Sunday May 17

Eeryone was tired this morning, so we decided to do something that the 4 of us hadn't done together before. Nothing. We spent the morning just sitting around the kitchen table talking. Nolan's mother lives across the street and joined us for lunch. It was windy and cold, but we bundled up and took the 4-wheelers down to the cabin after lunch. We spent about 4 hours running around the 350 acres that surround the cabin. It was great fun. There's a river that flows throught it, so we followed that and went around the the fields that had already been planted. We ended the 4-wheeling at the cabin and had afternoon snack overlooking the pond and all of the fields. Once back at the farm, we went up the road to Nolan's daughter's house and saw her horses. Tammi joined us for dinner Sunday evening. With all of the fresh air, we collapsed watching a movie Sunday night.

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Saturday May 16, 2009

The weather was much better this morning. After breakfast we went with Nolan and Sheri and got a HUGE lesson in farming. We "helped" them finish the 10 acres of soybeans that needed to be planted. It was incredible to see all of the technology that goes into farming. Using GPS on the planter to know what had already been planted. To the point of shutting off some rows and still dropping seeds in others. It was very cool to experience. With us "greenhorns" helping it took at least twice as long to finish the planting. Once done, we brought the tracter and planter back to the farm. Then we hooked up the pontoon trailer and took it down to the cabin. We put that in for the year and had hot dogs on the grill at the cabin. Being so far off the road, the cabin has only solar power and a little water (500 gallon tank) for washing dishes. However, a mouse got into the line, so the water wasn't so well. We spent some time trying to "fix" this problem. After this, we went back to the farm and got a couple of their toys out. We spent an hour or so playing with their 4-wheelers around the farm. We took them up to their son Todd's pig containment buildings. Todd has 4800 hogs in 2 containment buildings. One of the buildings, or half his stock, will be going out on Tuesday morning. Then in about 2 weeks he gets a new lot. Saturday evening we went to Remsen, for a 30th anniversary of a friend of Nolan and Sheri. Dinner and dancing. Lots of fun.

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Friday May 15, 2009

Started long drive to Iowa last night after work (630 miles total) Went as far as Cedar Rapids on Thursday night, and spent the night there. Had an early breakfast and finished the journey to Holstein, IA about 12:00pm. Nolan had already been in the field this morning trying to finish the last of his planting. He got all but 10 acres done, before the rain forced him out of the fields. After lunch they gave us a tour of their out buildings and equipment. During the tour, he cousin Vance called with a request for help. He was trying to plant as well, but went too far into a wet area and got stuck. Nolan and Brent picked up Vance and another tractor and went out to the field to pull him out. Vance and Julie also farm corn and soybeans, as well as have some livestock. They have 250 (I think) head of cattle. After that excitement, we went to Nolan and Sheri's cabin. They built this cabin in the winter of 2006 in Nolan's outbuilding, then in July they moved it 8 mles to its current location overlooking their pond in the middle of one of Nolan's fields. It sits a half mile off the road, hidden for the most part. That evening Brent was helping Sheri get their computer back on line and need a new router. We went to the Best Buy in Sioux City then had dinner in Nebraska, just over the Misouri River. Once back home, the computer was back on line and the evening was over.

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Time to end vacation...

Another vacation is coming to a close. Woke up to another beautiful day in Florida. Dan and Tina took us to Ybor City on the way to the airport. Ybor City marks the beginnings of Tampa. Early Italian immigrants settled here in the late 1800’s. The architecture and culture is maintained today. There was a Spanish festival going on today, so many of the streets were blocked off. There were lots of Cuban Café’s, an arts festival, lots of music and lots of cigar shops (which I visited). The combination was a sensory treat with sight, sound and smell. We spent a couple of hours enjoying the food, music and sights before it was time to call it quits and head to the airport. The temperature when we left Tampa was 83. When we arrived in Grand Rapids it was 22. Kind of sucked, but it was a great vacation.

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Dan and Tina's

Tom and Lori had to be out of their room at 10:00 this morning, so we left them and headed back to Tampa. Our last day was spent with Dan & Tina. We got to their house just before lunch. I helped Dan clean off the deck around the pool while Karen soaked up some rays. Sunshine and temperature wee great. I got my “dog fix” with Dan’s two labs, Duke and Daisy. Karen’s Dad and Patti came up and joined us for dinner later.

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Disney Day

Today we’re heading over to Orlando to meet up with some friends from MI. Tom and Lori Dumez are starting their vacation with a day in Orlando before heading out on a 3 day cruise. We drove to Orlando to spend the day with them. We arrived shortly before lunch. Spent a little time just relaxing by the pool of their resort and having lunch. Later we went to Downtown Disney to walk around. After “Disney” we had dinner at Lone Star Steakhouse and went back to their resort for conversation.

