a lot of time and hassle and we joked that would be our new means of port transportation from here on out if we could pick. We checked in and sat down in the waiting area. We had Faster To The Fun, so we only waited about fifteen minutes before we were on the ship. We loved having FTTF! Best money we spent for the cruise and we will always try to do this in the future. Not only did we get to board early, we were able to go to our room right away. So we headed there first thing. We loved our room this time. It was huge compared to our two other cruises and it was very bright and cheery inside.<br />
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Now off to explore the Liberty. This is the biggest ship we have cruised on so far and she is a beauty!<br />
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We were quickly distracted by the food. This ship has The Blue Iguana and Guy's Burgers. I read online that both could be busy once we were sailing, so we took advantage of an almost empty ship and tried both right away. I tried the Mexican food and Nathan tried the burger. We both thought they were very good!!<br />
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After our meal, we went to find our favorite place on the ship, the Serenity Deck. We found it pretty quickly because it was right by the food. It was also located right above/next to the Lido deck, so I'm not sure how much serenity there will be due to the noise down below, but we decided to plant ourselves there for the Sailaway Party to find out.<br />
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We stayed here through the party, and nope, not much serenity going on but it was still a kid free zone and had gorgeous views so we were happy. We loved being close enough to the action for the party that we could hear/see it but not have to be in the congested area. So it was a win-win for us. Just a bit of the Sailaway Party fun:<br />
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After the party, we decided to head back to our rooms and get ready for dinner. We had Anytime Dining, which we also love. We have done that all three cruises and hope to continue to do it. After getting a bit dressed up, we went up one short deck to our dining room and were seated immediately. Dinner was great, the food was very good and we enjoyed the whole meal.<br />
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After dinner we walked around the ship some more. I loved that there were Christmas decorations up on the ship. It was so festive. It was like getting a Christmas cruise without having to put up with the crowd that would be there for an actual Christmas cruise. We heard Christmas carols being sung, and went to enjoy that and while there we had an extra surprise: snow! Yes, they had snow coming down from the ceiling which added to the holiday spirit.<br />
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When we were done with the singing and exploring, we headed back to our room to chill for the rest of the night. We knew we wanted to be up very early so we planned to go to bed early. Our towel animal and bedtime mints were waiting for us.<br />
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We can tell already that there will be a lot of goodness packed into this cruise. We can't wait to have tons of fun for the next six days!<br />
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<br />Show Us The Worldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06444255663345917343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519848193027494098.post-82441931301870559752013-11-18T13:27:00.000-05:002014-01-06T13:28:29.332-05:00Aric Visits Sixteen Hands With Me<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Aric took his day off to spend the day at Sixteen Hands with me. He even drove us down there. I love this season of life, where my kids are old enough to do things like that for me. Although the one day he did warn Nathan and I if we didn't stop fighting he would turn the car around and go back home. <br />
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He seems to have a natural touch with the horses, so I love it when he comes with me and visits them. It was great to see the horses too. I am so used to being here, when I can't be here I miss the horses something awful. I like to think that maybe they miss me a bit too.<br />
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But then again, maybe not!<br />
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<br />Show Us The Worldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06444255663345917343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519848193027494098.post-8012820013350011032013-11-12T13:03:00.000-05:002014-01-06T13:03:54.576-05:00More Family Time<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Not only did I get time with my side of the family, but Nathan's side was visiting Florida too. We managed to meet up with our old travel buddies although they stayed at the Disney Campground. I drove over to spend a few days with them and had so much fun hanging out with them. Diana is learning how to do digital scrapbooking so we really had a blast doing that.<br />
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<br />Show Us The Worldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06444255663345917343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519848193027494098.post-38888746605949202612013-11-10T12:57:00.000-05:002014-01-06T12:58:10.722-05:00Happy Birthday Aunt Shirley<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I love it when we visit Clermont, because not only is Aric there, but my Aunt, Uncle and cousins live there too. We managed to hit the right timing to catch my Aunt Shirley's birthday this trip.<br />
