Rides at Busch Gardens

There are many rides at Busch Gardens. There is a roller coaster ride and there are only two of its kind in North America and one of them is in Busch Gardens. The ride is called Shricka. Guess which one we went on??

Apes at Busch Gardens

It was interesting to watch the apes interacting with one another and no I do not believe humans evolved from the ape family.

Reptiles at Busch Gardens

The crocodiles and the giant turtle are having a lazy afternoon sunning themselves in the sun. But, the lizard is enjoying the view out of his window--looking at all the girls go by.

Some of the animals at Busch Gardens

The zebras,elephants and the camels seem right at home in their spacious surroundings .

More birds at Busch Gardens

The flamingos are really unique birds to watch. They would stand on one leg to conserve body heat. To eat they would turn their heads upside down with their foreheads on the ground and pick up food of the ground. They are a pretty color as well. The parrots are a great attraction and come in various colors. there is a bird show at the gardens which the parrots have a part in. Their wings are clipped so that they cannot fly away.

In December 2006, we purchased seasonal passes to Busch Gardens which allowed us to go to Cypress Gardens at no cost only parking. We went and enjoyed the beautiful gardens ,unfortunately we left our camera at home . We have gone to Busch Gardens several times and enjoyed ourselves . Busch Gardens has several rides, children section, entertainment and several birds and animals. Here Stew and I enjoyed walking thru one of the bird sanctuary which housed the Lories.
These birds are affectionate,playful and curious. They particularly love
an audience. They have a particular habit they enjoy doing for hours and that is hanging upside down for hours from the roof of their cage. They are easy to train to do various tricks. They do have great personality.

There will be more on Busch gardens in future blogs

LETTUCE LAKE once again

During our stroll on the boardwalk at Lettuce Lake we met 2 of the local residents--Mr.Turtle and Mrs. Squirrel. Both appeared not to mind the intrusion.

LETTUCE LAKE

We took a stroll on a boardwalk along Hillsborough River at Lettuce Lake. One of the interesting and unusual sight we seen was the Bald Cypress Trees. They grow along river banks or swampy soils. The trees are very majestic in appearance and form "knees" which are woody projections sent above ground that are part of the root system. Their function at one time was thought to provide oxygen to the roots, but the thought today that the "knees" provide support and stabilization. The cypress tree grows to 50-70 feet with a spread of 30 feet and are rarely blown over even in a hurricane.

Here is a picture of the sheriff directing traffic from Bay Life Church. The web address the last blog for some reason isn't working. Here it is again www.baylifeweb.org

Here is a picture of the sheriff directing traffic from Bay Life Church. The web address the last blog for some reason isn't working. Here it is again www.baylifeweb.org

Bay Life Church Brandon, Florida

As promised here are some pictures of the church we attend while we are in Florida. We have fallen in love with Pastor Mark Saunders and the congregation. We found the church totally by accident. We arrived into our campsite at Southern Aire in Thontoassa, Florida on November 1,2006 , Wednesday afternoon. We needed to purchase a few things at Home Depot. On our way to and back we passed the church Bay Life and in front was a sign indicating church times. The church and the sign had caused a curiosity in us to the point we had to investigate on Sunday morning. Much to our shock and amazement there was a Florida sheriff directing traffic into the church grounds and the same sheriff was out on Kingsway Rd. directing traffic out of the church grounds. Pastor Mark has a unique way presenting his messages. He uses props which bring the point across. The one that really blew us away was the Sunday service prior to the American Thanksgiving which is in November. Pastor Mark gave the shortest message ever- 10 mins. He was teaching from Nehemiah 11:27-43 , stating we have much to be thankful for and as a church together we can do much to rejoice. "The power of God in our lives leads us to heart of thankfulness" At the end of his message, he brought out a toy car, toy shopping cart and a toy budget rent a truck. Pastor Mark sent us out on a mission to demonstrate our thankfulness of what God has done for us. We each were given a grocery list and were sent out to one of the two grocery stores nearby and shop for the local food banks. Families were encouraged to pick up the children from the children's church and have them to be apart of the adventure. It was exciting and up lifting to see the grocery store we were in full of Bay Life congregation shopping together. The shelves in the store were nearly empty. In the parking lot in both stores was a Budget Rent a truck where we took our groceries. As a church we supplied enough groceries for the food bank to last until May 2007. I believe the amount of groceries was approx. 30,000-36,000 lbs in total. At Bay Life there are 2 Sunday morning services and we can't wait to go to see what God has in store for us.
We also have joined a home group that meets every Thursday evening and we have met the most wonderful, Godly people. It is so comforting to know that they are only a phone call away whenever we need a prayer for a situation. To learn more about Bay Life Church and also hear Pastor mark's messages go to the following.www.baylifeweb.org

