Greensboro Bound

Corey has qualified for the NCAA Regional Track Meet in Greensboro, NC next weekend! He is very excited about this opportunity and we are so happy for him. Go Corey!

I am hoping to get this entry written without falling asleep! Jim and I took a 43 mile bike ride today and the hills kicked my butt! Jim is really tired too, so I think even though we rode lots of miles in Florida, they were all flat miles so didn't do much for our climbing muscles. We rode to the United Methodist Church in Rush, NY, where we (mostly me) went shopping at the Shepherd's Market, a gathering of local shepherds who sell their sheep's fleeces, fiber and handspun yarn. It is a small market, but I knew most of the shepherds because they belong to the spinning guild. While I was looking at what was for sale, Jim enjoyed watching a demonstration of a sock knitting machine. He made sure that I knew it only takes 25 minutes to knit a pair of socks with that machine!! It was almost a 22 mile ride to the Shepherds market, and we included a stop for lunch in Rush, before heading home. It was a great ride, and it is good to be tired, because it means I was working hard.

On Friday night, June 4th, through Saturday morning, June 5th, I will be walking in the Greece Relay for Life. Relay for Life is a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. This is a national event, so you may have a Relay for Life in your area. If you would like to sponsor me for this night of walking, please click here. I thank you in advance for any donation you may choose to give.

We were at the Villages last night for dinner and we have 3 more dates next week. Because Grandma was in Tennessee for almost 2 weeks, she has a lot of meal credits which must be used by the end of the month, so we are doing what we can to help her out!! It is like going to a restaurant because the menu changes every night, however the percentage of gray-haired folks is higher than most restaurants!

Tomorrow night we are having a Ponty's dinner with Gram and GrandDad before they head to camp for the summer. As you may have figured out, I have not been cooking many dinners lately, and that is fine with me!

Tomorrow Jim works at the Lilac 10K race and then we will get another bike ride in the afternoon. I hope to do some yard work since none got done today. Plus, I have a mountain of ironing to do tomorrow night.

So it appears that I have not fallen asleep at the keyboard, which is a good thing. Having the Yankees on TV has helped keep me awake.

No photos from our ride today, but here are some more beauties from our trip to Florida.

Hope all is well.

Home!

We left Naples, Florida in the rain yesterday afternoon and arrived home at 12:30 AM today. And, yes, we are both pretty tired today!

Our last 2.5 days at the Naples Grande Beach Resort were as wonderful as the first 2 days. Friday morning we took another bike ride, this time heading south of Naples, and including some sightseeing stops. One of the travel magazines for this area advertised a show of some of Princess Diana's dresses at a local art gallery. Jim planned a stop at this gallery shortly into our ride, where we joined a local group of Red Hat Society ladies to view about 2 dozen of Lady Di's beautiful dresses. It was a great show and I was most impressed to read that she wore most of these dresses multiple times. We then continued south where the roads took us by some of the mansions of the very rich! What fun! We stopped for a walk out the famous Naples Pier before lunching at a sister-resort of the Naples Grande, where could use our food allowance. We needed to be back from our bike ride in time to clean up before heading to the spa where had booked massages for each of us. A massage was a wonderful treat, and was covered by the activity allowance that was part of Jim's award.

Friday night was the Awards Dinner and it was a lovely affair. Each of the 20 award recipients was honored and their achievements were highlighted. Jim's boss made a video to highlight the reasons Jim won this award and the video was entertaining, but also genuine and heartfelt. I was extra proud to be Jim's wife that evening.

Saturday was Everglades Day and the whole group boarded a tour bus for the hour drive to Everglades City, where we boarded airboats for a tour of the Mangrove forests. We had never been on an airboat and my initial thought was that they were a noisy way to get around. Well, they are noisy, but with some headphones for ear protection, I got a real rush when we were flying over the open waters and though the narrow passageways at 40 mph! We did see 2 alligators and a couple of manatees along with several birds native to that area. But by far, my favorite part of the airboat ride was flying across the water at high speeds!

Saturday afternoon we took another bike ride and then spent the late afternoon around the pool. A late dinner at the Strip Club (the hotel's steak house) completed another great day in paradise.

Sunday was our last day, but we didn't fly out until 6 PM so we went for another 43 mile bike ride, arriving at the bike shop to return the bikes just before the rain started. All together we bike over 154 miles in 4 days, a total we are quite pleased with. We returned to the pool for lunch and a couple more turns down the water slide. The rain started up again, just as it was time for us to clean up and pack up.

We said good bye to the Naples Grande after a wonderful vacation that was relaxing, refreshing, and most of all, fun! Thanks J & J!

Here are some photos from our trip.