Ceekay Came For a Visit!

The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of activity!  My friend Ceekay came from Arizona for a visit so we took advantage of every minute.  Here's just a few photos of just a few of the things we did while she was here.

High on her list of things she wanted to do was walk the beach and find some sea shells.  That called for a road trip to Ft. Myers for the best shelling in Florida!

We stayed at a cute little bed and breakfast right on the beach.......

.........where we enjoyed hunting for shells at sundown.

However, some of the best sea shells are found on nearby Sanibel Island so over the bridge we went.  We enjoyed eating our weight in shrimp, hunting shells, and visiting their museum and historic village.

Then, we spent one whole day at the Edison and Ford Winter Estates where we had a "behind the scenes tour," even exploring the upstairs of these beautiful houses.

We finally had to return to Juno Beach but found even more things to do that kept us busy.  One day we drove up the coast to the town of Stuart where we had lunch at Lady Anne's Tea House.

Ceekay agrees that the food was delicious!

We had so much fun shopping, cruising up the Loxahatchee River, visiting a wildlife sanctuary, and so much more!  I know this is a short post but we're getting ready to move the 5th wheel to Disney World's Fort Wilderness Campground for a while.  Our oldest daughter, son-in-law and grandson are coming a visit now!  If you'd like to see more pictures of our adventures check out Ceekay's blog.  She'll be posting photos soon!

My Arizona Stuff (Treasures)

When my friend Ceekay moved to a new home, I was reminded that it's really all of our stuff, or what I like to call treasures, that make a house feel like home.  Since we just returned from our home in Arizona I thought I'd show just a few of my treasures.

This is my living room.  On the left is a rocking chair I recovered from my parent's basement at Robards Mansion Bed and Breakfast in Hannibal, Missouri.  We believe it is original to the home from the late 1800's.  The bookcase next to it was purchased by my great-grandmother when she got married in 1900.  The piano was purchased for me, by my husband, as a wedding present when we got married in 1975.

This table in the foyer is also original to Robards Mansion and was literally in pieces when I took it home, refinished it and put it back together.

This trunk, now residing in my family room has been in my mother's family since the 1800's.

My mother says she remembers an Union officer's uniform and sword was inside - but, evidently, some other family member got those treasures.

I'm not sure how old this chair is, but it used to belong to my grandmother so it is special to me. 

My dad grew up with this buffet in his home.  There used to be a matching table but no one knows where it is now.

This tiger oak coffee table was once a library table my grandmother cut down and white-washed.  I stripped off her finish and found the beautiful wood underneath.

We have purchased some of my treasures, like my dining room table.  I found it at an estate sale in Sun City and recovered the chairs.  I love those estate sales!

In fact, most of my teacups were purchased for very little money at estate sales.

Of course, auctions are also a good source for treasures.  I beat out several other bidders for this rocking chair at an auction in Missouri.

These lamp poles were probably my largest (but not most expensive) purchase.  I found them at an auction held at an old movie studio in the Phoenix area, brought them home and painted them.  Hubby had a time getting them set up but they work beautifully lighting up our back yard.

Here in Florida, I've been purchasing some new treasures.  I'm still not sure where I'm going to put this one!

I don't know when I'll have time to blog again.  On Monday, Ceekay is coming for a visit and we have planned all sorts of adventures, starting with a road trip to Fort Myers.  I can't wait!

Easter Weekend in Arizona

I can't believe we've been back in Florida for over a week now!  We had a wonderful time in Arizona with the kids and grand kids and it was so hard to say good-bye.  Here's a little of the fun we had.

We went to grandson Jacob's T-Ball practice.......

helped grandson Joshua fix his backpack.........

played a little golf...........

(one round wasn't enough!)

did a little yard work...........

caught up on some loving............

showed Papa how to play Angry Birds (to no avail!)........

and took turns taking pictures.

On Easter, after attending church, eating a big meal and taking naps it was time to......

open Easter baskets...........

hunt for 200 Easter eggs...........

and take a little motorcycle ride.

