It's a Family affair...

I've taken a couple trips recently and as usual most involve visits with family. What's nice is that now that I'm "retired" I didn't have to ask for time off, or worry about how long I could be gone. It was great!!!
John had taken a couple of small trips early in the year and I was feeling like I wanted to do something...I just didn't know exactly what I wanted to do. I'm not the best traveler...I don't do much by myself...for whatever reason, I just don't. My sister Elizabeth had suggested more than once that the two of us should meet up sometime in Charlotte, NC; where my niece lives. I was in Charlotte once, I think, maybe 40 years ago hahaha. Well, Elizabeth made a plan with Meredith and then we looked to see if it would work out for me and my brother-in-law and nephew as well. After several conversations...we came up with a plan that worked for all of us.
There is a direct flight right to Charlotte from Melbourne....so that was a big plus. e all planned to arrive in town on or around the same date. Elizabeth picked me up on the Thursday that I arrived and we headed out from there.

First stop we went to eat at a local spot

... and after that a concert in the park at the U.S. National Whitewater Center  The park offers all sorts of water activities...kayaking, paddle boarding, whitewater rafting, etc, there are also  zip lines, rope courses, hiking trails, bike trails, rock climbing
...it's pretty awesome. And...concerts in the park. Upstate from New York. (according to my sister from upstate NY...the town they're from wouldn't really be considered upstate by people actually from upstate NY...but we doubted anyone present would know that..hahaha

The night we were there it was a band called
Friday we spent the morning relaxing and visiting a local art museum; 

while we waited for my niece to get off work. (coincidentally...it happened to be her 1/2 day Friday) We all enjoyed the collections.

Elizabeth told me I needed to have my picture taken  because my dress matched the chair

We had some delicious fish tacos , etc for a late lunch after Meredith got off work.
That evening we went to watch the Charlotte Knights.

 It was a lovely evening...a little warm but not terrible and no rain around...so all was well.

Charlotte skyline

panoramic view of downtown Charlotte from the ballpark

 It turned out to be an exciting game. The home team took an early lead...but the visitors (Louisville Bats) came back and tied the score. In the 9th inning...a player hit a homerun with the bases loaded to win the game....just around the time we though the game might be going into extra innings. That was a fun turn of events. We had thought we might grab a bite to eat after the game...but by the time the game and the fireworks

 afterwards it was pretty late. The few places that were open were packed...no one was going to get anything without waiting for it...so we decided to just  grab a snack at the hotel and call it a night.
Saturday we had plans to drive over to Asheville for the day/night to visit the town and (Elizabeth's son) Ryan. 
We got up and had a delicious waffle

 at a spot right near Meredith and Adam's place. Waffle with whipped cream and berries...YUM YUM! Then we hit the road. We drove through some rain along the way and hoped we wouldn't have to tote around umbrellas all day...but we had them, just in case.
A few hours later we arrived and got to check out Ryan's place. Nice apartment close to downtown. 

Very convenient. We got the "tour" of the town with Ryan and found a spot for lunch that didn't have a long waiting line. In spite of the rain...there were a lot of people walking around downtown.

. and happily by the time we finished lunch, it was letting up. We stopped into a couple of local shops and then went to check out the house we had rented for the night. (Meredith found it  in on Airbnb or VRBO). The house was a little out of town...in a nice area. It was a 100 year old house

...that had been updated over the years. Plenty of room to relax and perfect for what we needed. (My nephew Shane did decide to stay with his cousin Ryan for the night when he realized his sleeping options were an air mattress or the sofa...hahaha)

 There was a great swing in a  huge Maple tree out front. Of course we /I had to check that out.

 We had a glass of wine/champagne/whatever, listened to some music and then we all headed to the Grove Park Inn for dinner. 
The last time I was at the Grove Park Inn was back in the 90's. We stopped there after a visit to TN. I wanted to check it out and there were all sorts of holiday things going on at the time...including a big Gingerbread House (BIG houses!) display. We had stayed just for one night in the old original hotel. 

Now it has a whole new area and it is owned by OMNI Hotels

Anne, Liz, Shane, Meredith,Ryan and Rob

. It was fun to walk around and see all the old stonework and the huge fireplace in the lobby. The view was beautiful and Elizabeth had made us a reservation at the Edison Craft Ales + Kitchen

 out on the terrace...right in time for sunset.

someone took our picture...the rest of the group was off exploring

down near where the spa was located and the pool

 It was a nice evening; a little cooler after the earlier rain. I got a club sandwich...and it was delicious!
Nothing fancy...but it really was good!
Sunday morning we met up with Ryan and Shane and we all had brunch at The Corner Restaurant.

view down a side street-GREEN trees!

