OH, man! Do you remember the old Alka Seltzer commercials?
You know the ones...
Plop, Plop, Fizz, Fizz - oh what a relief it is.
I can't believe how relieving it was last night to finally have cool weather.
I mean it showed down into the 50's here inside the apartment by the open windows. It was so cold we had to FINALLY shut all the windows and the sliding door. We even broke out an extra blanket and put it on the bed.
I can't tell you how wonderful that felt. It was like a breath of fresh air.
I guess today was the last day of the cold front, and I hear it's supposed to heat back up into the 70's to low 80's.
I'm hoping for a little more cold weather to hold out - but I don't think such a thing can really survive here for long.
Thursday
How to Celebrate Christmas in Florida
UMMM...
Yeah...
Is it really Christmas time?
It's, like, 80 degrees outside. I thought there was supposed to be snow during the Christmas Holiday season?
Al
Yeah...
Is it really Christmas time?
It's, like, 80 degrees outside. I thought there was supposed to be snow during the Christmas Holiday season?
Al
Lights of Lakeland
Christmas is a pretty interesting time here in Lakeland. Apparently, because it's so freaking hot, everyone has to really go all out to get into the feeling of Christmas.
It's still totally warm out - like the low 80's, but everyone still tries to make it seem like the traditional holiday season.
This place is pretty cool though - there's a church right up the road from us (Highland Park Church of the Nazarene)... and they put on this cool Christmas show every year, for free. So we all walked down to it.
It's called the 'Lights of Lakeland'.
The 'lights' part was okay, but what I really liked was the life-like downtown Jerusalem. They even had real, live camels. So that was pretty cool.
Here's a few shots. It was pretty low light, so we just had to make due...
This first one is the Angel Gabriel announcing the birth story of Jesus.
This is a shot of the 3 Wise Men speaking with King Herod, trying to find out where the Baby Jesus had been born. Fortunately the 3 Wise Men decided NOT to listen to Kind Herod, who wanted to kill Jesus, and they left without telling the King where they had found Jesus. The live camel on the right of the picture was totally amazing to see right here in Lakeland - let me tell you... I wasn't expecting to see one.
Here's a shot of Joseph and Mary holding their newborn baby Jesus. They, of course, had to stay in a manger because there was no room in the inn.
And finally, here's the angel announcing the birth of Christ to the shepherds out in the fields around Jerusalem.
Merry Christmas!
And Happy New Year!
Love,
Al
It's still totally warm out - like the low 80's, but everyone still tries to make it seem like the traditional holiday season.
This place is pretty cool though - there's a church right up the road from us (Highland Park Church of the Nazarene)... and they put on this cool Christmas show every year, for free. So we all walked down to it.
It's called the 'Lights of Lakeland'.
The 'lights' part was okay, but what I really liked was the life-like downtown Jerusalem. They even had real, live camels. So that was pretty cool.
Here's a few shots. It was pretty low light, so we just had to make due...
This first one is the Angel Gabriel announcing the birth story of Jesus.
This is a shot of the 3 Wise Men speaking with King Herod, trying to find out where the Baby Jesus had been born. Fortunately the 3 Wise Men decided NOT to listen to Kind Herod, who wanted to kill Jesus, and they left without telling the King where they had found Jesus. The live camel on the right of the picture was totally amazing to see right here in Lakeland - let me tell you... I wasn't expecting to see one.
Here's a shot of Joseph and Mary holding their newborn baby Jesus. They, of course, had to stay in a manger because there was no room in the inn.
And finally, here's the angel announcing the birth of Christ to the shepherds out in the fields around Jerusalem.
Merry Christmas!
And Happy New Year!
Love,
Al
A Stowaway tries to get into the Apartment...
Amazingly, it's still right up in the lower 80's here in Lakeland. While Oregon gets pounded with flooding and winds, we are lying around cooking.
In fact - today - 12/13/07 - the girls and I went for a swim in the swimming pool. It is not heated, I might add. It was a little chilly, but not even close to the body numbing temperatures we used to face in Oregon.
Anyhow...
