Dawn and Sean Visit Ocala

Last week we drove to Alpharetta to pick up Dawn and Sean for a visit to Ocala. We left early Thursday morning from Alpharetta to Ocala, which takes about six hours to drive. It was a long drive down I-75 but we all made it and Sean was a good little traveler. He watched his movies most of the time. After we got to Ocala Dawn and I took Sean to a little park so he could play a while after being cooped up in the car most of the day. He had a good time and he can really climb. This was a "nature park" which means everything is "natural" except the brand new playground equipment.

This piece of playground equipment is made to resemble a spider web....cute, huh.

This was a "jungle gym" that Sean climbed all over.

In this picture Sean is hanging by his hands, of course Dawn is close just in case he falls....which he didn't.

The next day we took Dawn to a couple interesting stores in Ocala, like a Gourmet Food store and a Restaurant Supply store. Then we took Sean to the park where he fed the ducks.
The ducks would actually take the food from his hand...and one almost took his hand.

Dawn and I also kept busy trying to make an airplane cake. We actually did pretty good but this is just a practice for Sean's 3 year old birthday cake.


On Saturday we took Sean to Silver Springs and he had a good time seeing all the animals, like the alligators and the stinky giraffes.


Sean wanted to ride the Carousel but only in the seat. He wasn't sure about the horses that were going up and down.

But Dawn and Jimmy had a great time on the Carousel!!

But he did not have a problem with the aligators.......

...or touching a great big snake!

We all had a great time even if Dawn was fighting a bad sinus problem the whole trip. Dawn is a real trooper and you would never believe she is four months pregnate.

Why old people retire in Florida....

Today is the 4th of January and it is 80 degrees with a beautiful blue sky. This is why people retire in Florida.

This is a picture of Ormand Beach, about an hour and fifteen minutes drive from Ocala. We drove down to Ormand Beach because it was such a beautiful day.

This is Jimmy walking on the beach. It was such a beautiful day.

New Years Eve

Jim and I spent New Years Eve with our grandson, Sean. Dawn and David had tickets to the Chick-fil-A Bowl with Georgia Tech playing LSU so Jim and I kept Sean. We took him to play at Monkey Joe's ...

and to lunch at Chick-fil-A.

We also fixed him a good breakfast in the morning. (Notice all the healthy food)

Sean was a good boy and we enjoyed taking care of him.

A Christmas Surprise!!!!

We had a great Christmas Surprise this year!! I probably should wait and put it at the end of the blog but I can't wait to tell everybody. DAWN IS GOING TO HAVE ANOTHER BABY IN JULY 2009!!! We are all excited and already getting ready for the new baby. Sean is going to be 3 years old in February so he will be a big brother at about three and a half.

BEFORE: This is the picture taken by David, Dawn's husband in front of the tree before he said "Everybody say (instead of cheese) "Dawn is pregnant"

AFTER: This is the picture of the reaction. Notice how Dawn becomes the center of attention taking the attention off my open mouth.
We always celebrate on Christmas Eve at our house and we had a great time again. Everybody got fine gifts but Caleb got a very special gift. You may have read in my blog earlier this year that Caleb caught a 2 lb Bass all by himself, picking out his own bait and everything. Well, Donald had it mounted and gave it to him. He was so proud of it and we were all proud for him.

Caleb and his first Bass!!

The pictures below are random pictures taken Christmas Eve. I hope you enjoy them.

The Jones (Donald, Caleb, Kim)

The Abercrombies (David, Sean, Dawn)

Caleb and Sean (Boys will be boys)

Jimmy and Dawn

Sean opening his stocking

Caleb (helping Sean with his play-dough) and Dawn

Dawn, Kim and Crystal with Jimmy's mother (Nanny)

Happy Birthday Kim!!

Caleb helps Kim blow out the candles on her cake. The only candles we had was a "3" and a "5" so we added three extra candles to make 38.

Celebrating Kim's birthday always brings back memories of taking her home from the hospital on Christmas Day in 1970. Well I guess her age is no secret any more. Kim's birthday is the 22nd of December but Dawn did not get to Augusta until the 23rd so we celebrated it on that day. Kim had to work so she just came over after work and we had pizza and I baked a pineapple upside down cake.

From left to right we have Dawn, Crystal, Kim (with Sean at the table), Donald, (with Caleb in the red shirt)

Valencia Lakes

Valencia Lakes is the place Jimmy's brother, Sonny, and his wife, Mercedes, live. It really is a great place to live. They have just about everything you could want right on the property of Valencia Lakes. Sonny and Mercedes have a lovely home and are able to take advantage of the amenities on the property like the full gym, sauna, jacuzzi, and swimming pool. They also have several clubs like fishing club, bowling club, cooking club, etc. Florida really knows how do put together "retirement communities" like no other state. Then there is the sunshine....it is almost the middle of December and it will be 75 degrees today.

Mercedes cooked a large pan of Paella for us. It sure was good and we ate almost all of it for lunch. Paella is a Spanish dish made with yellow rice, chicken, and many different types of seafood. Mercedes did a great job!

Mercedes did the cooking.....

....and Sonny opened the wine.

After lunch we all went over to the Club House and learned how to play "Pickle Ball"....yes, there is such a game as "Pickle Ball". It is played similar to tennis but with a smaller court and different rules.

Mecerdes and I played Jimmy and Sonny. We thought we were pretty good but we lost the game 11 to 2. I think it was our serve that cost us the game.

After "Pickle Ball" we went back to their house and then back to Ocala. We really enjoyed our visit and plan to return again.

Thanksgiving

I guess it is appropriate that the first picture is of Dawn and Sean saying "Thanks" in sign language for the cookies that Kim made for us to eat while we cooked. They were Pumpkin Cookies and they were great.

Dawn and I really had a nice easy Thanksgiving. We fixed most things the day before like the Pecan Pie and the Pink Salad. Of course our pride and joy was the cookies and the cupcakes shown below. Sean wanted one of those "baby turkeys" to eat all day but we made him wait until Thanksgiving.

Cupcakes and Cookies

Sean is lucky to have three sets of grandparents. Three grandmothers....

....and three grandfathers!
Of course we had too much food!! That always happens on Thanksgiving and all of it was really great, but...a picture is worth a thousand words.

FOOD BEFORE........

....FOOD AFTER!!

And Sean finally got to eat his "baby turkey"

Dawn has a sign over her front door so that it is the last thing you see when leaving the house and I think it is very appropriate to end this Thanksgiving blog.