Sky Zone & Carrabbas Restaurant

We went to Sky Zone today which is an indoor trampoline place.  You can jump up, onto the walls, even play dodge ball.  Then we went to Carrabbas for lunch.  We had great Italian food.  Three of us split the calamari appetizer, Paris ate the entire mozzarella stick appetizer.  For dinner, Quinn order the mussels and pasta, Grammy had Mezzaluna ravioli, Grampy had tagliatelle with peas, chicken and mushrooms and Paris had lasagna. (They don't have chicken fingers here, so lasagna filled the bill)  Today is day 9 of the grand-kids visit, unfortunately they have to go back to New York tomorrow.
                                                                                   

                                                                               

                                                                           Bounce!
                                                                                

Well, it's a sad time with the grand-kids leaving, but next year we all will meet again, including their parents to take a schooner cruise out of Rockland, Maine and a visit to Lobster Fest!

Tractor Training

Today we started the day with tractor training.  Quinn had driven the tractor once previously, but this was the first time for Paris.  Both grand-kids are to fly home tomorrow, but both said that they would like to stay for a month.  Quinn says that when he graduates college, he'll save money to buy wooded land and build a log cabin.  We hope that will come true.
                                                                                       

Quinn heads out to work

Paris learns to drive the tractor with Grammy

                                                                                       Quinn drives the tractor      

                                                                          Farmhand Paris learns to drive the tractor

Pool Party

On Saturday we had a pool party, which included picnics for lunch and dinner, rides on the ATV, feeding the animals, and a bonfire with smores.  Our grandchildren, Quinn and Paris hosted the event.  Our nephew Brian and his wife Teraisa and daughter Nevaeh came.  My former assistant Marlo and her husband Tom and their children Sergio and Angelina also attended.  Deb's brother Ernie came by for lunch.  I was the lifeguard and Deb cooked and served both meals. Deb only took a brief break to take a short swim.  It rained on and off part of the day, but that didn't stop the party.
                                                                       

Quinn in the pool

Angelina, Debbie and Neveah taking a break

Sergio enjoys the swim

Paris is always smiling

The ladies take a lunch break

Sergio and his Mom(Marlo) and Dad(Tom) had fun

Teraisa, Neveah's Mom is having fun

Is that Neveah's Dad Brian or Singer Tim McGraw?

Time to feed the cattle

Paris loves her new friend Delilah

Time to feed the horses

Quinn takes Sergio for an ATV ride

Paris takes Angelina for a ride around the back pasture

Nevaeh rides with Paris

Quinn builds the bonfire to make the Smores

Time to make the Smores.

Paris likes Smores!

                                                                               
                                                                                     

                                                                                

                                                                      

Girls Day Out

Grammy and Paris had a girls day out while Quinn and I worked on the ranch.  The girls had a manicure & pedicure, and had their nails painted.  They had a tea party also.  You can see that they had a great time.

                                                               

Paris gets her pedicure
 

 

It's Tea Time!

 /

Paris is having fun

Grammy is having fun

Nice hat?

English High Tea and an English Hat, so proper!

What a feast they had

                                                                               

Quinn drives and works on the ranch

Today, Grammy and Paris had a ladies day out. They went to get manicures, pedicures, do some shopping and have a tea party at the Tilted Tea Room in Brooksville.  Quinn and Grampy stayed behind and got some chores done.  We burned the trash, trimmed the flower bushes out front, and fixed a gate.  We got the four-wheeler, hooked up the manure spreader rack and spread the cow pies around the side and back pastures.  Then we took the four-wheeler back, got the Toro so that we could load up the branches we cut earlier and put them in the burn pile.  I trained Quinn how to drive the Toro.  It is a three speed and Quinn did very well.
                                                                                

Quinn drives the four-wheeler to spread the cow pies.

Quinn spreads the cow pies very well, and didn't miss a one!

                                                                                 

Quinn pulling down tree moss to feed the cattle

Quinn feeds the cattle the moss

Quinn hard at work

Do a good job and Grampy will teach you how to drive!

                                                                                  Quinn drives the four-wheeler

                                                                              Quinn learning to drive the 3 speed Toro

                                                                            Quinn gives Grampy a ride around the ranch  

Airboat ride with Captain Stu, Homosassa Springs, Fl.

The highlight of our vacation so far was our airboat ride with Captain Stu and his new trainee Ron. The four of us hired the airboat for an hour and a half and had a blast!  We learned about some of the current and past residents on the Homosassa River, learned about the Missosoukee Indians who lived in the area, learned about the fishing industries in the area.  We went to an Indian burial mound, out through some mangroves and sea grass and out to the Gulf of Mexico.  On our trip we saw a stingray,several dolphins and an eagle.  Once again, we had a great time.  Afterwards we went to the Crab house for lunch on the river. 

                                                                                 

Paris is ready to go

Quinn is ready to go

Grammy is ready to go

The whole gang is ready to rumble!

Indian burial mound

                                                                          Airboating through the backwater (click to view)

                                                                                     

Winter the Dolphin & Clearwater Beach

The movie "The Dolphin Tale" was about a dolphin who was caught in a net, lost it's tail and had a prosthetic device made so that she could swim again.  She resides at Clearwater Aquarium in Clearwater, Florida.  That was our journey for Tuesday.  We had gone there with the grandchildren  (Quinn and Paris) once before, about 6 or 7 years ago.  At that time, before the movie made this place a "travel destination", it cost something like $3.00 for adults and $2.00 for kids.  Now, due to the movie and the notoriety of Winter the dolphin, the admission is $19.95 for adults and $17.95 for kids.  Pretty much the same old place, same old tired programs, except not you get to see Winter swim with the prosthetic. They use to say the Florida ripoff was buying swap land, but now it is the Clearwater Aquarium.  But, as the grandchildren said, "We cried throughout the whole movie, and Grampy, we just got to see Winter."  So we went. After that we went to Clearwater Beach for a nice, warm swim and then on to Frenchy's on the Beach for seafood. (chicken fingers for Paris)  We had a good day.
                                                                       

Paris, Grammy, & Quinn in the warm waters at Clearwater Beach

Paris and Grammy relaxing

The swimmer heads out to the sand bar

The gang at Frenchy's patio