Sunday, September 24, 2006
September 25th - Happy 8th Birthday Taylor
We don't get to celebrate birthdays with the grandchildren too much so when the kids came up last weekend, we took advantage of the time to share in Taylor's 8th birthday. Here she is shown with the Birthday Hat on. My girlfriend made this hat and we're going to try to make this a new tradition for as many family members as we can. It just so happens that there are 8 candles on the hat and Taylor is 8 (she pointed that out to me!). She is showing off one of her new American Girl dolls - Molly. Happy Birthday Sweetpea! I hope you have the BEST BIRTHDAY so far!! I love you!!
Monday, September 18, 2006
Indian Summer!
You heard me say it in an earlier posting - Indian Summer! Sunday was it! It was beautiful - sunny and in the 80's. We thought about changing the shower to the house on the deck but after careful deliberation we still had it at the community center. But when we got done and went home, the kids wanted to go in the pool with Papa. The water was only 69 degrees but they all went in. Michael jumped in so fast and he couldn't get to the stairs fast enough! LOL - it was too funny to see his face - I just wish I could've captured it! Taylor really surprised me. She jumped in, got out and continued to jump in - what a brave girl!!
Tradition at Mimi and Papa's
Here's a tradition we always do. Soon after the kids arrive, they say "can we go feed the horses?" We have to have apples when the kids arrive. Sure enough, within 30 minutes, we were walking to feed the horses. On this day, we only had one horse that wanted the apples. The other two horses paid no attention to us and two horses were in their stalls. Taylor and Papa have a game they play (on the phone) where she asks him every time she talks to him if he's gone to feed the horses. If he says "no", she fires him! LOL If he say's yes, he's good for a little while. She even drew him a picture with stickers of horses on it that hangs on our fridge to remind him to feed the horses. It's a great tradition and one we always look forward to. We still have trouble trying to get the kids to actually feed them. Plus the fence is electrified , so if they touch it, they get shocked - not alot, but enough!
Baby Showers
Here is a picture of the cakes from both showers. Marchelle's step-mom, Chris, gave her one on Saturday. It's was nice to see lots of people I haven't seen in a long time - actually - a year since Chris gave her a bridal shower. Chris is an extremely nice person and I like her alot. On Sunday, I gave her a shower. Marchelle and Tyler received so many nice gifts from both showers. It was fun to watch them go through and look at all the gifts - they were so excited.
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Happy Birthday Gail and Happy Anniversary
Sept 13th is Gail's birthday and the 15th is Gail and David's wedding anniversary. They always spend this special week in Cape Cod and I know they're having a good time!
Happy Brithday Aunt Peggy!
My Aunt Peggy's Birthday was Saturday. Not that I forgot her birthday either, but I'm just now updating my blog!! Hope you had a wonderful day!!
Happy Birthday Gabriela
September holds alot of birthdays! This is Gabriela's party that we attended on Saturday. She is 8 years old and 16 days older than Taylor. Her dad and I met when I worked at Penney's and our families have been good friends ever since!
Happy Birthday Rhonda
9/11 is my friend Rhonda's birthday. How could you ever forget that birthday?? Rhonda and I used to work together but she quit so be a stay-at-home Mom - the hardest job ever! Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday Jodi
Happy (Belated) Birthday Jodi. Ok, no, I didn't forget Jodi - I just didn't update my blog on-time. Her birthday was last Thursday and she's 27 this year!
LuLu
Have you ever seen a dog so cute! Introducing LuLu, Jeana's newest puppy. At the time this picture was taken, she was about 15 weeks old. She's a minature daschund (I probably spelled that wrong). I can't wait to "meet" her in January when we go and meet our newest grandchild and see our other two cutie grandsons. 
Saturday, September 02, 2006
Fall
To those of us who live up North, you know fall starts the day after Labor Day - seriously. Any warm days after Labor Day we consider to be "Indian Summer". I have no clue what that is supposed to mean but I've heard that term my entire life. Here in NY, our whole summer is from the start of Memorial Day weekend to the end of Labor Day weekend. This is gospel! Never mind when the calendar says summer begins and fall begins.
