Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays 2013

Richard says "This is the kind of
soldier I'd like to find in my toy chest"

It was 10 years since we last visited Fort Wayne, Indiana, home of my sister, Mary, and brother-in-law, Al.  Guess What ? Allegiant Air now flys directly from our little airport straight thru to Fort Wayne in just 2 hours! (75 degrees to 24 degrees!) It was a wonderful Thanksgiving family time, celebrating my Mom's 93rd birthday, followed by Turkey Coma and then, a baby shower for our niece, Holly, who is expecting her first child in early March.  lOTS to celebrate!



Hideaway

Upon arriving home, a frenzy of activities...brunch with Friendship Force (our travel exchange club), holiday parties with our boating clubs (PGSC, PGIslanders and Isles Yacht Club) and a gift exchange with our neighbors! 

We helped create this beautiful lighted sail for Hideaway, our friend's (Trudy & Chuck) boat as a new entry in the Lighted Boat Parade.  What a great time we had waving to throngs of visitors along the 7-1/2 mile canal route!


IYC Fleet Lighting



Snowman on Eagle's Wing with our house behind boat

Our boat, Eagle's Wings, was decked out in snowman lights and participated in the Lighting of the Fleet, an annual tradition, at the Isles Yacht Club (IYC).  We had more than 60 visitors aboard munching on seafood, appetizers, Pasta Fagioli soup, homemade Christmas cookies and liquid refreshments.


Christmas Eve was a wonderful evening with Cousin Constance, Bill and Cousin Jake and Mom at our place!  



By the way, the January-February 2014 edition of Where to Retire is now on newsstands across the country. If you'd like to read the article featuring our home town of Punta Gorda, A Treasure on the Gulf Coast, click link (in red) below snowman picture: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9ltElQD7mRBdExaVmk5VVZlb0k/edit?usp=sharing