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The guys made a wonderful meal and we enjoyed chatting and watching the game. Then we watched my Aunt Shirley open her gifts.<br />
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It was a great day!<br />
<br />Show Us The Worldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06444255663345917343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519848193027494098.post-34038156355462466672013-11-09T21:45:00.000-05:002013-11-09T21:45:32.808-05:00Our First Happy Hour of the Season<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Jack and Diane let us know when we arrived last night that there was a Happy Hour today. We were thrilled that we got here in time for it, and this made it our first one of the this season. Diane is known as the Happy Hour Queen and with good reason. Nobody throws a better party than Diane!<br />
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There was great food and great company to chat with while eating. I got to see the inside of their beautiful rig and to admire their newest four legged family members. Rene brought his cornhole game and we either played or watched others play. <br />
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I planned to bring tortilla chips and spinach dip but saw a flavor of ice cream that my cousin recommended on Facebook, so we brought that instead. It was very yummy! We had a fun night and look forward to many more this season.<br />
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<br />Show Us The Worldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06444255663345917343noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519848193027494098.post-18617806129280360352013-11-08T20:50:00.000-05:002013-11-09T20:52:45.987-05:00On the Road Again!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We have been sitting in Wauchula for what seems like a very long time now. Nathan will tell you it's been way too long now. We are tentatively planning to travel again this spring so we decided that a few trial runs this winter might be a good idea. So we decided to make a trip up to TT Orlando because our former travel buddies are going to be in town. We were afraid we might forget how to do this traveling with an RV thing, but I'm happy to say we did just fine. We might need to unload a bunch of outdoor things if we do head out this spring though.<br />
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The funniest part was Ava's reaction. We pulled in the slides and then she and I had to go back inside while Nathan ran out for something. She went inside and went to get up on the couch and body slammed into it instead. Here was her reaction after she finally found her way up:<br />
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She is so easy going, that ten seconds later she was like this:<br />
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We got to the park after dark, and got settled into our spot pretty easily. We saw Jack walking the dogs, including their new puppies, while still parking and they are right across from us. Diane came by a few minutes later. Aric let me know that Rene and Mira and Bob and Vicki are right here by us also. So we are moved, settled in and by pickleball friends. Life is good!Show Us The Worldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06444255663345917343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519848193027494098.post-5479239660929145602013-09-28T14:34:00.000-04:002014-01-13T14:53:34.666-05:00Gypsy Gold Horse Tour<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Some time ago, Nathan and I were watching a movie with a horse in it. He was quite taken with the horse and wanted to know the breed. Yes, I said HE was quite taken with it. I thought it was sweet looking but wasn't as enamored as he was. He looked it up online and then shared about the Gypsy Vanner with me. I still wasn't that taken with the breed. Then I went to the Parelli show in VA and one of the ladies who was demonstrating had a Gypsy Vanner. Once I spent about two mintues with her horse, I fell head over heels in love. Since then, we have decided that we'd both love to own a Gypsy Vanner someday.<br />
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I didn't really know much about the horses beyond that though. I bought a Groupon to take a tour at a Gypsy Vanner horse farm when we first came to The Villages. We kept saying we were going to go and ended up doing other things instead. So we didn't actually end up doing the tour until the day before we headed out. It was well worth making sure we did do it while up this way!<br />
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We learned so many interesting things about the people who owned this beautiful horse farm, and the story on how the Gypsy Vanner horse made its way to our country. You can read about it at their website here: <a href="http://www.gypsygold.com/index2.html" target="_blank">Gypsy Gold</a>. If you get a chance to go and visit, we highly recommend it.<br />