August was a cool month and that makes me a little worried. I've seen geese fly already and my mums are blooming. Nights in August have been in the 50's. It seems that I remember as a kid August was the hottest month of the year - in the 90's and very humid. We called them the "dog days of August" and why we looked forward to fall. I'm wondering if we are in for a hard winter?? Last winter Jamie only had to shovel the driveway two times so I'm think this is going to be a bad winter. Yikes!!
I love the spring and summer. To go outside without a coat is a joy. I love driving around and seeing all the ways that people decorate their homes with flowers. I love driving and looking at the trees so full and swaying in the breeze. So many trees have great shapes - especially the big ones. I always enjoy looking for that perfect shaped tree.
I was extremely impatient for spring to begin this year. I couldn't wait to see the green again and I am equally impatient for fall to begin. Don't get me wrong, fall is a beautiful time of year. The colors of the leaves when they're at their height is so beautiful - but that means soon the leaves will fall and we'll be stuck looking at sticks in the air for six months - agghh!!
This weekend some people (like my neighbor) will cover their pools. We wait as long as we can because it's just such a finality to summer and it's depressing. I still sit on the deck when I can. If I could, I'd bring the fire pit up there to keep warm so I could sit longer. September is such an "iffy" month. It could be 75 one day and 40 the next. It's the transition month. Even October can be beautiful but in October, you are just plain lucky for warm, sunny days.
Marchelle, Corine and kids will be here in a couple weeks for Marchelle's baby shower. I'm sure they'll be freezing as they're still getting high temps and humidity. I'm hoping it's warm enough and rain-free that we can enjoy the deck and the fire pit. Jamie and I are looking forward to that - just a nice and relaxing time for all.
August was a cool month and that makes me a little worried. I've seen geese fly already and my mums are blooming. Nights in August have been in the 50's. It seems that I remember as a kid August was the hottest month of the year - in the 90's and very humid. We called them the "dog days of August" and why we looked forward to fall. I'm wondering if we are in for a hard winter?? Last winter Jamie only had to shovel the driveway two times so I'm think this is going to be a bad winter. Yikes!!
I love the spring and summer. To go outside without a coat is a joy. I love driving around and seeing all the ways that people decorate their homes with flowers. I love driving and looking at the trees so full and swaying in the breeze. So many trees have great shapes - especially the big ones. I always enjoy looking for that perfect shaped tree.
I was extremely impatient for spring to begin this year. I couldn't wait to see the green again and I am equally impatient for fall to begin. Don't get me wrong, fall is a beautiful time of year. The colors of the leaves when they're at their height is so beautiful - but that means soon the leaves will fall and we'll be stuck looking at sticks in the air for six months - agghh!!
This weekend some people (like my neighbor) will cover their pools. We wait as long as we can because it's just such a finality to summer and it's depressing. I still sit on the deck when I can. If I could, I'd bring the fire pit up there to keep warm so I could sit longer. September is such an "iffy" month. It could be 75 one day and 40 the next. It's the transition month. Even October can be beautiful but in October, you are just plain lucky for warm, sunny days.
Marchelle, Corine and kids will be here in a couple weeks for Marchelle's baby shower. I'm sure they'll be freezing as they're still getting high temps and humidity. I'm hoping it's warm enough and rain-free that we can enjoy the deck and the fire pit. Jamie and I are looking forward to that - just a nice and relaxing time for all.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Monday, August 14, 2006
Birthday Flowers
These are flowers that Jodi and Rich sent to me for my birthday. They are so beautiful that I wanted to share how pretty they are. I love getting flowers. Thank you Jodi and Rich!!
Happy Birthday!
Happy 30th Birthday Mike and Happy Birthday to Me!
My son-in-law Mike and I share the same birthday although I wish it was me turning 30 again!
Hope you have a great day Mike!
My son-in-law Mike and I share the same birthday although I wish it was me turning 30 again!
Hope you have a great day Mike!
