The Florida Vine

O.K, O.K.

2009-07-17T05:53:00.000-04:00

I know it has been months since I last updated

& here is a big part of the reason.....

.....our handsome little grandson Colton!

Stuck on the tarmack.....

2009-02-22T07:59:00.003-05:00

On Monday we packed up & headed for the airport, checked in and boarded the plane. Once we were seated the flight attendant announced that we had been too slow in boarding & would be delayed by 30 minutes due to the landing of Air Force One. How COOL i s that?!?

Check out Patty's blog, she got some great pictures.

I needed a baby fix......

2009-02-22T07:44:00.007-05:00

From the moment that I stepped off of the plane I announced my need for a baby fix. It had been 2 years since our last visit & 2 more babies had arrived since then & I was very anxious to meet them.

Finally on Sunday everyone arrived with spouses, girlfriends, fiances & children. It was CRAZY!

Here are Frank & I with our great nieces & nephews.

Then we added our nieces & nephews, except for Kelli who had to work.

Then we took away the babies & added all of the better halves.

After a couple of hours with a full house with 6 kids EVERYWHERE I was ready for a few hours of quiet with Patty getting some more scrap booking done.

It was great to see everyone!

Off to see the Rock Star!!

2009-02-22T07:21:00.011-05:00

After dinner we went to the Democratic Club to see Onion. Everyone came out except Carrie & Joe. They have a new home that is further away.

Ryan is always ready for a photo.

Tad & Tonya were there. Tad presented Frank & I with this years Cardinal's shirt. We love getting those.

Here's our "Rock Star"!

Goofy girls.

What happened???

We were even able to sneak Kelli in.

Frank & Patty tore up the dance floor.

We had a great night!

An Awesome Dinner.....

2009-02-22T06:49:00.007-05:00

Mary Lou & Melissa had told me several weeks prior to our trip that they had some place special that they wanted to take me for dinner. Well, that place turned our to be Tabor Hill Winery. I have no idea what would make them think that "I" would enjoy something like this.

It was neat to see the grape vines bare with the ground covered in snow.

This was Patty & Bob's appetizer. A little of this & that.

My filet & mini baked potatoes. YUM!

Frank's bacon wrapped duck.

Patty's pecan crusted raspberry chicken.

My cheesecake. Double YUM!!

It was an awesome dinner with wonderful company!

My buddy Rigby....

2009-02-22T06:30:00.004-05:00

I'm pretty sure that Rigby only gets lovin from Patty, so when I am there I give him lots of love!

This dog is unlike any I have know, he cracks me up.

He is a big baby. He will look outside & if I ask him if he wants to go out, he thinks it's a great idea until he gets out there & feels the cold & then he wants to go right back in & lay in the sun on the floor of the dining room.

On Sunday I was at the house alone & decided to take him for a walk. Well, you would have thought that his world was turned upside down. Every 15 feet or so he would stop & look back at the house & then at me as if to say "Hey Lady, enough is enough, let's go back." We were only outside for about 15 minutes & as soon as we went in he went directly to a sunny spot on the floor. What a wimp!

We brought the warm weather with us.....

2009-02-22T06:18:00.007-05:00

When we arrived at Patty's everthing was covered in snow, but by the time we left 3 days later it was pretty well cleared out.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

A weekend in South Bend

2009-02-22T05:59:00.003-05:00

First things first.

We arrived at 10:30 to an absolutely gorgeous day! Since our stay was going to be a short one, we had to prioritize where we went and what we did, so naturally our first stop was Don's Liquor Oasis!!

Happy Birthday Michael!!!!

2009-02-12T06:55:00.000-05:00

The Big Winner!

2009-02-03T05:42:00.000-05:00

Every year at the end of the Super Bowl game someone who has chosen the winner & score correctly is the big winner & is awarded a coin toss coin from the Highland Mint & is the proud recipient of the "Chicken Award".

This years winner was Janice! Most people are not so happy to win because you have to display the chicken for a year in your home. Anyone from the party could drop by at anytime throughout the year & the chicken must be proudly displayed in plain view. My household has had the honor of it twice & I don't care to win it again. LOL!

