Jingle Bell Rock at Zoo Lights

It takes some of us longer than others. 

I had to learn a new trick - how to post a video to a blog!

Needless to say it was as simple as clicking 'insert video' instead of clicking 'insert image'.

 

White Christmas in the Windy City

We visited the Windy City - Chicago recently.

We experienced the cold & snow once again!

Fortunately we still had all our winter gear, so we fared pretty well.

I would be O.K. never seeing snow again, but it is the price you have to pay for visiting grandchildren.

Rocky in the snow

Zoo Lights

 

 

Stockings hung by the chimney with care!

Making pizza with mom & dad.

 

 

 

ARRESTED!

We returned home Thanksgiving afternoon to this scene!

There were 7 police vehicles in our little court. 

We could not even get to our driveway.

We parked at the end of the street & walked to our house.

We asked one of the officers what was going on.

He said there had been two arrests with the suspects currently in 2 of the police vehicles.

 

We had to let Charlie out, so proceeded into the house. 

While I walked Charlie Jim asked our neighbor for more details.

One of the suspects is in the back seat of this car.

Apparently a car had come speeding into the court, parked in a neighbor's drive & 2 people got out & started walking around the neighbor's house.  Another neighbor saw the suspicious actions & called the police. 

Many police cars arrived on the scene plus dogs plus a helicopter. 

One suspect was apprehended quickly.  After some time the second suspect was apprehended.  This all happened 2-3 hours before we arrived home. 

We missed all the excitement!

It took another 2-3 hours to wrap up the details & haul the suspect's car away.

 

I guess it's a good thing we had Charlie, the watch dog, to keep an eye on things while we were gone. 

The suspects might have picked our house to check out if Charlie had not scared them off!

 

Meet Charlie Brown

This is Charlie Brown!

We are dog sitting while Charlie's family is out of town for Thanksgiving.

It has been an adjustment for Charlie & for us.

It has been over a year since our beloved Thor crossed over the Rainbow Bridge.  We have missed having a dog in the house!

Charlie is quite the mama's boy!

He follows me everywhere & whines when I am out of his sight.

I am enjoying having Charlie & will miss him when he returns to his family.

Thanksgiving Dinner

We had this visitor the other day. 

Gobble, gobble, gobble!

 

 

In true prepper spirit we decided what would be

on the Thanksgiving dinner menu. 

Yum!!

 

Tom Turkey eventually wandered over to the neighbor's pool.

We didn't hang around to watch Tom Turkey take a swim.

 

 

 

Family - West & North

We recently enjoyed visits from some of my family. 

My oldest sister, who now lives in TX, came to stay a week with my dad. 

Our youngest son, still living in IN, came to stay a week with us. 

We had such a great time together! 

The only drawback to living in FL is being further away from some of my family.

 

Family is so precious!!

 

Our son, my sister, & my dad

 

 

Our son's dog - Mojo

Happy feet!!

 

 

Old Bay Seasoning --> Then and Now

Note the new pedicure picture. 

Geometrics in honor of my oldest son!

NOW to the post subject - Old Bay seasoning.

I have gotten hooked on adding Old Bay seasoning to a lot of my meals.  So I finished up a container that I have had for MANY years.  I bought a new one & noticed some packaging differences.

 

Then     &      Now

Then     &    Now

Then

Now

 

Hmm!  Interesting!

Can you believe there are LESS ingredients today than 10 years ago?

 

Precious Family

We celebrated Labor Day by driving Barb's dad to Lakeland, FL.  Barb's sister lives in Lakeland & her daughter & family were visiting from Duluth, MN.  It was a chance for dad to see the grandchildren & great-grandchildren.  We had not seen each other since last year at Labor Day when we were all in Anderson, IN.

Chris, Kelan, Ava, Miri, Blake & Dennise

 We had a nice visit & enjoyed lunch together.  Barb talked Miri & Ava into trying grilled peanut butter along with the grilled cheese that Daddy normally fixes them for lunch. 

Both girls liked the grilled peanut butter!

 

The twins were very well behaved, but did not want venture very far from Mommy or Daddy since there were strangers in the house.  The twins are about two weeks older than Theo. 

 

Time with family is so very precious!!

 

SCORE 2 for the Frog Squad!!

We're discovering tree frogs are plentiful in Florida.

Frog Squad: 2          Tree Frogs: 0     

 

Read Jimmy's June 21st post on his blog for the first blog squad score - http://thebriarpatch21.blogspot.com/

 

I had just talked to the lady at church whose home was where we first scored against the tree frogs.  How ironic that a few days later I flipped up the toilet lid in the guest bathroom & saw this.

Frog in the toilet bowl!

Captive frog!

I guess we better update our LinkedIn profile!



Family Time in Kokomo

We recently had some memorable family time in Kokomo, IN.  We had not all been together since February 2012.  That was before precious Theo was born!

We were all together at Gregg's "fixer upper" house for a couple of days.

During that time we toured Kokomo Opalescent Glass & had a play date at the park with Barb's friend, Connie.

 

KOKOMO OPALESCENT GLASS tour 

 

Before the tour!

Pouring hot glass into a mold

 

Prototype of an award for Laura Bush

Painting on glass

 

After the tour!

 

 

Play Date at Foster Park

Just a swingin'

Roxanne observes the play action

More swingin'

Theo explores the jungle gym

 

Spending Time on the Front Porch

Sorting through books

Stopping to smell the flowers

Shannon & Kyle watch Gregg read a book 

 

I love my family & it was great to spend time together!!

We are already discussing plans for another trip north before the end of the year.