Lion Country Safari

Jana has to leave tomorrow, so today she wanted to do something special that she's never done before!  We chose Lion Country Safari, which is always a treat even if you have been there before.

It was the perfect day for an outing - cool, clear, sunny- perfect, as I said.
Great for picture taking, too.  We drove through at a very slow pace and had terrific views of most of the big animals. Afterwards, we stopped to eat at Bru's Room Bar and Grill in Royal West Palm Beach - they do a wicked salad!

This is one of a pair of lions guarding the front gate.  He reminded me of Aslan in the Chronicles of Narnia.

Lions are very sleepy in the daytime.  The CD guide we were listening to said they sometimes sleep for 20 hours per day.

A wildebeest, or gnu.  We thought he looked like a grumpy old man.

Mom and baby white rhino

Horses in striped pajamas

Zoo buddies

Gibbon

\

Yard ornament

Giraffe - sweet close-up

THANK YOU JANA

One lion did get up and walk around - she flopped right back down in the shade.

Gnus

THE END

Bye Bye Tom. Hello Cirque

Since Tom is leaving today, it's the perfect time to have a farewell breakfast at the Galaxy Diner. It's almost a tradition.

Laurie drove Tom to the airport to fly the first leg of his trip to Melbourne, Australia. He flies first to Houston, waits 3.5 hours, then flies to LA, waits another 3.5 hours, then off to Australia - a sixteen hour flight. We will all miss him - he's such an integral part of the family.

The remaining six of us went off to Ft. Lauderdale to the Broward Center for the Performing Arts to see the Cirque Holidaze Dreams show. It was such a colorful, spectacular performance, filled with impossible physical prowess and flexibility. By the end of the show, the splits were just ho-hum! It seemed as though everyone on stage could do the splits. The two child performers were very impressive - I especially enjoyed the little girl in pink who must be double jointed in every possible joint.

 Dylan and Laynie with the Cirque Toy Soldier in front the the Performing Arts Center:

Dylan and Laynie seated and ready to watch:

Grandma and Grandpa can't wait!

Steiger/Gillespie Christmas Day

Dick found this water at Publix - perfect for you know who!

Laurie Jane - hostess and chef extraordinaire :)

Dylan had a stocking to explore.

His first gift was - ta da! - an iPhone!!

We were so happy that he had an iPhone that we all called him.

I'm sure that Tom is recommending some really good apps.

Host and Hostess with the Mostess !!

Brave Tom brought this all the way from China!

Chip's first moments with his new grill - Merry Christmas!

Traditional Christmas Day

Chip has to work on Christmas Day, so our family is celebrating Christmas tomorrow. Chip should get here around noon tomorrow. This is the first time that we've ever not celebrated on the Very Day - but it's really not so hard. Since Dylan is now such a grown-up, it didn't bother him either.

 Laurie made us a terrific turkey dinner, with such a beautiful table setting - I'm so sorry I didn't get a picture of it. The dinner was scrumptious, and we appreciated all of her hard work and hospitality!

 While the turkey was cooking, we took the opportunity to do some Christmas caching near her neighborhood. Laurie wanted to show us a tricky one, but Dick walked right to it - it was a kind with which we are very familiar. She took us to three all together - it was a beautiful day, lots of fun, and the turkey bird was roasting peacefully in the oven while we were gone.

After dinner and clean-up, Dylan, Tom and Jana tried their skill at Jenga - it's as much fun to watch as to play.

As Dick Strolls Through Town

This morning, Dick went walking around downtown Stuart. It's fun to see Kilwin's and Harbor Wear right next to each other - makes you feel like you're back in Traverse City.

Well.....almost:

Later on at Laurie's, Tom and Dylan had a bunch of fun playing Halo on the xBox -

I watched for almost an hour - no, really - but then my eyes felt bloodshot, so I left the playroom!

Christmas present to our family from the Hardy family :)

Cookies from Kathee:

Terrific looking U of M ornaments - Go Blue!

A Kind of Irreverent Christmas Card

Kind of?

Dick's Dip/ Descendants

This morning Dick drove over to Publix to do some walking and to pick up some caches in that area. He saw many of these muscovy ducks - apparently some people feed them, and they have no fear of humans. They're not the prettiest duck you'll ever see! He says that they are the only ducks in the U.S. not related to mallards. The native Americans were the first to domesticate them.

I stayed here and walked around the building, along the riverfront, and ended up at our condo's little pool with my Kindle.

Our Gate:

Fountain number 2:

When Dick got back, he joined me poolside and took a dip in the pool - he said it was warmer than the summertime Bay.

 

 It would have been nice to spend more time around the pool, but the hedge trimmers came to trim all of the hedges, and it was so loud we retreated upstairs. We had to close the windows upstairs for some peace and quiet.

 Laurie and I went to the Treasure Coast Mall to see George Clooney in Descendants - such a sad, sad movie on so many levels. It was worth seeing, but the men would have hated it. It was a five tissue movie. I especially enjoyed the Hawaiian music and the beautiful island scenery. 

