Spring Break from Minnesota Cold!

We were blessed by a week long visit from our dear great niece, Torie and her cousin and friend from Minnesota.
Picked them up at the Tampa Airport on Tuesday evening March 31st and made a stop at Chic Fila for dinner it was their first visit and enjoyed the food and fun.

We enjoyed having them and were able to visit many beaches, share our sunshine, boats and pool with them.

The highlight was being out in the Gulf of Mexico snorkeling and watching for Dolphins.

The weather was beautiful during their stay and also enjoyed many beautiful sunsets.

We were sad to see them go! Hope they can come back someday.  Maybe Spring Break next year.

Wisconsin Visitors!

Had a wonderful time with our dear friends Bruce and Cheryl.
Golf was fun except both Bruce and Cheryl beat me each time we went out! They are both very good.

Our friend the Alligator on hole #7 at Myakka Pines became famous with many photos on Facebook and made the national news.

Enjoyed the Art Fair in Downtown Venice as we usually do.

Cheryl did her magic in the kitchen and whipped up some great dishes to enjoy along with the wonderful Wisconsin cheese they brought down with them. We also went out to our favorite restaurants and enjoyed fish tacos together.

Mother Nature (Cheryl) also planted some beautiful flowers in our back yard and the bright red color of these Geraniums will remind us of her.

We got to play a lot of games in the evenings, Wizard of course was our favorite and each of us won at least one game. Catch Phrase was not as much fun as the girls dominated the game every time we played.

Boating was perfect! We had warm days and plenty of sunshine. Enjoyed many adventures and saw a lot of Dolphins! Also a beautiful Eagle perched high in a tree.

Enjoyed the local beaches of Venice and Englewood.






Got to go sailing on the Gulf for the first time since 1995!

The only complaint was the time went by much too fast as usual and we look forward to their next visit with much anticipation!

We and all our friends above will miss them very much!

Goodbye until we meet again (soon we hope).

Michigan Visitors, Down from the cold!

Our good friends Ted and Beth came for a short visit and we sure enjoyed seeing them. It has been a long time since we last spent some time together (we think it was 2006).
Since this was their first visit to Venice we had to give them the tour of our community by land and by sea.
We took a boat ride on the Inter-coastal Waterway and enjoyed the views of Venice from the water.
We stopped for lunch at our favorite restaurant,

The Crow's Nest

and enjoyed a wonderful meal and watched as the sea fog rolled in from the Gulf of Mexico, it was quite a site and made our trip back to the marina a little exciting.

Our land tour included the highlights of Venice:

Sharky's on the Pier

Venice Beach, Downtown Venice and of course Venice Theater.

After a day of touring we returned home to enjoy desert and coffee.
It was a wonderful visit and hope to see them again soon.

Allie our friend in the pond always likes is see our visitors. That is about the only time we see him. He had to say goodbye too.

Hard to say goodbye!

Great Visit with Bruce and Cheryl!

We were blessed  by another great visit from our dear Milwaukee friends, Bruce and Cheryl. They arrived on a beautiful warm and sunny day, Veterans Day, Nov 11, 2014.

We drove to Ybor City to visit the first Columbia Restaurant that opened in 1905 in the Cuban district of Tampa.

Had a great Cuban lunch and got caught up on our lives and experiences.

When we got home and after the unpacking we had snacks, cocktails and of course a game of Wizard!

History of Ybor City in Tampa Florida

Enjoyed our first Florida sunset together at the Venice Inlet.

The next day was an exciting day on Sarasota Bay! We got a boat from Freedom Boat Club at Marina Jack's and explored the homes on the bay.

Cheryl loved being in the sun and enjoying the day on the water, looking for Dolphins!

We were able to get close to the Ringling Home and enjoyed the great view from the water.

Enjoyed a nice lunch-dinner at Marina Jack's and a fun night of Wizard!


Our next day we spent at the pool, golfing and the evening at the Bistro for some Jazz with dinner.  Food was great, music was nice but the service was not so good, but it was nice being together and enjoying our friendship.

On Friday we went down to Bonita Springs to spend some time with Brad and Susie.  As usual they treated us all to a wonderful day full of fun.  Went to their special beach, did some kayaking in the mangroves and ended the day with a great dinner at their club. Their home is coming together and is just beautiful.

On Saturday we enjoyed a day on the water in little Sarasota Bay and the ICW from Hidden Harbor then had a great Linner at Phillippi Creek Oyster Bar for our favorite fish tacos!

Sunday morning was a beautiful day to go out on the Gulf of Mexico and be on the water and then some beach time in Englewood and lunch at the Lock and Key.

Later that afternoon it was the Packer game playing the Eagles at Lambeau Field.  Great game, cheering together was so much fun! Packers won 53 to 20. None of us had any voices left but we could play wizard OK!

Monday we did get out on the golf course and played well, although the course was in rough shape due to seeding.

Tuesday was their last day with us and we just enjoyed being together and reliving the last week and making plans for the future.  We sure enjoy our time together, just goes by way too fast.





It is time to head to the airport already. We can't believe a week can go by so fast!

Love and miss you, hope to see you again real soon!

Fun in the Sun with our Dear Milwaukee Friends!

We had another great visit with our dear Wisconsin friends, Bruce and Cheryl


They arrived on a beautiful sunny day into Tampa.
We spent our time with fun days of beach, golf and great food with evenings spent playing our favorite card game, Wizard!

A nice welcome from our Alligator friend  "Allie"

The fish tacos were wonderful at our favorite restaurant Phillippi Creek Oyster Bar

and the beautiful sunset view at Sharky's new restaurant "Fins"                                                           

    









                                                                     
Our Fat Tuesday Mardi Gras Party at the Church Hall was fun and we met some interesting people.

We enjoyed a great boat ride down the Inter Coastal Waterway from Englewood to Cape Haze. It was a fun time that we also shared with the beautiful, playful Dolphins.

And of course a lot of time on the beach, our favorite was the beach at Don Pedro SP and Manasota Beach.

 

 

They sure appreciated the warm and sunny weather, especially after enduring the worst Wisconsin winter of all time.



 

They did a beautiful job on the project of the special window treatments in the kitchen, guest bath and guest bedroom.

We enjoyed spending time at the Jazz concert in downtown Venice with our friends.

We always have a great time together!  Great friends are a gift.




Hope they can come back soon.