 Everything was tasty. We had some time afterwards...so we all decided  to walk around and explore the town for a couple of hours before we had to head back to Charlotte.
Meredith and Adam made dinner for everyone and they surprised Elizabeth with an early birthday cake. We played Chameleon. We had fun and had some good laughs because we took turns screwing up...(mostly me) which made it more entertaining. We said goodbye so that Meredith and Adam could get organized for Monday morning...also my flight home was in the morning (although not too early!). It was a good trip...a bit of a whirlwind...Elizabeth kept us busy! But...she also organized pretty much everything...or coordinated with Meredith and Adam to schedule things, make reservations, get tickets and DROVE us around the whole time...so what's not to like!
I got home Monday afternoon and then started getting things together for our trip to TN 10 days later.
Next time I'll tell you about our impromptu visit with some of John's family and our trip to TN for the 4th of July.

April-May-June Happenings

Once again time has gotten away from me...but I decided to attempt to recap recent events.
I'll start by backtracking to March. We had a BIG hail storm in March unlike anything I've ever been in in my life! All that morning the weather folks had been warning of severe storms and possible hail. Well usually hail around here is small and kind of a novelty...so I started off thinking Oh maybe I'll see some hail. I "heard" it falling and looked out...but then it kept getting louder and louder..and I decided I might not want to be sitting out on the porch near windows. well.moving into the kitchen/living area wasn't any better and it was still getting louder, That's when I decided I need to go o a room in the house with no windows...and I actually got into the closet. I was so glad Brenna's dogs were not here because they might have had a heart attack. One by one after the storm ended people began poking their heads out after the storm to see what the heck had just happened. I asked my neighbor if he had ever been in a storm like that ...he's from Ohio, he said "No, that was terrifying!"

. There was 10 inches piled up in the corner of my garage door.

the poor plants took a beating

meter took a hit...we didn't even know it until FPL showed up a few weeks later because they noticed something was "off"

an hour later still this big!

 My car had been in the garage so I wasn't worried about it. At a glance the screen on the porch looked intact...as compared to my next door neighbors...their screen was shredded! It wasn't until almost an hour after the storm that I realized that two of my front windows had gotten broken in the storm. All the ones I Could see were okay...but the two front windows in our bedroom were behind the shutters...so until I opened those shutters I didn't see the cracked windows.
Indialantic got mentioned on the Weather Channel that evening...and everyone agreed none of us had ever seen anything like it.
As a result...we had an insurance adjuster and roofer come out to take a look and assess the damage. We had the windows and the screened porch and few window screens replaced quickly....it pays to know people ;)
Last week the roofing crew was here tearing down and redoing our roof.

We have a few more odds and ends to do...but things are pretty much back to normal.

In April my friend and  I tried to  made a trip to Sea World, but  Karen and I finally made it on Friday May 3rd.. She wanted to take me to celebrate my retirement. I tried to tell her that was unnecessary but she insisted so why not. The first date we planed to go didn't work out due to the weather. She was in town anyway with her mother, so we did go to the Melbourne Art Show together. We got a late start...hahaha but still made it before closing. Of course we immediately ran in to a good friend and got sidetracked talking...so we didn't see much Art but we found my brother's booth and I planned to go back the following day anyway. We tried again the following week to find a day we could both go to Sea World. The one good day...was once again a wash out as far as weather. Time was running out to be able to make it for the Food and Wine festival...so we made a date for the following week and decided we were going to go... rain or shine. I had not been to Sea World in over 25 years...so it was nice to go with Karen who knew her way around the park.

We lucked out..it never rained in spite of the forecast. we were able to enjoy the day without umbrellas or ponchos. We saw shows,exhibits and enjoyed some tasty treats throughout the day. It was a nice day, different than my usual routine. I won't feel the need to rush back....but I did enjoy it.
As I mentioned. The annual Melbourne Art Festival was in April. The day Karen and I went , we didn't have much time to see all the artwork. I went back the next day and  took a slow loop around. David got a nice prize for one of his pieces, so that was fun. He didn't sell much, but prize money was nice. You can check out his art at   www.davidburtonart.com .
The first weekend in May is when Melbourne Beach celebrates Founder's Day. It's a fun day at Ryckman Park. There's artwork, local clubs have informational booths set up, there's a Talent Show (confess...I try to miss that hahahaha), pretty much everyone in town stops by at one point or another, there are food trucks, live local music, etc. just good hometown fun. I met a former co-worker at the library and we walked down to the park (a couple of blocks away). Naturally we ran in to some friends and other folks we knew from the library. We both enjoyed the afternoon.
From the park...I went home and cooled off for a bit before we headed down to LongDoggers for a little Kentucky Derby fun.