Monday, August 07, 2006
Our Vacation Hotel......
Let me tell you about Westgate Lakes and Resorts. DON'T stay there!! What a rip-off. They have many "resorts" around the country. Maybe some of them are run well, but I can tell you that the one in Orlando, Florida is not good (and they're are a couple of them). The one I'm referring to is at 10000 Turkey Lake Road.
I don't know about you, but when I think of a resort, I think that people are going to treat you like you're they're only customer in the hopes that you'll spread the word about how good they are and WANT to come back.
This particular place was HUGE. Buildings upon buildings. Many pools to choose from. I thought right from the time we stepped in the lobby that it was going to be great. The lady who welcomed us was very nice. The young lady at the desk who checked us in was very nice. That's where it ended.
Granted, it's a time share. Jamie and I didn't take the discount price b/c we didn't want to sit through the spiel so we paid the full price. Now, you'd think that somebody who paid full price might be treated good....NOT! Didn't really matter if you paid full price or discount price. If you took the spiel in the beginning of your vacation, you were considered "owners" or were VIPs. There was no way to tell if you weren't either unless you went to breakfast and had a VIP sticker on you. SO, all week long you were treated like a piece of doodoo. Wouldn't you think they would treat everybody good in the hopes that maybe, just maybe, I would like the place so much and decide while I was there to BUY a timeshare? Apparently, this thought has not crossed anyone's mind there.
Marchelle and Tyler, after 3 days (they were staying a week) called the front desk to see if someone might be coming to clean their room. The girl was very rude to Marchelle said "uh, this is a resort and if you want your room to have a partial cleaning, that will be $35". Can you believe that one??? Have you ever heard of a RESORT that charged you to have your bed made and clean towels put in your room? I've stayed at some mediocre places before and all came and made the bed and put clean towels in my room for FREE - every day!! Finally, they came with a garbage bag of towels and handed them through the door!
Jamie and I came back to our place one afternoon and the radio on the clock was playing. Neither of us had touched the clock/radio since being in the room. Nothing was missing, but the tip for the maid was still lying on the pillow on the unmade bed. We think somebody may just have been sitting in there while other people thought they were working. The next afternoon, we came back and the tip on the unmade bed was left again, but this time we had clean sheets and towels within those sheets just thrown on the bed. They did, however, pick up the dirty towels.
As in my previous blog entry, Cheryl called about the BBQ Pits which we were told were all taken out, however, in the welcome packet was an advertisement to come on Thursday's to the "xxx" pool for a cookout (this I didn't look at till after Tuesday). They advertise it on the web and in your welcome packet but they don't have this feature anymore. Apparently, somebody forgot to mention it to the Welcome Packet people.
Cheryl also had a problem with ants. The little red ants the south is famous for. You know the kind....they bite!! When she called to complain about the problem for the 2nd time - they hung up on her!
They also advertise bars at each pool - this was true. BUT, they also advertise they a "working bar"...WRONG! At our pool, the bar was never opened. Never. Not during the day and not during the night. Course the rules say you couldn't bring anything in there but then again, you couldn't purchase anything cold to drink. We ignored the rules. Guess what? Nobody bothered us. And, that was after 2 workers sat at the bar for 4 hours (yes, 4 hours) and chit-chatted. Oh and then there was the ice cream social. The 3 young ladies brought ice cream out to the pool where they served the guests. Oh, I'm sorry, I mean the new owners. If you weren't an owner or a potential owner (ya know, somebody who paid full price like me), you had to pay $4 for bowl of ice cream. It really bothered us when the worker drove up in his golf cart, got out, got a bowl of ice cream and then proceeded to talk to the young ladies for an hour. You should know too, that it was lightening around us this whole time. I mean we were seeing chain lighting. Not close and we weren't in the pool but everyone else was. After 2 hours of this, the worker who finished his ice cream decided to come over and tell us the pool was now closed. Although he didn't know it, we were leaving anyway. When we stepped out of the pool area, this very unfortunate other fellow stopped us to tell us they had just been given the OK and the pool was still open and we should go back and have fun. Did I tell you that Marchelle was with us when this most unfortunate man came to tell us this news? Poor guy. Marchelle laid into him!! And then she and Jamie walked away leaving nice Tyler and I standing there listening to this guy.