 Even though we were full of popcorn when we got back to Palm City, we had a slice of pizza and watched an episode of Burn Notice - then it was time to come home.

Kit Gifford

My best friend in high school was Freda S.  Her big sister Kit put up with us very nicely.  Today Kit passed away in Honolulu, which has been her home for several years.   Kit and Freda's dad was a widower, and a typesetter at the T.C. Record-Eagle.  When we were in Junior High together, Freda's Dad married my teacher for grades 5 and 6 at Union Street School, Evelyn Wiltse.

 Rest in peace, Kit.  I believe you had a good life.

Kit Gifford

 Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Dec. 22, 2011
Kit Gifford, 78, of Honolulu died in Honolulu. She was born in Traverse City, Mich. She is survived by husband Bruce, daughter Janet G. Brown and sister Freda Sprietsma. No services. No flowers.

Roosevelt Bridge/Roosevelt Cafe

Laurie dropped Tom off at our condo this morning. For their morning constitutional, Tom and Dick walked over the Roosevelt Bridge. It was an uneventful outing - except they did have to wait for the drawbridge on the way back. When Laurie came back, we opted to go to lunch at Splash down the way - but it was closed! So we had lunch at the Roosevelt Cafe, close to the bridge and right next door to the Park Ave. Grill. We were the only customers for most of lunch - the food was really good. After lunch, Laurie and Tom helped me upgrade my iPhone to 5 so now, if I'm on wi-fi, I can text Tom free while he's in Australia and China. Yaay! Chip cooked us hamburgers for dinner - very yummy - and then we all watched the first half of Social Network.

Sailor's Return

Slept in really late this morning - maybe it was the Nyquil. I'm trying to nip a cold in the bud. Then I got up and fell asleep again in the recliner. Nyquil sure must be powerful stuff. Laurie called and we planned to meet at the Sailor's Return for lunch. I made reservations for five outside, because it's such a beautiful Florida day and it's fun to watch the boats go in and out of the marina.



When they got there, Tom said there was a chance he might have to go back to San Diego before Christmas because there's a laser problem and they need him. Holy cow - he could wind up flying across the country every day this week. We shouldn't have chosen a restaurant with the word "return" in its name!

 We had a great lunch with beautiful views, and planned to meet back here at our condo afterwards. By the time they got to the condo, Tom had heard that he does NOT have to fly back to San Diego after all - whoopee!

Blog Blues

I have spent most of today trying to update my blog.   Blogspot has changed, and my current browsers aren't quite up to the task, especially when it comes to pictures.  I downloaded Google Chrome, as blogspot recommended.  Fine.  That works, but it's just as clunky as the old blogspot - plus they have changed some of the features and there are no instructions as to how to make it work as well as it used to. It's all by guess and by gosh.

 I think I'm doing quite well to have figured out as much as I have, but I'm still having trouble with editing and pictures.  I'm hoping that it will all become apparent to me as time goes by.  Maybe.

  Wrestling with blogspot took up the whole morning and lunch time up until around 2 p.m.  Dick was pacing like a caged animal, so we had an outing to downtown Stuart to finish up the Tour of Stuart cache that we all tried on Sunday, but got rained out.  It was a fun walk along the riverfront and the information was easily available.  We signed Basswood and also Sharkie Crew because they did 90% of it on Sunday.

After some errands and a couple of other caches, we went to the Park Avenue Grill for ribs - came home to put the leftover ribs in the fridge, and went to Laurie's house to see Tom and Dylan.

 Laurie and Tom had been Christmas shopping down in West Palm, and Dylan had school and tennis.  We had fun hanging out with them - Dylan had really good news about his mock trial project - his group won!  And the teacher said that he had the best questions.  He has exams for the next three days, and then he'll be on Christmas vacation.

Tom kept getting phone calls about Cymer's laser projects.  Some calls were from San
Diego and some were from China - about two separate laser types.  See - Cymer just can't get along without Tom!

Party Day

Tom has arrived!

 We got an early call to stop by with donuts, so off we went to Dunkin Donuts for an assortment, and then of to Laurie's for breakfast.

 Tom has some great stories to tell about China - and I have a feeling that we'll hear more as time goes by. My favorites involved the Chinese attitudes toward Westerners, who are so rare as to be objects of great interest and are treated with unusual respect. He has a daunting schedule. He's here for Christmas, leaving for Melbourne, Australia on the 27th, and from there back to China until Jan. 18th. 

Dylan's birthday party is scheduled to begin around noon. Kyle, Peyton and Toby are coming to play xbox games all afternoon. Chip and Laurie have re-arranged the living room to accomodate two TVs and two xboxes. Dylan loves his fedora hat, so Laurie has a fedora for each of the boys, including Grandpa, Chip and Tom.

 Dick and I exited before the boys got there, and returned around five o'clock for sandwiches and cake. It was really entertaining to watch the boys play - they're really a lot of fun. We all wore hats - Tom let me wear one of his and Laurie wore one of Dylan's. The result was kind of a strange looking group!