Our Florida Vacation

Finally I am getting our May vacation pictures posted. Seems like we have been busy and on the run ever since we got back. We had a wonderful time in Marco Island, Florida. It is on the gulf side where the sand is white and the water a clear blue.


Sign for our hotel.


Front View


Back view


This hotel is an all suites hotel and we enjoyed it so much. This is the living room looking out the balcony door to the Gulf Of Mexico.


The bedroom with a window overlooking the Gulf.


The kitchen. We fixed breakfast everymorning and ate on the balcony. Also usually just had a light supper in the evening on the balcony and watch the sun set.


We were on the 9th floor overlooking the 5th floor garden roof top and swimming pool. I liked this view because it reminded me of a picture taken in Italy. Never been there but just my imagination.


Roof top view looking straight down from our balcony.


Watching parasailing from the balcony. NO, we didn't try this but was fun to watch. Some were out most every morning. This one had a smiley face painted on it.


Sunset from our balcony.


Another sunset.


Walk way from the hotel to the board walk to reach the beach.


Sidewalk cafe on the hotel walkway.



Boardwalk to beach.


At the end of the boardwalk and onto the white sand.

Every evening we walked the beach. Great time of the year to go because the weather is warm but school is still in session so beaches and hotels are sparse with people.

Two doors down from us was a Marriott Resort and they had perfect beach dining. A great lunch spot.

In the town of Marco Island, we found another great lunch place on the marina. Those are multi million dollar homes in the background.

This is a flowering shrub every where, business's and homes. If any body knows what it is let us know. They are beautiful.

This has nothing to do with Florida but is still a perfect picture. Cameron has a new dog. a Boxer, and her name is Bella. Aren't they cute. Bella goes everywhere Cameron goes unless it is against the law.

Georgia On My Mind

We went to Greg and Laura's over Mothers Day weekend and of course had a great time and here are a few pictures to prove it. They have the Wii games, and if you are not familiar with that, it is action games like Bowling, Boxing, Golf, Tennis, etc. There are 2 controllers and you use them as if you have a bowling ball, a tennis racket, or golf club in your hand. Garrett and Chloe in the first two pictures are Boxing (Garrett calls it punching.) At one point during the game Garrett got mad at Chloe and turned and "punched" her in the stomach with his controller, and then had the most surprised look on his face and so did all of us. Guess it was just getting to realistic and he lost control. Anyway we are still laughing about it.




They loved playing Bowling on Wii and Garrett kept beating Grandpa, which was such great fun, so they decided they wanted to try the real Bowling Game. However, they didn't beat Grandpa at the real thing but they did really good and they had such great fun.

On Saturday, we grilled hamburgers and here is the apron Greg wore when he was grilling. Yes, he did have shorts on under his "The Lady Can Cook" apron.

The apron really belongs to Lady Laura and yes, she can REALLY cook. She made us some delicious dishes wearing this apron. Her Short Ribs were awsome. If you ever go see them, you might want to special order them and maybe even her banana pudding. No, Greg is not drugged although it does look like he has been tasting something spiked.

Part of the daily chores at Greg's house is to use whipes on Sadie's feet every time she goes out and comes back in.

Garrett thought it was great fun to put Chloe's pretty hair bows in Grandpa's hair.

All dressed up for meeting.


For Mother's Day Greg had make reservations at a restaurant called Elevations. It is on the runway of a small airport near them and they have the best food. Tammy and family and Greg and family went together to get me a nice Mother's Day gift. A gift certificate to Coldwater Creek, of which I have already spent and got a very pretty jacket to wear with my black skirt, and also a cook book called Fresh Food Fast and has lots of yummy sounding recipies. Thanks kids, I loved the gifts and I love you too.

A Special Lunch

Yesterday, Teresa called and said she was with Renita and wondered if we could meet them for lunch at McAlisters. Of course the answer was YES. We enjoyed seeing both and had been nearly a year since last seeing Teresa. Had a good visit and some good laughs. Thanks Teresa, for remembering us.

Hope all of you Mom's have a great Mothers Day weekend. We leave Thursday going to Georgia to visit Greg and family. Can't wait to give those two little ones a big Grandma hug.

New Windows

Monday and Tuesday we had replacement windows installed and we are so happy with them. They really changed the look of the house. Almost feel like we are living in a new one. If any of you decide to do this project, call me and I will give you some pointers on making your installation a less painful one. No one, including the installer, told us that just removing a window , even from the outside, would create a ton of dust on the inside. So for 2 days I have had to "dedust" every object small and large. Oh if I would have just known, I would have covered most of my stuff but the good news is, we love our windows. Pictures really don't do them justice, so come and see. (Double click to enlarge.)

We love our office view.

Visiting Week

Monday we drove to Brenham, TX as Tommy had a sales call there Tuesday morning. Tuesday afternoon we went to Houston and spent the afternoon and evening with Cathy. After Charles and Chip got home from work we went and had mexican food and of course we all enjoyed that. I am sure that the Carlile family has mexican somewhere in their blood as we love their food. Wednesday we traveled on to the Beaumont area and stayed with Tommy's sister, Eileen. Home on Friday. Had a nice time and enjoyed our visits but there is still no place like home. I find this more and more true as the years pass and pass and pass.

Brenham Blue Bonnets

The extra family member that you may not recognize is Krawl T-----. Yes, that is what it says on the dog collar. He is really a special member and he knows it.

This is a Phase 10 game in progress. Eileen, Marva, Tommy and I (taking the picture.) This is routine entertainment every time we go and it provides lots of frustrations and laughs.

Spring is Springing

A couple of weeks ago we drove around the area where there are alot of spring flowers and azalea's and here are a couple of pictures. Wish I could say the White House is where we live but not today anyway. A dream and a wish and only if it comes with a housekeeper and gardener. The rest of the pictures are the beautiful flowers that Tommy has put in our yard. Now the hard part, keeping them alive.

March Madness

Where did March go? Seems like I have intended to post for the last 3 weeks but always found something else to do. Like the weather, guess we just let the time blow by. Greg and Laura are on a late Anniversary trip and the kids are with Laura's parents. They live near Tammy so this morning she got them and they came to our Union Meeting and then we went to Chili's and ate. Lindsay didn't come home this weekend so we missed her.

Yesterday we went to Celeste and Stefan's Texas wedding reception. They were married two weeks ago in South Carolina. They seem to be enjoying the buffet and no Stefan is not eating the flowers in the middle of the table but they kept getting in the way of picture taking.