Congratulations Janice!!

What a GREAT Week!

2009-01-23T06:24:00.005-05:00

Hi! It's me, Lance. My Mom has been so busy that she said that we could take turns updating her blog.

This week has been awesome for me!!! First there was no school on Monday so I had a long weekend, but that was not all... On Tuesday I got my report card and got all A's! Later that day I got 'A' Honor Roll and the Principal's Award! I was very happy. On Thursday, I was a "runner" so I missed half of class (a runner is the person that goes to get the kids that the Science Fair judges want to interview).Oh yeah. Speaking of Science Fair, I also won Third Place for 6th grade Biological! Plus today's already Friday! Talk about a great week.

Me with my board and ribbon.

Me and my Principals.

I'm FREEZING!!!!

2009-01-22T07:11:00.002-05:00

Literally. This morning it is only 29 degrees in Melbourne, Florida. This totally bites!!

I ran out in my p.j.'s to take a picture of Mom's car, covered in frost. (the poke-a-dots are from the sprinkler)

Now I know what you are thinking..."She's going to Indiana in 2 weeks??" Well....it is SUPPOSED to be cold there!!

Pulling my hair out....

2009-01-14T07:04:00.003-05:00

I thought after the 1st of the year that I would have more time to do nothing....right.....I have been doing more in the last two weeks than I did preparing for Christmas!

Here is a quick run down-

Food for football gatherings,
Planning Mary's shower,
Getting ready for a trip to the frozen north,
I threw my back out for a week,
Was sick for another week,
Mom to Dr's appointments,
Lance's school projects,
Meetings at Lance's school (can you believe he has to pick a career & a high school BEFORE he enters the 7th grade!)

Anyway....I promise to try to update this more than I do now (I know it is making Patty crazy) I do have things to share, just not the time to share them.

Talk to you soon......

I'm back......

2009-01-03T12:15:00.000-05:00

Between the holidays, Lance's break from school, parties, shopping and everything else going on I have been neglecting my blog. I am going to try to put myself back on track to keep all of you up to date of the goings on here in sunny and warm Florida!

The Collapse......

2008-12-16T20:01:00.006-05:00

I try..... truly, I do try to like living in Florida, but when you work really hard at something and it is 100% Florida humidity's fault it makes you want to scream!

This is our adorable little gingerbread house, from scratch mind you, prior to the destruction.

Then we had a warm spurt. I was so happy. No more pants and closed shoes for a while and then I said to Frank, "If it gets any more humid we should probably close up and put on the air." Well, I waited one day too long. When I woke up the morning AFTER I made the air comment this is what we found.

Mush.....

Squashed......

Flattened....

How upsetting. Now we know, moisture will bring the house down.

We will try again next year.

Wow! What a project.......

2008-12-03T06:41:00.001-05:00

Frank and I thought that it would be fun to build a gingerbread house from scratch. Neither of us had ever done one and thought Lance would do well with it.

The mixing, cutting and baking was a breeze. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Three days later it was time to assemble it. Lance thought that Frank and I should do the assembly work and we could all decorate it together.

What a pain in the.....

.....family fun, my butt!

Once we got the hang of the "glue" we were in business.

Before the roof was put on we had to install the hard wood floors.

On goes the roof....

...and the chimney.

Now it is time for the decorator to get to work.

He used Pezz as pavers for the walk way.

They took a lollipop with a dot of red icing for the mailbox.

What a great way to spend some time together.

Halloween....

2008-12-01T19:19:00.000-05:00

Every year Lance thinks long and hard about who he wants to dress up as for Halloween. This year he didn't stop to think, he knew that he wanted to dress up as Ozzy Osbourne.

It was a fairly easy costume for us to put together and I think it turned out pretty well.

He was cracking me up! He talked with an English accent and every now and then would yell out "Sharon"!

The picture in his hand is what he used as a guide.

The last Manhattan Martini....

2008-11-30T20:12:00.000-05:00

The host with the most made martini's to enjoy by the fire on our last evening.

Frank was very excited!

Cheers to a wonderful weekend, in the perfect apartment, with a great guy!

