Home again, home again......

Last week I was so fortunate to go to the Netherlands and to France for vacation with a wonderful friend of mine from work, Karen. (Karen's on the left - I'm on the right) We stayed with friends who live in Wassenar, a lovely town near Amsterdam. They treated us like royalty, taking us to dinner and giving us personal guided tours of Amsterdam, Delft, Wassener, the Hague, and Paris. We also got to have a lovely dinner one evening in Rotterdam at Las Palmas where we were served a 7 course meal of different fish dishes and a special wine to go with each course. mmmmmmm....yummmmmm. A girl came by the table with a little bucket around her waist to open oysters for us one at a time as an appetizer.

The weather was miserable, but we were prepared for the cold, wind and rain. The upside was that we didn't have to wait in any lines for any of the museums. The Van Gogh museum was awesome, but the highlight in Amsterdam was visiting the Anne Frank house....what a sobering experience. Amersterdam is a beautiful city with the lovely brownstones, cobbled streets and canals.

Our friends, David and William, drove us to Paris for a wonderful 2 nights right in the heart of the city. Our hotel was just one block off of the Champs Elysees in the ritzy shopping district. We went to the Louvre, the D'Orsay (forgive my spelling if incorrect), Notre Dame and walked along the right and left bank of the Seine and had a blast in the local cafes and shops. Here we are having some champagne at the Plaza Athenee where we stayed. (We had a special deal here or we would have never been able to afford it.)

The Louvre was sooooo big that we only had time to visit one wing. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail now because Karen and I journaled the whole trip and I will be writing that up for an account of all the fun we had on a separate blog.

In the meantime, if you are brave enough and have a little time on your hands...... check out all of our photos HERE. The first 100 or so were from my new little camera and the balance were from our friends super dooper cameras.

When I get the journal written up - I'll post some more. Stay tuned.........

Stay Tuned .......

I caught up with some riding friends this past weekend and rode for 5-1/2 hours at River Rise Preserve at the O'Leno State Park near High Springs, FL. It's the first time I've been back since they opened up a new trailhead and some new trails. It was a great day!

But..........the real news is I'M GOING TO EUROPE ON FRIDAY !!!!! I still can hardly believe it. I'll be visiting Amsterdam and Paris with great girlfriend from work. I've got my new camera working right, I'm going to journal and when I get back in a week I'll have loads of pictures and a narrative of our fun times. We're staying 2 nights at a 5 star hotel in Paris called the Plaza Athenee .... FOR FREE !! Check it out on line..... So... is Paris ready for us? We're ready to go ! Stay tuned................

Holiday Week in Review

My sister Shelly packed her stuff and her son this morning and headed back to Springfield, Tennessee. We sure enjoyed their visit.

We had a fun Christmas gathering on the Saturday after Christmas so that she and Bo could be included.

We three sisters enjoyed being together and had some fun aggravating our mom and going through old pictures and reminiscing. From left to right - Robbin, Me and Shelly.

Before Bo went home he wanted to ride, so he and JT both rode on New Years Day. Bo chose Stylin and JT chose Maybe. Dixie got to have a break from the kids. I was very impressed with Bo's skills - I don't think he's ridden since he was here over a year ago.

JT continues to be a great little rider and it's time for me to take him on a trail ride. We did have a little mishap yesterday, though. Between me not retightening his girth on the pony saddle and him not letting me know that his saddle had gotten off center, the little saddle slid off to the side while he was cantering. He told Maybe to whoa, grabbed the fence and stepped off of her. She's such a great little horse, she just stood there while we got her resettled and JT climbed back on.

Even our pups got in the spirit..... here's Jesse and Sarah.

For family and friends who want to see WAY too many photos - click here.

Toffee Time

My free box of English Toffee Anytime came in and I shared it with my in-laws. Needless to say - it was a big hit ! If you've got a craving for some good stuff....this is it!

Daughter & Mother Times Two

My daughter, Jenny, and I went for a nice ride today. She rides Maybe who is the daughter of my horse Stylin. We rode at Black Creek Ravines and almost had the place all to ourselves. We talked to a man walking his dog and then a nice guy who had been kayaking down the creek took this picture of us when he and his sons stopped for lunch. We don't get a chance to ride together very often so this was a real treat. We topped the ride off by sharing a sub sandwich and a cold beer. Plus.....she bought me a new camera for Christmas !!

Tis the Season!

I must be getting old......... I put up a table top Christmas tree this year. It probably wasn't 3 years ago that I was making fun of my Mom for having such a little tree. But you know what?....it's a lot easier to set up and I've enjoyed the cute little pre-lit tree just as much.

Bobby and I went to my company party Friday a week ago and had such a fun time! It was held at the Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown Jacksonville. From the valet parking, to the delicious food and drink, it was a first class affair. We had private tours of the museum and got to dance the evening away with a DJ. You can see more pics of the party and museum here.

Bobby's daughter Carolle got to come visit us from California. She's gone through a few changes since she's been out in there in LaLa Land. The first obvious one is that she's gone from a natural blonde to a saucy red head. The second is that she is living an alternate lifestyle from the way she was raised. She is a beautiful girl , full of life and fun and she relishes being the center of attention. We thoroughly enjoyed having her around for a week, but she probably found life on our little "farm" pretty dull. She's in Gainesville now visiting with the rest of the family before flying back to California.

I got to ride in a new State Forest with my friends on Saturday. (the forest isn't new - just new to me) It was an hour drive from my house and the trails were disappointing. Way too much rock on the trails and they were too short. We had fun anyway going off the beaten path and blazing through vines and bushes to explore the area. There's another trailhead with more trails, but it's too tight to manuever my 3 horse trailer. We'll have to go back another time with a smaller trailer.

I'm looking forward to Christmas, but it's gonna be a little weird this year. My sister Shelly won't be bringing all of her kids down with her because they are grown and have their own things to do... so Robbin's son JT is our only youngster enjoying Santa Clause this year. We're going to wait till Saturday to have our Christmas dinner so that Shelly can enjoy it with us. I hope everyone enjoys their Christmas and has an opportunity to stop and count their blessings.

Try some Yummy English Toffee for Christmas !

This site was suggested to me by my friend Aundrea at Swamp Surburbia - click on the link for some yummy english toffee...... ENGLISH TOFFEE ANYTIME - and enter their contest.