Vero Beach Sea Turtle Sculptures

Ever since moving to Vero Beach, I've been intrigued by the sea turtle sculptures that are placed all around town. Last week, my nephew Gabe was talking about them. His family was staying at the Driftwood Resort, which has a couple sculptures within close walking distance. I was inspired to try to find them all, take pictures, gather information, and place the information on a Google Map. Searching the web, I found Turtle Trax. The turtles are sponsored by local companies and painted by local artists and the proceeds support Mental Health Services.

Today, we were at the spray park at Royal Palm Point for a birthday party. The park is home to "Peace On Earth". Here are the pictures I took while there.

From Sea Turtles

From Sea Turtles

I added the pictures to my new public Web Album. I also started working on my Google Map that shows all the locations around town. As time permits and the weather cooperates, I'll make my way to each location and get my own photographs and add them to the map. I've already discovered that the location from Turtle Trax is not accurate, so it will take some time to track them all down.

An Afternoon At Disney World

Today we finally did something we've talked about for many months; we rode the Disney World Monorail. Since we were in Sanford again, we decided to drive down to Disney World. To avoid paying for parking, we parked outside Planet Hollywood and waited for a bus to the Disney Grand Floridian Resort & Spa. The monorail has stops at three of the Disney resorts: the Grand Floridian, the Contemporary, and the Polynesian. We chose the Grand Floridian because the name conjured up an image of southern elegance. After ten minutes, the bus arrived and we stepped on board.

The ride on the bus was great. Along the way, we passed several Disney attractions. Before reaching the Grand Floridian, we picked up passengers at the Disney Wilderness Lodge. This lodge looks fantastic. If we had more time, we would have stopped to look inside. As the bus pulled away, I noticed a group of deer near the horticulture Canadian Geese. After a few seconds, I realized that the deer were actually living, breathing animals. At Disney World, it's easy to assume that everything is make-believe.

As the bus approached the Grand Floridian, my image of southern elegance came to life. The building was truly stunning. I felt like I was going back in time and arriving at a southern mansion. We followed the fence-lined path toward the stairs leading up to the monorail platform, only to find that they, like most things in Disney, were purely for show. We continued towards the main entrance and our jaws dropped as we entered. The entryway opens to a large, open floor surrounded on all sides by five floors of open balconies. The second floor contains shops, while the remaining floors have guest rooms. A large, open elevator on the right side of the floor and a wide, wrapping staircase connect the main floor to the second floor. An immense chandelier hangs from the ceiling five stories above.

From the second floor, we found our way to the monorail stop. After a few minutes, a train arrived, but was on the opposite track. After another few minutes, another train came through in the opposite direction. Finally a train arrived on our track and we eagerly climbed aboard.

The gold train took us first past the Magic Kingdom, the through the Contemporary resort, and on to the Transportation and Ticket Center. At that point, we got off the gold train and boarded the red train to Epcot Center. We rode this train around the 'white death star' two times, then jumped on the silver train back to the Grand Floridian. We soon realized that we were on the Magic Kingdom train instead of the resort train. We quickly switched once again and returned to the Grand Floridian.

The sun had set and we enjoyed watching lightning bolts illuminate a distant cumulonimbus cloud. From the Grand Floridian, we tried to watch the fireworks over the Magic Kingdom, but they were blocked from site. We caught the next bus back to Downtown Disney.

We got off the bus outside Planet Hollywood; the 'blue death star'. Susan and I wanted to see inside, but Andrew was reluctant when he saw the UFO that was crashed into the entrance. We convinced him that it would be awesome inside and in we went. We walked up the stairs to the top of the sphere, then took the elevator back down to the bottom.

By that time, it was 10:00PM and we still had a two hour drive ahead of us. Andrew announced that he would like to fall asleep, and quickly followed through with his plan. We arrived home just after midnight.

