Happy Birthday to My Baby Girl!

Eighteen years ago today, I became a mother for the first time. My daughter was born at 1:17 p.m. She weighed 8 pounds, 7 ounces and was 21 1/4 inches long.

My daughter is not home with us for her birthday today. She is celebrating at Disney World with her Aunt.

I was looking through old photos to scan for this blog and noticed that many of her childhood birthdays had a bit of Disney to them...

My daughter has always loved Disney in all its forms (she still does). She had a pair of Ariel pajamas before she could walk. One of her first dolls was an Ariel doll; a little rubber doll just the right size for her little hands to hold. She took it with her everywhere. She wore her out (chewed on her) so we had to get her a new one. She loved Disney movies and still does (who doesn't?).

Notice the Ariel wrapping paper and tablecloth...

An Ariel fish tank as a birthday gift. The fish did not live long, so we bought some more, they did not live long either. We finally gave up and decided the plastic the tank was made of was non-compatible to marine life. My daughter liked playing with the Ariel figurine that came with the tank and did not seem to miss the fish at all.

More Ariel wrapping paper a couple of years later and notice the Pocahontas pajamas. I should have bought some stock in Disney.

My daughter shares her birth date with some other special people in my life. She was born the same day and year as my cousin's youngest daughter (my daughter is on the right).

She shares her birth date with the daughter of a dear friend from my high school days.

And she shares it with another dear friend from my Air Force days.

I wish them all a Happy Birthday too!

I think it is fitting that my daughter is turning 18 and celebrating at Disney World, not only because of her love for anything Disney, but also because she is leaving childhood and entering adulthood. Disney World is the ultimate trip for any child, yet also an awesome place to go as an adult. My daughter is legally an adult as of today...but she will always be my baby girl.

Sister, Sister

Two of my four sisters came for a little visit...we had a great time...

Cindy and Kit came to Florida to visit our Uncle and Aunt (who are only a couple years older than Cindy) and to visit me and my family. They were going to be here for a quick two days, then head back to our Uncle and Aunt's, but we packed a lot into those two days.

It was their first time here. After the grand tour of my home and putting their things inside Tarpon Cottage (the guest quarters), we decided to hit the local bookstore to see if we could find anything to maybe take with us to the beach the next day. We came back home with arms full of new books and to a delicious dinner cooked by my Hero. Dinner eaten and the kitchen cleaned, we headed out the door again to take a little trip to Ponce de Leon Park in town, for sunset photo ops. We got a couple of nice shots...

Next day's beach destination was near Boca Grande on Gasparilla Island. On our way there we passed through a little rain, but once we got to the beach it was sunny and beautiful. The lighthouse was closed for tours, but we still walked around it and the lighthouse keeper's house, peeking in the windows. We walked up and down the beach near the lighthouse looking for pretty seashells.

All that walking made us hungry, so we drove to a nearby beach side restaurant. After lunch we walked out onto the beach, set up the umbrella and chairs and raced into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. We never once thought about the old "wait-one-hour-after-eating-before-you-swim" rule. Is that even remotely based on sound science?

We had so much fun in the water. It was warm as bathwater. We jumped over waves, bobbed on top of waves, body surfed the waves and laughed as we were pushed by the tide and had to swim our way back to the little section of beach we staked with the umbrella and chairs. My sisters did a little beach combing as we took a break from the wiles of the Gulf of Mexico.

We played in the gulf again before it was time to head back home. On our way home we had some delicious ice cream from the Loose Caboose and did some shopping at Fisherman's Village.

After dinners and showers, I took my sisters to the top of the Wyvern Hotel for a girl's night out. We had drinks and lots of laughs over childhood memories and made more memories in the process.

To top the evening off my sisters and I hit the hot tub when we got back home. I slept like a baby...the day at the beach, the wine, the spa...better than any sleeping pill.

My sisters left for Miami the next day after lunch.

They want to come back and stay longer. I would like that...There is more we could do and more memories we could make.

Phase One Pour

Project Sidewalk Phase One is complete. Friday at O-Dark-Thirty, the cement truck pulled into the driveway. It was supposed to arrive around 6:30, but decided to show up a little earlier at 6:10. We turned on all of the outdoor lighting and still we were a bit light challenged for the task at hand.

Just as the cement truck is backing up I feel the first raindrop..."@#&*%" I think to myself...still the pour must go on. There are a few more raindrops as the first of the cement is off-loaded into the wheelbarrow. No turning back now...

