Our Jungle Adventure

We visited the Jungle Adventure in Titusville today where Olivier got up close and personal with a 7 foot boa constrictor, a baby aligator, a couple of Florida Panthers (no, not the hockey team) and lots of other "wild" things.

So, we now consider ourselves experts on aligators so feel free to ask us anything about them. We stopped short of actually eating gator meat but we were told it tastes just like (you guessed it) chicken. My response to that was, "If I wanted to east something that tastes just like chicken , I'll eat chicken"!

Cigars all around

Looks like our aligator had a baby. If you double click on this picture and look carefully you can see the baby on her Mom's back.

The King of Clubs (not golf clubs though)!

Del seemed to be having a little trouble reading the cards ( at least that is the excuse he gave for always losing) so I bought him the biggest cards I could find!

He still seems to be having a bit of trouble. Needless to say, the amber rum bottle won the contest

Spring!

For those of you who are sick and tired of the winter I have good news - Spring is just around the corner and I have proof- The Grapefruit League has started training.

Today we went to see the Washington Nationals (former Montreal Expos) train and next Saturday we will be going to a game.

If anyone wants to join us check out their schedule.

Cross border shopping

Those of you reading this blog who know me well will know that one of my most favorite activities is cross border shopping. But yesterday even I had to say "enough". We went to the Alafaya Shopping Mall in Orlando. To say HUGE would be a gross understatement. The Target Store alone had over 35 cash register. In addition, there was a Best Buy, a Home Depot, Pier 1 Imports , Ashley Furniture and hundreds of other stores and every one of them was bigger than anything I've ever seen. We didn't actually buy anything but we had a lot of fun. Olivier and I are going to turn Del into a shopper yet!

Better than golf

So what do you do when you are on vacation with 2 senior citizens - you play shuffleboard!

I actually managed to beat Del in one game so if my golf career does not take off soon, I know I have something to fall back on.

So many books - so little time

I've decided not to come home until I've exhausted the book supply! And since new books come in every day I could be here a while.

Happy President's Day

The last few days have been a little cool but after today we'll be back in the high 70's and 80's - not too shabby!

In the meantime we witnessed our first launch of an unmanned satelite which was pretty good. I am told the launch of the space shuttle March 15 will be awesome and we will definitely attend that one.

I tried my luck at golf again but nothing much to report there.

Olivier and Del cleaned up the backyard this weekend- those palm trees can be messy.

We are eating very well these days. Shrimp cocktails and pepper steak were on the menu Saturday night.

Happy Birthday Joel

Today is Flag Day in Canada, here in the U.S. it is the day they launch the first dollar coin (I doubt it will be called a loonie!) but for us the significance of the day will always be Joel's birthday. It is the fourth year in a row that we are away on Joel's birthday which no doubt puts us in the running for the worst parents ever but we love ya Bud. Hope you have a great day, the best year ever and we'll celebrate again when we get home.
Love,
Mom and Dad

The Rum Wars

Olivier drinks white, Del drinks amber so as you can see Del is slightly ahead. As for me, I'm working on the little bottle of gin in the middle. Clearly I have some major catching up to do.

Happy Valentine's Day

Hope your Valentines Day was as good as ours. We started the morning on the Nature Trail that runs around The Great Outdoors and ended up on the beach. Olivier and Del were please that people did not pay any attention to the Nudity signs but were quickly disappointed when they realized all of the nudes were guys!

Saw our first gator today as well as armadillos, vultures and herons.

Good advice

I went for a little walk today and about a block away from our house I found this sign. I didn't stick around long enough to see any gators but I think I'll find another way to get to the book exchange!

By the way Lou - I picked up some good James Patterson books (but knowing you, you've already read them!)

What did you do today?

This is what I did!

Olivier's new business

Too bad Soucy Ford no long exists - if they merged with this dealership we'd be rich!

If you can't read the licence double click on the picture.

Fore!

I had my first attempt at golf today and found out I was much better at being a driver than using a driver!

A tour of our place

Finally, some weather warm enough to hit the beach today (or at least the heated pool). But for now let me show you the place we will be calling home for the next 2 months.

From the tree to the table!

$3 buys a lot of citrus in this State!

Weather

Many of the e-mails we have received from our Northern friends and family included questions about the weather. As you can see it's not too warm yet but getting better everyday.

Here at last!

Took us a couple of days to get online but our Internet is finally working.
Thanks for all your e-mails and good wishes.
We thankfuly survived yesterday's tornado which passed 30 miles away from us. Luckily, we didn't know the county we were in at the time and didn't realize just how close we were until it was over.
The Great Outdoors is a lovely place and I think the 2 months will go by very quickly- lots to do.
As you can see Olivier's priority was to get the car washed, Del's was to eat!