Maddy and her Grandpa

Maddy decided that we really needed to meet Grandpa for lunch yesterday. We decided on Chick-fil-a since it's located right outside the base. Here's Moose with Randey after we'd had our chicken nuggets: And here's the real reason Maddy felt we needed to meet Grandpa for lunch:

She thought we could drop by Claire's Boutique while we were out and about so she could buy herself some purty hair things. (*smile*).

She shopped until she ran out of money (and even managed to help me get rid of some of my money, too!). That's one thing about the Moose...she definitely inherited the shopping gene. And being somewhat afflicted with it myself, I really can't complain too much. lol

LOVED the movie! Loved it!

The new Harry Potter movie was fantastic. I can't wait to see it again (yeah, I'm one of those people who can watch a movie over and over and over!). Of course, they left out a lot from the book or so I felt - my son, Kaleb didn't think so (see his review below). Considering the movie was 2 1/2 hours long, though, I can understand why every little thing wasn't included. There was quite a bit of humor in this installment of the series causing most of the audience to laugh out loud throughout. I was very pleasantly surprised by the amount of humor, too, since so much of the story line is fairly dark. And speaking of the dark stuff, Kaleb was right about the silence after Dumbledore died. Dead (pardon the pun) silence. And then all I could hear was Maddy, my granddaughter, sniffling next to me. And the lady on the other side of her. And the people on the row in front of us. And, well...me, too. (Hey! It was sad! Of course I cried. Geez!)

I give this movie two FIRM thumbs up and hope you'll all come tell me what you thought of it, if you go to see it (which you SHOULD!!).

We Have a Date with the Boy Wizard this Very Afternoon!

Randey, Maddy and I are going to see the new Harry Potter movie this afternoon (can't wait!!!!!!!). My middle son, Kaleb, went to the midnight showing. He left me his "review" of the movie next to the coffee pot. Here's what he had to say (if you aren't aware of what happens in the book and/or movie, you might not want to read this!!):

"Very dark, humorous at times. In my opinion, really good acting at the end.

Good and cool movie.

Didn't leave out much (except for cool Death Eaters vs. Order battle at the castle).

Very resounding and complete silence after Dumbledore died...almost couldn't resist saying "Sshhhh" really loudly."

I'm glad he did resist, though. Goofball. lol I can't wait until 5:05 so we can start the adventure ourselves. Woo-hoo! I'll let you know how it goes!

Lunch with a Beach Kat, a Visit with Conner, Catching a "Throwed Roll" and Fun with the Family

Whew! It was a busy six days! First, the long drive to Florida (twelve hours if you don't stop for much). Then shopping and visiting and having fun before the long drive home. And here's some of what I did during my time there:
My sister Sherri and I drove to Sandestin for lunch with Kat @ Just a Beach Kat (Sherri lives in north Okaloosa County, which is one county over from Kat). This is Kat, me and Sher: Kat was kind enough to invite us to her home and then we loaded up in her golf cart for a tour of Sandestin, before deciding on lunch at Cantina Laredo.

Naturally, I was too busy admiring the scenery to get out my camera and take pictures of it. lol It's so beautiful there...Kat does indeed live in Paradise and seeing it through her eyes made it even more special. And I've got to tell you people, most of you already know that Kat and George have a beautiful home but something you may not know is that they have the most fantastic laundry room I've ever seen in my life. Yeah, I know...of all things for me to focus on, a laundry room seems rather bizarre. But if you've ever seen it, you know what I'm talking about. (Right, Rhoda?) Speaking of George, Sherri and I had the pleasure of meeting him while we were there. What a nice man. Very warm and friendly. We met Miss Daisy, too. She's a character! Full of energy and yet very well mannered. A wonderful combination!