Thank you so much for having us Michael! We are truly grateful!

Sutton Place.......

2008-11-30T19:43:00.000-05:00

On our last day in New York, first thing in the morning, Frank and I were getting ready to sneak out and go get coffee and some breakfast for the three of us when Michael heard us and told us to take a right out of his building, go to the end of the block and check out the little park there.

When we got to the cross road, the manhole covers were steaming from the the chill in the air. It looked like something you would see on T.V.

We were really surprised how beautiful the view was from this little park.

The park was not very big as you can tell by the picture below. I had my back to the water, facing the direction of Michael's building.

I bet the trees are gorgeous right now.

Happy Birthday Madeline!!!!!

2008-11-26T10:22:00.000-05:00

We found our way...sort of...

2008-11-25T21:46:00.000-05:00

After we left Hard Rock had to walk to where Michael works. We had our trusty little map and knew exactly where we had to go. On our way it started to rain a little harder than a drizzle so we ducked in to an Irish sports bar. After a couple of pints the rain had let up and we were back on the sidewalk with hundreds of other people who were out on this cold, drizzly day.

After walking for another 30 minutes I asked "the map keeper" if I could look at it. Well, you know I got a hassle for asking but he gave it to me and it's a good thing he did.....we had missed our mark by two blocks and was a street over.

When we arrived we told Michael about the museum and looked at all of the pictures. The store was pretty quiet, I'm sure the weather had a lot to do with it.

Michael's company, Cisco Home, has an area on the fifth floor of a building. They make beautiful furniture to order and are based out of California. Below are a few pictures of his "area" and his samples.

When we left the store, Michael said he needed to run by the grocery store and I told him that I knew where it was. He said that I must be confused because there would not have been a reason for me to have been in that area....then I explained "the map keeper's" route and he cracked up. Frank didn't think it was very funny.

It started to rain harder when we got home so we decided to have Chinese food delivered instead of going out. The food was fantastic!

Add to the collection....

2008-11-24T22:48:00.000-05:00

Anytime we are away, and there is a Hard Rock Cafe, we stop to buy pins for Lance's collection.

It also helped that it was next door to the museum and it was beer-thirty.

This was a long wall loaded with guitars on their side in the wall.

We had our beverage and a snack and we were off to meet up with Michael.

Time Square

Madame Tussauds......

2008-11-24T21:50:00.001-05:00

If you ever find yourself in NYC you must visit this wax museum. We spent almost three hours there in awe of these figures thanks to my brothers friend, Dan, who gave us the tickets.

This is the view from the third floor. I am not sure how many floors they have. We walked to this spot then an elevator took us the rest of the way up.

I'll put the celebrities name under their picture though they should be self explanatory.

Morgan Freeman

Sharon and Ozzy

Julia Roberts

Susan Lucci

Bill Clinton

Picasso

Princess Diana

Madonna

Paris Hilton

Johnny Depp

Sneeking up on it........

Ya Baby!

Jessica Simpson

George Clooney

Muhammad Ali

The Duke

Mick Jagger

Elton John

The Beatles

Jerry Springer

Steven Spielberg

Evander Holyfield

Eli Manning

There were hundreds and hundredsof them everywhere. This is just a sampling of the pictures that I took. It was so much fun!

Ikea......

2008-11-18T07:02:00.003-05:00

Michael asked if we wanted to go for a "free" 30 minute boat ride. It was a little cool and very overcast but rarely, if ever, do you hear "free" and New York in the same sentence so we jumped on it.

As we headed to the pier Michael explained that an Ikea was built in Brooklyn and they had set up these water taxi's to draw in customers from Manhattan. Apparently it worked because they run every twenty minutes or so.

We were able to see Lady Liberty on our ride.

A view of the city from the water.

Like I said, it was a little cool out.

30 minutes later we were wondering around the store.

The Subway....

2008-11-18T06:05:00.000-05:00

....is very confusing to me. I won't even attempt to use it without Michael by my side. He appears to be able to find his way around blindfolded and very well may have been blindfolded when we ended up in Queens by mistake!

That was the shortest stop of anywhere we went the entire weekend.