Friday, April 17, 2015

Sad Times

Little granddaughter went through some difficult times this week.  Her beloved cat, Whiskers, died due to complications while birthing kittens.

Whiskers was a wonderful mother cat to her litters of kittens in past years & also was a very good hunter. She was Carly's loyal pet for several years.

 Sad times for a little girl when a pet dies.
Pictures were taken by my son, Carly's daddy.

Saturday, April 11, 2015

Florida Trip Part 4

Brandon & I chillin' in the pool.

The seashells I collected at Lover's Key at Fort Meyers beach.
The flower is a hibiscus from a shrub beside the pool.
If you look really hard, you can see the the fins from dolfins swimming in the gulf.

Saw many geckos darting around. 

Another colourful cottage on Pine Island.

From the dock here, we saw a sting ray & a variety of fish.


Brightly painted building on Pine Island.

We were constantly watching for crocs & alligators, hoping we would see one in the many swamps & lakes we passed but no luck. On the last day, on our way back, we saw this huge crocodile in the ditch. We think it got hit on the highway. So this was as good as it got with seeing a live croc in the wild.

On April 6th, early in the morning, we said goodbye to the palm trees & fly home with lots of great memories & pictures.

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Florida Trip Part 3

One of the salads we enjoyed. It's called Leaning Tower & consisted of slices of tomato layered with soft white cheese & drizzled with balsamic vinegar & oil.
 
The Unrau Men

Brandon just chillin.

Another delicious meal - fish & chips.

Brandon having a discussion with a pelican.
Lighthouse on Sanibel Island.

One of the birds on the pier at Sanibel Island.

We visited a nature reserve on Sanibel Island.

Went on a dophin watching/ shelling cruise to Fort Myers Beach & in places along the beach, it was just full of seashells.

A colourful restaurant  along the shore.

Mangrove trees.

One of the beautiful, huge homes we saw from the boat.

Lena doing some shelling.

Saw this bird on the beach. The sand was very white & like powder.

Here we all are, enjoying the Florida sunshine.

Captured this shot at a marina with palm trees in the background.

Don't know what kind of a tree this is. Saw many of these trees with colourful leaves.


Spent as much time as we could outside by the pool. This was at Cape Coral, where we rented a 3 bedroom house for the last week.

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Florida Trip Part 2

 Visited Busch Gardens close to Tampa Monday. It was very busy with lots of people due to spring break in many areas. I rented a scooter to ride on as there is lots of walking to do. Even so, it was slow going trying to dodge many people & kids who would stop or walk right in front of me. We managed to see most of the park.

 Enjoyed the floral displays.





 They had a number of displays of this kind of vegetation on animal forms.

 Many bushes of azaleas in full bloom.

 The rest of my gang went on this ride while I took pictures of them getting wet!

 Interesting how the flamingos can twist themselves like this & sleep.

 Watched this rescued Bald Eagle eating a mouse!
 
One of the many roller coasters at Busch that was fun to watch others enjoying their thrills. Nope, neither one of us dared to ride any of them.

Thursday, April 2, 2015

Florida Trip Part 1

 On March 23rd, hubby & myself, together with the eldest son, his wife & our 17 year old grandson, drove to Grand Forks, ND & boarded an airplane for Florida. For the first week, we rented a 3 bedroom condo at Windsor Hills Resort close to Kissimmie.


We all enjoyed at day at SeaWorld.

 Took in the dolphin show & later the Shamu killer whale show.

 Loved the flowers & other greenery there.

 Loved seeing the penguins, such interesting creatures. Had to wait in line for about  35 minutes for a most silly ride that took us to the penguins. Now we know the direct route & would skip the ride!
 
Love how these flower pots are placed & surrounded with the greenery.

 One the way back to our condo, we stooped at Boston Lobster Feast for an " all you can eat" seafood bar. An amazing experience! Had 2 lobsters, a crab, crab legs & shrimp.



 One day we drove to Tampa to watch a hockey game - my first time watching a NHL game. It was a huge arena & a good game.
 
Wasn't hard to persuade these two to pose beside these Corvettes.