Here's a picture of Sherri with Kat, taken during our tour of the area after lunch: And here's Sherri and me:

And I'd love to say "here's a picture of Kat and me", but I didn't get any! I don't know what I was thinking. I've really got to work on that camera usage thing, you know? lol Anyway, we had a wonderful afternoon and, considering that Kat was recovering from mouth surgery, I am doubly grateful for her time and efforts. Thanks, Kat! Sherri and I both had a blast!
This next picture is a random shot of Destin. I think I took it at the HarborWalk Village in Destin. Pretty, isn't it?

As I do every trip to Florida, I visited my grandson's grave site in Destin. I'm always amazed when I see that his toys are still there, every year just a little more faded. Whenever any of us visits there, we tend to bring a token to leave.

I found this to leave for him this year. It spoke to me when I saw it and I thought it was perfect for him.

One day, Sherri, my niece Megen and I all went shopping at Tanger Outlet Mall in Foley, Alabama. We went there in March when I was visiting, but this time we included lunch at Lambert's Cafe. This place is always packed and is famous for their "throwed rolls". There was hardly anything there that was healthy to eat. I was so disappointed (snicker, snicker). I struggled through it all though and suffered with the giant rolls, the chicken and dumplings, the fried potatoes and onions, etc., etc., etc. I know, I know...I'm a brave little soldier, eh? LOL

While shopping, we came across these aqua shoes. I had to take a picture of them. They crack me up. Looks like the latest in Big Foot type foot fashions. And for the low, low price of $70-$90, they, too, could be yours. Not mine, mind you, but certainly yours, if you're willing to pay the price. I figure if I'm paying that much for a pair of shoes, a pair of killer heels will have to be involved, not rubber toes.

And here's the obligatory picture of McGuire's Irish Pub, where I go everytime I'm in Florida, either the Destin or the Pensacola location - I'm not that picky. lol This visit we went to Destin.

And here's my totally crazy niece with her husband, Taron, at McGuire's. Megen's such a nut. I love spending time with her.

And here's a picture of my brother--in-law Ken's pineapple that he's been growing for 4 years. Lookin' good, isn't it?

Maddy Moose swimming in the pool at Sherri's:

We ended the visit with a night of game-playing at Sherri's. It was so much fun. Nothing like making an idiot out of yourself in front of family to make you feel all warm and fuzzy, eh? lol This is my nephew Joseph, attempting to make "sculptures" of a golf tee and a badminton birdie for a game we played. Check out that concentration!

It was a wonderful visit and, at the end of it, I got to bring Maddy Moose home with us for about 3 weeks. We'll return her the first week in August, at which time I plan to hit McGuire's again and very much hope to meet up with Kat yet once more. I've really got to stop trying to eat my way through each and every visit to that area, you know it? Thank goodness for Weight Watchers...they'll have me back in shape in no time. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to count points again. (*smile*)

Randey and I did something we never do...we took a vacation without the kids! It was GLORIOUS! lol (Insultingly enough, I think the kids probably enjoyed being away from us as much as we enjoyed having our little getaway. Go figure.) Now since this was a "first" (being away from my chickens like that), we thought we'd stick fairly close to home. After much thinking and searching, I remembered a place called Turner Falls from my childhood. Turner Falls is where we used to go (back in the day) to camp, swim, cookout and generally have a great outdoorsy time. 'Course, anyone who knows me knows that I'm not what you'd call a Great Outdoorsman. So we found us a nice little bed and breakfast in the Turner Falls area to actually stay at. We chose to stay at Echo Canyon a bed and breakfast/spa. This is the entry into the main building (I look like I'm doing a Vanna White impersonation! lol): This is a separate building that houses all the suites. This is where we stayed.

This is the view from the back of the property. Our room had a balcony that overlooked what they called a canyon (Randey and I called it a gully).

And this is a view of the back of the main building. That wall of windows is the dining room, where they served a 2 course breakfast every morning (and it was good. Heck, it was better than good!). Dinners at Echo Canyon are 4 course affairs that featured triple entrees. Talk about a lot of food! Yowza! They served the World's Greatest Bread, too. I'm talking irresistible. That and the pesto was enough to make me crazy. I won't even get into how good the desserts are. I'm drifting off into a dream state just thinking about them now. lol (I gained 2 1/2 pounds on this little vacation. But, man, it was worth it!!)

