h20skibum

Yesterday was an enjoyable day with family, but it did end on a sad note. I have to remedy that today.

Susan did. They took their time opening them this year

Yes, all the presents from us were opened today. It has been pretty typical for us to celebrate with daughter and her family about a week before Christmas. We usually take 3 days to make the 1200+ mile drive to Ft. Lauderdale, then the kids and grandkids fly in to join us, and we have done this for several years now.

All of the presents for the grandkids are placed near the tree, because there isn’t room under. Eleven gifts for each. That isn’t spoiling, is it. I said 5 minutes for them to open all of them, and Susan says 10. I think I will be closer. So while food was cooking, we went out for a walk. We kept hearing sirens for about an hour. So, being curious, I drove toward the sirens and saw Santa. I also saw the grinch was riding shotgun.

Happy Hanukkah to all who celebrate.

Very nice Dani. You have a very talented husband. @molly361 Ellen, let me add my wishes that you have a WONDERful cruise.

Here is something to put on your Christmas list for your granddaughter to be. Make sure her parents set up a 529 college account for her. Then you can add to it. We add to our grandkids accounts for Christmas, and every other holiday you can think of, plus their birthdays. Although ours are 10 years old for the two boys and 7 for our granddaughter, they all have significant amounts in their accounts for college already.

Safe travels for your trip. Christmas Day is supposed to be the coldest day for the next 10 days here. Our plan is to be somewhere warmer. We leave next week for Ft. Lauderdale. Our kids and grandkids will join us there at the house we have rented. Already have our reservations for our Christmas and New Years meals booked. Our grandson in California wrote to Santa and asked him to come early, since he wouldn’t be home for Christmas. It was an amusing letter.

Yes, we have a couple Alexa’s. We have had her come up with random recommendations for things we have talked about.

Our trip to Erie, PA yesterday was nice. The roads were clear, so it wasn’t a bad drive at all. Christmas gifts exchanged with Susan’s family, and a nice meal at a steakhouse. One of Susan’s sisters made this rug for her. It now is in front of our fireplace for the holidays. We have a break in our meal prep for our get together today, so we are going to slip in the hot tub and watch one of Tom Papa’s comedy specials. We watched one last night, and like him as much as Sebastian Maniscalo. It is 24°F this morning with a feels like 14°

Now, for my conspiracy theory of the day. Big Brother is reading CC posts. I know there was some talk a couple days ago about getting prints enlarged for wall art, and the site Easy Canvas Prints was mentioned. Although I have never used that site, nor have I searched for that site, what shows up in my email this morning? An ad for Easy Canvas Prints! Hmmmm!

I was surprised that this was still open, while many of those types of parks have closed around our area. We took our California grandson to Children’s Fairyland in Oakland when he was younger, and we were staying in CA to watch him. We were always looking for things to entertain him.

This talk of cake!!!!! Saw this at the bake shop yesterday, when we picked up the cake for our son-in-law’s birthday celebration. Was there a question?

It is 28°F this morning, and we have about an inch of snow on the ground. Today, we are driving to Erie, PA, to have a pre-Christmas get together with 3 of Susan’s sisters. Then back to our house to start preparing for tomorrow’s early Christmas meal at our house with our daughter and her family. We will also be having an early 40th birthday celebration for our son-in-law. His actual birthday isn’t until Christmas Day.

I realized I forgot to post yesterday’s photo of Snowflake the Elf. She was well hidden in this Christmas lantern. oh, and Ricky has taken up playing the keyboard. He now plays about as good as I do. IMG_6386.MOV

And it is amazing how our perception of what “old” is, changes over the years. Susan’s dad passed away 40 years ago, before either of our kids were born. I know we both thought our parents were really old, and they were only in their 50’s at the time. Now, old people is just someone older than me.

I think I really meant to say lock icon. Don’t think I want to lick a stove. 🤣🤣🤣

Depending on the size of the prints you want, make sure you have high resolution photos so they will be clear when printed larger. I don’t recall who we used, but I did have some 8x10’s done on canvas for art in one of our baths. When you upload them, the site should tell you if the resolution is good enough for the size you want.

We stayed at the Venetian several years ago. It was nice, once we finally got checked in. Susan had found some great rates on flights and a room over the President’s day holiday. Due to some bad weather, our flights got rerouted, and we didn’t get to the hotel until 1 am. By that time, we are dead tired, and we are told…..You can go into the casino, and we will let you know when it is ready. There was a large “Adult” entertainment convention going on, and there were a lot of them at the hotel and casino, so maybe that had something to do with the room delay. Once a room was ready at 4 am, we did get upgraded to a much larger suite for our stay. That, plus we did have some luck in the casino, so it made up for things. We had hoped to escape from some of our cold winter, but it was cold there, and some of the fountains had ice.

I think I do remember seeing a lick icon on it. I will have to look into when I am there this morning. Thanks.

Maybe it is a supply chain thing. One of my new credit cards is the same way. Or maybe it is just getting too much use. 🤣

Well, now I have to wonder about Snowflake the Elf. I am guessing no one is using the stove today. Speaking of their stove, they have one of those touch sensitive flat panels that turn things on. Ricky has learned to turn the oven on when he walks across it, and his paws touch the pad.

Happy birthday to your DIL Donna. Looks like a good day for birthday celebrations

Happy birthday @Lionesss Sue. You share a birthday with my son. He hits that 40 year milestone today. It is 34° with freezing rain and high winds today. Hoping our travels today will not be too horrible.

We took our daughter shopping, and to lunch in Ohio today. I can’t believe how much some restaurants have raised their prices. Where we went today, we used to get a nice lunch for 3 for around $45. Now that same lunch is north of $70. My lunch ……chicken sandwich and tortilla soup. The ladies had salads. The one bright spot was this. Here in western PA, gas is $1.30 a gallon more. I guess what I saved on a fill up helped pay for the increase in lunch price.