So, nobody in the family had their "spiel" till the end of the week and were all treated horribly. We paid full price and were treated horribly. My conclusion....don't stay at Westgate Lakes an Resorts - it's aHUGE RIPOFF. You get treated horribly no matter who you are.
I don't know about you, but when I think of a resort, I think that people are going to treat you like you're they're only customer in the hopes that you'll spread the word about how good they are and WANT to come back.
This particular place was HUGE. Buildings upon buildings. Many pools to choose from. I thought right from the time we stepped in the lobby that it was going to be great. The lady who welcomed us was very nice. The young lady at the desk who checked us in was very nice. That's where it ended.
Granted, it's a time share. Jamie and I didn't take the discount price b/c we didn't want to sit through the spiel so we paid the full price. Now, you'd think that somebody who paid full price might be treated good....NOT! Didn't really matter if you paid full price or discount price. If you took the spiel in the beginning of your vacation, you were considered "owners" or were VIPs. There was no way to tell if you weren't either unless you went to breakfast and had a VIP sticker on you. SO, all week long you were treated like a piece of doodoo. Wouldn't you think they would treat everybody good in the hopes that maybe, just maybe, I would like the place so much and decide while I was there to BUY a timeshare? Apparently, this thought has not crossed anyone's mind there.
Marchelle and Tyler, after 3 days (they were staying a week) called the front desk to see if someone might be coming to clean their room. The girl was very rude to Marchelle said "uh, this is a resort and if you want your room to have a partial cleaning, that will be $35". Can you believe that one??? Have you ever heard of a RESORT that charged you to have your bed made and clean towels put in your room? I've stayed at some mediocre places before and all came and made the bed and put clean towels in my room for FREE - every day!! Finally, they came with a garbage bag of towels and handed them through the door!
Jamie and I came back to our place one afternoon and the radio on the clock was playing. Neither of us had touched the clock/radio since being in the room. Nothing was missing, but the tip for the maid was still lying on the pillow on the unmade bed. We think somebody may just have been sitting in there while other people thought they were working. The next afternoon, we came back and the tip on the unmade bed was left again, but this time we had clean sheets and towels within those sheets just thrown on the bed. They did, however, pick up the dirty towels.
As in my previous blog entry, Cheryl called about the BBQ Pits which we were told were all taken out, however, in the welcome packet was an advertisement to come on Thursday's to the "xxx" pool for a cookout (this I didn't look at till after Tuesday). They advertise it on the web and in your welcome packet but they don't have this feature anymore. Apparently, somebody forgot to mention it to the Welcome Packet people.
Cheryl also had a problem with ants. The little red ants the south is famous for. You know the kind....they bite!! When she called to complain about the problem for the 2nd time - they hung up on her!
They also advertise bars at each pool - this was true. BUT, they also advertise they a "working bar"...WRONG! At our pool, the bar was never opened. Never. Not during the day and not during the night. Course the rules say you couldn't bring anything in there but then again, you couldn't purchase anything cold to drink. We ignored the rules. Guess what? Nobody bothered us. And, that was after 2 workers sat at the bar for 4 hours (yes, 4 hours) and chit-chatted. Oh and then there was the ice cream social. The 3 young ladies brought ice cream out to the pool where they served the guests. Oh, I'm sorry, I mean the new owners. If you weren't an owner or a potential owner (ya know, somebody who paid full price like me), you had to pay $4 for bowl of ice cream. It really bothered us when the worker drove up in his golf cart, got out, got a bowl of ice cream and then proceeded to talk to the young ladies for an hour. You should know too, that it was lightening around us this whole time. I mean we were seeing chain lighting. Not close and we weren't in the pool but everyone else was. After 2 hours of this, the worker who finished his ice cream decided to come over and tell us the pool was now closed. Although he didn't know it, we were leaving anyway. When we stepped out of the pool area, this very unfortunate other fellow stopped us to tell us they had just been given the OK and the pool was still open and we should go back and have fun. Did I tell you that Marchelle was with us when this most unfortunate man came to tell us this news? Poor guy. Marchelle laid into him!! And then she and Jamie walked away leaving nice Tyler and I standing there listening to this guy.