Oscar and Oliver wistness Florida

Oliver
Oscar


We left Windsor with Oscar as our companion in the 5th wheel. It was surprising to see that he survived the trip to the sunny state- Florida. In November-on American Thankingsgiving morning Oscar no longer existed. So in February we purchased Oliver. Both are Japanese beta fish. They are from Japanese rice fields ; they survive in little pools of water. Oliver soon will be competing with our little dog which we will get by the end of April. We believe that the two will get along just fine. There will be further blog on the two pets.

FLORIDA AQUARIUM

When Will,Diane,John and Linda came to visit on January 28,2007 we went to Florida Aquarium which was interesting. The day was windy and cold so it was a pleasure to be inside where it was warm. The aquarium was educational. There were many birds, ducks and varoius fish. We were able to see feedings of the otters and sting rays. There were fishes of various sizes and colours. We even seen sea horses which I thought were just a myth. The pictures taken do not do justice to the colour, especially the coral which are very beautiful.

friends from windsor came to Florida

January 28th, we had a great visit with our friends who came from Windsor, Ontario.
Will and Diane on the left;John and Linda on the right with Stew. This picture was taken at Plant City at Parkesdale fruit stand-greenhouse eating the world famous strawberry shortcake. Bus loads of tourist would come just to have the shortcake and would stand for hours in line to this mile high dessert. There will be more on Plant City in March as that is when the Strawberry festival is held from March 1-11. It is a big affair with 2 performances a day - country and western performers such as George Jones, Gretchen Wilson,Randy Travis,LeAnn Rimes and many others, plus christian artist Casting Crowns. Plant City began as a flourishing railroad town in 1800's.More on Plant City click here www.plantcity.org

Well,here are some of the renovations we did to our 5Th wheel. We took out the table-bench seating which was difficult to have anyone over for a meal. the new free standing table and four chairs make the trailer more like home and a pleasure to entertain. We had that pleasure on December 30,2005 when our friends Jim and Pat came to visit and we were able to have our supper around the table rather than cramped or out side with plates sitting on our laps. the wood from the benches Stew was able to make a cabinet which he hung over the computer desk.This gave us back some of the storage we lost when we removed the benches. The desk is also, a new addition and it is really a great blessing . Now we do not have the clutter on the table when we want to use the computer. Our next major project will be replacing the sofa with wall hugger love seat rocker recliner. One day I would like to replace the window coverings. When we removed the benches there are holes in the wall from the screws that will be need to be filled or covered with new wallpaper. Oh well !! That will mean more pictures and blogging. There never seems to be a lack of something to blog about.

