Easter celebration

What a gorgeous day to take a ride in a convertible!!  

After a wonderful worship service at First Presbyterian Church of Haines City, John and I traveled to be with friends Chuck and Karen for Easter brunch.  It was just too tempting to take the GTO and surprise them with a little spin and a journey back in time.  There is nothing quite like a wonderful meal, a beautiful day and time with good friends to make you aware of how very blessed we are.

Give Kids the World

John has been doing some volunteering this winter with a wonderful organization called GIVE KIDS THE WORLD.  From driving the shuttle to serving ice cream, he has enjoyed helping out.  GKTW provides a fantasy week for children with life threatening illnesses from all over the world .  Trips to any Disney theme park, parties, gifts and on and on are provided in a beautiful setting.

Watching a dream come true

Last weekend John participated in his first Solivita Classic Car Show.  There was a great turn out and he had a wonderful time talking with other car guys, checking out all of the beautiful vehicles on display and enjoying a gorgeous day.  No awards but he had a great time.  It is so much fun for me to watch him living a dream!!  He is a happy guy.

The things we love!

John and I decided to create a grouping of photos over our sofa of several of the places in Florida that we love.  We spent a wonderful day in Orlando taking a multitude of shots (after taking a photography class) and this is what we came up with for the first three photographs.

Lukas Nursery in Oviedo

Boston's Fish House - our very favorite eating spot

"Emily" - a sculpture from the Polasek Museum where I worked in Winter Park

A photo from Tampa will be added to finish the wall.

Old Town

I have realized that owning a classic car opens up a whole new world for enthusiasts.

 

For the past several weeks we have enjoyed Saturday night at Old Town, a tourist center where classic car enthusiasts gather every Saturday evening to show off their Classic cars followed by a parade after dark through the center of town.  It has been fun to share this crazy experience with several of our friends.

Wayne and Barb

Mike and Carol

Don and JoAnn

Ann & Don

Riva

And with this post our Old Town adventures come to an end.  We had a blast enjoying this experience with our friends.....and of course the highlight was the parade at the end of the night as more than a thousand parade watchers each Saturday night cheered us on.  The real question that remains is, which princess really wore the tiara? 

Loss

It is hard to lose anything.  We are happy to add to our lives, but the loses are so difficult to take.
In the past two years John and I have lost seven very special people.   And I am feeling the loss.

Lucille Huggett
George Jeans
Orland Gabriel
Francis Jacobs
Alma Dewald
Dorothy Saunders
Gene Yeazell

Checking in with the family

February seemed like a good time to make a trip back to check in with the kids.  I pretend that they can't get along without me.  John and I got to do a little kid watching, they are almost too grown up to be babysat. Spending time with my children and grandchildren makes my heart happy. 

Sam is probably a typical 2 and half year old.  He loves to play and run and laugh and eat.  When he is older we will probably tease him about the fact that in the pictures that we have of him, he was usually eating.  Which makes it even funnier that this weekend he locked the door behind himself when he sneaked into the house, with the entire family outside, to sneak some snacks.

Jack, caught eating too, is hard to catch on camera so we run with any good, happy photo we can get.

We made sugar cookies for Valentines. What a sweet, happy boy!!

Lily models for photos, loves fashion and glams it up for the camera upon request.  She is getting pretty good at coordinated outfits.

And Celia lost her first front tooth for the occasion.  Can you tell?  John calls her Toothless.

Gosh, I love these kids.  Happy Valentines Day from Papa and Nana!!!