New Year's Eve 2007

We got up this morning and talked with the folks at Habitat - they won't have work until Wednesday or Thursday so we are working with the church group who is here from PA. We split into two groups and our group went out to a house in the next town (Waveland). We sheet-rocked all day and were able to finish three bedrooms and got some of the living room ceiling up also. The man whose house we are working on stopped by after work and seemed happy with the progress. He had originally had a house down near the water and he said all that is left is the stone pillars, but he was not allowed to rebuilt on the property. We came back to the bunkhouse at dark, hot and weary, had dinner and will hit the showers soon. Some of the teens from the church group bought fireworks and will take them down to the beach this evening, but Dave and I will curl up with our books for the night. Happy New Year everyone!!

Sunday December 30, 2007

We had a wonderful, but very filling, dinner last night at a steakhouse recommended by the desk clerk at our hotel. Came back, read for a while and went to bed. We woke up during the night to a massive thunder and lightening storm. Fortunately, the rained stopped long enough for us to pack up the car and we were on the road again. We were in the car only a short time when the skies opened up again - it poured buckets through the rest of Florida and all of Alabama. We stopped at the Welcome Center in Mississippi and chatted with the folks there for a while. They suggested that we go down to route 90 along the shore for the rest of our journey. We did so and saw some amazing sights. The devastation here is still quite evident almost two and a half years after Katrina. Only about 1 in 30 houses facing the Gulf was not damaged or destroyed. There were many front steps to nowhere and also driveways leading to empty lots. A few houses are being rebuilt, but most lots have for sale signs in front of them. We saw the steeple of a church just sitting on the ground with no church in sight, a foundation of a house with no house yet a swimming pool looking intact. There were hundreds of empty parking lots in front of empty lots where obviously stores and shopping centers had been. The damage appeared to extend a quarter to a half a mile back from the road in some places. Many of the beautiful live oaks were dead or broken. On a positive note, those trees in the median whose tops were gone had been carved into beautiful dolphins, herons and the like. We got to Bay St. Louis in the afternoon. We are a week ahead of schedule, but we will work here for a while for Habitat for Humanity and then continue on to Texas. The place we are staying is a church with bunkhouses for the workers. We are with a church group from PA - 24 adults and teens who will be here until Thursday. More people will probably be coming in later in the week. The church fed us dinner of chicken corn chowder, salad, and biscuits and we shared a tub of fudge with everyone. We will find out our work assignment tomorrow and meet with the local Habitat representative. We look forward to a productive week.

Saturday December 29, 2007

We left Crystal River and headed north staying on the smaller roads as we are not in any hurry to get anywhere. We crossed into the panhandle of Florida and actually found a few hills! They weren't big, but they were there - the rest of Florida is extremely flat. We have seen a huge fluctuation in gas prices today - from 2.95 to 3.19! We stopped for lunch in a small cafe. The young woman who runs it is from Germany. She met her husband there and he brought her back to the states where she really loves the weather. She was not happy with the cold winters near Frankfort. We drove on enjoying the scenery and stopped at a state park on the Gulf of Mexico to take a walk break on the beach. The water was fairly warm (about 70), but most people were not in the water as they thought it was too cold. There were a few people surfing with wet suits on. We saw lots of small gulls, terns, and plovers, but no shells as the surf was quite strong. We got back in the car and have stopped for the night in Milton, FL (about 30 miles short of the border). We got a surprise as we checked in - we thought it was 4:30, but it is only 3:30 here - we crossed a time zone and weren't aware of it! I figured now was a good time to blog as it is too early to go to dinner.

