Blizzard 2010

We got hit with a monster blizzard on Sunday and we're still dealing with it. It's going to be a while before we get back to normal around here.

This is my neighbor's little convertible and you can see my white Murano on the other side of the street. I got smart this time around and remembered to park on the left side of the street so as not to be buried when the plow came through.

This is the view to the right of my house.

In the next two pictures, we are 3 hours into the storm. Already you can see a huge difference.

My tree was bending beneath the weight of the snow.

In the morning, we surveyed the damage. It took some force to even get my door opened.

Look at the drift down at the bottom of my stairs near my garbage pail. Can you also see the big drift in the middle of the street?

Here's a closer look at the drifts. We had 50 mile per hour wind gusts which created these drifts. One good thing about the wind was it blew nearly all the snow off my car. Only a little bit remained on the back of my car.

Oh my poor tree!

Raven and Gizmo checking out the scenery. I love the way their tails are curled towards each other.

Everybody wanted to investigate, from Gizmo to Raven to Shave to Dusty. Jim made the joke we shouldn't let Bluebell out because he'd blend in with the snow and we'd lose him. (Bluebell is a pure white persian kitty.)

And the total is....

This is the carnage after the storm and the plow barreling down the block. Notice the wall of snow on the left side of the yellow convertible; it's nearly as high as the car itself. I feel sorry for that poor guy. He's gonna be there forever digging out. Wasn't I smart parking on the other side? LOL Yay for me!

So now we wait until the big thaw. Thankfully, it's supposed to be near 50 degrees come the weekend. Perhaps some of this will melt.

Ice Nativity

As promised, here are the pictures of the second part of the Ice exhibit. This angel was enormous.

My boys give you some perspective as to how large this angel really was.

Here is the beginning of the Nativity.

Isn't this beautiful?

We'd just exited the cold part of the exhibit which lead us right into a room where we could purchase merchandise. Look at how red Logan's face is from the cold. I had to wait a while for my camera to unfog itself after being in that extreme cold.

Guess this nutcracker was in the mood for a snack. He seems to be taking a bit out of my kid.

So, there's a small sampling of the Ice! attraction. Hope you enjoyed it.

Ice!

Hi, friends!

Here are some more pictures from our vacation to Orlando. We went to an exhibit at the Gaylord Palms hotel. They do an amazing display using ice. If you are ever down in Orlando during this time of year, I suggest you take in this attraction.

Visitors are given heavy coats because it's a mere 9 degrees in the exhibit. We've been to this before but Spiro hadn't so we decided to go again. We were also in for a treat as it was a different theme from the last time we went. This year was The Night Before Christmas. It was just wonderful to see the story told in wonderfully colored - kind of Dr. Suess-y scenes.

See, those are the coats they gave us. Our cheeks and hands were numb after a while. Our noses were running from the cold, too. Luckily, they had tissue boxes placed here and there to take care of those runny noses.

Can you believe all of this is made out of ice? It was amazing!

They even had ice slides. After some coaxing, we managed to get Spiro to take a run down the chute but, disappointingly, my picture was too blurry.

Spiro is making friends with a reindeer here.

After we left this part of the exhibit it transitioned to a Nativity scene which was just breathtaking. I'll post pictures of those later.

Bye for now.

There be gators!

Did you know gators eat hotdogs? Neither did I. While we were in Orlando on vacation we went to play miniature golf where they offered the opportunity to feed gators for a small extra charge. For $4.95, they gave us a ziplock filled with cut up hotdogs. We were given sticks with string attached to them. On the end of the rope there was a plastic piece we pierced the hotdogs with. We were then able to dangle the hotdogs over the gator enclosure. It didn't take long for them to come and get it. It was like ringing the dinner bell. Here a gator got his share of the hotdogs.

A bunch of gators were sunning themselves here.

After our supply of hotdogs ran out, for another small charge we were able to hold a gator and take our own pictures.

This was a first for Spiro. He was all smiles holding his new "friend".

Jim was all smiles as well. I also had an opportunity to hold the juvenile gator. I know they are cold blooded but I was still surprised at how cold the gator felt in my hands. And the underbelly was very soft.

Logan also bought a bag of gemstones which he got to mine using a sluicing technique you can see behind Jim. We had a nice time at this miniature golf attraction and learned hotdogs are on a gator's menu. Who knew?

Up Up and Away!

Well, hello bloggerville!

It's been a while since my last post. A lot has happened in that time span. We had Thanksgiving which was a whirlwind of cooking and eating. I have pictures of that day on one of the cameras but don't ask me which. I'll get them posted eventually. Suffice it to say, everyone had a great meal.

We also went on vacation during my absence. Our annual trip to Orlando, Florida was fun, as usual. We had a good time even if the weather was on the cool side. Some would even say it was downright frigid but I was ok with 39 degree weather.

My stepdad came with us this year, a first for him. I think he had a really great time. We tried to show him a good time by giving him the chance to do and see things he's never done before.

Here Logan and Spiro are taking off in a helicopter tour over the heart of Orlando. I thought, for sure, Spiro would chicken out but he surprised all of us and got on the helicopter. He came off all smiles so I guess he had a good time. It was sunset as you can see from the picture and according to them, it was the perfect time of day to take the tour.

Logan had done this helicopter tour a few years ago but he wanted to do it again with his Grandpa. I'm glad we were able to let them make a memory together. I know neither will forget this vacation.

Later, folks. Have a great day!