Please forgive this Grandma's indulgence, but you can see why it was difficult to leave Arizona!

Cruising Aboard The American Victory Ship

A little over a week ago we were privileged to be able to sail on one, of only four, fully operational Victory ships in the country.  My cousin, Barbara, and her husband, Johnny, are volunteers on this ship which served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam before being retired.

She presented quite an impressive sight - even from the stern.

She was berthed nose to nose with this Carnival cruise ship.  Our cruise would be quite different than theirs!

The crew set up plastic chairs on  deck for the passengers' comfort.

The ship still needs a lot of work to be done to fully restore it, so Hubby decided he better check out the lifeboats.

The ship was built in just 55 days, completed May 24, 1945, and served as a cargo ship supplying troops all over the world.

To bring back the feeling of the '40s some of the volunteers dressed in era appropriate clothes.

While we were waiting to set sail we explored below decks.

My cousin, Barb, has done a lot of cooking for the volunteer crew in this galley.

Before too long, a tugboat arrived to help move us away from the dock.

Hubby watched the maneuvers with great interest.

A few Navy boats remained by our side the whole time we were out in Tampa Bay.

Meanwhile, on board, the party was getting underway with a D.J. and '40s era singers.

We took the opportunity to send messages to our grandsons in Arizona via Morse Code from the ship's radio room.

All too soon our cruise was over, but we enjoyed every minute of it!

Another successful voyage for The American Victory Ship.  If you'd like to learn more about the ship, or take your own tour or cruise, check out their website at www.americanvictory.org.

I won't be blogging for a while because I'm flying off to Arizona to spend a long Easter weekend with our kids and grand kids.  I hope you have a blessed Resurrection Sunday with your own family.



Nassau, Grand Bahamas

On the second morning of our cruise to the Bahamas, aboard the Norwegian Sky, we stepped out onto our balcony to see this:

The Royal Caribbean ship Oasis of the Seas was docked right next to us and a Carnival ship was on it's way into port.

With limited time in Nassau, we chose a shore excursion to Fort Charlotte, Fort Fincastle and the Junkanoo Museum.  First stop:  Fort Charlotte.

From the walls of the Fort we could just make out the FIVE cruise ships that were now in port - two Norwegian ships, two Royal Caribbean ships, and a Carnival ship.

Fort Charlotte was built to protect the island but never saw any action.

Life at the Fort was rather harsh.

All too soon, we loaded back into our blue van with our fellow tourists to the next adventure.

Our next stop was the Junkanoo Museum.  Junkanoo is the Bahamian version of Mardi Gras and takes place at midnight on Christmas Day.

The costumes are actually made of paper but can weigh as much as 70 pounds.  Junkanoo was a celebration that masters allowed their slaves to participate in and it continues today.  Since slaves were not allowed to read or write, the paper used in their costumes was a symbol of their rebellion.

Our next stop was Fort Fincastle, a smaller, earlier fort built in the shape of a ship.

This fort never saw any action either!

From there, we took a short walk over to the Queen's Staircase and carefully descended the 65 narrow steps carved from solid limestone by slaves in the late 18th century.

The staircase, and the carved out area around it, is one of the most visited sites in Nassau.  It was named in honor of the 65 years of Queen Victoria's reign.

By this time I was ready for something else - shopping!

We headed back to the city to join the thousands of other cruisers looking for bargains.  Surprisingly, I didn't buy too much.  I can't show them yet since most of them are gifts!

We didn't have much time for shopping anyway.  We had to be aboard ship by 4:30 p.m. so back to the dock we went, passing some of the other ships before we came to the Sky.

In the distance we could see the famous Atlantis Resort.  Many ship passengers opted to spend their day there.

Evidently, the Oasis of the Seas passengers had to be on board earlier than we did, because we watched as their ship backed out of it's slip.  Soon we, too, headed out to sea and back to Miami.

Last weekend we took a much different cruise - aboard a WWII Victory Ship.  Pictures to follow next week!