Load after load of cement is poured into place; we work it with shovels and rakes to make sure it gets into each corner evenly. Mercifully the few raindrops begin to taper off. Thank You God! The pouring is done, now comes the real work...we have to take a screed board and level out the cement. With one person on each end of the board, we use a sawing back and forth action to work the slurry. You can see the screed board in the above picture. We also use trowels to smooth the surface...as we do this the cats decide it would be a good time to walk across the cement, then run across it and even lay on it.

We imprinted palm fronds onto the drying cement; a few cat prints just adds to the "nature trail" feel of the sidewalk.

We are done working the cement in just over two hours. We let the cement cure for one day before we took the form boards off. Once that was done we were able to finish putting down the river rock and stepping tiles. We are very pleased with the outcome of Phase One of Project Sidewalk.

Phase Two will start next week...weather permitting.

Hardscaping Continued

The picture above is the beginning of phase one of the sidewalks we are putting in. Currently our sidewalks are made of crushed shell and we would like concrete ones. We are doing this ourselves (remember we like the satisfaction of doing it ourselves, as well as saving bucks in the process). The kids are in on it too (much to their chagrin at times) and are learning a few things that may come in handy when they become homeowners one day.

We started out with laying a string line to mark where we wanted the sidewalk to be, in relation to the original crushed shell one. It is in the same area, just a bit wider. We had to cut some of the sod away to widen the sidewalk (old pros at sod cutting) and dig down through the shell (not as difficult as we had anticipated) to get a level base for the concrete pour later.

Next we staked in the wooden forms...

We are hoping to have the concrete delivered via a ready mix truck by the end of this week. I hope the weather will cooperate. It will be nice to have the sidewalk done, especially before my two older sisters come for a visit this weekend. After their visit we will start on phase two of the sidewalk plan. The second sidewalk will come off of this one at and angle and go to the side door. When the sidewalks cure, they will be stained the same color as the steps and wall cap pieces.

Happy Birthday America!

I had a very nice 4th of July weekend. My sister-in-law was here. She arrived on Thursday around dinner time. It is always good to see her.

Friday morning we got up, had our breakfast and headed out the door for Manasota Key. It is an enchanting barrier island with no high rises, no traffic lights, just a two lane road, beautiful trees, lovely homes and pristine beaches. We combed the beach for shark teeth and shells.

Saturday we went into town to watch the start of the 18th annual Fourth of July Freedom Swim across the Peace River. This year several hundred people from as young as 6 to older than 70 swam the mile-and-a-half across the river. My husband and I would like to participate in this, perhaps next year. We saw people using kick boards, noodles and inner tubes to help them get across. They were followed by kayaks and boats. The swim is not a race and there are no prizes awarded for the first to reach the opposite shore. To complete the swim gives one a sense of accomplishment.

We then walked to the riverside park that had food vendors, musicians, arts, crafts and a new interactive fountain for all to enjoy.

After a delicious lunch we watched a K-9 demonstration. It was very interesting and informative. The dogs all came from overseas. The German Shepherds there are not over bred and do not suffer the same ailments (hip dysplasia) as they do here in the U.S. All the dogs were males too. Female dogs can develop too strong of a bond with their handlers and may not accept a new handler if a change is needed. The dogs sniffed out "bad guys" in boxes, tracked items the handlers dropped, climbed and jumped over things. They also showed how well they obeyed the commands to sit, stay, come, attack, etc.

To round off the 4th, we watched a very pretty fireworks show along the river's edge. My husband took these beautiful pictures (and the one at the beginning of this blog).

I thought this one looked like a palm tree.

Murals, Murals, Everywhere...

I live in a town that is a vacation destination for many and a migratory route for "Snowbirds".

I recently learned of a new word in the lexicon...Staycations...a staycation is a vacation at home or in your local area. More and more are taking them because of the economic climate. I was taking staycations long before I knew what they were and before they became tres chic.

I have been on staycations as a child. A family of 10 is sometimes limited as to where they can afford to stay and what they can do while there.

My husband and I, with our two children, have been taking staycations for years. We like checking out the local areas and learning about any history there. Our years in the Air Force have taken us to many interesting parts of this great country. I live in a town that is a nice place to take a staycation.

One of the things that makes this area nice for a staycation are the many murals around town. They represent the town's history as well as the flora and fauna. Juan Ponce de Leon landed here, so we have the Conquistador murals.

I spent one sunny morning walking around town with my husband and took pictures of some of my favorite murals. We had a nice, mini staycation.