Happy New year-January 1,2007

Spending the Holiday season here in Florida is an experience. We have been in shorts most of the time and the weather has been in the 80F plus. On Christmas day it rained all day and it was sunny on Boxing day. We had our Christmas turkey dinner at the club house and as usual there was alot to eat. On boxing day,December 26th we awoke to 2 boxes left by our trailer. Our reaction was that someone had left their garbage on our site. It so happened that we had a meeting that morning at the club house ..the resident association ..to keep us up to date with all that is happening at the park. So I went up to the president and told him that someone had left their garbage on our site. He told me to report it to the office which I decided to do after the meeting. Before the meeting was over, one of the resident named Dick came to the microphone and said " We have some Canadian residents in our park who are celebrating a holiday that isn't celebrated in the states. This holiday is called Boxing Day and the reason it is called Boxing Day is that it is the day the Canadians box their gifts and return them. To make things easier for us he has placed boxes on all Canadian sites." Needless to say there was alot of laughter including myself. So the enclosed picture show one of the boxes.

On new Year's Eve , we went a dance at the club house and enjoyed ourselves. Today ,January 1st it is raining and it is warm.


On December 26th in the afternoon until December28 in the afternoon, Stew's daughter and her family--Shell,Chris, Kandace ,Kor and Craig stopped by and visited with us . They were on the way to Fort Lauderdale , Fl. to go on a cruise. It was great to see them. We shopped and went for Strawberry shortcake at Plant City.

We are approaching Christmas season-- a time with family and friends, where tensions and emotions are high. It is a season for --(for)giving or forgiving. In certain situations, forgiving is more important than for giving gifts. We have a choice. Let this Christmas be a time where family and friends are important. Jesus was born at Christmas and He is the reason for the season. It is the season where we celebrate His birthday. It is not about what we want or demand.
We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and let this Christmas be the one you all will remember.

We have enclosed pictures of our 5th wheel and the Heritage Hall,where we met for functions, all decked out in Season Splendor.

American Thanksgiving Day. November 23rd was American Thanksgiving and the park had a Thanksgiving dinner at the club house. The turkeys were supplied and everyone who attended the dinner had to bring a dish. Everyone had their fill of tasty food, fun and fellowship was enjoyed by all. Pictures were taken at the Thanksgiving dinner.

Today, December 11th , I did my first official golf game. My putting wasn't too bad but my driving needs more work. More practice will improve my game. I will blog my progress and hopefully I will be able to report improvement.

This is the view of the club house from our 5th wheel. We are 4 sites from the building , close to all functions. On the left side of the building is the office and post office and on the right side are the washrooms,showers and laundry. In the middle is the place where we play and have fun with our new friends The mangers in this RV park work hard at keeping this park clean. This morning the maintenance crew were replacing fresh flowers in the flower beds. They were planting annuals and poinsettias which just doesn't add up at this time of the year for me. More Canadians came in this weekend and 2 couples moved across the road from us. The park has huge trees called LIVE OAKS which have different leaves than the oak trees at home, the leaves do not fall off and they produce acorns. These treesb are protected and are not allowed to be cut down and permission has to be obtained to trim the branches. For more information on Southern Aire click here

We arrived to Southern Aire RV Resort November 1st. Our first impression was.."We are in the boonies" way out in the country. The people are nice and were willing to help out anyway they could. Most of them have been at this park from 10-20 ++years. Once we set up we had to get some groceries and asked for directions to the nearest grocery store, only to find out that we are surrounded by shopping centres which we are still trying to discover. Major shopping centre including a large mall is only 15 mins away and many in between. It took us the rest of the week to set up and get organized. Stew washed and waxed the trailer and truck. On Saturday Nov 4th he went golfing with some guys from the park. I even purchased golf clubs for myself, I am now in the retirement ranks officially. I have gone out once to hit a bucket of balls and much practice is required before I'll tackle the golf course. As for the organizing the inside of the trailer is a on going process and will be discussed at a later date. At Southern Aire we can be busy all day long and still not get to do everything,so we have to pick and choose. So far we go to Monday morning meeting to get weekly updates, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings we play cards, Thursday evening we go to a Bible study at a couples home from the church we attend,Friday evening we go to spaghetti supper at another church, then there is golfing, shopping , walking,biking and driving around discovering new areas. Oops!! forgot the laundry day. On Sunday's we attend Bay Life Church which we like very much. More about the church at a later blog.