The other day we were hanging out in the apartment and a little stowaway tried to sneak in the front door.
Thankfully it wasn't one of the scary creatures that sneak around here from time to time.
Talk soon,
In fact - today - 12/13/07 - the girls and I went for a swim in the swimming pool. It is not heated, I might add. It was a little chilly, but not even close to the body numbing temperatures we used to face in Oregon.
Anyhow...
The other day we were hanging out in the apartment and a little stowaway tried to sneak in the front door.
Thankfully it wasn't one of the scary creatures that sneak around here from time to time.
Talk soon,
Friday
Happy Sixth - Keekers...
It's funny how different kids can be - even within the same family.
As far as presents and events Kait is pure energy. She bounces off the walls and won't sit still. And then you have Keeley - she kind of sits there very somber and stoic. Almost as if she's debating the relevancy of the time/space continuum. It's hard to read her thoughts and ideas from the way her face looks.
Thankfully she's all girl, and she'll just come right out and tell you the truth just like the nose sitting right on your face.
Anyhow, she turned 6 a few weeks ago.
And here's a recap of the big day...
She wanted a Hello Kitty theme. For the most part, Christy captured that - but there was one thing we couldn't really get just right... the cake. So we had to settle for a Hello Kitty hobby - ballet. But Kee liked it well enough, and she was impressed mostly with the gorgeous colors of the cake, not really the picture on it.
And she didn't mind eating it either.
Finally, a few shots of Keeley opening up some of her gifts. I think she had a super day all the way around.
Love,
Al
Merritt Island Florida
Hi again,
It's been awhile again, but I wanted to send something out.
While Dad and Mom Miller were here a few weeks ago, we were able to make it over the Atlantic Coast.
Unfortunately, I didn't feel we could spend the money to treat them to the Canaveral Space Center. However... we did get to go check out a place called Merritt Island. It's right by the Cape Canaveral Space Center.
It was pretty cool - and definitely worth going back and site-seeing. There's a TON of pictures here, so I hope you like them.
Here, we start off with some vegetation - simple, not too dangerous. These were actually from the place we stayed at over there near Cocoa Beach
Here's a great shot of a coconut tree.
This is a funky one - I guess it's a star fruit tree?
This one looks a little more vicious... I call it the 'Don't Mess With Me, Or I'll Saw Your Hand Off' tree. I'm sure it has a different name, but that is what I think of. You know, it's a guy thing!
This one is of a drunken bird. He had some kind of a balance problem, so he had to stick his wing out there to keep himself standing up - there's some really potent water in these here parts.
Here's a wild pig. These things are TOTALLY COOL! And you can see a bird in the top, right keeping his eyes on these feisty little devils. He didn't want to get too close, I can guarantee that.
Real quick... I don't know if you've heard this story - but the first time we came here we were driving down the Beeline highway at about 60 miles an hour, and over on the right side of the highway is this gigantic, wild pig. After picking ourselves up off the floor boards of the car, Christy and I both had to ask if we had just seen what we thought. Definitely NOT a sight you get to enjoy every day. And not an animal I've come across in my Oregon travels. I hear these things are pretty radical you don't ever want to get in their way.
This one just happened to be crossing the road right in front of us. We barely had time to snap this shot before it disappeared into the grass.
Here's a gator that's even bigger than the one here at our apartment complex. This one was just lying there waiting for some tasty morsel to get out their car, so he could have some lunch. YUMMEE!!!!!
The three blobs you see there are manatees. It's hard to get a good picture of them, because they don't really come out of the water to sunbathe, but I think you get the idea. Seeing these animals is truly an amazing life experience. You must do it. I mean... it's not like getting married or having a baby, but it is a very, very cool thing to see something that big and that beautiful just cruising around in the water. Sometime soon, we'll update you on what it's like to be up close and a little too personal with a manatee. Until then just know this... they weigh about 2000 pounds. That's something the size of a car just sitting there - and even if they don't want to hurt you - they still can.
Here's a little better shot of a manatee tail.
And we'll end it here...
