Random Friday Early

Lots going on so I am going to post this a day early, plus I'm getting my old computer replaced on Friday so the computer guy will be here switching things over. I hope I don't have to learn anything new....sigh...... My second vacation post is up, just go one back from here. I know I've got this week all mixed up but sometimes that's just the way it is around here. Another sigh.......

Anywho, like I said lots going on so I had better get at it. First off did you all get the invitation to Pea's Halloween party? If not, don't be sad cause I'm extending the invitation! Pea's parties are always fun so I'm anxious to see what she's got planned for this one! Be sure to wear a costume!

Tammy over at Lattes and Lollypops is having a Home School Open House this week! Now whether you home school or not go on over and have a look at what she does with her two 'students'! They not only learn they have fun!

Speaking of Pea, she graciously passed along several awards to all of her regular readers! Yippee! Awards are Fun! Thanks Miss Pea!

Mary over at Mary's Writing Nook has a wonderful project going on right now. She is getting lots of people to send Christmas cards to a lady soldier that is deployed right now. This is a great opportunity to give back to one of our own that I'm sure could use a little cheering up at times! Thank you Mary for doing this! Drop on over to her blog and see all the details! Hey this might be nice for all the Home Schoolers to participate in!


I won, I won!! I entered all 40 of the quilting give away blogs a few weeks ago and hadn't heard anything so figured I didn't win anything. (pouting as I type) but today there was a package on my front porch when I got home!!!!! I won Needled Mom's pillow give away and it is adorable!! It's a Halloween pillow that is beautifully made, I LOVE it!! So don't ever think that you never will win a Give Away! Thank you NM!!!

My little gal pals Izzy and Emmy have given me an award! These are two of the cutest little gals out there in Bloggsville and you really should hop over and say howdy! Their blog just keeps getting better and better! Thank you so much for the award, I love it! Hugs to you both!

This has been the week for nice surprises! This just goes to show that it pays to whine and pout when you want something..........Miss Pea had a Halloween contest recently and I was whining that I wanted the pair of socks that was in one of the prizes. Well, I didn't win the contest but she sent me some socks!! Yippee, I'm all ready for Halloween! Thank you Miss Pea, you are a sweetheart! I promise I won't whine and pout again.........too soon!

I will finish my last Florida vacation post soon. As I was going through some more of the pictures that we took I couldn't help but to feel so blessed to be able to go on a trip with my family and have such special times with my two little grand kids! I know that they live just five minutes away anyhow but to have them right with us 24-7 is just so special and I am so thankful for those times. So many of my friends grand kids are spread out all over the US and they only get to see them once or twice a year. To be able to see mine whenever I want is truly a blessing that I am forever thankful for!

Mom continues to improve each day at rehab. I watched her do some of her physical therapy sessions today and she is really doing well at them. She is so anxious to come home and we are anxious to get her back here. Hopefully it will be this weekend or the first of next week but we will have to wait and see. Please continue to keep her in your prayers as it is so hard for her to be away from Dad and home. We are there every day but when night time comes and she has to stay there it's very hard on her. We are fortunate that the Rehab Facility is only about a ten minute drive away so we can go often and we are a big family so she has lots of company.

Have a fun Halloween everyone and enjoy all the little trick or treaters that come to your door!

Vacation Part #3

I have been working on putting pictures together on a site called Smile Box. It has hundreds of scrapbook pages all made up and you just put your digital pictures in the slots and there are places for journaling. I used to do really elaborate scrapbooks with pop-ups and all kinds of embellishments but that has kind of fallen by the wayside since I started blogging so this new computer way of scrap booking is kind of nice. I print them out and put them in a photo book and at least it is done. Not quite as hands on but it gets the job done.

We stayed at the Portafino Bay Resort which is part of Universal. Normally we stay at a Disney resort but occasionally we try something different. We did not want to stay at The Hard Rock Hotel again after being put on the dog wing last time plus it was way too noisy for me and Hubby. Shouldn't the name Hard Rock have given me a clue that there would be loud music playing everywhere???? DUH!! The selling point was that it was only a five minute walk to the parks which was lovely but dog barking and loud music just didn't make for a restful week. Anyhow I digress....