Making Rakott Krumpli

I had the opportunity to help make one of my all-time favorite Hungarian dishes. It is a casserole consisting of potatoes, eggs, pepperoni, and sour cream. Here's how it is made:

Ingredients:

• 1 tub sour cream
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 5 pounds red potatoes
• 1 dozen eggs, hard boiled
• 1 package pepperoni
• 1 pinch of salt

Steps:

• Lightly grease a casserole pan with oil spray
• Peel and boil the potatoes until soft
• Mix the olive oil and sour cream
• Add a layer of sliced potatoes to the casserole
• Lightly salt the potatoes
• Add a thin layer of sour cream over the potatoes
• Add a layer of pepperoni over the sour cream
• Add a layer of sliced eggs over the pepperoni
• Repeat two more times
• Finish with a layer of sour cream
• Bake for 45 minutes at 375 degrees

Enjoy

Mom's Visit

On Thursday (8/13) night, Mom's flight arrived in Orlando at 9:30PM. We arrived at the airport early and Andrew watched the hotel elevators go up the wall and down into the floor. When Mom's flight arrived, Andrew and I walked down a hall alongside a glass wall separating the incoming passengers from those not flying. When we saw Mom coming, Andrew got very excited and said, "Grandma!", then raced along the glass wall to the meet-and-greet area. When Mom arrived, he gave her a great big hug. I love how freely he shows his affection.

Her visit overlapped that of the Haksch and Pearce family, so we had to get creative with our plans. The early plan was to spend Friday with the whole clan at Holy Land Experience, and Saturday at one of the Disney parks, since it was free on my birthday. After looking at Disney prices, we decided against Disney, simply on principle. How can they possibly justify their prices, especially in this economy? Apparently, people are willing to pay that much. With Disney scrubbed, we thought about doing the Holy Land Experience on Saturday. If we could get 15 people to agree to go, we could get a group discount. The initial head count sounded like we might meet the quota, but after asking around, we came up short and scrapped that plan, too.

Friday (8/14) was boat day with Mom, Aunt Cathy, Uncle Dave, and Gin on Lake Monroe, on the north side of Sanford. We were met at the dock by a pair of volunteer safety inspectors from the Coast Guard. The lady was very nice as she went through her checklist of items. She offered some tips and best practices and told us how to avoid getting eaten by alligators. Out on the lake, we were surprise by the color of the water. It was very dark and tinted brown; it reminded me of a cola. After driving around awhile, we decided to throw out the tube. Andrew and I jumped in first. As usual, Andrew loved it completely. Next up was Gin and Susan, with Andrew on Susan's lap. Finally, Mom and Aunt Cathy went for a ride. Back at home, Mom and Cathy worked on canning green beans.

After dinner, I wanted to go to Downtown Disney. Susan made plans with her family and we headed south. Aunt Cathy and Uncle Dave decided to come along, too. The parking lot was extremely full and we had to drive past three entrances before finding one that was open. While parking, we were separated from Cathy and Dave. A quick call and a bit of walking later, we met them near the AMC movie theater.

We hooked up with the Pearces and started walking past the shops. I particularly wanted to go inside T-Rex. We peaked inside and saw the animated 'meatosaurs'. Andrew decided that he did not want to go inside. I stayed outside with him, but then I saw the dinosaur bone digging area. I showed Andrew and he wanted to go play there. We walked into the restaurant, past the first 'meatosaur' display, and into the sandbox area. Andrew stayed and played for at least a half hour. After finally convincing him to get out and put his shoes back on, we walked through the rest of the restaurant. It is really quite amazing. The coolest part was ice cave area that changed colors every couple minutes.

The next fascination was the LEGO store. First we looked at each of the window displays, depicting major international cities, then we examined the life-size LEGO family and their dogs, and then we went inside. We were most impressed by the Star Wars collection.

Saturday (8/15), we stayed at the B&B most of the day. Mom & Aunt Cathy finished canning green beans. After dinner, we celebrated my birthday with a nice little cake that - thankfully - had two number candles rather than 42 individual candles.

Sunday (8/16), we went to the new church. Afterwards, we stopped to visit the Haksch and Pearce clans at the Driftwood Resort.

Monday (8/17), we went to the North County Aquatic Center. The Haksch and Pearce families met us and we drove to Sebastian. We arrived a little early and picked out tables with umbrellas. When it opened, we all played in the activity pool. As expected, the boys wanted to do the slide. Andrew and Susan went, then I joined them, and before long, everyone in the group (except Noah) had been down the slide at least once.

Soon I was starting to get hungry. I looked through the snack bag, but didn't see the bread. Caleb and I drove to the nearby Publix to get some. While there, I had to fight the urge to grab the "Buy one, get one free" chocolate covered doughnuts. We found some bread, and I picked up two 120 minute TracFone cards. Back in the car, Caleb realized that he had a message on his phone. It was Noemi; she wanted some Fritos. Back inside, past the chocolate covered doughnuts once again, we went to the chip row and found a family size bag of Fritos.

