When Will the Florida Weather Return?

It was a rainy, nasty day here. I realize it is much worse up north but I moved to Florida for warm sunny weather with an occasional thunder storm thrown in but this has gotten ridiculous and I'm ready for the bad weather to end and the beautiful weather to come back.

It was just the kids and I today and we played and had lots of fun. Kaleigh got this block set for Christmas and has been really getting in building towers on it.



Tried getting a picture of Riley's haircut, you can see his eyes now and the rest of it blends together.

Kaleigh always gets upset if I take a picture of Riley and not one of her. So here she is, standing by my leg, poking me and saying "Me, me". She was very happy when I took a picture and showed it to her.

Mum, Dad, and Tammy stopped by for a quick visit. Dad dropped off the bird-feeders I had asked for because the woodpeckers had found the one we had and it was impossible to keep it full. All we do is mix some peanut butter with birdseed (Riley's job) and fill the hole with the mixture. Dan will hang and fill them this weekend.


My excitement for the week was printing out the waiver for the Princess 1/2 Marathon, just means the race it getting that much closer.

Haircut Day

Another favorite thing to play with in our house. These are birdhouse I painted years ago and now they finally have a use. Kaleigh loves to move them around, stack them up and put stuff in them. Keeps her happy for a good long time and that is a good thing.

Today I finally decided to get my haircut, it had been way to long since my last one and the back was getting pretty curly and unruly. Riley was in the same predicament except we were having a hard time seeing his face. So I went bright and early and when I got home after doing a couple of other errands we headed out again to get Riley's hair done.

As you can see the front had gotten pretty long.

Kaleigh was jealous and wanted her picture taken so I obliged her.

Riley was kind of fidgety until it was mentioned he would get a treat if he sat still and that was all it took and the rest of the haircut went very well.


I didn't get an after picture but I sure you will be seeing some in the days to come.

It's the Weekend

Where has the time gone? I can't believe it is already February and it is already zooming by.

Yesterday we went to the courthouse and applied for Andy, Nikki, Riley, and Kaleigh's passports/passcards. We got the passcards for the kids for right now because they are only valid for five years and no sense paying for a full passport when they probably won't be traveling anywhere that requires a passport until later. We were very happy that the lady that waited on us was very efficient and got everything done very quickly.

Dan and I went to the commissary, so one more big shopping trip completed.

Riley working on his puzzle, he completed it all by himself and was very excited, as were we.

Muffin Man

Today was Riley's turn to stay home with me and he got to help me bake blueberry muffins. We made big ones for Baapa and little ones for Kaleigh and him.

Watching the muffins cook.

Enjoying the fruits of his labor.

While I cleaned up he participated in one of the favorite activities in this house, rearranging the magnets on the refrigerator. It's something that can keep them occupied for a good long time.

I May Be Back!

I know it has been forever since I posted but it was getting to be more of a chore and not really much fun so I took a break. Now I'm going to give it another try.

Life has been going on, just as busy as ever. I'm sure you all know what I mean. I'm still walking and preparing for the half-marathon; it is only 4.5 weeks away. Getting exciting about finishing the race. My training has been right on schedule, did a 12-miler this past weekend, 13:32 a mile pace. This is what I'm shooting for on race day. Still have a 14-miler to do in two weeks and then I will be easing up until race day.

Have already planned to do a couple more 1/2 marathons this year and each month Tammy, Kim and I try to get together and do a 5 or 10K just to do them.

Today was a big day for Riley, he has been walking on his toes for forever and today he got casts on to correct the problem. He did really well getting them on and seems to be adjusting to his "astronaut boots" and you would hardly know he has them on. I told him he looked just like Jagee (Dad) did and he thought that was pretty funny. He will have them on for six weeks and then have some physical therapy.


Can you believe how big Riley and Kaleigh have gotten. A monster has been created in our house and we are blaming Kim because she gave Kaleigh a set of Princess pajamas for Christmas and now all Kaleigh wants to wear are things with princesses on them. She isn't even two and already knows just what she wants to wear.

Race for the Taste 10K

This past Sunday Kim and I and 4011 of our closest friends did the Race for the Taste 10K out at Disney. First let me say Disney knows how to do races. Very organized and started on time (two very important things for me), we even had someone sing the Star Spangled Banner and fireworks.

