Good morning everyone!
I hope that everyone out there had a great Mother's Day -
it was a real laid back day around here, but I'll
get to that in a few minutes.
We've had a pretty uneventful couple of weeks.
Keeping the girls during the week and
trying to get things done around the house on the
weekends.
Ada is growing up so fast!
She has such a wonderful laugh and seems
to laugh all the time -
all you have to do is talk to her and
she just cracks up laughing!
Excuse the blurry picture - but I was trying to catch
Lorelai without her knowing I was taking her
picture (hard to do). Anyway, as you can see, she is
growing up right before our eyes.
Hard to believe, but in less that a month she will
be two years old.
She is talking more and more - but she is also pushing all the
wrong buttons as she tests her limits. It's okay, that is part of
growing up to be independent, but it can sure be frustrating and
stressful.
Friday night Dan and I went into Sebring to pick up some things for "the" project and I needed/wanted some new shoes. I needed some that didn't hurt my feet as I knew that I would be on my feet a lot on Saturday!
If you are looking for shoes that are perfect for walking in all day I highly recommend "go walk 2" by Skechers. They are fabulous!!! They are very light and make you feel like you are barefoot but walking on air at the same time.
I also got a pair of the new Croc sandals - they are really comfortable also and they don't look like Croc's - just regular sandals. Nice! After the stop at Lowe's and the shoe store we decided to eat at Chili's and ate off the two for $20 menu (Dan had a steak and I had the ribs). Yummy!!!
Saturday was my birthday - and we had very special plans. After some coffee, Dan and I took our shower and got dressed then jumped in the car and headed for Orlando.
Guess where we went.
Actually, we had purchased annual passes the beginning of the month, but had not picked up our passes yet so we decided to go up and pick up the passes and spend theday at EPCOT! We had not been to any Disney park since before we had retired from the school system in Polk County and moved to North Carolina. It was about time to check things out again.
On of the new things at Disney Parks is a thing called
Fast Pass - it is wonderful addition!
To get a "Fast Pass" you go to these special Kiosk throughout the park and decide what you want to ride and the time frame you want. You can only choose three things at time but once you use all three of the passes you can choose three more. Actually, you can do the Fast Pass on line - but because I did not have our tickets yet I couldn't do it before we went up on Saturday.
Anyway, the Fast Pass is wonderful - at each ride you have your own entrance and you are able to pretty much just walk right into the ride instead of having to wait in the "stand by" line. For example, the regular line for Space Ship Earth was at 60 minutes, but we walked straight onto the ride by coming at our designated time.
We had lunch/dinner reservations at the Coral Reef - they were at 3:15 so I'm not sure what to call the meal. To say that we were ready to eat by the
time we got served would be an understatement.
We learned that we need to eat before going into the park!
The meal was very good even though there was a
very limited menu.
I did get a surprise at the end of the meal -
a free dessert since it was my birthday!
(I don't know if you can see my "Happy Birthday"
button - but I was wished happy birthday all day long -
not just by staff but by visitors to the park as wee!)
Dan and I shared the dessert. It was very good, but
I sure wouldn't have ordered it - so much food!!!
After spending so much time in the heat it was nice
to spend some time in the cool relaxing restaurant and aquarium.
Sweet dolphins!
They do not do any type of animals shows but being
able to watch the fish is so very relaxing.
While we were eating, a diver was in the water feeding the fish.
I didn't have my camera out at the time, so I did not get a picture
of him - but he had quite a little show that he "performed"
for us.
My big guy enjoying the aquarium.
I think I walked Dan's little legs off so, after our meal, we decided it was time to head for home. We did do a little side trip and rode the monorail over to
the Magic Kingdom, but decided not to transfer to the other monorails to see the rest of the park and just go back to EPCOT and go home.
We had a wonderful time at the park and we have already set up another trip in a couple of weeks - Animal Kingdom which neither of us have been to before. This time I have already set up our first three Fast Pass locations and we will see how it goes there (plus our lunch reservation) with a really cool app that goes on your phone. Since I had our passes I was able to set up our account and get the everything done through the app. I have also ordered our "Magic Bands" but I don't know if they will arrive before our next trip. We both spent the evening with our feet propped up - a lot of walking and Dan complained about his legs hurting - my shoes did their job - neither my feet or legs hurt at all. We have decided that if nothing else, walking around the park is good exercise for both of us.
On Sunday we spent a quiet day at home "recovering" from our Saturday adventure.
Remember those little ducks I showed you a couple of weeks ago?
Well, look at them now!
As you can see, they have really grown.
You can also see that we have lost a few to predators.
I don't know if it was a gator that got some, but Dan says that
it was probably some big turtles that got them when they were small.
That just breaks your heart, but it is part of nature.
Dan had some bread that he threw into the water and
they swam over and would eat the bread - but they wouldn't get
too close. If Dan didn't throw the bread out far enough they
just let it float in the water - until we walked away then they came
right up to the sea wall.
So, what about the big project that I haven't shown you.
Do you think Dan got it finished?
What was "the big project"?
Well, he did get it finished, for the most part - there are still some
last minute things to do - but we did have three days of rain that sorta put a damper on working.
Ready for some pictures??
These were taken during the construction process.
Any idea yet??
(oops - there is Sam photo bombing the picture)
Well, are you ready to see what it looks like this morning.
Remember, it's not quite finished - like all the painting -
but I think you can tell what it is.
How about a fabulous pergola???
I am so excited!
Now, "we" still have to put the 2 x 2's across the top and finish the
painting.
Then we have to complete the steps down into the yard and
bring the flower bed all the way around -
plant the Jasmine on the "trellis"
and the rest of the azaleas.
It will still take a little while to get everything done, but like I said, the
main construction is complete.
Anyone surprised?
Well, I'm going to close for now - got an almost two year old calling me!
Have a great week!!!!
