CHRISTMAS DAY AT VICKIE'S

Dec 25 - Ken's daughter, Vickie, lives in Pembroke Pines, about 175 miles southeast of TT Peace River.  And, Ken's granddaughter, Niki, was home from LA for a few days for the holidays.  So, we drove down to spend a couple of days with them for Christmas.  We stayed nearby at the Courtyard by Marriott but spent most of our time with the family.

Niki and friend Carlos.  They met in LA and started dating.  They discovered they were both from Pembroke Pines, FL.  So they are both "home for the holidays"!

I am preparing an appetizer of salmon and cream cheese.  I attracted quite an audience!!

Ken checks out the decorations.

Amazing!  I got everybody to stop for a moment for a Christmas picture!
Ken, Vickie, Niki, Carlos, Steve, and Faye.

It was a lot of fun seeing the family for Christmas!!  Thank you Vickie for all the goodies!

Merry Christmas To All And A Happy New Year!!

KEN'S BIRTHDAY AT TRACY'S

Fri, Dec 13 - We had called Ken's daughter, Tracy, last week to let her know we were back in the Orlando area and would like to get with her for Ken's birthday sometime around December 14.  Still we were surprised when Tracy called to say she was off work on Friday afternoon and could we come over to the ranch.  She would prepare a Birthday Dinner for Ken!  Of course we could!!

You may remember, Tracy lives with a good friend, Chuck, on his ranch in Sanford where he breeds designer puppies -- Corgies, Norgies, Aussies.  Tracy helps him with the puppies and has set up a website on Facebook to advertise Royalty Puppies.

 When we arrived, Tracy immediately took us out to see the twenty-one new puppies that were only about six weeks old.!

All of the puppies are so cute!!

After meeting all the puppies, we took a stroll around the property.  These beautiful flowers were not in bloom the last time we were here.

The happy couple!

Before dinner, Tracy suggested that we drive to the nearby marina.  Hard to believe a big marina like this in the middle of Florida!

There is a Veterans' Memorial Park near the marina.

Ken enjoying his German Chocolate Birthday Cake!!  I baked the cake and made the frosting using Barb's special recipe!  UUMMMMMM!!  By the way, Ken is @&*# years old this year!!  Happy Birthday, Ken.

We ended our day by checking out the Christmas lights at Lake Mary.

Thank you, Tracy, for a most enjoyable afternoon!!

TURTLE SPOTTING AT TT ORLANDO

Dec 11 - There are a lot of these structures scattered around TT Orlando campground.  They are placed over Turtle holes to protect the many Turtle Nests.  We have been here for two months and have never seen a single Turtle!  Until!!  This afternoon!!  As we were driving toward our site, I spotted the head of a Turtle peaking out of this hole!!!

Stop the car, Ken!!!  Let me get a picture!!!  By the time I got out of the car, the Turtle had crawled out of the nest far enough for me to get a couple of nice pictures!

Spotting a Turtle at last was the thrill of the day!!!