After lunch, I headed to the competition pool with Gabe and Caleb. I swam a few laps before Andrew and Mom came over. Andrew wanted to learn how to dive into the pool. With some tips from a lifeguard, I started showing Andrew how to dive. He put his arms above his head, bent at the waist and fell forward into the pool while I lifted his feet to follow his body. His 'dive' was more like a front somersault into the water, and he was loving it. Eventually, we worked our way to the diving board. Andrew and Mom watched while Gabe, Caleb, Peter, Susan, and I went off the board. Andrew wanted to join us. I asked him if he was sure and he said yes. I jumped in first and swam away from the board. He walked to the edge, jumped in, and swam to me. Before long, he was swimming to the side by himself.

Back at home, we fired up the grill and started cooking dinner. Gabe and I charbroiled a dozen burgers and a dozen hot dogs while Noemi made her special baked bean salad and a cucumber salad. We also had potato salad - Southern Style - from Publix.

Tuesday (8/18) was Mom's last day in Vero Beach. I had a few more items to complete on Aunt Patty's computer and Andrew needed to get his final HCT shot for school. We took Andrew to his pediatrician. He was extremely upset when he realized that it was time for his shot. It took both Susan and I to hold him still enough for the doctor to apply the shot in his leg. He screamed and struggled like we were trying to cut off his leg or something. Parenting question: How to convince your child that it won't be as bad as it seems? After the shot, I picked up some memory for Patty's computer while Mom and Susan bought some drinks at Dunkin Donut.

Once home, I installed the memory and was distraught when I found that it was showing up as 128MB modules instead of 256MB, as it was labeled. I called the computer store and they said that all sales are final and that the memory was not mislabeled. I disagreed, but they told me there was nothing I could do about it. I was about to explode, but I had no way to know for sure if the memory was mislabeled, or the computer BIOS was simply unable to detect 256MB memory modules. Luckily, Alex had a pair of slightly slower 256MB modules waiting at Aunt Cathy's house, so I decided to give them a try later. Mom packed her bags and we headed north to Sanford. I installed the memory from Alex and the computer had no problem recognizing it as 256MB modules, thus proving to me that the computer store in Vero Beach sold me mislabeled memory and refused to stand behind their sale; completely unbelievable.

I put the computer back together and we headed for the airport. We were hungry and had arrived early, so we grabbed a bite to eat. After eating, Andrew watched the elevators until it was time for Mom to go. We said our good-byes and went our separate ways. On the way home, Mom called Susan and told her to look in her book. Susan was confused, but started flipping through the pages. Eventually she found some cash hidden between the pages. Very sneaky, Mom! Thank you, we enjoyed your visit.

Family Visitors - Day 3

Today, Andrew woke us at the C&D B&B. Aunt Cathy was at work and Uncle Dave was in the kitchen, about to make breakfast. He asked us what we wanted and I suggested chocolate chip pancakes - Andrew whole-heartedly agreed with this choice.

After breakfast, Dave left to go work on an old Cadillac. After he left, I flipped the channels on his TV and found The Wedding Singer. Since we don't get any channels on our TV, I easily get sucked in whenever cable TV is present. I couldn't pull myself away and we ended up staying until the movie was over.

We finished getting ready, then headed back to the resort. As far as I know, we didn't leave any of our stuff behind this time. We arrived around 1:00. The plan today was to spend some time at River Island. Susan and her mother went to the store to pick up some cucumbers and a few other items. The Pearce family gathered and left for the pool. I decided to wait for Susan to return. I figured it should only take them about 15 minutes to go to the store; after all, it was right at the entrance to the resort. I don't know how long I waited, but at 3:00, they were still not back yet, so Andrew and I went to the pool without her.

The pool was as fun as I had imagined. Andrew put on his life vest and we headed out the on ramp to the river. We didn't have the official, licensed, resort-approved, for-rent, $7-each rafts, so we decided to just walk around the loop; it is only four feet deep at the deepest spots. A nice couple saw our need and offered theirs for us to borrow. We graciously accepted!

