February  3^rd, 2013  (late posting, oops sorry)

Weigh hey! The fishing trip is now over and what a trip it was. The ocean was a little too rough for us prairie girls. The guys seemed to be able to overcome the rocking of the boat as it rolled with the swells creating an up and down and round and round motion.  I seemed to fair best with only a few trips to reinvent my breakfast, however, poor Norma and Brenda, suffered long and hard at the hands of the ocean. No one caught any fish we could keep although we had lots of catch and release. The have very strict rules on which fish are in season and which are not.  We have had many laughs, now that we are on dry land, about our great fishing expedition.

We have had a busy week with Norma and Russel and seem to have been on the go most every day. Roger and Russ made it to a NHL hockey game in Miami to see the Panthers vs the Jets and had a great time. The Jets lost but they had a good time anyway sitting in their last minute seats (purchased online) at center ice 7^th row. They were able to get tickets for $31.00 a ticket. Unbelievable!

Roger and Russ also had a round of golf at the Indian River Golf course and had a few entertaining moments as they made their way down the fairways. Roger awoke a sleeping alligator when his ball landed in the water. Roger figures he must have hit him in the head or something, but up came the eyes and then the head.  It did not come out of the pond so perhaps he is used to a few golf balls splashing around him.  Next Russel’s golf ball got trapped in a palm tree trunk, nicely wedged into the tulip type bark. There may be no bears on the course like Clear lake, but there a definitely a few hazards.

We had a wonderful evening and supper at Brenda and Tom’s condo at ocean village. We laughed so hard our sides hurt and the pictures are a testament to the fun we had. Tom and Brenda were great hosts and we hated the evening to end, but we said our good nights and laughed all the way to the car.

This week we also took a trip to the Backus Art Gallery which is a well-known gallery here in Florida.  The pictures were beautiful and the history of the art and area was very interesting. We also walked through the Art Mundo gallery and art studios which displayed art forms of different media.  It really portrayed the artists of the area and they talent is amazing.  A jolly wood carver, sculptor and wood turner gave us a tour and amused us with his stories. A particular interesting artist is a woman with Down Syndrome that is a fabulous artist of women fashionistas. She has amazing talent that is continuing to developing with the tutoring of a local artist. She is very well known and has sold paintings around the world. Her name is Katie Henderson.  www.missKatieskreations.com

Norma and I managed to get a little shopping in when the guys were golfing and found our way to the pool several days. Norma did get a little sunburned even with her 50 sunscreen, but by the time she left I could see a few more freckles appear and even darken up a bit.   

As they move on to Disney we pick up my good friend Brenda at the airport. It should another great week with fun and sun on the horizon.

Stay Warm,

Carol