Really the person who had the best time on vacation was Gary.. he has trained my Mother into taking him for multiple walks every day, has had more than just me to play ball with and had a whole sofa to himself! Of course he was getting love whenever he demanded it too...
He think he is a big teddy bear sometimes and jumps on my lap for love... He's so heavy though ;-(
Anyway all of this walking and playing has completely exhausted him and his last night was spent fast asleep on the sofa...
Don't worry about us Gary, we'll sit on the floor!
It's good to be Gary..
and you just have to love his naughty little face xx
The last day of our holidays in Sarasota (New Years Day) and it was a bit chilly so we decided that a spot of lunch out might be in order and some of us (me!) needed something to soak the gin up! so it was off in to Sarasota about 20 mins from the tennis centre.
On our arrival we were greeted this ...
It seems we had walked into an Sculpture & Art exhibition... this is the 26-foot tall “Unconditional Surrender” sculpture on Sarasota’s Bayfront. The traffic-stopping sculpture was first brought to town for Sarasota’s Season of Sculpture three years ago and has been bought back by donations from local residents...Mom & Dad stand in front for scale!
The sculpture recreates a famous photograph of a World War II sailor kissing a nurse during the end-of-war celebration in Times Square. I tried to get Jody to re-create the scene, but he was having none of it, walking off to look at the other art.. He found a weird alien looking craft which is apparently some mathmatical piece (I didn't understand when he explained it to me) although it was kind of cool...
As our walk down to the pier continued we saw a beautiful dolphin fountain
Another strange alien pointy thing (technical term)
And a strange, large round thing (again technical term)
As you can probably guess I'm not that bothered by art most of the time, but I LOVED the kissing statue. I have to admit that I was more interested in where we were eating for lunch and I was freezing (hence no more pics). Eventually we ended up in an Irish bar (Q. why wherever you go in the world is there always an Irish bar?).. and were soon feasting on burgers and Guinness...we stayed to watch some football and then braved the cold winds back to the car...all that remained now was to pack up our things as the vactaion was officially over in the morning.. Thanks Mom & Dad, we had a great time and it's the first Chritmas I haven't put weight on with all the exercise we've had!!!!
This New Year we were celebrating whilst on vacation in Longboat Key in Florida. After a day playing tennis and walking the dog we dolled ourselves up (well not so much !) for a walk down the road to a local restaurant for a lobster dinner. I posted on Facebook that I would be having lobster & champagne at part of my New year celebrations and I was accused of being posh!...it's just not like that in Florida. There are loads of lobster restauramts and Florida lobster, unlike their Maine cousins, are relatively cheap and delicious.
We were off to the 'Lazy Lobster'...it even sounds like laid back Florida.. and I was delighted to see that its was full when we arrived...
It truely turned into a Lobster night though with Lobster Mac & Cheese as an appetiser (OMG, thought I'd gone to Mac & Cheese heaven)
You can see it was not expensive (how good does that sound though?) and there was enough for my husband and I. Dad had the most delicious king prawns he'd ever had (I can't comment because even though I begged and cajoled I couldn't get him to hand one over !)
And then time to bring on the lobster... Hubbie had surf & turf, Dad had grouper, but Mom & I could not resist the Lobster
Mom & I waiting for our Lobster!
She had the Newburg, I opted for the tails, and because I'm a heathen I had fries instead of mash (sorry)
They were both delicious and hubbie finished my fries off so we were all happy (especially after a few more drinks).
Mom & Dad after a few more drinks ;-)
All that remained was to make it back for 12 to see the ball drop, and to wish Gary Happy New Year with a pig ear (it didn't last long!)
The video of the ball dropping is for my friend, Anne, who was totally confused and probably thought it was something entirely scurrilous!
Happy New Year to you all. May 2010 be happy, healthy & prosperous xxx
This vacation I have found out something quite disturbing...my husband can talk to squirrels ..and they respond!
Whilst at the beach the other day I noticed that the squirrel population was larger and more noticeable than usual. People = food = fat squirrels.
They were relatively unafraid of us as we walked by, even posing for a few picture moments (everytime I try to catch them on film in Jacksonville they're off faster than Houdini).
My husband started to 'talk' to this squirrel and low and behold he jumped down and came scurrying over to him. 'Is that some secret squirrel speak? 'I asked... Apparently you've either got or you haven't...(not that I particularly want to be able to talk to squirrels!, but other animals might be cool!)
My husband...aka Dr Doolittle!
Unfortunately he has no effect on Gary when he is trying to get him to behave, so maybe it's just special rodent powers he possesses!
Just wanted to share some vacation pics with you...we 're playing tennis down in Longboat Key near Sarasota in Florida... It's not been super warm, but we did make the beach one day! Enjoy
Shopping in Armand Key
Mom & Dad - Dad till happy at this point oblvious to how much money Mom has spent!
I've told Jody that I want this tree next year!
Our holiday home (Anne thinks this is Posh?)
Pretty water bits!
The walk to tennis...its quite nice here!
The tennis club - and Mom collecting the balls!
The beach!
Mom on the beach....
This comedy photo is for Anne....she loves this sort of thing!
