Cherry Creek Art Festival weekend

The Art festival started on Saturday, July 2, 2011. David and Bridget got down there early...to finish getting set up. Elizabeth and I took a great walk through some of the neighborhoods near our hotel. We took one left and went straight...and eventually ended up at a nice park. The neighborhood was lovely...lots of big trees, nice flowers and older brick homes. Everywhere you looked, it seemed like someone was walking a dog. There were lots of walkers, joggers, bikers...seems like an active city.
This big sign was actually at the entrance of the mall opposite the streets where the art festival was taking place. very convenient! haha
Along the streets in Cherry Creek were big sculptures, lots of flower planters, shops, of course and any kind of coffee shop or restaurant you could want!
After our walk...we cleaned up and went to the show. Saturday was nice...cool in the morning...but up into the 90's later in the day. The skies were clear. There were people and dogs everywhere.
In our group...Ryan, Megan, Liz, Bridget, Martha, Paul, David & I.
Megan met up with a friend who currently lives in Denver. Jim went to F.I.T. in Melbourne. He graduated, got a job in Orlando...then a year ago moved to Denver. He met up with Bridget, Megan and I for lunch. Later, his girlfriend (*originally from Melbourne) and he joined John, Tony, Megan and Brenna for a drink (or two?). It was fun meeting him.
There was a lot of activity around David's booth.
It was nice...as usual, to be able to take a break and sit and watch the crowd...at the booth.



We spent the day/evening at the show and then we all had a dinner planned at John Elways Steakhouse.

Back home

We left last Friday to head to Colorado for a few days off and a visit with all my brothers and sisters. Our brother David was in the Cherry Creek Art Festival in Denver...so we all decided to meet up there.
We missed a few members of the gang...Mark unfortunately was not able to meet with all of us due to work...he actually has been working out in Denver...but had to come back to Florida right before we all went out there. He did hook up with David and Bridget and Paul for a nice dinner at the Denver Chop House the night before he left. He also sent a nice bouquet of flowers to my sister Martha...which was waiting for her when she and Tony arrived. My brother -in-law Erik had to work...so did David...but Anna and Ellen made it!(they got in the next day) Our brother-in-law Rob also didn't make it...so we missed seeing him and Shane.
David and Paul drove out to get a feel for the venue and get a "game plan" together. Bridget arrived next. Martha and Tony flew in from Honolulu. Elizabeth, Ryan and Meredith arrived at the Denver airport just after John and I...and Megan (in from DC) got there. It was fun to run into family members at the airport...so far from home!Brenna arrived the next day...as did Ellen and Anna.
Once we got all of our gear we headed to Loews Hotel in Denver. The view is from the window on the 4th floor at the end of the hall (where our room was located.)Here's Martha, Tony, Liz, Meredith, Megan, Ryan, John & I taking over the lobby.The hotel was in a great spot just a mile or two from the Art Festival. We could walk (kind of long..kind of hot...unusually warm for Denver) or take the hotel shuttle...it was very convenient.Martha , Elizabeth and I walked down one morning....then went home and cleaned up before returning for the show. I've never been to Denver in the summer...only in winter...on the way to a ski location...so it was nice to see it in July. It was beautiful in the Cherry Creek area...lots of green trees, lots of flowers and off in the distance the snow capped mountains. The staff was great...and we certainly made ourselves at home....haha. They told us when we left this morning that they had enjoyed having us there. The bell hop said "We enjoyed having your family here...you were a lot of fun. We usually get mostly business travelers...so you livened up the place."

Why is that bird in the window?

I don't know if you can see this right off the bat...but the other day this dove was sitting right on the other side of our front window. Kiena spotted it, jumped up on the chair and started barking at it. The bird just sat there. I would think seeing that dog face right in front of her would scare off the bird...but it did not. Finally Kiena's bark changed from "get out of here" to a kind of puzzled bark...which is when I looked up and saw the dove....still sitting there. Kiena was looking at me as if to say..."Why isn't that bird going away???" So...I went and got my camera and took it's picture. The flash did what the bark did not...it scared her off. It was funny.