Sue had a nice hat and a rose print dress...a clear winner!

I did not wear a hat, but a few people did and we all placed our 'bets" and had some good snacks. We had lots of chances to win...but our horses came up short.
A couple of weeks later we were invited to some friends house for the Preakness Race.

"Redneck Derby" fight to the finish hahah

 Most of us barely took time to watch the race...we had fun eating, drinking and playing a few games.
John and I watched the "grand dogs" for a couple of weeks in May while Brenna and Josh were off to Australia. They got a great deal on their tickets,,,and it was too good to pass up, so they went. Now that the dogs are older...they are a lot easier to "take care of" and we knew they'd be a lot happier here than anywhere else.
In early May we got together with friends for "Happy Hour". John, Reid, Chandler and another friend had gone out and gotten a lot of fish...so

 it was a good excuse for a get-together. It was a BYOB, pot-luck party (the best kind I think) so no one had to do too much. John did cook up a bunch of the fish so even though it wasn't meant to be dinner...we all had plenty to eat. Everyone had a good time. It was just a fun relaxing 2-3 hours on a Thursday evening. At the end of May some friends had their annual Memorial Day party. Craig cooked up some great burgers and hotdogs, everyone brought side dishes...my favorite once again was Brenda's avocado/corn/black bean salad. YUM! It was a nice day...unlike last year when rain was in the forecast ALL day Long. It was a little hot...but the pool was cool for those who wanted to get in.

A old friend of ours was in town at the end of May/early June. He has been living in the Solomon Islands for many years...but was coming home for a surprise visit to his family. His brother was turning 60, and he hadn't seen his 80- something mother in 5 years, so he was surprising them. We joined them all for Johnny's birthday party down a a lovely park down in Grant/Valkaria. (near where we used to go cut down our Christmas trees years ago) I didn't know many of the people there...but it was a lovely afternoon and I enjoyed meeting some friends and family. And of course there was CAKE!  (from Publix!! the best kind hahah)

60th birthday bouquet

little library

At the end of the month well actually June 1st, our friend Al was taking part in a Fundraising/competition..".Dancing For The Space Coast" The winner is the person who raises the most money and dances well. ( 60% fundraising-40% skill I think I read). Al knows a lot of people in the community. He taught for a few years, attended FIT and is one of the founders of LongDoggers...so he was rallying his troops/supporters. He was able to get 10 tables of 10 people to commit. I was invited to join friends at one of the tables, so I decided to check it out. (another friend had participated last year...but we were out of town for that one). John was out of town for the weekend, so it was nice to have a plan with my friends.

posing with Al the "STAR"

 Honestly...I don't know if John would have made it through the whole program  hahahah Cocktail hour, dinner, auction THEN the show, and Al was the LAST performer. It was fun, but a little slow...but we had a great time cheering Al on. He was definitely the top dancer as far as I'm concerned, and I believe he got the top scores for dancing.

*One friend laughed at this photo..Chris scratching his head as if he's wondering what the heck all the commotion is about

Fran looking dapper...or like a waiter haha

He got beat out by two of the others in the fundraising department. It was all for good causes, we got to get dressed up a little and we did have fun.

This past weekend we went to some friend's for their annual Crayfish Boil. I don't eat any of the things they're boiling...potatoes, crayfish,corn,artichokes...but there's always other things to snack on and I like the company. There was an 80% chance of rain...but other than a few sprinkles...it was perfect. Cloudy and breezy...so that kept the temperatures down. It was great actually.and it was a good time.

lots of good stuff...if you like that kind of thing...

new phone with "action photos" ,,,still figuring it out :)

overheard some young guy say to his friend "Did you see that guy with the matching shirt, shoes and hat? His wife must've picked out that outfit" hahahah

Next week I am off to NC to meet up with my sister Liz, my niece Meredith and her boyfriend Adam, my brother-in-law Rob and my nephew Shane. We are all going to spend a couple of days in Charlotte, then head to Asheville for one night where we will get to visit with my nephew Ryan. I am looking forward to all the fun.
Good times ahead!