An Uxpected Blessing

Sometime Friday before last Miss Ann called telling me she was going to make a trip to Orlando to see her grandsons.... She knows that's the area I'm from and she wanted to know if Iggie and I wanted to go along. We'd leave Saturday afternoon get to Orlando Sunday and then we'd be off to NSB over on the east coast to have a three or four day visit with my family...Well YES!!! That wasn't anything we had to think over for more than just a short- short!
The drive down was fine, so nice to get to spend time with such a special lady... We took care of what she needed to and made it over to my sister Tammy's Sunday evening.... Just in time for Grandma's Chicken and Dumplings.....(recipe coming!) It really made Iggie cry, she was so excited!
We went over to the beach Monday so they could swim, I think it was Miss Ann's first time over that way. This litttle bird was busy keeping up with a couple guys catching bait fish for the fishing they were gona be doing later.......

This is Miss Ann and Iggie (later, at the end of the trip) when we stopped in Ft. Walton Beach on the way home. Beautiful beach!

We went over to Ponce Deleon Springs near Deland for an afternoon in the cool, refreshing springs.... "This beautiful spring is named for Juan Ponce de León, who led the first Spanish expedition to Florida in 1513-as legend has it-in search of the "fountain of youth." Visitors might well regain their youth by taking a dip in the cool, clear waters of Ponce de Leon Springs where the water temperature remains a constant 68 degrees Fahrenheit year-round. The main spring is a convergence of two underground water flows, and produces 14 million gallons of water daily."

These pictures are from our afternoon on The Water Taxi that takes you around on the Indian River in New Smyrna Beach up to the Inlet between NSB and the lighthouse south of Daytona Beach. A nice, cool, leisurely ride to see the dolphins and manatee and the lovely homes in the area from the water side.

This is the lighthouse

Below is a shot into the river at the springs and




Molly, Ann and Iggie in the springs, They were having a great time!

This a

refurbished version of

the old grinding wheel

in the park at the Sugar Mill.





And this is a new friend... someone called him Fred..... We were sitting having lunch and snacks at the springs and he was getting just about close enough to join in....

He wasn't very big, probably just under three feet but we spotted a few others larger and louder in the river that the springs over flow into. Yeh, he was very close!

And people fuss about ants!

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It was a great trip! I loved the company and the chance to be with all those very special family members. Grandma and Tammy cooked and cookedand cooked..... Yummy!! (more recipes coming).... and made us feel so special and so loved! Thank you both!!!!! AND "UNCLE APPLESAUCE" (he's a great guy, he just doesn't want anybody to know ! )

Thank you, Miss Ann for being such a blessing...... And thank you, Father, for putting us on her heart and for such a wonderful summer break!