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Boat rental on Intra-coastal

What a great day. Woke up this morning and the temperature was great. We did our walk about 9:00 in shorts and T-shirts. After breakfast, we packed up and headed for the marina. We rented a boat from CB’s boat rental on Siesta Key. Temps on the water were a little cooler than they were inland, but the sun was out and we really enjoyed it. We first headed south to Venice. On the way back we saw “Mooch”, a dolphin that hangs out in the intra-coastal near Venice. Then we went north past our starting point and headed toward Sarasota Bay and South Lido Beach. On the way, we saw one or two more dolphins in the intra-coastal. Not sure if we saw two separate dolphins or just saw the same one twice. Either way, it was cool. Finally ended the boat trip and headed back to Ruskin. Later we went to “Crab Trap” for dinner. Time to get ready to head to Orlando to meet with Tom and Lori tomorrow.

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Kayaking on The Little Manatee

Today we decided to get out of the house. We started our day the same with a walk around the community. Then we hit the road and went to the kayak livery. We spent a couple of hours on the Little Manatee River, kayaking. The water was real low and we had a little difficulty getting by a couple of times, but we never had to get out of our kayaks. It was real quiet and pretty. On the second half of the trip we saw a bunch of turtles. They were huge. Towards the end of the trip, Karen found that they were real docile. She was able to catch one of them, without much trouble. After the kayaking, we made the trip to Coquina Beach on Anna Maria Island. I had to get to the beach at least once while we're in Sarasota area. It was quite cold on the beach so we didn't spend much time there. It was nice to walk the beach. Finished the day with dinner with Dad and Patti.

Photos from Kayaking

Photos from Coquine Beach

Out to Lunch

Started the day with a walk around the neighborhood, then we went to lunch at Little Harbor, a neat restaurant on Tampa Bay. We ate outside and then Karen and I walked the beach and pier. Later in the afternoon, Dad and I went to the bar by the golf course while Karen laid by the pool. It was kind of cool, so Karen didn't spend much time out there. We spend the evening playing cards.

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Quiet Day in Ruskin

Had kind of a quiet day today. Karen and I took a walk around the neighborhood when we got up. Real nice and quiet. Not too many golfers were out yet. Just before lunch, Karen, her dad and I took the golf cart for a ride around the whole community. They live in a golf community. Lots of golf carts. We went over the the club house and had a couple of drinks and looked around the "marina". Mitch called later in the day and we were able to webcam with him and show him Grandpa's new house. He was able to show them his apartment. We like the view better down here than the snow he was showing us. Later in the evening, Brent's longtime friend from grade school on, joined us for dinner and reminiscing. Dan lives in the Tampa area and was able to come down for dinner. Great time.

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Time to leave Miami

We got up early on Saturday morning with intentions of having an early breakfast then heading to Ruskin. We didn't end up leaving Hotel until about 10:00. We decided to find a breakfast shop along the coast in Ft Lauderdale area. We found a place along the intra coastal and had breakfast watching the boats go by. It was a neat place on the water with outside dining. We then left and made the trip to Ruskin. We stopped at one of the scenic turnouts along "Alligator Alley" and took a few pictures.  Got to Sarasota about 4:00 and had dinner with Karen's dad and his wife at Barnacle Bill's in Sarasota. Then had a quiet evening at their house in Ruskin.

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South Beach

Karen and I had breakfast at the hotel, then I went into the office, while, once again, Karen went down to the pool to lounge. She found the sun is a little hot and got burned. I finished my work about 1:00 and Karen and I headed for South Beach. Spent most of the afternoon there. Can't stand the traffic down here. We walked the beach, did some people watching and had an appetizer at Mango's. This is a different lifestyle down here. Had to take Karen by the GFS facilities on the way back to hotel. This is the first time in 32 years that Karen has travelled with me for work, so I figured she should see where I spent my time. After that we had dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. It was very good.

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Miami

Today was a long travel day. We started with major de-icing in Grand Rapids and Cincinnati. This didn't go over well with Karen. We arrived in Tampa before noon and got our rental. Temp in GR was 20, temp in Tampa was 70. Much better. We then hit the road for Miami. It was interesting traveling accross "Alligator Alley". By the time we hit Miami, the temp was 80+. We got Karen checked into hotel, then I went off to work, while Karen spent a half hour down by the pool. Beautiful courtyard. We had dinner will Billy and his family. Billy is the IT Tech for the Florida Division. Then I went back to warehouse for cut-over to their new firewall. Suprisingly, we had no real problems, I was back to hotel by 10:30.

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