She arranges seashells

There's a new little girl in the neighborhood. She and her family moved in with her aunt and cousin across the street. Since then there are fun little things going on around the neighborhood.
One day it was a chalk road way, complete with stop signs, directional arrows, etc. She sat on a skateboard with a piece of chalk in each hand while her brother and/or her cousin pulled her along.... creating the "road". It went all the way down and back up the street. Fun! It was muticolored of course. Her next project invovled these shells.
I first noticed them stuck into these wooden stumps(?). a single shell carefully stuck in to each stump the full length of the next door neighbor's yard. They were like that for about a week....but she must've been out again today...because
now we have decorated fire hydrants. I just hope she washed her hands when she went in! haha!

I like this kid!

Sea Turtles !!!!!

Late addition to this post...These first two photos are of the turtle we saw! Heather took them with her phone. Both were as the turtle was heading back to the water. So cool!

This map kind of shows where we were...I don't know why the star looks like it's on Valkaria...that's on the mainland...we were on the barrier island in Melbourne Beach
Last week at work, a friend told me she had been out looking for sea turtles and saw 16-18 in one night!!!!!...including a huge leatherback turtle. I have lived in Florida since 1967,,,and in all those years I have never managed to be at the beach on a night when sea turtles were coming ashore to lay eggs.
Typically...someone would tell me "I saw _____(fill in the blank) number of turtles last night...right down at our beach" The next night I'd venture down...and see nothing. Years ago when we would "hang out" for lack of a better word at the beach...we would on occasion see baby hatchlings digging out from the sand and heading down towards the water...but I always wanted to see the moms coming ashore. After hearing Joanne's story...I decided it was time to find someone to go turtle watching with me.em>
The best hours are between 10pm and 2 am...so this rules out a lot of people. hahaha including John. if John is up at that time of night...he's not going turtle watching...he's probably wanting to go shoot pool...haha So...I called my friend Heather and she said yes right away.She had to get her girls to bed, Chris agreed to stay home...so Heather and I were off to south Melbourne Beach. We decided to go there because it's pretty dark, not crowded and that's the area where Joanne had seen all the turtles earlier in the week. We were "armed" with bug spray (which we didn't need), a flashlight with red paper over it...so as not to disturb the turtles, a couple of small blankets and some drinks. We walked a little ways down from the beach access and started looking for tracks. Heather has done this before...and she spotted tracks right away. They sort of look like tractor tracks all over the beach to me. The key is to find tracks heading up towards the dune....because that means the turtle is still up there digging her hole and laying her eggs.We saw lots and lots of tracks...but most indicated the turtles had comeup, laid eggs and then returned to the ocean. From start to finish...getting out of the water...up the dune, digging, laying, covering the eggs...it probably takes about 1 hour. You don't want to spook the turtles...or they will abandon the spot and head back to the water. I definitely did not want to do that. We waited a few minutes and then a hulking form started coming out of the water. The moon was not up yet and there was a thunderstorm offshore...so it was pretty dark. Heather and I kept wondering if we were really seeing things...or just seeing things. haha The turtles move a little faster than I expected...but it was so cool to see them making their way on shore. We watched one from start to finish...we were about 20 (?) yards away.
After a while the storm went past, the full moon came up (well...a little past full) and the wind died. The water was calm...and we could see a whole lot better because of the moonlight.While we watched her...another one came up a few yards farther down the beach...we walked down to get a little closer...but she turned around. A bit later either she...or another turtle came back up. We sat and waited...saw the sand flipping around and once we knew our turtle was pretty much done we went over to get a closer look. In the meantime a turtle crew came down the beach...one on a cart...from the north...two young woman (from UCF) from the south. They were excited to see OUR turtle. They looked her over...saw that she had not been tagged...so they got out their gear and just before she made her way back to the water...they tagged her, measured her and checked her for any nicks,damage to her shell etc. She was ready to get on her way...but they held her for a minute...Heather got to help (she's worked at a Vet's office (before kids) and helped with manatee rescues...so she knew just what to do.Her head measured about 7 inches across, her shell or more correctly...her carapace, was a little over 25 inches long and just a bit wider than that across. I just stood back and watched...and waited anxiously to see Mama get on her way. I knew she just wanted to get out of there...and a few minutes later she was on her way.Once they are done laying eggs...they don't waste any time going back into the ocean. After that (around 10:50pm or so) we headed back to where we had started and saw three more on the way.You are walking along the water's edge...and all of the sudden this shadowy form appears and then there's a turtle coming ashore. Fun to watch! drinking alcohol could affect your sightings...haha...we thought for sure we saw one up on the dune...turns out we were watching a pile of seaweed. haha...Heather had had a couple of beers...I only had one glass of wine...haha Two went to work...one went back out to the ocean. One came right up near the beach access...didn't like the spot...stated back towards the water...turned around...moved over a little, hesitated and finally decided she had found her spot. We watched her from start to finish...and when she safely made her way out to sea...we decided we were done. Heatrher got a couple of pictures...if they turned out...I'll post them. While we were sitting on the beach watching her...we were chatting...looking up and down the beach...saw one or two more coming up or going back...and at one point one mama was heading right up the beach towards US!!!...we jumped up...but she decided we were too close...turned around and went back out.So...my turtle watching was a BIG success! Finally!All of these photos are from the internet...I didn't take my camera down to the beach..because I did not want to disturb the turtles. We have been down to the (Dr.) Archie Carr Sea Turtle Coservancy center down in Melbourne Beach...and learned all the different things that can disturb or keep turtles from laying their eggs...so I wanted to be extra careful. The Turtle Crew we saw on the beach told us it was okay to take a photo once we knew for sure the mother was done and ready to head back out...so that's when Heather took her pictures. They told us the first one we saw up close...was a Loggerhead. I think we saw a "Greeny" too...the way she was flipping the sand around....but I don't know for sure.