Here's a picture of Randey and me in our room before dinner that first night. Randey got out the camera, tripod and remote control just so we could get a picture together to remember the evening (he's such a romantic).

This is me after dinner one night. I changed into shorts so we could walk around the property there in an effort to work off some of that delicious food we'd just eaten.

And here's Randey, relaxing on the porch after his dinner and walk. He looks good, eh?

This is the view from our room balcony.

This is a picture taken on the grounds of the bed and breakfast. It looked so peaceful.

We spent most of our time at either Turner Falls Park or the Chickasaw National Recreation Area. This is a picture of Randey, taken at Turner Falls, as he contemplated climbing down thru the trees on the side of a mountain. He reconsidered after just a few feet. lol

And this is me, taking a break after the long walk up the mountain. You gotta love that hairdo - I looked like Cousin It. lol But at least my face didn't get sunburned. :)

On our third day, Randey decided to try his hand at some fishing at Turner Falls. Since fishing hadn't really figured into our vacation plans, he didn't have a pole so we took a detour to Wal-Mart and bought him a fishing license and some cheap-o gear. We also bought me a book, the latest Evanovich (Finger Lickin' Fifteen). That turned out to be such a nice and peaceful day...Randey finally getting to cast a line and me, laid out on a picnic table, eating rice cakes and reading a book. Ahhhhhhhhh........

Randey was taking pictures of me while I was taking pictures of nature. We both had to laugh at this shot...I look so professional. LOL

This is a great view of Turner Falls and what makes that place so special. There I am, standing on top of a mini-water fall area. If you'll look in the background (click to enlarge), you'll see people walking through the water - it's up to their chests! That's what's so cool about Turner Falls. The waterways just go on forever and the depths vary with every little "pool" you come to.

This is different view of the mini-waterfall I was walking across.

And shock of all shocks!!! Here's me in a bathing suit!! Eeeck! lol I haven't even owned a bathing suit in at least a decade, and even longer since I let anyone with a camera near me while I was wearing a bathing suit. That's how relaxing this vacation was. I didn't even care about pictures of me looking like this. ha!

This is Randey's "little" turtle buddy he met while fishing at the National Park.

Here's Randey - in the Castle, a weird little set of buildings some doctor had built at Turner Falls way back in the '30s.

And here's a view of Bridal Veil Falls. This was taken from an overlook area outside of the park. The picture doesn't do it justice. It's absolutely beautiful there. I sure hated to leave it.

And this is Randey at that same overlook. We stopped by there on our way home, just for a final look at paradise.

We had such a wonderful time - we spent every single day outdoors. Who'd a thunk? I rediscovered my love of doing things outside. I felt like a kid again and it was so much fun to introduce Randey to a memory from my childhood. He was an enchanted with the area as I was. In fact, we're going back next month, but this time we're bringing the kids. We came home from our vacation and went shopping the very next day....we bought a couple of tents, a cook stove, sleeping bags, etc., etc., etc. We're going to take the kids up there and show them just how wonderful the outdoors can be! I'm so excited. I'm driving to Florida in a week or so to pick up our oldest granddaughter and bring her here for a few weeks so she'll get to go camping with us. (That's probably a good thing for us, too! Maddy has more "recent" camping experience than all of us combined so she may have to spend a little time coaching us. lol).

So that was our vacation in a nutshell. It was a real life-saver, as far as I'm concerned. I needed a getaway like that just to save my sanity. And it just couldn't have been any better!!

Paradise Found

Take a good look at this picture (click to enlarge). Isn't it beautiful? Doesn't it look like paradise to you, too? I'll tell you all about it soon. Randey and I just spent the last 6 days and 5 nights enjoying ourselves on a much-needed vacation where we did everything from swimming to shopping to exploring to walking nature trails. Pure paradise. I'll get more pictures uploaded just as soon as we unpack and unwind, but here's a few more to enjoy until then: