Happy Birthday wishes go out to Mary Debra Winger who turns 58 years old today. Debra was born in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Debra has been married twice and has two sons.
 

 

Debra in "An Officer and a Gentleman" with Richard Gere.

 

 

 

Debra in "Urban Cowboy" with John Travolta.

 

 

"The blog" at Huffington Post has an article entitled "What Really Goes On Inside Nudist Resorts" written by an investigative reporter who is not a nudist.  It is interesting and informative if you ever wondered. This is the most risque photo in the article so don't fear being confronted by nude bodies   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/justluxe/nudist-resort-guide_b_3267160.html

 

If you're a hockey fan you know that the players grow beards when they are in the playoffs.  My son Josh has started his playoff beard to support the LA Kings who are in the second round of the playoffs against the dreaded San Jose Sharks.  The Kings won game #1 last night 2-0 and Josh was lucky enough to be able to attend the game. 

 

We made it home from our vacation in one piece.  We had a great time visiting with Brian and his family, even though Amelia never really warmed up to me.  We saw a lot of Florida and drove over 2200 miles in our 15 days of vacation.  Back to work tomorrow and Friday.

It would seem that every television in our hotel is on Foxnews and they are still beating the drum for some kind of scandel from the Benghazi attack.  I don't think I have to remind you that the Benghazi attack occurred on September 11th of last year.  Eight months ago!!  The Republicans won't let it die because they want to smear Hilary Clinton, who they fear will run for president in 2016 and they don't have anyone who can beat her.  I'm sick of hearing about Benghazi.

So lets see, Friday we left St. Petersburg and drove across the state to St. Augustine, one of the oldest cities in the US. We took a tram tour of the city, and saw most of the sights. Of course everything had a separate fee to get in, so we just stayed on the tram around the city. We also managed to find a bakery that sold Starbucks, so we enjoyed a frappacinno on their patio and people watched.  I left my camera in the car so we didn't get any photos of the city.

 

When we got back to our hotel, we took a stroll out to check out the Atlantic Ocean.  It was quite a walk from the beginning of the beach to the water, approx 300 yards.  You can see from these photos that even when you reach the water's edge, it takes more walking to get in water up to your knees.  We put our toes into the Atlantic and it was quite chilly. 

 

That evening we had dinner at a local pizza restaurant.  It appeared to be family owned and run and the waitress was grandma.  Grandma was obviously from the north east and was quite entertaining.  The pizza was pretty good also.  Later that evening we watched a storm over the ocean with lots of lightning.  The storm never made in on land so we didn't get any rain.

 

Saturday we spent the day driving back to Huntsville, a trip of about 530 miles.  We drove thru two brief rain storms that lasted about 10 minutes each.  That evening we met Brian and his family at the Macaroni Grill for dinner.  Mmmm!!!  Spaghetti!!!  LOL

Sunday we celebrated Mother's Day and our 29th wedding anniversary with a BBQ and Brian's house.  Brian grilled a few delicious steaks and we had a southern staple - mac and cheese.  This photo was taken of us on our way to Hawaii for our 25th anniversary. 

Happy belated Mother's Day to any mothers who follow my blog. 

Thursday morning we had a nice buffet breakfast in the hotel overlooking the beach. After breakfast we went for a walk along the beach for about a mile and back.  That's a lot of walking for me - a breeze for Karen.  The white sand on the beach is soft, but there were lots of sea shells that washed up on the beach and were tough to walk on bare footed.

 

The weather was warm and we decided to spend the day on the beach.  We rented this cabana and read and napped. 

 

This was my view from the cabana.  I took a couple of dips in the Gulf.  The water was warmer here than in Panama Beach City, but not as warm as Puerto Rico.  I ended up getting the tops of my feet sunburned. 

 

There were lots of activities along the beach.  For $225.00 you could ride this air pack thing.  Jets of water are propelling this guy into the air about 20'  There were also seados and para sailing.

 

We spent the day Wednesday driving from Panama Beach City to St. Petersburg.  We arrived in time to check in and have dinner and a couple of drinks on the beach before the sunset.  This is our hotel.  It's right on the gulf, although it doesn't have the view the previous room had.

