DAY 7 .. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 23 .. Up and in the shower bright and early this morning . This will be our last day here in Port St. Lucie and we want to have as many minutes to enjoy as possible!! Made a pot of Coffee in the room to get a jump start .. no Continental Breakfast for us this morning .. we're taking Tim, Sydni and Summer out for Breakfast .. this is a work day for Krysti and Oceanna. And a school day for Sydni and Summer but every little girl needs a playing hooky day every once in a while, right??? Especially when it means going to the BEACH!!!! We gave Sydni and Summer the choice of where to go for Breakfast .. they both chose CRACKER BARREL!!!
We all had a good Breakfast .. but the girls could hardly wait to get outside ..
Now you know why they chose Cracker Barrel .. LOL!!
We will never again walk across the front porch of a Cracker Barrel without thinking of these two delightful young ladies as we walk past the rocking chairs and checker boards!!!
And we're headed to Jensen Beach for a morning in the sun!!! 80 degrees!!!
Love seeing those Palm Trees!!
And just look at that blue sky ..
And the blue of the ocean ..
Whoops .. missed another sign ..
On the beach at last .. Daddy and his girls .. love this pic!!!
WOW!! Look at that .. blue sky .. blue ocean .. warm sand ..
Grandpa's going wading ..
Whoops .. somebody almost got a wet butt ..
Grandma's in the water now .. and it's COLD!!!
See that wave rolling in behind us ..
Grandma got wet too .. LOL LOL LOL!!!
And Grandpa thought it was awfully funny ..
Time got a big laugh out of it too .. being behind the camera he saw the wave rolling in .. he said he was just waiting and hoping we wouldn't turn around before it got us .. LOL LOL LOL!!
A sailboat in the distance!!
This ledge of sand was a great place to dig out a couple of seats!!
A great place for climbing too .. LOL!!
Oh no .. time to go girls!!
The girls love the water and the beach .. I'm sure you could tell!!! Click on the link below to make the pictures above "come to life" and join in the fun .. LOL!!!
Sad to say our fun in Port St. Lucie is almost over .. we're hearing reports of freezing rain and snow heading for Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee and we hope to be through those areas before it hits so time for a quick lunch at McDonalds and Grandma and Grandpa will hit the road.
One of my favorite pics of our visit .. Grandpa and Summer really hit off .. LOL LOL LOL!!!! LOVE IT!!!!
Time for Goodbye pics under the Palm Trees ..
Could you get a little closer with the camera Ken??????
Ahem .. I think maybe that's a little tooooo close!!!
This is good .. except we don't have any feet!!!
Whoops .. maybe I shouldn't have complained .. toooooo close again!!!
Ah oh .. what's Sydni got on her hands?????
Come on Grandpa .. your turn!!!
This one brings a chuckle but also leaves me a bit choked up and teary-eyed every time I see it .. Tim's telling us this is where we turn left to find the Florida Turnpike and start our trek home to the hills of Missouri .. snow .. ice .. and collllddddd temperatures .. while he turns right and heads for home in Port St. Lucie. It's 4:37 PM and temp here in Florida is 86 degrees!!!
As we make our way to the Florida Turnpike we're tempted to turn around and stay one more night and maybe one more day but the weather forecasts have us very leary .. so although we really don't want to .. we keep driving .. and driving .. and driving!!
Not too far down the highway we come to a toll road .. cost .. $9.90 ... YIKES!!! Hope we don't have to go through very many of these!!! Guess I shouldn't complain though .. there was a semi in the lane to the right of us .. that guy's toll showed $28.90!!!!
By 5::45 we passed the exit for Orlando. The land became hilly and looked a little bit like Missouri!!! Temp started dropping .. from 86 to 83 and then to 77!!!
Ken has been debating which route to take home since he heard the weather report this morning saying ice in the forecast for Tennessee / Georgia. We're following the GPS towards Atlanta but will check the weather later and see what's happening .. we may decide to go another way???????
About 7:03 we went through one more toll plaza .. only $3.00 this time .. Yayyyyyy!!! Ocala was coming up and we decided we would stop for the night there .. I looked through the coupon books we had picked up and found a Days Inn .. that would be our "home" for the night!!!
Looks pretty comfy and cozy to me .. bring in the bags and my laptop and we'll settle in!!! I gave Tim a call to let him know we had made it to Ocala .. he sent me a text in response and we texted back and forth for a while!!!! This was my first time at texting and it was pretty neat .. I even got to where I could use both thumbs!!! Before you know it I'll be wanting a Smart Phone!!! Tim said he learned everything he knew about his phone from the girls .. they had said they would teach me while we were there but we were so busy having fun we forgot .. LOL!!!
Time for these two old fuddy duddies to get some sleep .. I think it won't take long before our eyelids slam shut .. and we'll be up and on the highway again in the morning!!!
But first I have to show you my treasures ..
This piece of Coral was found by Ken . it was wet and soft when he brought it to me .. but eventually dried out and is a solid thing now!!!
Tim brought me this big bluish, grayish, brownish, white shell .. a wave had picked it up and tossed it directly at his feet as he stood there at the edge of the ocean and he caught it!!!!
These are definitely treasures .. Souvenirs of a day filled with great memories!!!