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<br />Show Us The Worldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06444255663345917343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519848193027494098.post-19433772370484301942013-09-15T20:36:00.001-04:002013-09-15T20:43:23.666-04:00Silver Springs Nature Theme Park<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Today we visited <a href="http://www.silversprings.com/heritage.html" target="_blank">Silver Springs</a>. This is one place we planned to visit since we arrived in this area. We were going to buy a season pass, along with Rich and Donna, and at the last minute Donna saw something on their website. They were in the process of changing ownership, and along with that they were reducing their attractions down to their glass boat rides. So we decided not to buy the season pass and just to make a trip here sometime. We were going to visit yesterday and went to Ocala NF instead. We did make it today, which was the final day at the park before it did change hands.<br />
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The employees that were working today were understandably emotional over it being the last day. One employee told us that over 300 people lost their job due to its closing. I wish we had visited this interesting place while it was in full operation, because it looked like a great place. There appeared to be animals, a water park, shows and some rides. As the website said, there is not much there at this point except the glass boat rides. The trip was worth it even with that being the only attraction. The really neat part about a glass boat is that everyone can have a front row seat.<br />
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The other neat thing is you can see just how clear the water is and just how deep the water is. It makes for a really beautiful ride.<br />
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The springs pump out 550 million gallons of water a day. It is enough to support New York City. <br />
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We saw two alligators while on the boat ride, and lots of turtles.<br />
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After our boat ride, we ate lunch there and then walked around to see the rest of the park. The rest of the park was beautiful also. <br />
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I'm so glad we did make it before it became a state park. It was nice to feel like we were a part of its history. I'm excited to see what they will do with it once it becomes a state park.<br />
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<br />Show Us The Worldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06444255663345917343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519848193027494098.post-90810347235310443392013-09-11T20:57:00.000-04:002013-09-13T13:44:24.928-04:00Dinner With Friends at Oakwood Smokehouse<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This past week has been quieter than normal as far as doing activities here in The Villages. Rich and Donna have been house hunting and are now the owners of a <a href="http://floridapicklers.blogspot.com/2013/09/soon-to-be-our-new-home.html" target="_blank">beautiful house</a> in Lake Placid! That means I have had more quiet time at home. I have been able to do tons of scrapbooking, so I have been quite content.<br />
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We have managed to get out and play pickleball, deciding after a day at Mulberry to return to Churchill. They are very friendly at Mulberry, but nothing beats the fun level at Churchill. <br />
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We also managed to fit in another dinner with Buddy and Diane who are still in the area. This time we chose Oakwood and took advantage of their rib special. They offer a full rack of ribs, two side dishes and garlic bread for $10.99. All of us did not have the ribs, but we all agreed the food was delicious.<br />
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We are winding down here for our time in The Villages. We are enjoying every minute we can in the next few weeks, being sure to not waste any time before we do have to leave! We have not had rain every single night for this past week also, so knocking on wood that it stays that way until we leave. When it doesn't rain, we can sneak in pickleball at night and play twice a day!</div>
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Living the life in wonderful Florida!</div>
Show Us The Worldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06444255663345917343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519848193027494098.post-88914920399453870212013-09-10T13:30:00.000-04:002013-09-12T13:31:26.377-04:00Don Garlits Classic Car Museum<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I am late in sharing these pictures from our Labor Day trip, but better late than never! This is the second part to the Don Garlits museums. There are two separate museums, the first being the drag racing and this is the second one: the Classic Car Museum. Both were fabulous. A fellow classic car lover told me that he'd been there five years ago and that the collection had really grown since then. <br />
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I was very impressed with what was there. I could have spent much longer in this museum than we did! <br />
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I was amused at some point to overhear a couple discussing a particular car. The guy was sharing what kind of a car it was. The lady said she knew, her dad had one. He asked her if she really knew about it? She told him again that her dad had one. He nodded and dropped it. I'm guessing he might have thought that meant she did know about it in the way a guy would want to know about it. I would suspect it is more likely that she was simply saying she knew as much as she ever wanted to and more just by having a dad that owned one. Which means she probably hardly knew a thing about it in guy world. <br />
