We're going swimming with the Manatee

We are SOOOOO excited - tomorrow morning 7:30 - we're boarding a boat for a 3.5 hour tour which includes swiming with the manatee at two different locations. We'll be video'd as well. All 4 of us are going! We can't wait!! Tomorrow afternoon we'll go golfing... Off to bed early to be well rested and prepared for this fun day!!

A great day

We were up early and looking forward to a nice round of golf. They were calling for Thunder showers today, however we only had a little bit of rain. It started just when we were on the 9th hole so we went inside for a coffee and when we were done the rain was finished. The course is very quiet and there are only a few other players - it's great!! No pressure. After our game we drove out to see the Golf which was really nice.

Sunday

We drove to Sanford and went to St. Andrew's church. What an awesome sermon on Berrabas. I never never that the name meant Jesus - Son of the Father. Rev Sproul took us through a very good sermon which we all enjoyed. We made our way back to the resort and spent the afternoon exploring and relaxing. We have a nice hot tub and pool and tomorrow we'll go to find out more about going to see the Manatee's.

We're here

We made it. Got on the road a little later than planned but that's ok! The driving was beautiful and sunny. How blessed we were. No traffic really to speak of until we hit Charleston - it slowed down a bit there but nothing bad. It was nice to watch the temperature getting warmer and it went to 68F. Very comfortable weather.

We arrived and were settled in between 2:30 and 3:00. Made stop along the way to pick up some things as we weren't too sure what would be in the area. We're in what seem's like a pretty remote and quite area of Florida. The resort is beautiful and feels very much like a plantation and the layout is similar to Doral. We have two story buildings that we are in. We're staying in the Rose Wing which is a 5 minute walk from the main building. Our rooms face out to the river which we'll check out later today (Sunday).

Around 4:00 we decided to check out the golf course and ended up playing 6 holes (nice little warm up). It was great! It was nice to swing the clubs again.

We feel very relaxed - there wasn't anyone pushing us. The course has 27 holes on it and 9 of the 27 are free to play on whenever you want. On Monday we'll do the full 18. We stayed at the resort and ate dinner there. The food was very good. I had the most amazing scallops - there was grouper on the menu and Grace had the stuffed Salmon. John and Ralph both opted for the steaks. All were delicious. Each plate was decorated with an orchid - such attention to detail. It was nice.

This morning we're planning to drive to Sanford and go to St. Andrews church. We're hoping that RC Sproul will be preaching. Then another relaxing day exploring Florida.

We don't have internet access in our room, so my updates will not be a frequent, but I'll do my best to update my blog once a day if possible.

Southward bound

We were on the road by 4:00 am and were at the border by 5:30. The roads were pretty clear with the exception of Pensyvania whichn was pretty snowy. We have made great time. We are in Columbia now and finished driving around dinner time. We are at the Hampton and enjoyed a nice dinner at the Outback. We hope to be lon the the road by 7:00 tomorrow morming anod should arrive just after noon tomorrow at the resort.

It's quite funny - while we are driving when we want to get a message to each other, we are writing on a piece of paper and holding it up to the window. Ralph and I and Grace and John think it's so funny - going back to the old way of text messaging. See I make the same mistakes writing as I do typing - I forgot to use my spell checker.

One more sleep

Well its finally here. I can't believe that we are actually leaving tomorrow. I'm breathing a sigh of relief and it feels like we have been waiting for a long time for this vacation. It will be nice to get a way even if it's just for a short while!!

We're staying at the Plantation Golf and Spa in Crystal River. We hope to be there by Saturday afternoon. Our truck is packed and the alarm is set for 3:00. The plan is to be on the road for 4:00. Time to go to bed.

I had a root canal done today - it went pretty good actually. Lot's of pain, but the mind has such a wonderful capacity to forget (thank goodness). The dentist says the pain can last still for 7-10 days - I hope he is wrong. They had to put a needle inside the tooth to help alleviate the pain - I just about came out of the chair a couple of times. Ah, but it's done and I feel 100% better already.

Time to sleep. Watch for updates as we golf, eat and enjoy the sunny south. Looking forward to seeing some manatee..

Welcome 2011

It's hard to believe that it's 2011. Where has the time gone? We are busy getting ready for our trip to Florida. The big question is..... What do I bring? The temperature is all over the place this year. It's been hot, cold, warm and rainy. I think they even had snow. Can you believe that? So I guess I will bring a little bit of everything. We are planning on having dinner at Bern's Steakhouse so I will bring something a little dressy. Other than that it will most likely be pants and capris along with sweaters.

This year I hope to cook a different recipe a week and start to teach myself some new things. I have made a new baked egg dish twice so far. It is amazing and for New Years we made a steak with two sauces from Jamie Oliver. It tasted really good as well. I wonder what I will make this week? Time to start looking.