After one lap around, we returned the rafts to the nice couple. Walking back the off ramp, we found Susan heading our way. With her, we made two more treks around. After the second loop, we dropped off Andrew with Noemi and headed for the water tube slide. It looked similar to what you'd see in a McDonald's Play Place, but a little taller, with water running through. I was surprised at how fast you could go. I'm pretty sure I pulled two G's on that final turn before being out the end of the pipe. We all went down three times, then convinced Susan to give it a try. We called it quits at 5:00 and returned to the condo.

Dinner tonight was a Hungarian dish that I call 'rumpley-crumpley', for lack of ability to recall its real name. It reminds me of a Hungarian variation on lasagna. It is made with layers of sliced potatoes with sour cream, hard boiled eggs, and pepperonis between. It is delicious. I'm sure I ate more than my share, and I even considered slipping the leftover pan into my bag while no one was looking.

At 7:00, we returned home. Tonight, I'm sitting at my computer desk in Vero Beach once again. We'll be heading back to the resort again on Thursday.

Family Visitors - Day 2

Today, we found ourselves alone in Nikki's apartment; well, nearly alone. Nikki was at work by the time Andrew came in to wake us. Out in the living room, fat cat and scaredy dog were napping and were a little surprised to see us. Fat cat was cool, but scaredy dog made a dash for the dining room table, then thought better of that plan and ran for cover in Nikki's bedroom, where he stayed for the rest of the morning.

After showers and a microwaved cinnamon bun, we were on our way back to the resort. Once there, we changed into our swimming clothes, but things were slow to develop. Eventually, we made it to the North Village pool. This pool was much more interesting than the first pool. It was shaped in a horseshoe. At the left point, there was a small slide. Moving toward the middle, there was as in-pool volleyball area and basketball area. The middle featured a zero-entry area that increased in depth to the right and ended in a small waterfall. Most of the family spent a couple hours playing in pool before heading back to the condo for a break from the sun.

Back at the condo, I started getting restless, so Gabe, Caleb, and I jumped in the Honda to explore River Island. River Island is an amazing piece of engineered water and pool fun. It's main feature was a lazy river that weaves its way around the park. At both the north and south ends, it had 'exits' that lead into large, zero-entry pools for small kids to play. In the middle of the river loop, there is an elevated island with bridges crossing over the river. At the highpoint, there are two hot tubs surrounded by rocks that mark the tops of the waterfalls the cascade into the river below. The whole area is surrounded by cabanas, lawn chairs, and shops. When we left, we were all pretty excited about going back and spending some time there tomorrow.

Back at the resort once again, the ladies returned from the extremely long shopping extravaganza. I truly do not understand what takes women so long in a grocery store. They go in with a list, yet they're gone for hours. And with three of them, you'd think they could divide and conquer and be finished three times faster. It's a mystery to me.

It was getting late and dinner was the next order of business. The plan was to have homemade pizzas. Ever since arriving at the resort, I'd been longing a slice of the pizza that was advertised in the resort handout. It looked absolutely amazing, with rich sauce, large chunks of tomato, basil, and bubbly cheese. The visit to Cici's didn't even come close to satisfying my desire for good pizza. I was strangely surprised when I saw Noemi start browning about four pounds of ground beef on the stove. And, although I looked, I was unable to find anything resembling pizza fixings. Susan was busy chopping a huge purple onion. I asked her what it was for and she said it was for the pizza. If I wasn't so hungry, I would have lost interest altogether at that point, but my stomach was still curious about where all this was leading. Fifteen minutes later, out from the oven came two 'pizzas'. They were covered with ground beef and a touch of mozzarella cheese. The ground beef was smothered in barbecue sauce. After it cooled a bit, I was pleasantly surprised; it was much better than I had imagined.

Noemi and Gabe prepare to serve the 'pizza'

A close-up shot of the 'pizza'

After dinner, we had some frozen yogurt for dessert, then packed up to leave. Tonight, we were staying at the C&D B&B. As is often the case, we left some of our stuff where we didn't intend it to be. This time, we left a bag of towels at Nikki's, so we had to make a quick stop at her place before reaching our final sleeping destination.

Andrew, wrapped in my shirt, enjoying his cold dessert

Family Visitors - Day 1

The day started early today; the alarm went off at 5:30AM. By 7:00, we were on our way to Sanford to meet Susan's parents. They were on the Amtrak Auto Train and scheduled to arrive at 9:30. The train left the day before from Lorton, Virginia, at 3:47; thirteen minutes ahead of schedule.

