OK, so here we go again....trying to be a bogger....as Beth would put it....or a blogger as Jody and Janna would put it....or a boogie as Avery might put it..... I don't know why my first blog got posted so easily and this one has been like trying to push a new baby out and into the world. Nothing ends up where I want it but oh well, I will try and try again. Who said you can't teach an old dog new tricks? It remains to be seen as to whether that quote is true or not.

Back in September, Beth threw out the idea of the two of us heading to Florida to celebrate our Aunt Dot and Uncle Ray's 65th wedding anniversary. After mulling that thought over (for about 2 seconds) I cleared it with my hubby who said that would be fine (I tried to talk him into coming and meeting me in Myrtle Beach for a week following the Fla excursion but examiners were taking up too much of his time) and off we were to planning our long weekend trip.

Beth was in charge of getting the flights lined up, I was in charge of getting the place on the gulf that we would stay in...and Brother Garmin *%#!, well he was in charge of not getting us lost...or getting us to our location in the most efficient, time saving, mile saving way! Ha! That too remains to be seen. (Oh...you mean you are supposed to LISTEN to what he says before he starts to go into the "recalculating" mode?????) Now I get it! ; )

OK, more about our 5 day jaunt to Florida, We had a great time....had at least 3-4 people ask if we were twins...and had two separate people in two different states ask if we were Tina Fay...or Sarah Palin's twin! What a hoot! We had some wonderful weather and some cool and very windy weather. We had a great flight...and then as I mentioned previously, on the way from Tampa Airport to Sarasota we had a rather large "Oh *%#&" moment when we realized Brother Garmin was going to take us across the Sunshine Skyway Bridge! The picture with the road sign was our first clue! If you click on it the picture will get bigger. I read the sign and said something about fishing on the bridge...."What's that mean?...We aren't going over it ARE WE! Is there another route? AGGGGG!" As you can see, the bridge is quite daunting. Thankfully we made it over and back safely, we certainly were happy to see the land again. My but it has been a year of being brave for me! First trail riding in our Jeep...then that stinkin' bridge!

Makes me wonder what year 52 will bring.





Our first day there was really windy...even the gulls had a hard time walking straight! We had sand facials by the time we went back into the condo...but being snow birds we stayed put in our beach chairs for quite a while! And just to explain the hippo's on the beach...I asked Kaid what kind of picture I should send her from the beach....she said...a ballerina...in the sand. The only ballerina I found during my very limited shopping time was a hippo...rina. It was that...or put Beth in a tutu and make her prance around while I took pictures. She wouldn't do it.


The day sky...and the night sky! Beautiful.

And so the reason we headed to the beach. The anniversary party at Barb's. We suprised them I believe. We had cousins show up from the East Coast and from the Midwest. Santa....aka Ken, even made an appearance. Matt E was hamming it up as you can see and had some of us...ok Me, quite shocked with what he said as you can see...of course 2 months later...I can't remember what it was that he said. Ahh..the aging process, first the eyes...then the mind. Thanks for the invite. It was fun getting together with family that we grew up with...but haven't seen in a while.

Here we are, taking pictures....of people
taking pictures....

Santa Ken!

The cousins....Cheryl, Ken, Julia, Barb, Beth, Sandy, Gail and Aunt Dot and Uncle Ray.

Isn't Aunt Dot the cutest? She was quite the giggler, and Uncle Ray just looks great. What a wonderful couple.

On Sunday, our family met after church and went to Applebee's for lunch. Later they all came to our condo on the beach for pizza, sand and sun. It was the first time one of my relatives was in the sand...on the beach in YEARS! Hmmm....what is up with that Ellis???

Berdene...I think you can see St. A....way in the background! : )


And yes, my brother wants to be a trend setter with his new hair doo! I don't know if it will catch on or not....we'll see!

Halo or antlers.....Santa and his Reindeer???? And of course his two cute lil' elves! (We tried to get Brian to come along too but they already had plans for a fall/winter trip made by the time we got our idea. It would have been great to have all 5 of us together at one time again.)

Oh yeah, one more thing. I cannot belive I left Fla with out a picture of Matt's lil' guy, Brenden. What a cutie! We had such a good time playing. At one point we bonked heads...good and hard and I told Matt to watch his head because I was sure he was going to have a bruise on it for as hard as we hit. About a half hour later, I noticed a bump...on my cheek. If you maximize the picture above...you will see who ended up with the black eye! : ) I have been accused of being in a bar room brawl...but really it was a bonk with a 2 year old!!

That's all folks! I'll post Christmas.....in Feb or March!