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!!!

Lifelong friendships

Keith Wang and I have been friends, at least in letters, since I was just a kid.  He was a young boy in Taiwan , wanting to learn English and I was a young girl in America that was willing to write letters.  Keith's sister and my cousin, Marilee, were college roommates and so the letters began. I have had the opportunity to get together with  Keith and his wife Julie many times over the years amidst raising children, moves, jobs and the busyness of life.  Now that life is a little slower, we are very grateful for time to connect, visit, play and reminisce.

Keith and Julie have just recently moved to Naples, Florida where we spent an afternoon at the Naples Botanical Gardens complete with a tribute to Elton John after dark.

High adventure the next day included handling and close encounters with alligators, dangerous snake sightings while riding on an air boat.   I didn't realize that this was on my bucket list.

Snake....dead or alive???

It looks like I was in the drivers seat and I was (for the picture).

That evening we got to do one of my favorite things which was go to the beach to see the sun set.

What a wonderful weekend with good friends enjoying beautiful sights, warm conversations, great food and the joy of celebrating life together.  Thanks  to you Keith and Julie!!

The dreams we dream

If you know John at all, you know that he loves cars, ice cream and me (not necessarily in that order). And I do believe that he eats, sleeps, dreams about and lives for cars. He loves to tell a story about sitting by the open window at 8 years old and listening to cars drive by the house.  He says he could tell what make of car it was by the sound of the engine.  He loves cars and he especially loves old cars.












So this week, after a lengthy search,  he bought a 1970 red convertible GTO.  I have long teased him  that the other woman was a car.  At least now I know what she looks like.