Friday December 28, 2007

Today was a sad day - all of the kids had to leave to go home. We got up early so we could see Laura and Nick and the kids off at 4 AM. The next to leave were Doug, Caroline, Lauren, Jaime and Dotty Jo at 7:30. At 9, we got a call from Laura saying that they had landed. We had checked the weather channel and saw that there was snow in Chicago (Amy and Dean's connecting city) so Dean called the airline and found that their flight had been canceled! They decided to go towards the airport and find a motel. They got a new flight for tomorrow morning and hopefully would go this afternoon to Downtown Disney. Better to have a layover in Florida than Chicago. We all got going at about 10. Dave and I stopped to checkout and then headed for Tampa to meet up with our good friends Lana and John King who have been visiting with Lana's daughter Kelly. We hooked up by phone and decided to meet for lunch at a restaurant called Castaways located on the causeway to Clearwater. We were a little late as the navigator (Sandie) took a wrong turn, but we did finally get there and had a wonderful lunch on the patio overlooking the beach. We left Lana and John and continued into Clearwater to pick up route 19 north. We stopped at a post office as Alex had discovered that Dan had left his homework in the bedside drawer and we needed to mail it to him. The route was a good one for looking at our surroundings - low speed and through lots of little towns. We ended up staying in Crystal River again (where we saw the manatees about a week ago). We were so full from lunch that we skipped dinner and took a lovely long walk instead. The motel we were staying in advertised hi speed internet, but it wasn't working so I am actually writing this on Saturday.

December 27, 2007

Amy, Alex, Nick, Laura, and Dan went to a waterpark for the day. Most everyone else went to the pool. Dave stayed home to hold the fort and I went to the clinic with Ella and Zoe. They both have conjunctivitis and Zoe also has an ear infection. Dave and I fed them when I got home, doctored them up and put them in for a nap. Caroline, Doug, Jaime, and Dotty Jo cooked dinner tonight - stuffed chicken, caesar salad, spinach salad, veggie rice, and homemade key lime pie for dessert. We will all have to go on diets after this week. This evening was mostly about packing up, cleaning up, and saying goodbyes as Laura and Nick have to leave at 4 AM to catch their plane. We did take a family photo in our shirts that we made and we launched a mento/diet coke rocket (ala Myth Busters) in the backyard. We had a wonderful week, but it is hard to believe that it is over.

December 26, 2007

Everyone except Dean, Amy and Zoe went to Seaworld today. They stayed behind to welcome Dean's cousin Natalie who will stay with us until Friday. Seaworld was great - we saw Shamu, polar bears, penguins, dolphins, etc. It was a full day. This evening the kids got their night out. They were supposed to go out the other night, but didn't make it. They had a great time at a Thai restaurant while Dave and I fed the kids and got them to bed. They were all tired - the last eye shut by 8:30. We had 3 boys in one bedroom and 3 girls in porta-cribs in the other bedroom. Everyone had a great time.

Christmas Day 2007

Wow! What an amazing day! Santa found us with no problem - thanks to the magic reindeer food the kids scattered in the back yard. Stockings were opened before breakfast (sausage and eggnog french toast) and then the gifts were opened. The grandkids had a ball playing with their new toys and then they went for a swim in the pool. In the afternoon, we tie-dyed tee shirts (they were all different, but all great). In the evening, Nick and Laura made a fabulous dinner - salmon and leek bisque, stuffed beef en croute, and fresh green bean and mushrooms. Dessert was profiteroles with gourmet ice cream and chocolate caramel sauce - yum!!!

Christmas Eve 2007

Another glorious Florida sunshiny day! Some of the troops went to Magic Kingdon and the others went to Epcot for the day. Dave and I cooked dinner tonight - everyone liked the garlic shrimp so I guess that recipe is a keeper. Everyone had a full day and went to bed earlier than they have been both as a result of being on the go all day and in anticipation of Santa coming tonight. Dave and I had a quiet day. We went for a walk and to the pool after cleaning house and going to the grocery store. The kids are all in bed and we will have a quiet night, but will probably go to bed early ourselves so that Santa can come. Before the little ones went to bed, they went out to the backyard and sprinkled Magic Reindeer Food that Laura and Nick had brought with them. The reindeer can smell it from 100 miles away so that they know where to guide Santa. We did write to him to let him know that we would all be in Florida, but the kids wanted to make doubley sure!

