Don't lock your knees...and other good stuff

The last time I posted was before Thanksgiving, so before I continue any farther, let me say that I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving. I did not post before Thanksgiving because I was sick with a virus that was making its way around (Megan had it too), and for several days, I couldn't do much of anything.

Along with illness, our entire community was suffering the week before Thanksgiving. The shooting at Strozier Library on FSU campus was a stressful event for all of us (one of Danny's karate senseis was studying on the second floor that night and was thankfully not hurt), and caused all patrol staffing to be called in. This was only to be surpassed by the attack and murder of Leon County Sheriff's Deputy Chris Smith. George's squad donated their time to conduct traffic control during the funeral, and spent close to 6 hours standing in the rain.

Our Thanksgiving was quiet and early, as George had to work that afternoon. And, as I'm not a shopper, the rest of the Black Friday weekend was quiet too. Nothing much happened other than work and school until this past Friday, when the kids and I ventured to Thomasville to attend The Bookshelf's Holiday Open House and Cookie Tasting (pictures are from their facebook site).

We walked the streets of Thomasville a bit, and it was beautiful. I had to get a picture of my silly kids with the beautiful backdrop.

 

It was a short trip, but by the time we got home, we were all tired and ready for bed.

 

Saturday morning, we got up and ready for karate a little earlier, as Danny and I took a card and flowers to the hospital for one of George's former officers who had been mauled by a dog earlier on the week. She's doing well, but while we were there, Danny fainted in the hospital room. After a treatment of Gatorade and increased air conditioning, he was good to go, but not quite up to karate. I took him home and picked up Megan for our regular mother/daughter massage time at Better Living Day Spa and Paisley Cafe.

 

After our pampering, we picked up Danny (now feeling few ill effects), and we went to the mall to shop for the child we adopted with the Salvation Army angel tree program. After 20 minutes shopping at Claire's, I was done with people, and we left just in time to see two young men being arrested in the parking lot. Danny's comment was, "I don't ever want to know the feeling of being arrested." That's my boy!

 

The rest of the weekend was spent cleaning and decorating for Christmas. Neither Megan nor I felt too hot on Sunday, so we relaxed in the morning. Danny and I took Harley for a walk and were followed home by an Australian Shephard looking a lot like the one in this picture.

 

 

His name is Brodie, and he got out of his back yard a few days earlier and had been roaming. After a cup of food and a 3 hr search for his owner, the owner finally called on his way back from Valdosta airport. He had left the dog outside while he was gone for a few days. Grrrr. Some people should not own dogs.

 

In all, we've had a quiet but busy couple of weeks, and Danny has learned a few things along the way. 1. He learned that he doesn't want to be arrested. (Yea!) 2. He learned what a responsible dog owner does and does not do with his dog. 3. Most importantly, he learned not to lock his knees when standing.



Utter bliss

'Nuff said.

The Creamers' Labor Day weekend

Labor Day weekend for the Creamers can be summed up in two words, fun and hot. Our fun started with the McCranies on Saturday at Discovery Cove, Sea World's all-inclusive park where you can swim with the sting rays, float in the lazy river to view otters, and feed the birds in the aviary. We got the same cabana we had in 2012, and spent the day relaxing, eating, drinking, snorkling, and having good clean fun. Here are some of the pics from the day.

Because DC closes so early, we made dinner reservations with our friends, the Mazeracs, at Raglan Road,

Kevin Dundon's Irish restaurant located at Downtown Disney. Raglan Road was having a big Irish fest that weekend, and we were excited to see the bands, dancers, and to have some awesome food. The wait was a little long, and we missed most of the entertainment, but we had a great time being with good friends.

Unfortunately, Danny was a zombie after swimming all day.

Megan tried to revive him, but I don't think blowing on someone's face is a valid CPR technique.

After a late night, we got a late start at Sea World the next morning.

When we arrived, we got almost immediate reservations at Sharks Underwater Grill, and after a quick ride (George and Zachary) on the Manta, we headed over to eat some seafood while watching sharks, grouper, rays, and other large fish swim over the Shark Encounter tube. It was awesome food, if not a little expensive, and Danny really enjoyed the whole experience. After a trip through the Shark Encounter,

we headed to the new Penguin ride where we stood in line for 30 minutes (of the total hour) before the heavens opened, and we escaped line to the store with 250 or so other people for whom hygiene was not a priority.    After the downpour ended, we went to catch the dolphin show, but it was delayed from the storm. So after petting the stingrays,

 

visiting Turtle Trek,

and seeing the dolphins from the underwater viewing area, we were done. It was 3 or so, and the rain had made everything very steamy and hot. We dragged our dehydrated bodies to the front of the park, and made one last shopping stop before heading back to our hotel (Hilton Grand Vacations) across the street. We enjoyed the rest of the night relaxing in the pool. We even got to catch some real life soap opera action poolside. People are people, where ever you go. All in all, we had a great weekend, but after a quick stop for breakfast at Friendly's, we were ready to get home.

An Educational Field Trip and a Happy Mom's Day

Mother's Day weekend, we decided to take a trip to WDW for an educational field trip. Danny's class was going to Epcot, and we gave him the choice of Epcot with hundreds of 4th graders or a weekend at Animal Kingdom. He chose Animal Kingdom with the family (see...I knew he was truly intelligent), and we headed down on Friday of Mother's Day weekend. We checked in at Animal Kingdom Lodge

on Friday and spent the evening enjoying the resort and the wildlife outside our back door.

The weather was beautiful, and we really enjoyed an afternoon swim, dinner at Boma, movies by the pool, and night vision animal watching. The next day, after an African-inspired breakfast, we made our way to Animal Kingdom park. We skipped most of the rides and opted to learn about the animals. The kids enjoyed Rafiki's conservation center, and we all loved Kilimanjaro Safaris. We saw giraffes,

rhinos,

elephants,

and zebras up close...

really close.

The kids went around to all of the explorer badge stops and took the time to learn about each animal or insect. George got some great shots of the birds

and the monkeys.

Oh yeah, and he got some great shots of our monkeys, too!

We all has a great weekend, and after a Sunday at Downtown Disney and lunch at Raglan Road, we made it back home for the rest of Mother's Day. Thank you, George,

for an awesome weekend and an awesome Mom's Day!

Our new little buddy

Spring break began this week with a weekend visit from Grandma and Paw-paw and Daisy (the kids were so excited!) and a weekend of cooking, including the traditional Creamer corned beef and cabbage for St. Patty's Day. We also met a new friend this weekend, and this is our new friend.

This little squirrel was cornered by Harley and Daisy, who barked hysterically until we came out to investigate. Our new little buddy, once the dogs were in the house, followed the kids around the yard while they did poop-scooping duty.

He even came up to the back door and then met the adults,

first climbing up next to me, then jumping up on my dad's foot, and then allowing us to handle him.

He was an amazing little guy, but his lack of fear was proving to be a problem. The dogs would not leave him alone, and the cats next door were staking out his hiding place for hours. We think he was looking for a friend, but we decided it was probably best to take him to St. Francis wildlife refuge, who would introduce him to other squirrels in the wild away from Harley the persistent hunter.  We placed him in a shoe box with some strawberries to eat, and Zac dropped him off Sunday afternoon. We will never forget the experience.