A SENIOR DAY

"Senior" moments or days can be "A good thing!"
We bought tickets to Busch Gardens when Ceci, Brian and Ciera came to visit.  It was a fun day with them at the park.  If you buy a ticket for a day/it's good for a year.  But wait--if you are a senior--it's good for 15 months!  
We can use our tickets until the middle of April 2012.  

We went to see Jack Hanna this past week, at Busch Gardens.  He had a wonderful program about strange animals.  An advocate for animals of all kinds, he was so kind signing autographs for every child (& some adults) in the audience!  

I took children on "field trips" for 31 years.
I had a great time doing it!  The kids always loved every trip we went on.
Now, it's time for my field trips!  Having always tried to teach the children about animals and nature/I now get to see professionals, preserves, nature centers, etc. when ever I can!   FUN...

JOHNNY ROCKETS

A "fast food" place to eat/labeled as a restaurant on the directory at the Millenia Mall, on Conroy Rd. in Orlando.

We 'dined' at Johnny Rockets, before making it over to the First Baptist Church Orlando. 

The waiter smiled as he made happy faces in the small dishes each person gets for their ketchup.  He prides himself in doing it upside down. He seemed to like his job/but not a skill that will get you far!

Chili Cheese Fries~Joe politely removed his hand for my picture.  Look ~upper right corner of picture, his hand is ready to ponce on those fries!

Leaving Johnny Rockets and the Millenia Mall, we found the First Baptist Church Orlando,
where we had tickets for ONE.

Those are people sitting on each side of the steps ~
they are in the choir of 150! They were fabulous!

THE LAST SUPPER

THE CRUCIFIXTION 

THE RESURRECTION

The Passion Play depicted the story we all know. 

The set was simple but your imagination and prior knowledge made it very real. The cast of 100 also made it come alive and kept your attention centered on the story being "relived" with much 'passion'.

NOTE: The First Baptist Church Orlando seats 6,600 people. The estimate was that there were 4,500 attending on Wed. evening. Wednesday was the first night of the play! We will now watch for more events at this church, very professionally produced. 

BIKE RACE IN WINTER HAVEN, FL

The race is on!
We watched the end of the first race, then the kids race (all the kids received 'gold' medals), the Pros were up next.  An 80 minute race-through the town of Winter Haven-rounded eight corners, at top speed, on a bike!

The coveted trophies/along with money! 

There were about 50 racers, ranging in age from 16 to 47.  I was cheering for the 47 year old/I didn't know any of the racers, but I figured if a 47 yr. old was racing with these young guys--good for him!

There he is - in the middle of the three.

He won!!  80 minutes of riding/turning corners/warm weather/younger competitors/and he won!
Come to find out: he was a favorite!
Guess this racer is well-known in "bike world"! 

END OF MARCH ~ STORMY WEATHER

We were very fortunate that the first tornadic storm went across Florida **north of us.
The second cell went **south of us!  We did get rain, wind and more rain but no tornados close by.  We felt blessed as we watched the meteorologists, on TV, get very excited all day.  They probably were happy they had weather to report. They kept comparing it to the 'great' tornadoes in the Mid West.  Guess we don't look at them as being 'great' but we didn't go to school for meteorology.  Reporting weather in Florida probably becomes mundane.
(Example of the evening weather recently.)
"The weather today is sunny and warm.  The temps will be in the 80's, during the day.  We will cool down toward evening into the 70's."
The storm had the meteorologists jumping around, using all their equipment and knowledge to explain what was happening all day.  Making them happy about the weather is not something I want to see often!

A branch fell down, near my car-no damage.
Today maintenance went around the park with a chain saw-cleaning up all the fallen branches.
Our maintenance crew are the BEST guys around!

SPOOK HILL

                 SPOOK HILL IN LAKE WALES
We met friends in Lake Wales at Manny's Chophouse. Good food/good company.  After our meal we ventured over to Spook Hill.  We've seen the signs but never went to explore.  Not a lot to see/interesting though. 

The sign explains Spook Hill ~ really not so spooky, just interesting. 

This is the line we drove up to/put the car in neutral and rolled back down--then up the hill we just came from. 

Actually, it is an optical illusion.
Really has nothing to do with Native Americans or alligators.
Stories can make tourist attractions! 

STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL

                 STRAWBERRY FEST 
              PLANT CITY, FLORIDA
After getting lost for about 1/2 hour we finally arrived at the gates.  The signs we followed pointed straight/the guy at the gas station said to turn left/my navigator said follow the signs/we turned around after several miles and turned where the gas station guy said to turn!  Oh well, the friends we were meeting were patiently waiting, watching all the senior citizens going through the gates.   
Our first stop was to get a strawberry shortcake ~ very yummy, topped with whipped cream and a strawberry! 
Strawberry Fest turned out to be a smaller version of Wisconsin's State Fair, with pictures of strawberries put up here and there.  We watched Jay Taylor, country singer and then went to the Tanya Tucker Concert.  She put on a wonderful show and her daughters got into the act/each singing a couple of songs.  The eleven year old (yes, Tanya Tucker has an eleven year old!) sang with gusto and she will one day be a great country singer!  
Her older daughter sang with her own style. 

Jay Taylor ~ upcoming country star!

Tanya Tucker in concert 

On the big screen...

We were in row sixteen/second section.

Barb and Fred watching the
Native American dancing.

Joe remembered his hat/Fred didn't.
The kindergarten teacher in me made Fred a newspaper hat, to keep the sun off his head!

Native American Dancer 

SIDEWALK CHALK ART

                HAINES CITY, FLORIDA
A great place to view chalk artists!  Many artists/all levels of abilities/a variety of subjects/
all having fun and doing their best. Several artists had pictures to look at and some had books of pictures on display of their previous works, all over the world.
A parking space was each artist's canvas.   
We didn't stay for the awards and prizes ~ they all should've received something for showing up!               ENJOY ~ WE DID