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We demonstrated this same man/woman dynamic with me trying to take hundreds of pictures of the pretty cars while Nathan gave me in depth lessons on engines and exhaust systems. I can now tell you which kind of engine our truck has and how exactly it operates. That will come in handy because the last time some guy asked me about it I told him the only thing I knew about the engine of our truck was that it was really big and loud. He couldn't tell if I was an idiot or joking so he politely just walked away. I hope I run into him again so I can let him know that a trip to the car museum fixed all of that! <br />
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Living the life in interesting Florida!Show Us The Worldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06444255663345917343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519848193027494098.post-86107726759728563012013-09-04T20:31:00.002-04:002013-09-04T20:31:16.672-04:00Dinner's at Cody's Original Roadhouse<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Tonight we got together to take advantage of Fajita night at Cody's Original Roadhouse. We planned to go last week with Tim and Marlene and cancelled when we learned there was a big event there. It worked out well for us because this week Buddy and Diane were back in our area, so they got to come join us!<br />
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The food was just as good as last time and we enjoyed the company too! We don't have a whole lot more weeks to do dinner here so we are enjoying the last few times we have.Show Us The Worldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06444255663345917343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519848193027494098.post-18424009130249823982013-09-03T23:34:00.000-04:002013-09-04T14:34:34.832-04:00Silver River State Park<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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After eating our lunch, Donna and I decided we had plenty of time to do something else before heading home. We tossed around a few ideas and then decided to go to Silver Springs. I have never visited there before and am very much wanting to see it. We drove over there, only to see they were closed! After August 18th they are only open on weekends and holidays. We passed <a href="http://www.floridastateparks.org/silverriver/" target="_blank">Silver River State Park</a> and decided to try that instead. I asked the girl at the front gate what was at the park and after her giving us the run down we went inside the park. We parked and saw the Cracker Pioneer Village and Silver River Museum, which are only open on weekends and holidays.<br />
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We looked at our map, then saw a sign for Sinkhole Trail and decided the sinkhole sounded interesting. We started down the sandy hiking trail, with flip flops, and decided very shortly after that it was hot and we didn't have the best hiking gear on. I also saw on the map that this path was 70 minutes long and we still wanted to do the trail to the river, so we turned around and backtracked at that point. We then took the River Trail so we could see the Silver River. We arrived at the river and I saw an alligator right near the boat ramp.<br />
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You can barely see him, but he is to the left of the wooden post. We hung out here a bit, catching our breath and giving my aching calves a rest and listened to all the sounds of nature around us. Then we headed back.<br />
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Just as we began to head back, it started to rain. That should have been no surprise to us because we had noted that it felt like it was going to rain, saw clouds and heard thunder. We must have thought we could beat it still, but we did not at all. Since we were so hot and sweaty, the rain felt nice. We were worried about our cameras but once we situated them in dryer spots we laughed the whole walk back to the car. I am borrowing Donna's picture to show you what we looked like when we were done with the trail.<br />
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This was not the adventure we were expecting, but then again, they rarely are! It was a great day. Hopefully we will manage to get a few more day trips in again before we head back to Peace River!Show Us The Worldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06444255663345917343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519848193027494098.post-88426859972443454642013-09-03T22:34:00.000-04:002013-09-04T12:36:09.618-04:00Sholom Park in Ocala Florida<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9sQqs6qqyWjImQBzRnA1R3YOJAZTjAkFm0ygCD3aWABgjdnguZGZkk9P-Rc91YiGR0GjJqh1rYfY7w9aL-Zu-DxTCLvoWptcZGxcsGdEiho9k5yBeCvKtkYQr_0fPOCt9uyb_3RlU6ee5/s1600/SP1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9sQqs6qqyWjImQBzRnA1R3YOJAZTjAkFm0ygCD3aWABgjdnguZGZkk9P-Rc91YiGR0GjJqh1rYfY7w9aL-Zu-DxTCLvoWptcZGxcsGdEiho9k5yBeCvKtkYQr_0fPOCt9uyb_3RlU6ee5/s400/SP1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Today was the girls turn to do a day trip, so Donna and I headed out to find some fun things in the area to see. We were going to a botanical garden in Gainesville, until I realized last minute that it was the one that Nathan and I had already visited. So we scrambled a bit to figure out what else we could do. We ended up visiting a place listed on a website for botanical gardens in Florida, a place in Ocala named <a href="http://sholompark.com/index.php" target="_blank">Sholom Park</a>.<br />
