Cozumel Cruise~Day at Cozumel

Our day trip to Cozumel was a blast!  We were able to join Rich and Dee and Dean and Margie and some of Dee's family for an island tour with tour guide.  It was really neat to see the island this way!

The island was as pretty as I thought it would be.  The people were incredibly friendly.  The water was that same clear water that we experienced on our last cruise.

We stopped at a little village, where there were tons of goodies to buy. 

We made friends with some of the local critters.

Rich and Dean visited jail, we soaked up some of the beauty and we enjoyed the air conditioned van.

We enjoyed "real" Mexican food and ended the day with a tour of a Tequila factory. 

It was a great day full of wonderful memories! 

Living the life in Cozumel!

Cozumel Cruise~The Ship

Today we headed out for our second cruise.  This one was a Carnival cruise and was leaving from Tampa.  We have an extra special bonus that some of our pickleball friends are taking the same cruise!  Rich and Dee and Dean and Margie are the ones going.  Rich and Dee's daughter is getting married which makes it even all the more special.

We spent the first little bit exploring the ship which was just as fun as the last time.  We came upon the reception for Rich and Dee's daughter and got to see some of the toasts that were taking place.  Their daughter is stunning so she made the wedding absolutely beautiful!

We found an outside deck by the food areas, and decided we would try to spend as much time as possible eating out there.

Nathan and I decided since we are now officially kid free, that we would truly spend time enjoying the kid free zone otherwise known as the Serenity Deck.

After heading out to sea, we spent the rest of this day and into the night with lots of food and watching the entertainment they provided.  It was a great day!

The Ringling Museum of Art

I have not been keeping up on our blog at all this summer.  I still take lots and lots of pictures but when it comes to moving them from my laptop to the blog, I admit my motivation just has not been there.  For the most part, I am so deeply immersed in our lives here, I just don't even think of the blog at all.  Then we will go and do something like visit an art museum that we have been to before and I remember the blog and remember how nice it is to have the blog there as a record of the places we have visited.

Last weekend, we were grateful to have Aric come and visit us.  He and I went to The Ringling Museum together.  He came back to visit again this weekend and we took another trip over there, this time bringing Nathan and Lee with us.

I was able to do the Ca'D 'Zan tour this time.  I have been on the bottom floor for a self-guided tour but have never been on the top floor.  It is such an interesting place with an interesting history.

 My favorite part of this beautiful place is the Art Museum.  Each time we visit, I end up thinking I wish we had more time there and this time was no exception.  I truly love this museum.

We bought a membership so I'm guessing we'll be back a few more times over the next year.  Hopefully I will remember to take pictures and maybe even blog about it!

Living the life in S Florida!

Visiting Rich and Donna at The Villages

We planned to take a trip to visit Rich and Donna the weekend that we were visited by the tropical storm, so we moved it to this past weekend.  It was well worth the wait!  We have only been to The Villages to visit when we were buying pickleball paddles and we did not even begin to truly see all this interesting place has to offer.

 I decided while there that if I did not love to travel, this place would be where I could easily settle in and never want to leave again.  The place is beautiful.  Everything is manicured, perfectly decorated and laid out in a well planned, easily navigated fashion.

 There is more to do here than I could ever fit in during my lifetime and most of it is things I love to do, like pickleball.  There are reasonably priced restaurants, stores, movie theaters and town squares with entertainment every single night of the year.  There are recreation centers full of every fun thing you can imagine to do!  We might just have to be part time residents at some point and travel part of the year!

During our visit, we were able to play pickleball both days.  Donna and I played at one place, the guys played at another.  We had not played in months so it was great to play again.  In the afternoon, the guys played again while we girls did other things.  The first afternoon we went to play Bunco, which I had not played before.  I loved it.  Donna introduced me to So You Think You Can Dance so the second afternoon we watched some of those shows, which I loved!  We also had happy hour and frozen yogurt.  We visited both town squares, had a boat ride and learned more about The Villages history and ate at great restaurants.  We were spoiled rotten and I loved every minute of it.

 We were able to cram in so much and yet the weekend flew by way too fast.  We ate dinner together before we had to head back home, and as was everything else during our trip: it was wonderful.  Great food and great entertainment.

Thank you again Rich and Donna for such a wonderful weekend!  We hope we can squeeze in that one more trip before you head back to Wauchula!