March 31, 2011

WOW!!  March is gone!   Was a great month and had a lot of fun.  Spent St. Patty's day in Auburndale visiting friends Mike and Ceil Murphy.  Played golf and had a great corn beef and cabbage dinner at the club.  They showed us a new gator family on the golf course, ma ma with several babies, must have been at least 10 little ones, stay clear.


Villages friends, Jorgensen's, Meier's and Henseler's invited us to join them to a performance of the "Wisconsin Singers" at the Village theater. They were great. Closed the evening with dinner at Little Joes Italian.  Had great pizza.

Shari & Friend Donna

Visited Shari's good friend Donna Garrett in Mulberry, Fl,  Imperial Lake complex.  Went to dinner at her favorite place, Texas Cattle Company in Lakeland, always good.  Stayed over and enjoyed the complex's annual picnic on Sat.  Great food with live music.  The next day we played golf and enjoyed pizza dinner with one of Donna's acquaintance, a 97 year old gentlemen who still plays golf three times a week. Awesome!

Cardinal "Rumble"

Mega Yacht Boat Show

We then headed to daughter Lisa in Palm Beach Gardens for a second visit this winter.  Bill & Lisa happy to see us again.  They surprised us with tickets to a St, Louis Cardinal spring training game against the Washington Nationals.  It was a beautiful day and Bill arranged for box seats. Had a great stadium dog lunch.  Game was fun, but Cardinals lost.  However, after a wild pitch hitting a batter, a rumble followed with both dug outs on the field.  A little excitement!  The next day we treated them to tickets to the West Palm Beach International boat show!  Wow!  Mega yachts, some selling for over 24 Million Dollars.  Awesome!  Had a fun day looking and going through vendor booths.  Closing the day by Lisa treating us to a wonderful Mexican dinner.

Madoff Repo West Palm Beach

Shari West Palm Beach Trail

Next day Lisa had to work so we went over to West Palm Beach to walk a really nice trail along the Intercostal Waterway.  Beautiful day and gorgeous homes.  Walked past a Bernnie Madoff repo now being remodeled.  Got an opportunity to talk with a couple of workers.  Then took Shari down to "Worth Ave", the high rent shopping street of West Palm Beach.  She behaved herself!!

Worth Street

We then went up to the PGA Golf Training facility in Port St. Lucie to meet with grand daughter Mc Kenzie and dad Don.  Prearranged to drive them to Orlando to catch a ride back to Wisconsin with the Paul grandparents.  Had a great lunch, tour of the grounds, and a tour of the PGA Museum.  Really nice.  Mc Kenzie had a great camp with her professional coaches, and told she shot a very strong 72 par.  Wow!

Back to our RV park, we met with friends John & Glenda Callender, getting ready to head back home to Indiana.  So we booked a nice dinner at Harry's in Ocala.  Everyone happy with meal and service, so a nice send off.  Lot's of people in the park starting to pack up for trip north.  We are here till April 30th, but we did book a week in The Villages for their "Life Style Preview" program from 4/15-22.  So we will have a fun week in The Villages.

Last couple of days much needed rain here in Florida. Some weather severe.  So we took in a movie.  "The Lincoln Lawyer",  Was great and can recommend.

March 12, 2011

It's been a very busy but fun period here in Florida.  Weather has really turned to sunny Florida type, and we have not missed a beat in taking advantage of it.  Visits by Wisconsin and Florida friends has really been enjoyable.

Paul & Patty Meier finally made it south from Menasha, planning a two month stay in the Villages.  They stopped by the park for a quick tour and grilled burgers.  About the same time Ceil and Mike Murphy were beginning their "snowbird" trip and stopped by for a quick lunch.  Great to see them.

4000 yrs of shells

Crowes / Kimes Cedar Key

John & Jane Crowe invited us for a visit to their condo in Cedar Key for a couple of days.  Beautiful spot.  Shortly after arriving Bob was in the kayak, exploring the bayou.  Fun!  John made an awesome supper, and treated us to his nightly "clam appetizers".  Good!   Enjoyed the area, treating us to a park tour of "Shell Point Mounds".  A very historic site going back 4000 years whereby natives built over 3500 years huge mounds of clam & oyster shells.  Incredible!!  Second evening treated to incredible dinning experience with a little live  smoked ribs on the waterfront of Cedar Key.

Jess & Doris Lionberg Silver River

Monkeys Silver River

Shortly after leaving Cedar Key, Crowe's put together a group road trip including us, Meiers, and Henslers to visit the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park.  A real life story of a Wisconsin based author living in remote Florida in the 1930's and writing the Pulitzer Prize Winning book "The Yearling".   After the tour of her homestead, arrangements were made to dine at the Yearling Restaurant, with southern type hospitality and a little "Louisianan" music. Good and Fun!!

Happy Hour Kime Coach

Yearling Restaurant Entertainment

Our river trip adventures continue, joining park friends John & Glenda Callender, and a special visit from our Illinois friends Jess & Doris Lionberg's.  Yes, in both cases we saw the Monkeys.  Yes, wild monkeys along the river bank and anxious to be feed.  We also saw numerous gators, turtles, birds, otters and this last time a manatee.  How the manatee got this far upstream is beyond all of us.  Great river trips!

Clint Black Concert

John & Glenda Callender

Silver Spring Park entertainment continues and this last concert was country singer Clint Black.  He put on a great concert.  Dinner at the Elks club after, a very nice club house.

Took a second trip to the Butterfly Rain Forest in Ocala.  Invited Callenders to join us.  It is probably the best display in the world.  Live butterfly's released in a very authentic rain forest environment.  Butterflies everywhere, landing on your head, shoulders, etc.  Every type of butterfly you can imagine from all over the world.  Our road trip back included a quick stop at Orange Lake to view a couple of Air Boats.  Then a quick cruise by John Trovolata's home called the "Jumbo Air" where he houses his 707 jet.  Taxis right up to his house.  Tough!!

Butterfly Rainforest

 Ended the week with a visit to the Meier's in the Villages.  Paul gave Bob a "whirlwind golf cart tour" of most of the Villages complex and golf courses, while the girls did their girl thing "shopping".  Ended the day with a beautiful grilled steak dinner.  Good Friends!!

Saturday Silver Spring Park Concert - "The Charlie Daniels Band"