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Just like I promised....here is my update on how I celebrated my mega (75th) birthday. I’m sure you have been waiting for this with bated breath (FYI: that’s a phrase from Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice).
But first allow me to thank each and every one of you who sent me so many wonderful birthday wishes! They numbered far more than my current age so that helped to minimize, in my mind, my increasing number of years. I’m old enough to remember watching the TV show “Life Begins at 80” with my parents. The future looks promising. Thank you, again. You are the best!
May 5th.....my birth date....began with a familiar ritual: eating! Our dear friends, Sam & Sandy, joined us at The Olive Garden restaurant as we consumed tasty Italian dishes. Cory ordered their giant meatball dish! Mama Mia! But wait....what is this? The wait staff brought me a scrumptious looking dessert while singing vociferously “Happy Birthday”. I loved it! Encore! Encore! One voice was missing! I know you know who.....Lulu. She - with the voice of an angel. Earlier, we had a small birthday party with just her in our RV. As usual, she overdid herself and fell
into an exhausted flump. So be it....you play; you pay! Sweet dreams Wild Lulu!
The four of us each had a spoon and dug into this mouth-watering, delectable concoction. Ooooooo. A minute on my lips, forever on my hips.....but, oh, so worth it.
Our drive to the Olive Garden was quite eventful. We were going to the restaurant located outside the Mall of Millenia. Soon after hitting the highway (I-4, no less), the rains came down! And I mean a torrential storm that caused a complete white-out! The windshield was almost opaque. How Driver Cory ever got us to our destination.....God only knows. Great job, Bucky! We had sweat bullets on our bodies plus giant raindrops! We did get a little lost in the vicinity of the restaurant but not due to the downpour (that had subsided) .....just because our GPS was acting bad! Very bad! No matter: We Survived! Hallelujah!
Our next destination was the Apple Store in The Millenia Mall. Remember Cory bought me my new mini IPad (5th generation) for my birthday? How wonderful can one guy be? He is the very best of all! Love you, Big Guy! I made an appointment to
Birthday dessert at Olive Garden
Cory ordered the giant meatball meal. have a lesson about my new IPad. Sandy did the same as you can never know everything about these superior devices. I was excited to be going to this class. We arrived with 10 minutes to spare. There were 4 other people in our class. This store is the busiest one in the entire mall. Our instructor wore a headpiece so we could hear her. The surrounding din was deafening. I went prepared with over 15 questions. Our class lasted 1 1/2 hours. The instructor hit upon some of the basic parts of an Ipad....and Iphone. I was nervous that none of my questions would be answered. I was pleased that, even though I knew most everything she reviewed, she did expand upon them, providing new actions & capabilities that I can now perform with this Ipad. She knew I was tense about my specific questions so after the class, she stayed with me and went over each question I had. I was very pleased with this experience. I was happy on my birthday! Thank you, Michele (instructor).
Tuesday, our foursome, plus Ms.Lulu, headed to Wild Florida. Remember how we had discount tickets for Gatorland that we bought at
the Snowbird Extravaganza in Lakeland a few years back? At the same time, Cory & I bought $10.00 tickets for an airboat ride. Come to find out....the ride was at Wild Florida. It is located way, way, way out in the boonies outside of St. Cloud...on Lake Cypress. The “piece de resistance” was the FREE admission to this park this specific week. It was for celebrating ‘Gator Week! What a bargain. Sam & Sandy got in free as did we, plus we got to ride the 1/2 hr. airboat ride for only the $10.00 tickets we had. Whoopee! This park advertises itself as Orlando’s only airboat and gator park. It is home to over 200 native & exotic animals, birds & gators. It is laid out very nicely and attractively. Our boat ride was superb. Mr. Farmer was our Captain. He was a delight. Of course, Lulu took her seat right at the front of the boat. Cap’t Farmer wanted to know about “the head”. I introduced Lulu to him & the rest of the passengers. They loved her immediately. She brings that out of people. Now they are all going to be her pen pals. One problem: you know:
she can’t write back. You know why: no arms. Sad. My IPad does have a built-in microphone so we may just come up with something that will work for her. Cory & I joined Lulu in the front seat. We had headphones to stifle the very load roar of the engine.....totally deafening. Captain, our Captain sailed us through the murky waters and vegetation at speeds faster than sound ....it seemed that way. My hair was slickered back like a hood ornament. Cory’s was the same. Cap’t would stop our ship when he spied a creature for us to see: alligators (big & small), a crane on her nest of eggs, various birds .....2 eagles flew over us.
It was so much fun! Of course, upon our return, it was photo op time. We took full advantage of this. Lulu loved posing next to Captain Farmer. Once on the catwalk, Captain Mike stopped us to say hi to Lulu. He didn’t want to miss his chance to pose with this beauty. We met up with Sam & Sandy. We moseyed through most of the park, catching glimpses of the various animals on display. Sam & Sandy had attended two entertaining
shows while we rode the airboat. It was a hot & toasty day - filled with fun & adventure. Hope you had a good time with us. Time for din-din. It’s always eating time with us. You know that. We marched into our favorite restaurant in St. Cloud: The Catfish Place. Their shrimp is the best! Their catfish is great, too.
This month of May has brought more than just my birthday and Cinco de Mayo. It has brought the love bugs! Help! We cannot go anywhere with out these black, mating insects latching onto us, our RV, our car....everything! They are horrible. They don’t bite.....just a very bad nuisance. Their lives are short lived - GOOD! After traveling to & from the Wild Florida Park, our car was plastered with these conjoined pests. Yucky! The windshield was completely covered with their dead gooey remains. Cory went through a car wash...it helped some but not completely. He went to a hand held wand car wash with a power washer today. It removed some more but eventually, he had to manually remove these disgusting plecia nearctica. They invade Florida during the months of May and September. That quickly answers when
we WON’T return to Florida!
Speaking of disgusting, I saw this last post on Facebook. I always use the cart wipes when we get a shopping cart. If you don’t, you will now! Ewwwww!
......and now I must close. Remember I can hear clapping and cheering. I have broad shoulders plus other broad body parts. But that’s okay. At least, I know you are still here. Warm regards. Your favorite pen-pal! 33 photos everyone!
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Wanda
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Sandy, Once again, I hope you had a very Happy Birthday.. It sure sounded like it. It is always a joy to read your creative, Blogs!!! They are so whimsical and everything you describe is like being right there!!! Wishing you Happy travels on your way home whenever that is! Don't hurry; the weather here is still not great... Hi to Cory... Johnny also says Hi..