So, nobody in the family had their "spiel" till the end of the week and were all treated horribly. We paid full price and were treated horribly. My conclusion....don't stay at Westgate Lakes an Resorts - it's aHUGE RIPOFF. You get treated horribly no matter who you are.
Vacation!
Wow, I can't believe it's been a month since I updated my blog. What a busy month it's been. First it was the birthday bash and then work kicked my butt and the next thing I knew it was time for vacation - yeah!!
What a great time we had. Dad and Carol were sure surprised! We were all supposed to be at the restaurant at 5pm for the surprise. Our plane arrived on time but there were backups with getting the luggage and there were 3 flights in front of us. Finally after almost an hour, we got our luggage. Thanks to Marchelle and Tyler for picking us up. Off to the hotel we went where check-in seemed to take forever. We threw our luggage in the room and headed to the restaurant. We met Jodi and Rich outside and then all went in together.
I walked around the corner and saw my Dad and he just kept looking at me like "that looks like Sharon". He had the funniest look on his face and I didn't say anything. He just kept looking and then I raised my hand and said "Hey there Dad". He couldn't believe it. Then Carol spotted us and the tears flowed and they didn't stop till the last grandkid had been hugged and kissed. And it was great because we DIDN'T get there all at the same time. The surprises for them just coming and coming. Cheryl and I were standing together and we started to get nervous. Carol was crying so hard we thought "maybe we shouldn't have surprised them". Then we looked at other and started laughing! Sometimes the kid in you just never leaves. I felt like we were 10 again and getting into trouble for something.
It really was great. I saw Dennis and Michael and his wife Rachael whom I had never met, a wonderful woman. I saw Jeff and Suz and their kids Danny and Rachael (I had never met Suz or the kids). I met Cheryl's husband Dennis (what a great guy) and his kids Michelle and kids Kaylee and Michael (Bubba - another one!) and Matt. So many people, so many smiles and hugs and laughs.
Monday we all went to Disney. The best part was that we all got there when we wanted to and left when we wanted to and met up during the day at different times - some planned and some not. For that many people going to a park, I thought it turned out great. Everyone did what they wanted.
On Tuesday we had a cookout at the hotel. One of the reasons Cheryl picked this hotel was because they advertised BBQ pits at one of the pools with a play yard too. When she called to find out what pool they were at so we could secure our pit, she was told they took them all out. Now, if you know Cheryl, you know that she wasn't going to get booted by a hotel. No way in hell was she going to be out-done! Her and Dennis got in their car and promptly went to Walmart where they purchased two small charcoal grills! HA! She showed them!! We cooked out right outside of their suite (ok, thankfully they were on the 1st floor). We had a great day by the pool and cooked out and then had champagne and cake for dessert - what could be better? And the cakes were bride and groom bears! Too cute. I do believe Carol started crying again!!
Wednesday took us back to Disney at the MGM park. Again, we all went when we wanted to and came back when we wanted to. It was so HOT!! The saying goes that women perspire, they don't sweat but I can tell you that on this day...I was sweating! Wow! Wednesday night brought us saying goodbye to Dennis, Michael and Rachael who were planning on leaving Thursday morning.
Thursday morning it was Cheryl, Dennis, Michelle, Matt and the kids turn to leave. We sat at their suite while they packed everything up. Later, Dad/Carol, Jeff, Suz and the kids all did their thing while Jamie, Marchelle, Tyler and I stayed close to the pool.
Friday saw us having to leave but we didn't leave the weather behind. It followed us back to NY where it stay hot and humid for days.