We arrived at the station in Sanford at 9:10. We parked the car and wandered around the station until the train arrived. It stopped just outside the station around 9:20. A few minutes later, it eased into the station and stopped. The workers split the train apart, then backed the remaining passenger cars onto the parallel boarding track. As the passengers left the train, the first thing they did was stretch their arms and legs. The second thing they did was comment about the heat. And the third thing they did was say they wanted to get back on the train where it was cooler. The Haksch's reported that the A/C failed in their car, so it was uncomfortably warm for them. In addition to this, they were in the second coach from the front, so they heard the horn blare at every crossing for 800 miles.

Andrew and Susan waiting for the passengers to exit the train

Passengers were then herded into a large, air conditioned tent to wait for their cars to be unloaded. Then the Amtrak lottery system started. Each car was labeled with a magnetic number and a man announced the number over the PA system. "AV230, AV172", etc. "Auto 210, Auto 254", oh darn, off by one digit! After 50 minutes, our number finally came up... we won!

Then it was off to the resort. My in-laws are spending a week in a condo in Kissimmee, then a week in Vero Beach. On the way, we made a quick stop at the C&D B&B to drop off our extra stuff. The driveway was full of cars, people, and C&D's new (to them) Maxum ski boat. Surprisingly, the B&B was already booked solid. That's what we get for not calling ahead and making reservations. Luckily for us, Nikki offered us use of her spare bedroom. With sleeping arrangements set, we were on our way to the resort.

We arrived at the registration office at 2:00PM. Check-in was at 4:00, but the condo was available and they were able to give us the keys early. We drove to the condo and helped unpack and move in. The Pearce family arrived an hour later and moved in. A bunch of us were hungry, so we went to Cici's for their pizza buffet. At that point, I came to the realization that Gabe looked taller when he was thinner. It was a strange realization, so I just had to share it with everyone. Gabe responded by saying that Caleb must look like a midget.

Andrew finds a cave in the Cici waterfall

Back at the resort, Gabe, Caleb, Peter, Andrew, and I changed into bathing suits and drove to the pool. Andrew was excited because the pool was zero-entrance. We played with his sinker sticks for hours. Peter and Gabe had enough of the pool and walked back to the condo. After another 30 minutes, I had to negotiate the terms of our departure with Andrew. He wanted to walk around the outside edge of the pool one more time. I agreed, he did, and we drove back to the condo.

Andrew and I changed into dry clothes. Gabe pulled out his lacrosse gear and Andrew and I joined him outside behind the condo. After a dozen throws, Andrew was frustrated with his lack of catching ability, so I took over. I can see why people like that game. Before long, it was too dark to see the ball. We decided to call it a day, so we jumped back in the car and returned to Sanford for the night. Nikki had her spare room set up nicely for us. She showed us where to find the towels and cinnamon buns. With this information, we collapsed onto the futon.

Andrew Meets Theo

Today, we had the great opportunity to let Andrew meet and ride a horse. Last Sunday, Susan's friend, Amy, invited us to Fellsmere to meet her horse, Theo, at the stable where she keeps him. The original plan was to meet on Wednesday afternoon, but a nearby thunderstorm was threatening to wash out our plans, so we rescheduled for today.

Andrew and his cowboy hat

We arrived at the farm around 10:30AM. I think Andrew was a little nervous, but he was brave and followed us into the barn. Amy introduced us to Theo, her three year old quarter horse. I filled out and signed the obligatory waiver form (required by Florida State Law), then lifted Andrew onto the saddle.

Andrew rides Theo

Amy lead Theo around the small pasture for about 15 minutes before Andrew was ready to get down. He was getting pretty hot; especially since he was wearing jeans and a helmet. Ordinarily, there would be a breeze, but not this morning.

Andrew brushes Theo's shoulder

After the ride, it was time to cool off Theo. Amy hosed him down, and squeegeed off the excess water. Andrew helped out by brushing Theo's shoulder.

Theo enjoyed his horsey snacks

After cooling down, it was time for a snack. Amy's son brought some horse snacks and we all gave one to Theo. Well, all of us, except Andrew. He was a little too timid.