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The park was built to capture a place of peace and was named Sholom to honor Sidney Colen's grandfather's name. The place was in fact very peaceful. It had many paths to walk along and everywhere we went it was peaceful.<br />
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It is the kind of place that if I lived nearby, I'd go there often to just walk to get a little bit of exercise and the chance to unwind. After visiting the park, we headed over to Chick-fil-a where Donna ate her first ever meal there. I didn't have my camera inside with me so I did not get a picture of her eating her first chicken sandwich there. We then headed out to see what else we could find to do. More on that in the next blog post!Show Us The Worldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06444255663345917343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519848193027494098.post-15682806238705279402013-09-02T22:14:00.000-04:002013-09-04T10:15:58.191-04:00Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Since it was an extra long weekend, we both were able to pick a thing to go and see/do and then we picked one together. My pick was the Drag Racing Museum that was nearby. I have been excited about this museum since we got here. I love all things to do with cool cars of any type. Nathan is a little less enthusiastic about them. When it comes to them being in a museum, it works out perfectly though because it is the only kinds of museums that I want to spend as long in the museum as Nathan does.<br />
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While he reads every single written word in the museum, I look at every single thing on the car that I think is cool. Then I take pictures of every single thing I think is cool. Which means I end up with way more pictures than is reasonable. Then I go home and look at them...over and over again. I really love cool cars.<br />
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This particular museum was founded by Big Daddy Don Garlits. His <a href="http://www.garlits.com/bigdaddy.htm" target="_blank">bio</a> is extremely impressive. His cars were extremely impressive. The museum was extremely impressive. We had a great time visiting this place!<br />
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There is not a lot of information about the museum online, so I did not know just how much would be here. I was hoping there would be enough that we would feel it was worth the time and money. It went way beyond that, having far more there than we expected and it was laid out very nicely making it very easy to learn a lot along the way. Alongside of the displays were posters, signage and even movie clips.</div>
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There was information about the drivers, some of which were women. There were stories about the times when the reality of how dangerous this is reared its ugly head. At one point Garlits had an injury that sliced through his foot, tearing his foot in half. One of the outcomes of that injury was some engineering design changes such as moving the engine behind the driver instead of in front of the driver. There were pieces and parts of the cars that had been in accidents.</div>
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And of course there were rows and rows of the awesome cars! We highly recommend this neat museum if you are in the Ocala area. There are two museums on site, I will come back and share about the other one after I get the pictures cropped and edited. That might take days because I took even more pictures at the other museum! Living the life in interesting Florida!</div>
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<br />Show Us The Worldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06444255663345917343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519848193027494098.post-44183296483111884522013-09-02T20:42:00.000-04:002013-09-03T20:50:37.087-04:00Juniper Springs Recreation Area<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD0HdtMZgmzrqu5BKeQGkNYc-K0fdBgMf2Jha2LqqCZ6o7Pj1zqF_0dIYl0GNGjET5Xbn7XJQkc9FBPUVwEABqTVPnbNoWCkI99-mrpqWeT-0U5aW4cR46kMMGZiEOBfZUfHgc_i5PJkKA/s1600/AJS1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD0HdtMZgmzrqu5BKeQGkNYc-K0fdBgMf2Jha2LqqCZ6o7Pj1zqF_0dIYl0GNGjET5Xbn7XJQkc9FBPUVwEABqTVPnbNoWCkI99-mrpqWeT-0U5aW4cR46kMMGZiEOBfZUfHgc_i5PJkKA/s400/AJS1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Taking advantage of the extra weekend day due to the holiday, we went out to see more in the area surrounding The Villages. This trip took us to Ocala National Forest, where we stopped at <a href="http://www.juniper-springs.com/" target="_blank">Juniper Springs Recreation Area</a>. Like Rainbow Springs, it was just beautiful!<br />
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This springs is in a subtropical setting and is one of the oldest and best known recreation areas on the East coast. There are hundreds of tiny bubbling springs here. This is the swimming complex and picnic area and you can see the Millhouse in some of these shots also.<br />
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The millhouse was a neat feature of this park. It was built by the CCC workers. <br />
From their website:<br />
Juniper Springs was an ideal place for a public recreation area, but
there was one problem. The site was located miles from the nearest
source of electricity and the cost of running lines out through the
national forest to the new park was prohibitive. The millions of gallons
of water that rush from the springs each day, however, soon sparked an
idea for a solution.
