Catching up.........

It's been a whirlwind of friends, family and days filled with appointments and many trips along the highways of Florida.      It was a great week but wish I could have spaced the highlights out just a bit to savor more slowly.      

My sister Sandy knows of my love of the tropical flowers from Costa Rica and gifted me these from Hawaii.....they are magnificent (despite my feeble attempt at arranging) and I'm hoping they have a long life.     Later that day, my first and favorite husband, carted me off to the beautiful Gaylord Palms hotel in Orlando.   We spent an anniversary there a few years ago and looked forward to returning.   This was the view from our 8th floor balcony.

There are several restaurants in the atrium, this one of a fishing camp  in the Everglades, complete with live alligators and  a Steak house.  

We had a bit of the bubbly before dinner.............

And then there was THE GIFT....  My wonderful family, (and yes, they were wonderful even before the gift ) totally surprised me with a beautiful sparkly bauble......I love it and will share in another post when I get a good pic.    But the box was equally pretty !!

We hurried home the next day to welcome the Connecticut crowd back from their Disney Cruise.    We had a wealth of grandma's around as Rae joined them on the Cruise.....I have NO pics of any of it....I am really getting lazy with the camera these days.    As usual, when this particular tribe comes to visit, the weather turns ugly and cold.    But they had great days on the ship so all was not lost.  

And now , we look forward to Jeff and Jennifer returning for some sunny golf  and to escape  their rainy weather in Washington.     Isn't this a lovely pic of Jen.    She is wearing the mink belonging to  Aunt Romayne.   I did not know what to do with this beautiful coat and even though it fit me just fine, I didn't see any time when it would be appropriate for me to wear.......altho it would be very warm  sitting around our  campfire on a chilly eve somewhere.  !!    Anyway, Jennifer took it home with her in Dec and found a recent occasion to wear it......isn't this just perfect?    Romayne would be pleased.    

On another note, and a final one as this is getting much too long........... we are gearing up for our summer travels.     We are heading back to our favorite stomping grounds in Colorado and the western states.     Many years ago, when we lived in Golden, we explored the mountain 4X4 trails.   It is exhilarating and occasionally terrifying but oh so beautiful.    To go off above tree line and view the world in all it's glory is truly a privilege.    As we plan our travels, we felt that we really wanted to return to those places we remember and the only way to do that is in a proper mode .....  not wanting to hike it or ride a donkey, we went shopping and came home yesterday with a Jeep .  !!    They have made them much more passenger friendly but still a challenge to just get into  without a ladder.   

Yes, it matches the MH with it's "rugged brown pearl " color and we can't wait to 

climb those mountains...................