Thursday - Deer Creek Golf Course

I have to share a story about these two hawks. We approached the "ladies" tee and sitting on the tee box was two hawks. We were amazed. They looked like young birds. They really weren't interested in the leaving the tee box until I was almost 6 feet in front of them. It was so beautiful to see them.

We were up early and when we walked out to our car, we were convinced that we wouldn't be golfing today. The sky was black. We weren't too keen on the idea of golfing through a thunderstorm, but we figured we'd see what happens with the weather so we drove to the golf course. We got to the course around 7:45 and amazingly the sky cleared. It was actually a little cool at first and we were looking forward to a nice round of golf. We were paired up with a gentleman from Switzerland who we thoroughly enjoyed golfing with. We made arrangements to meet him again tomorrow at the Plantation Golf Preserve. He's golfed there already so it will nice to be with someone who knows the course. Rait has been here for 7 weeks already and is heading back home on Saturday.

Dinner was at D. Rodriguous Cuba in South Beach. This is authentic Cuban fare and it was delicious. I had something called Crispy skin pork which reminded me of "Mom's" cooking when we were little and she made the "spec fet". It brought back a lot of memories. We sat outside on the patio and enjoyed the beautiful weather although, Ralph insists that there were lots of mosquito's biting him. After dinner we strolled along the beachfront. What a busy area.

It was a fun day!

We've arrived

I was up early - 3:00 a.m. according to our alarm clock and the 2nd and 3rd time I looked at it, it was also 3:00 a.m. so I assumed that it wasn't working. We were at the airport by 8:30 and were able to check our bag's at the curbside check in. How awesome is that!! Within 5 minutes from unloading to checking in and we were done!

Our flight was delayed by about 30 minutes because of issues in Florida - volumes at the airport, but otherwise, very uneventful. We arrived and our first impression was how hot it was. It actually isn't the heat but the humidity that is high. The air is very thick.

We found our hotel which is located at Hallandale beach and then went for a walk through a neighboring area. There were restaurants and shops that we thought might be interesting. From there were drove to Fort Lauderdale beach where we were planning on eating dinner.

Dinner was amazing. We chose to sit outside under the canapy as it was raining out. Not hard, but a steady downpour. We watched the lightening out over the ocean. It was quite beautiful. We at at Shula's on the Beach - I would highly recommend it. The scallops were so sweat and the grouper melted in your mouth. What a great way to start the holiday.

Tomorrow we have our first round of golf. We'll be at Deer Creek Golf Resort. Our tee-off is set for 8:30 so we can sleep in a bit before our round. It's our plan after that to head to South Beach in Miami where we have dinner reservations at D. Rodrigous Cuba which should be interesting. We're really looking forward to the day.

Miami Bound

We headed for Buffalo around 12:15 this afternoon. The traffic was good until we hit the border at Queenston Lewiston where the traffic and lineups were really long. We waited about an hour to cross the border. This is a first for us as it is usually never very busy. We were patient, and I enjoyed reading out recipes to Ralph from the new Fine Cooking magazine that we received from Teresa, Lawrence and Sandra. There are some very good recipes in there.


We spent the afternoon browsing some of the shops in Buffalo and enjoyed a nice leisurely dinner at Hydes Steakhouse. The food was very good and very filling.


Our hotel is right next to the airport so we'll be able to sleep in a little tomorrow before our flight. It was a nice relaxing day and a good start to our vacation.


We are experiencing some problems with the computer that Ralph has, so right now we can download pictures. Hopefully we can fix this tomorrow.

Two more sleeps

Well only two more days to go and we're off on vacation. We're both happily looking forward to that. Follow along with us as we explore the cities of Fort Lauderdale and Miami.

3 More sleeps

It's hard to believe, but in 3 days we're off for another vacation. We're both ready for a break and really looking forward to our time away in Fort Lauderdale and Miami Beach. Follow along with us as we explore the city and enjoy some new adventures...

Setting up the Trampoline

The girls have waited all year for this day! It was time to set up their trampoline. They were so excited. Laura suggested that they might like to take a nap while Jay and Ralph assemble it. They were so looking forward to being able to jump and play on it, that they went right down. It took a while to get it assembled, but once it was done, we got the girls up and they enjoyed the rest of the afternoon on it. They had so much fun. I think that this will be a very well used gift.

Advanced Knife Skiills - Cooking Class

Well today was the day I had been waiting for!! I signed up for an Advanced Knife Skills class through the LCBO. In this class we were taught to debone a chicken, fillet a fish and chop vegetables. What fun!! With the chicken, fish and veggies that we cut up, we cooked up 4 different dishes: Fish Taco's with Chili-Cilantro Slaw, Herbed Chicken Paillard, Ratatouille and Early Summer Minestrone Soup. Yum... it was good. I learned alot and I had fun!