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As work went forward on the recreation area in 1935-1936, the CCC came
up with a plan to generate electricity while enhancing the scenic beauty
of the springs.
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They built the structure known today as the millhouse or old mill at the
foot of the main pool of Juniper Springs. Water flowing from the springs
was channeled into a narrow sluice and then allowed to pour back out to
its natural configuration.
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The rushing water that poured through the sluice turned an undershot
waterwheel (so named because the water ran under instead of over the
wheel). That wheel, in turn, powered a generator in the millhouse that
produced more than enough electricity to meet the needs of the
recreation area.
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The concept worked like a charm. Not only did the millhouse create
electricity, but the log and stone design of the structure added a
beautiful touch to the setting of the springs. It because a much loved
part of the site.
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As interpretive panels at the old mill explain, the power plant was a
good example of a 1930s “green energy” project. It generated electricity
without destroying the scenic beauty of the springs and without
producing pollution of any kind.
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The Juniper Springs Millhouse no longer generates electricity, but the
structure has been beautifully preserved. The stone wall at the
waterwheel end is a beautiful piece of CCC masonry work.<br />
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After visiting the millhouse, we took one of the hiking trails to another spring where we saw a gator. One of the rangers told me that someone asked him earlier if they feed the alligators. The other ranger joked, "Yeah, we feed 'em tourists!" It cracked me up.</div>
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We really enjoyed our visit at this beautiful place. Next time we need to bring our swimsuits and enjoy this:</div>
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Show Us The Worldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06444255663345917343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519848193027494098.post-22764131540024830972013-08-31T23:27:00.000-04:002013-09-01T09:28:38.901-04:00Rainbow Springs State Park<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Today we finally got out for a day trip. Once you are in The Villages, it is easy to forget there is a whole other world out there because you have everything you need right here. There is so much in this area that is unique and beautiful so I'm glad we remembered it for today at least. Rich and Donna graciously babysat Ava, so after dropping her off we headed to Dunnellon to visit <a href="http://www.floridastateparks.org/rainbowsprings/" target="_blank">Rainbow Springs State Park</a>.<br />
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The first thing we noticed was the fact that the place was packed. The second was the reality that almost every person except us was wearing a swimming suit, which meant the springs were a great place to swim. Neither of those things especially surprised us. What did surprise us was how gorgeous the place was. We love most Florida parks, but this one was especially pretty in terms of the water. The water was crystal clear and fairly warm temperature wise. And it was breathtakingly beautiful.<br />
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Rainbow Springs is the fourth largest spring in Florida. The springs and park used to be a privately owned attraction. Based on how popular it seemed to be today, I am guessing it did well for many years. Before the magical mouse took up residence in Florida, I am guessing places like this did very well. It was nice to see families enjoying it and soaking up the fun still today. I am happy to say, we did not see one child using an electronic device the entire time we were here which says a lot for the place!<br />
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Since we did not bring our swimsuits, we headed off to see what the nature trails were like. We were very pleased with what we found there also.<br />
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Even with it being very hot and humid, we really enjoyed our nature walk. It was very relaxing and peaceful. There used to be a little zoo here but that is no longer in operation. There was a nice butterfly garden that was full of beautiful butterflies. We watched two that seemed to be doing synchronized flying together. And beyond a group of kids throwing rocks down at the waterfall we were looking at and almost hitting us, the crowds were not overwhelming in the least. We gave this place two thumbs up for sure.<br />