The 6.2 miles went by very fast and it was very interesting to see just where we were walking and how we got from one place to another. We went in back gates to Hollywood Studios that I never knew existed and then a back entrance at EPCOT that I always wondered where it went.

We both had very good finishes, Kim ran more than she thought she would and finished about 15 minutes in front of me. Her time was 1:11:20 and she went more than the 6.2 miles according to her GPS . We both ended up with longer distances because of weaving in and out of the masses and for me I always seemed to be on the outside of the curve. You wouldn't think that would add up much but for the both of us it was about 1/4 mile extra.

My time was 1:26:05 which gave me a pace of 13:30 per mile, a personal best for me since I started walking.

Here I am crossing the finish line, that's me right in the center withe the purple shirt.


Here we are after our official pictures (hope to have them soon) and picking up water and fruit. We were looking for Tammy and Dan. Kim has spotted Tammy and I'm still looking for her.

Here we are feeling pretty good about the whole race and looking forward to our next one on the 24th of October. Another one at Disney, but this one is run at night and we are hoping it will be cooler then.

And yes, I did steal all these pictures from Tammy, thanks Tammy.

Nassau

It's our last full day aboard the ship and we started with a walk. Did four miles this morning and it was just Kim, Tammy, and me walking, everyone else must be tired out from all the good times they have been having.

Stopped in to talk to Dan for a few minutes and then I was off to shower and straighten up the room.

Another beautiful sunrise.

I was back to the Red Sail in about 25 minutes and we headed over to our normal breakfast location and it was just Kim and Tammy. Kim left to take her shower and the three of us got breakfast. The rest of our crew started showing up one by one until most of us were there.

Watched the ship pull into Nassau.

Dan and I were off the ship by about 0910, just going out to do some exploring before our excursion this afternoon.

Ran into one of our good friends and got our pictures taken.



Then we were off to find this church that Tammy had visited on her last trip to Nassau. Had no problems finding it, we could see it from the ship and just headed in that direction.


A very beautiful church and we enjoyed walking around reading all about it's history.

While we were in there the skies opened and the rain came down. We hoped it would stop before we were ready to leave but it wasn't looking promising. So out came the raincoats and off we went. Ended up soaked from the knees down and there was water flowing everywhere.

Didn't really have a destination in mind so just walked. It eventually let up and the walking became much more enjoyable.

A shot of the church after the rain when we walked by it again.

This is Atlantis, a huge tourist area/hotel.

This is our next cruise ship, can't wait.


Got back to the ship to change out of our very wet shoes, that felt really good. Went to the Red Sail with Tammy, Kim, Tom, Sami, and Breann to get a snack to tide us over for our afternoon excursion.

Headed ashore at about 1215 so we could get a picture at the Bahamas sign.

Our tour leader for the Segway was at the gangway when we got back. It ended up being just the eight of us: Dan, Kim, Tammy, Tommy, Michael, Sami, Cole, and me. Tom, Dennis, and Breann were doing the glass-bottom boat tour.

We walked to our taxi and even though it was advertised as being air conditioned it wasn't but the ride was short and we were there in no time.

Got all outfitted with our safety gear and got a short lesson. The instructor made it look so very easy, then I stepped on the segway and thought this is going to be too hard but within a couple of minutes I felt very comfortable and was ready to go.



This was at our first stop, we really needed the break. Found that your feet get sore because you are afraid to move them and tense them up as you are riding. We all appreciated the time to step down and walk around for a bit.



We had a really great time, felt like we were zipping along at about 30 miles an hour but the top speed on these was about 10 mph. If you ever get a chance to ride on a segway, do it. It is a blast and I will do it again someday.

We rode for about an hour and it was all through the woods and on dirt paths. So much fun.

Here are those two people again that always seem to be watching us get back on the ship.

Leaving Nassau Harbor.




Can't believe it is our last night to go to the dining room. It was another great meal and we were kept amused by Guillermo again.

Dad and Ilona, our assistant server.

Paul Handy the Maitre d' and also Jack of all Trades.

Checked out our pictures one last time and then we pretty much called it a night.

This was a great vacation and if you want to vacation with lots of people it is the way to go. Can't wait until June.