ALMOST FISHING....

To keep with tradition we decided to go

on the boat for fun in the sun and some

fishing....

 

As you can see the boys are quite ready!

 

15 minutes into the boat ride

(even tho' the boat was supposed to be fixed)

we heard that familiar sound of

the boat saying, Not Today People!

So after calling for help we were towed into the boat dock!

 

 

We headed to the Naples Pier!

We finished fishing ;) with a smile!

 

Bikes, Ice cream, candy & wild things....

 Amber, Ben & boys joined us on Dec. 18th

Time for the BIKE RIDE...

 

 We found the Naples Beach

 

 On the way back we stopped at

Dairy Queen...

 

We are Men of Action !

 

Plus we can whip up a Gingerbread

house in No Time flat...





Back to the Zoo with G.ma as our

tour guide :)

Are you hungry for more!

stay tuned...

 

 

 

 

 

Making Life ‘Grand’

 Family time (Carola taking the picture)

Enlisting the grandkids help decorating our Christmas tree…

Our Little Beefeater (a.k.a.- decoration from England)

Girls just wanna have fun- making cookies with G.ma :)

  Benefits…

Boys wanna have fun too ;)

  Sailing the Ocean Blue!

Biking to the Beach….

Life is not complete unless you drive with the top down, listening to Keith Urban!

We stayed plenty busy as you can see… great memories!

 

After Turkey Day…

The activities continue…

V. I. P. boat tour at the Naples Zoo

cute little monkeys were about :)

G.ma and her Giraffes…

Camel rides are a must…

Festival of Lights with G.pa Wampler

First fish of the day! Fact not brag ;)

 Blowing in the face game!

Finishing up the Thanksgiving week with Phil’s birthday **

The Day of the Turkey (yum)

 Our Turkey platter- served by our beautiful granddaughter Emily…

This boy is quite the eater- he ate four of my rolls!

Finally our dinner is ready :)

Our entertainment for the evening was a pilgrim show put on by G.pa (our puppet master) and his helpers…

Nick- Helper #1

Hailey- Helper #2

Emily- Helper #3

As you can tell Steve (G.pa) is in a lot of pictures- we keep him quite busy - I’m good at delegating :)

 

A Week of Blessings….

Our oldest son Phil and his family joined us this past week for Thanksgiving and birthday celebrations!

The grandkids couldn’t wait to break open a coconut for the meat & milk :)

  The day before Turkey Day was G.pa’s birthday- so we started out with a traditional breakfast of sausage gravy & biscuits…

  Next a bike ride to parts unknown…

A beautiful day at the beach (winter in Naples)

a stop at the Sailboat…

Finding a ‘Cuban Lizard’ along the way- Nick is not sure about getting too close …

The opening of gifts….

This was all on Nov. 27th- quite a full day :)

 

 

DESTINATION…….VERMONT…..

 My dear friend Cindy Cragun and I have been trying to get together forever…. she has moved to Calif. and I am still here in Florida. So finally we planned this trip!

Meeting at the airport in Boston :)

We stayed at a Bed & Breakfast called the Fiddler’s Green Inn. Run by a colorful character named Bud…..

This is the view behind the Inn…

Got to hear this creek every night after going to bed- very soothing!

Sunday after attending church- Cindy and I drove to Sharon, VT. to see the Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial….

 

very beautiful with all the flowers…

 

 

 

The weather was perfect!

 

  Emily’s Covered Bridge- story goes a couple wanted to be together but not allowed so upon finding her lover dead…. Emily hung herself from this bridge (has it’s own face book page)

Monday turned out to be our one and only rainy day but we still went to the Shelburne Orchard to pick apples. This was my first time :)

you pay so much by the pound so you gotta be careful…

when you’re done picking you can come back to Hot apple cider…

 getting my Fall Fill

 

 Seeing the Shelburne Museum is a Big Undertaking.. there is alot to see. for more info. about it go to: http://shelburnemuseum.org/

Last but not least… a tour of the famous Ben & Jerry Ice cream factory in Waterbury, VT. (town close to Stowe where we were staying). We both bought a pint to take back to the Inn (or farmhouse as Cindy liked to call it) but after a ‘Big Dinner’ there was no way we could eat it. So we had to donate to a lucky couple we met eating breakfast.

I must say goodbye to beautiful Vermont….