Lunch on the river at Grills

John took Brenna and I in the boat to a local spot on the river...Grills I think he figures he'll get me on the boat in small steps...river first...eventually get me offshore
Ron joined us. The restaurant is pretty big. Inside and outside seating. Nice patio deck...on a Saturday afternoon it was perfect. They had a live band who sounded pretty good. People watching was fun...it's amazing what some people will wear....hope they're not saying the same thing about me...hahha And the food was tasty. I even took a photo in the bathroom...because they had these fun fish tiles.

Heading towards the shore. It was a little windy...but it wasn't really an issue. except maybe when you consider our hair...
Posing
playing around with the special effects (Brenna that is)
Ron took a picture of Brenna, John and I...with boat in the background...actually I don't know how well you can see the boat...but how bout that bridge???? haha (Pineda Causeway)

A Visit with Brenna

Brenna was in Orlando for a conference this past week. We had a plan to drive over Thursday afternoon (after work) and meet her at the Hilton where the conference was being held.She finished up for the day about an hour or so after we arrived...and then we all went out for dinner.
Originally she planned to take us you read that right...she took us out to dinner! at one of her favorite places in Orlando, Christini's (?)..but as it turned out a group at the conference took the group from Huntsville out to dinner on Tuesday...and they went there....so that meant we were going to my FAVORITE place...http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/flying-fish-cafe/ I was very excited!
It was a beautiful evening and the Boardwalk at Disney is always fun. We took a few pictures and then had a wonderful dinner...as usual. John had a steak, Brenna- seared snapper and I had some delicious yellow fin tuna and Asian noodles. YUM
After dinner we strolled around the "lake" and then stopped in for dessert at the candy store.




A wall of Jelly Belly jelly beans...
I had to pose by the scepter , crown and velvet Miss America robe. They also have photos of all the Miss America winners through the years. It's always fun to look at those.
we had our treats and headed back to the hotel.
Friday morning Brenna finished up and then we headed down to the fun pool with it's lazy river. From our room you could see Sea World Aquatica and Wet and Wild in the distance....but who needs the lazy river at Wet and Wild...when we had our own at the hotel. haha
We floated around a few times...very relaxing...I could've done that all morning long.
we had to try the slide...fast! I don't like when you're in the dark tube...going fast...it kind of freaks me out...but luckily it wasn't too long of a slide and you were only briefly hurtled through the enclosed part...haha Once was enough however....so when the picture John took of me was me with my head cut out of the photo...I declined his offer to try again.
We had a good time...and it was kind of nice to be treated to dinner (and the room)by Brenna.