We sure did miss those family members who couldn't be there but I hope that some day we can all get together again - somewhere - for a repeat performance. Cheryl and Dennis did a great job of getting us all together in the same place at the same time! It still amazes me that she was able to pull it off. AND, I can actually call Dad and Carol again now that I know I won't blow the surprise all to hell!!
Pictured here on top left is Cheryl and Dennis. Next to them is Dennis and Michael. Jeff and Suz are next with Suz, Dad and Carol after that. I'll put some more pictures on another entry.
What a great time we had. Dad and Carol were sure surprised! We were all supposed to be at the restaurant at 5pm for the surprise. Our plane arrived on time but there were backups with getting the luggage and there were 3 flights in front of us. Finally after almost an hour, we got our luggage. Thanks to Marchelle and Tyler for picking us up. Off to the hotel we went where check-in seemed to take forever. We threw our luggage in the room and headed to the restaurant. We met Jodi and Rich outside and then all went in together.
I walked around the corner and saw my Dad and he just kept looking at me like "that looks like Sharon". He had the funniest look on his face and I didn't say anything. He just kept looking and then I raised my hand and said "Hey there Dad". He couldn't believe it. Then Carol spotted us and the tears flowed and they didn't stop till the last grandkid had been hugged and kissed. And it was great because we DIDN'T get there all at the same time. The surprises for them just coming and coming. Cheryl and I were standing together and we started to get nervous. Carol was crying so hard we thought "maybe we shouldn't have surprised them". Then we looked at other and started laughing! Sometimes the kid in you just never leaves. I felt like we were 10 again and getting into trouble for something.
It really was great. I saw Dennis and Michael and his wife Rachael whom I had never met, a wonderful woman. I saw Jeff and Suz and their kids Danny and Rachael (I had never met Suz or the kids). I met Cheryl's husband Dennis (what a great guy) and his kids Michelle and kids Kaylee and Michael (Bubba - another one!) and Matt. So many people, so many smiles and hugs and laughs.
Monday we all went to Disney. The best part was that we all got there when we wanted to and left when we wanted to and met up during the day at different times - some planned and some not. For that many people going to a park, I thought it turned out great. Everyone did what they wanted.
On Tuesday we had a cookout at the hotel. One of the reasons Cheryl picked this hotel was because they advertised BBQ pits at one of the pools with a play yard too. When she called to find out what pool they were at so we could secure our pit, she was told they took them all out. Now, if you know Cheryl, you know that she wasn't going to get booted by a hotel. No way in hell was she going to be out-done! Her and Dennis got in their car and promptly went to Walmart where they purchased two small charcoal grills! HA! She showed them!! We cooked out right outside of their suite (ok, thankfully they were on the 1st floor). We had a great day by the pool and cooked out and then had champagne and cake for dessert - what could be better? And the cakes were bride and groom bears! Too cute. I do believe Carol started crying again!!
Wednesday took us back to Disney at the MGM park. Again, we all went when we wanted to and came back when we wanted to. It was so HOT!! The saying goes that women perspire, they don't sweat but I can tell you that on this day...I was sweating! Wow! Wednesday night brought us saying goodbye to Dennis, Michael and Rachael who were planning on leaving Thursday morning.
Thursday morning it was Cheryl, Dennis, Michelle, Matt and the kids turn to leave. We sat at their suite while they packed everything up. Later, Dad/Carol, Jeff, Suz and the kids all did their thing while Jamie, Marchelle, Tyler and I stayed close to the pool.
Friday saw us having to leave but we didn't leave the weather behind. It followed us back to NY where it stay hot and humid for days.
We sure did miss those family members who couldn't be there but I hope that some day we can all get together again - somewhere - for a repeat performance. Cheryl and Dennis did a great job of getting us all together in the same place at the same time! It still amazes me that she was able to pull it off. AND, I can actually call Dad and Carol again now that I know I won't blow the surprise all to hell!!
Pictured here on top left is Cheryl and Dennis. Next to them is Dennis and Michael. Jeff and Suz are next with Suz, Dad and Carol after that. I'll put some more pictures on another entry.