When I booked the Portafino I specifically asked them if there was a dog wing and that I didn't want to be anywhere near it. (you can see that this still riles me up a bit!)

Anywho, it was lovely there especially the pool area. It takes a lot to get me into a bathing suit these days but I just had to get into the pool with the kids and enjoy the surroundings.

There was a wonderful water slide that the kids enjoyed.

We spent quite a bit of time out here and enjoyed every minute of it!

Another part that T and D liked was the bay that was part of the decor. It had lots of ducks and other birds that they could feed. They saved the leftover bread from our meals plus fed them Cheerios from our breakfast stash.

We spent lots of hours going around the parks. There are two parks with different attractions in each one. The kids loved the characters!

This is how we got to the parks from our hotel. It was about a 20 minute walk so this got us there in about 5 minutes! I LOVED it!

One thing we always love to do when in Florida is visiting Shepler's a great western store. We don't have much to pick from here so we go hog wild when we get into a place that has such a variety of things! This guy meets you at the door and is motion activated so he talks to you when you come in. T thought he was great!

Oh, there are boots, boots and more boots!




Well I guess this is enough for this chapter. There will be one more but just a short one. I don't want you all looking like I did after a long day in the parks, in the rain and a noisy restaurant! Hubby snapped this one!

Vacation Pictures

Where do I begin? Just downloaded all of the pictures that Hubby and I took from our vacation and there are well over 300 of them! Yikes! There are some that can be deleted that are fuzzy or too dark and some that just show way too many rolls around my middle that will take a trip to Deletesville! Oh, how I love that delete button at times! :o)

I think I will work backwards. Last night we ate at a new restaurant at Downtown Disney called T-rex. If any of you have been to the Rain Forest Cafe it's kind of on that idea only this one has dinosaurs everywhere and things from the sea. It is a very colorful place and also very noisy. The food was good though, especially the appetizers that the kids ordered.

Flat bread with caramelized onions,cheese, chicken and other goodies.

Nachos, so much for our healthy eating on vacation..........


All these other things were all around us, moving and making noises.

It was extremely colorful to look at all of the things surrounding us. A fun place to eat but not somewhere you would go for quiet conversation!



That day, in the morning we went to the Magic Kingdom. We hadn't planned to go there this trip and just stay at Universal but it was the last full day and we decided to go over and see all the Halloween/fall decorations and the kids could go on some rides. I went on Thunder Mountain, the rollercoaster TWICE with them!

Grampie and me with the Grands heading towards the monorail. As you can see it was a bit rainy the last day we were in Florida. Didn't stop us one bit or anyone else for that matter.

It was beautiful there, these pictures don't begin to do it justice. Here's a shot of my kids while we waited to get into the T-rex.

The evening before we went to the Arabian Nights dinner show. It wasn't the high class act that the Dixie Stampede was but the kids enjoyed it and we got to see lots of nice horses. Being an appaloosa lover at heart this rump caught my eye the first thing. Gorgeous markings! It turned out that this guy was the hit of the show as far as we were concerned as they had a 'western' segment and this guy did the best slide stops, rollbacks and spins of any reining horse around!

Most of the horses were beautiful Arabians but they did have a few other breeds. This one was very different. They told me the name but I can't remember what it is. He is technically a pony but looks like a mini draft horse. Very clever, even used for dressage but mostly pony club and for pulling fancy carts. His mane was gorgeous and he had feet the size of pie plates yet he was only about 14'2 hands high.

This horse had been painted with some kind of florescent paint and it really glowed. He was part of the tribute to the Native Americans horses. He just floated around that huge inside arena.

The kids got a chance to sit on this big guy.

This was last night. They were all tired and watching Sponge Bob Square Pants!

I guess that's enough for tonight. If you have stuck with me this far your eyes will need a rest now. More next time! (that's a warning!)