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So glad we did venture out today and see one of Florida's natural gifts. Living the life in HOT and HUMID Florida!<br />
<br />Show Us The Worldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06444255663345917343noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519848193027494098.post-85182196986761337352013-08-22T13:54:00.003-04:002013-08-22T13:56:43.037-04:00Laurel Manor Recreation Center<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This morning Donna and I went to line dancing at Laurel Manor Rec Center. I don't think I've taken pictures there yet, so I grabbed some shots while there. As always, the building is beautiful and so warm and inviting.<br />
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I really enjoy line dancing here. The instructor is wonderful and each week I am learning more and more. <br />
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Living the life in the lovely Villages!Show Us The Worldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06444255663345917343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519848193027494098.post-8372771259139684882013-08-18T17:44:00.001-04:002013-08-18T17:47:17.216-04:00Nick and Tonyia Visit The Villages<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Nick and Tonyia came to visit Rich and Donna this weekend. We made plans to get together at our place Friday night, but ended up moving it to Saturday. Ava had fun catching up with Rich and Donna and Nick and Tonyia. Donna brought a mix, and Nathan got to work making us some yummy frozen drinks.<br />
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We visited on the lanai for a bit, until it started to rain. Nathan also made us some very yummy fajitas. Donna brought two different kinds of chips and salsa to add to the dinner. We had plenty to eat and it was nice to have a table that we all fit around.<br />
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After dinner, we got out the Phase 10 game and played that until quite late. Only half of us had played before so we played a practice hand to teach the others and then we were off and running. We were neck and neck at the end with Nick being the final winner.<br />
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This morning we met at Golden Coral and then Nick and Tonyia had to head back out. It was a great weekend that went by much too fast!<br />
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<br />Show Us The Worldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06444255663345917343noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519848193027494098.post-26359777297045624982013-08-14T20:09:00.001-04:002013-08-14T20:09:14.750-04:00Pickleball at Mulberry and Bunco at Sea Breeze<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Donna has been driving up to our "end" of The Villages in the morning, so she and I can play pickleball at Mulberry. I'm thrilled at this because it means an extra hour of sleep for me. The more we play there, the more I'm getting to know people and really enjoying playing with them. I haven't snapped any pictures there yet, but maybe in the next day or two.<br />
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After pickleball, we headed out to Bunco yesterday. We went down to Sea Breeze and it was a very large group. Donna and I both won drawings and Donna won the lucky combo. I like the group there. They are a fun group to play with.<br />
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We both grabbed some pictures of Sea Breeze while there. I love this rec center. It is one of my favorites by far.<br />
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Since I was using the camera on my phone, my pictures are not good at all. I have to remember to bring my big camera some time.<br />
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You can still get the feel of how pretty and relaxing this place is. I see Donna posted a link to a video where you can take a better look, so I'm going to do the same: <a href="http://tours.justsnooping.com/2602739/?b=false" target="_blank">Sea Breeze</a></div>
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After I got back home and we ate dinner, Nathan and I headed back down to the pickleball courts to play with just the two of us. I really missed Donna and the other ladies there, that's for sure! We are much kinder and more encouraging to each other than the guys who take the game very seriously. The weather was perfect while we were there! It is the nicest the weather has been since we have arrived in The Villages. We are still loving our time here. In fact, we are feeling quite torn between traveling next year and coming back to The Villages and staying longer next year. I guess we'll just have to see which one grabs us the most! Living the life in beautiful Florida!</div>
<br />Show Us The Worldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06444255663345917343noreply@blogger.com0