 

Our drive was uneventful, except being covered with bugs.  We could hardly see out our windshield by the time we arrived. 

 

Went out this evening and put my toe into the Gulf.  It was cold.  Duh!!  The sand on the beaches here are white and soft, compared to the sand on the beaches on the west coast which are brown and grainy.  It is cool and windy here today.  We're off to St. Petersburg tomorrow where it should be warmer.  I think I've also turned the corner on my cold and am starting to feel better.

Karen and I have both managed to catch a cold. I think it's from the plane rides and the recirculated air in the planes. I'm about a day ahead of Karen and coughing like a seal. We spent most of Sunday in our hotel room resting and sleeping. We didn't want to expose Amelia to our colds.

Today (Monday) we bought some cough medicine to help me sleep. That and the two margaritas I just had should do the trick. LOL

Today we left Huntsville and headed south towards Panama Beach City, Florida. The first half of the trip was on a nice four lane freeway, and the second was on great country back roads. When we left Huntsville it was 49 degrees and pouring rain.  The back roads are fun, but little cities like Ponce De Leon, Florida, don't even have a McDonalds.  We ended up munching in cookies and a luke warm diet Coke we had from Huntsville.   

 The further south we got, the more sun we found.  Here we are entering the thriving metropolis of Panama Beach City.  Panama Beach City is a typical beach tourist town with water parks, miniture golf places and lot of fast foot restaruants. 

Checking into the hotel was a snap. This is the view from our third floor room overlooking the pool and Gulf of Mexico.  Don't let the blue skies fool you.  It's about 60 degrees and very windy.  Hopefully it will warm up tomorrow. 

Saturday morning was Brian's big day and the main reason we were there.  College graduation from the University of Alabama Huntsville with a BS in business administration.

 

The graduation was held in the Von Braun Center in Huntsville and the place was quite full.  It was also pouring rain outside so being inside saved the day.

 

 

The photo below shows Brian walking across the stage to receive his diploma.

 

 

The photo below shows Brian walking away from the stage.

 

 

Boobees!!!!

 

Friday we had the opportunity to babysit Amelia for the afternoon while Brian and Selina ran some errands.  Amelia is one big ball of energy and gives the "EverReady bunny" a run for it's money.  But when she stops, she stops all of a sudden.  She ended up taking a nap on Karen's lap, along with Winnie the Pooh of course.

 

Friday evening my son Scott and his partner Bruce arrived in Huntsville,  Karen and I met with them and Brian and his family and my ex Carla and her family, for dinner at a Chinese restaurant.  We all ordered entrees and then put them on a spinning table in the middle of the table and ate from each of them.  It was a nice evening. 

On Thursday evening Karen and I attended a music concert with our grandson Ethan in his middle school band.  Ethan plays the snare drum and can be seen standing up in the far left corner in the white shirt.  Ethan did an great job!!!

 

I have to say it brought back a lot of memories of my own time singing in various choirs in the multipurpose room.  Sitting at those cafeteria tables gave me the urge to throw some food across the room.  I don't know where that came from.  LOL

 

 

Made it to Alabama Wednesday afternoon in one piece. One of the first license plates we saw was the one below referring to the Alabama college football team with "Roll Tide Roll."  We turned on a local radio station and the traffic report had a warning for a traffic signal at some intersection that was slow.  LOL

We got to our hotel and found that their Internet service was out, so this is the first chance I've had to post here or on facebook.  The hotel is a La Quinta and the room is nice and clean and the bed comfy.

We are having a great visit with Brian and his family.  On Thursday we went to a history museum in downtown Huntsville.  I was mostly a children's museum, so Amelia had a good time. 

 

Selina and Brian seem to be having a good time as well.

 

 

After the museum, Brian drove us around some of the historic homes in town.  Some have dates on signs in the front yards and date to before the Civil War.

 

Looks like our wish for rain is going to come true.  The forecast is for plenty of rain over the weekend, including a good possibility of a thunderstorm or two.  Woo Hoo!!!