The perfectly timed appearance of two dolphin swimming by as we were gawking at the manatees. Truly an amazing site - I don't know that I could possibly ever get tired of looking at the animals God created!
Talk soon...
Al
It's been awhile again, but I wanted to send something out.
While Dad and Mom Miller were here a few weeks ago, we were able to make it over the Atlantic Coast.
Unfortunately, I didn't feel we could spend the money to treat them to the Canaveral Space Center. However... we did get to go check out a place called Merritt Island. It's right by the Cape Canaveral Space Center.
It was pretty cool - and definitely worth going back and site-seeing. There's a TON of pictures here, so I hope you like them.
Here, we start off with some vegetation - simple, not too dangerous. These were actually from the place we stayed at over there near Cocoa Beach
Here's a great shot of a coconut tree.
This is a funky one - I guess it's a star fruit tree?
This one looks a little more vicious... I call it the 'Don't Mess With Me, Or I'll Saw Your Hand Off' tree. I'm sure it has a different name, but that is what I think of. You know, it's a guy thing!
This one is of a drunken bird. He had some kind of a balance problem, so he had to stick his wing out there to keep himself standing up - there's some really potent water in these here parts.
Here's a wild pig. These things are TOTALLY COOL! And you can see a bird in the top, right keeping his eyes on these feisty little devils. He didn't want to get too close, I can guarantee that.
Real quick... I don't know if you've heard this story - but the first time we came here we were driving down the Beeline highway at about 60 miles an hour, and over on the right side of the highway is this gigantic, wild pig. After picking ourselves up off the floor boards of the car, Christy and I both had to ask if we had just seen what we thought. Definitely NOT a sight you get to enjoy every day. And not an animal I've come across in my Oregon travels. I hear these things are pretty radical you don't ever want to get in their way.
This one just happened to be crossing the road right in front of us. We barely had time to snap this shot before it disappeared into the grass.
Here's a gator that's even bigger than the one here at our apartment complex. This one was just lying there waiting for some tasty morsel to get out their car, so he could have some lunch. YUMMEE!!!!!
The three blobs you see there are manatees. It's hard to get a good picture of them, because they don't really come out of the water to sunbathe, but I think you get the idea. Seeing these animals is truly an amazing life experience. You must do it. I mean... it's not like getting married or having a baby, but it is a very, very cool thing to see something that big and that beautiful just cruising around in the water. Sometime soon, we'll update you on what it's like to be up close and a little too personal with a manatee. Until then just know this... they weigh about 2000 pounds. That's something the size of a car just sitting there - and even if they don't want to hurt you - they still can.
Here's a little better shot of a manatee tail.
And we'll end it here...
The perfectly timed appearance of two dolphin swimming by as we were gawking at the manatees. Truly an amazing site - I don't know that I could possibly ever get tired of looking at the animals God created!
Talk soon...
Al
Sunday
Downtown Disney
Last time I told you our first visitors, Mama and Papa Miller were here.
One of our excursions was to head over to the Atlantic ocean. Along the way, we dropped into Downtown Disney, in Orlando.
While it's not 'THE' theme park, it IS the super cheap - i.e. free - version of the real thing. Where you can go in, and shop, and spend money to your heart's content.
Here's a few shots from inside the Downtown Disney Danger Zone.
These first ones are for all of you Disney fans out there:
And now these ones are for all of you Speer fans out there:
In this first one, I can't tell if she's bored out of her mind, OR so absolutely excited she can't stop singing like an opera star?
Here's a couple of nicer ones of the girls.
All the best
One of our excursions was to head over to the Atlantic ocean. Along the way, we dropped into Downtown Disney, in Orlando.
While it's not 'THE' theme park, it IS the super cheap - i.e. free - version of the real thing. Where you can go in, and shop, and spend money to your heart's content.
Here's a few shots from inside the Downtown Disney Danger Zone.
These first ones are for all of you Disney fans out there:
And now these ones are for all of you Speer fans out there:
In this first one, I can't tell if she's bored out of her mind, OR so absolutely excited she can't stop singing like an opera star?
Here's a couple of nicer ones of the girls.
All the best
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