Sunday 12-23-07

We started out with fog this morning, but it quickly burned off and it turned out to be a wonderful day - sunny and warm. Jaime and Dotty Jo are off to Kennedy Space Center for the day and the others went to Animal Kingdom. Dave and I did laundry, went for a walk and stayed on call for the little ones who might have enough Disney for the day. Doug and Caroline came back in the afternoon with Lauren, Ella, Zoe, and Theo. They all had a wonderful time looking at the animals in the park, but a whole day is really too much for them. We fed the crew and put the younger ones down for a nap. Theo is resting on the coach. When everyone gets up for nap we will take them to the pool. Tonight is big kids' night out - Dave and I will feed and put the grandkids to bed and our kids will go out for dinner and entertainment.

Saturday 12-22-07

Well, we had a bit of a surprise this morning - instead of the sunny day we were supposed to have, it was cloudy and a bit chilly! We spent the morning making Christmas decorations - including a pink flamingo with a Christmas wreath around its neck as our table centerpiece. The whole place is looking very festive. This afternoon, we made two kinds of cookies and by the time we finished, the sun was beginning to poke through the clouds and we took the kids to the pool to swim. It was Amy's family turn to cook and we had a delicious dinner - with cookies for dessert of course. We had a family meeting after dinner to decide who was going where on what day and who was cooking dinner. The little guys are all in bed and the older ones are watching a movie. We will hope for better weather tomorrow.

Friday 12-21-07

We got up this morning and found that it had rained sometime during the night. The roads were still wet, but it is a lovely day. We packed the car and got on the road with the intention of seeing some more manatees from a nearby state park, but when we got there at 8 we found that they didn't open until 9 so we decided to just go to Kissimmee. We traveled along back roads for the most part and took our time getting to Orange Lake. The rooms weren't ready when we got there so we went to one of the restaurants for lunch. It is a beautiful day - warm and sunny with a slight breeze. We got into our unit at 3:30 and then I went out to load up on groceries for the gang. Doug, Caroline, Lauren, Jaime, and Dotty Jo were the first to arrive (around 5) and we just heard from Dean and Amy and Laura and Nick who have just arrived at the airport. Can't wait to see everyone. We look forward to a wonderful week.

December 20, 2006 - Thursday

Got up early this morning and went down to the dive shop to be suited up with wet suits and snorkel gear. We then went by boat to two places on the Crystal River and swam with the manatees. They were wonderful!! Large, gentle creatures - they came up to us to be patted and then would roll over for a belly scratch, just like a dog. Their skin is fairly rough with short bristly hair in places. They are supposed to be related to elephants way back when. They move very slowly through the water and seem to like people. One of the big ones was covered in barnacles - apparently he had just come in from the Gulf and the barnacles will fall off in a few weeks. We were thrilled to have shared our morning with these gentle creatures. Fortunately, they seem well protected here although we did see a few with propeller scrapes on their tails. In the afternoon, we went for a walk and ended up at a mall which had a cinema. We saw August Rush which we highly recommend - it was a feel good movie. We will go to dinner later and then tomorrow we will go to meet the kids and grandkids!

Wednesday 12-19-07

We went to bed early last night and had a great night's sleep. Repacked the car and got on the road at 8:45. We drove through to Florida's welcome center and decided to visit Crystal Springs to look for the elusive manatee. Our hotel is right on the water and we will probably go for a boat ride tomorrow. The weather is great - bright, sunny and 76! We went through quite a few small towns on our way and we have decided that decorated palm trees don't have quite the same holiday effect as pines and firs! We will probably stay here until Friday when we will go to Kissimmee to meet the rest of the family for Christmas.

Day 1

We must have been very excited to start our adventure as we woke up at 12:30 AM and realized that we wouldn't be able to fall back to sleep. After showering and putting a few last minute things into our already overstuffed car, we got on the road at 1:15 instead of our intended 3AM. We think this worked to our advantage as we sailed across the George Washington bridge in under 2 hours. We breezed through New Jersey and Delaware and decided to take the Delmarva roads instead of I-95 (a bit slower, but much less traffic) and crossed the Chesapeake at Annapolis. We stopped for lunch in Rocky Mount, NC and still feeling fine, we continued on until 3:15 PM when we stopped for the day in Manning, SC (about 100 miles short of Savannah). The weather here is in the 50's (very nice!) and we have just come back from a long walk to stretch our legs and dinner. Tomorrow we will find somewhere to explore in Florida where it should be even warmer!

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