How was your Christmas?

Christmas day has come and gone for another year.
I must say I had a very nice day. The kids all got along.
Everyone had a very nice, non drama and peaceful day.

I started out the day with a mild work out at the gym.
My daughter followed me shortly to the gym and de-stressed.
The gym was busy with the regulars. If the gym is my only addiction,
then it's all good.

My riding group called to see if I wanted to go out at night and ride
around the mansions looking at lights. I almost went, but we were having such
a nice time at home, I passed.

This morning I dropped my daughter off at the airport at 6:30 am. Off she goes
to New Jersey.

I am off to the gym again this morning for a workout with my trainer. Then time
to learn about a new career.. Today was my goal day for starting my research. I figured
a nice peaceful week for studying would do. A new direction to start the new year.

So what are you doing this week?

We celebrated an early Christmas dinner last night for the kids heading to New Jersey tonight. My adopted son Logan, his girlfriend Erin and Logan's younger brother Cade will be driving straight thru. With one of the dogs of course.

Now we finally took our family pictures for everyone. I really do love instant gratification. Erin needed a passport style photo for an application, done. Printed and received. And they all got the family picture. And all but two of the dogs were with us. Busy for sure. The little dogs all chose a lap to curl up on and the big dude tried to get them to come run with him. Mulled wine, egg nog and Chinese food. Mulled wine sure made the house smell yummy.

My daughter is flying out to New Jersey on the 26th. 20 minutes from where the rest of the crew will be. They promise to rescue her from terminal boredom and bring her some real coffee. I guess micro-waved instant coffee just won't work. She'll be staying at her grandmothers with her Dad. And sleeping on the sofa. My mother in law is a tad eccentric. Just a little. Her idea of a fun day is drinking tea and watching tv. My sister also promises to rescue her. Another 20 minutes away. But she will be cold. We're buying her warm boots today. Warm clothes we have covered from our Orlando days. Much colder in Orlando.

Have an awesome day!

Merry Christmas everyone!!
Just a picture of my family Christmas tree.

What does your tree look like?

Friday night we all celebrated the 20th Anniversary of my friend Walter's Italian restaurant up on the beach. Talk about a fun times. His parents flew in from New York, (they just had their 50th Anniv.), they are here now thru the Holidays. All our friends and fellow bikers were out in full force with families in tow. The DJ was fantastic and just played great music all night long. Now anyone who comes to visit will be eating at Little Venice. I love his food, I love the location, (can't beat the beach front location). And all the locals eat there.

Now anyone who lives down here knows, if the locals eat at your restaurant, you stay in business during the slow season. Now at Little Venice it takes on new meaning. If your a friend of Walter's and he's slamming, we roll silverware, bus tables, refill drinks and just lend a hand and get him thru the crunch. Oh and we generally wait on ourselves. But we also get to eat what we want, or in my case what the boss feels like eating (thank God we like the same foods), what the cook feels like feeding us. You get the idea.

Now I rode my bike up to the beach, pulled it in behind his place and in between cars and brought my camera bag. I was the photographer. My gift to Walter. He now will have a disc with the whole night and about 300 pictures that capture the night. Dancing on the beach, all his friends and family and his kids friends and family. My kids all came down later and joined in the fun.

I have just had a good weekend. Yesterday I spent on the beach with a friend, just soaking up the sun. The college kids are back in town. The northern visitors are escaping the snow. I can't say I blame them.

I hope everyone has an awesome day. I am off to the gym before the rain hits for the day. Then maybe do some Christmas baking.

We had a great day for charity in South Florida.
Over 20,000 motorcycles rode today, every bike had a toy to donate.
It took over 5 hours for everyone to arrive at the destination.
5 hours of the interstates being closed to all traffic so all the bikes
could ride safely.

I do believe I will do this ride every year. Our group of 12 bikes all donated $30 a rider
so we could be in the front of the pack. And we were an hour back into the pack. I would guess
at least 5,000 bikes paid the VIP money. Not a bad day for charity.
Mind blowing, the cops were all on bikes all along the 25 mile route. People standing on bridges,
sitting in chairs on the side of t I 95 waving and holding up signs that said Thank You.
Just a great weekend all in all.

My daughter and I went to see Keith Urban last night. Wow!!!

What fun things have you done this weekend?

The Castle was just spectacular this year!!

My neighbors came over last night and asked if I could help hang up some lights for them. It seems my other and only Christian neighbor gave them some Hanukkah lights to celebrate the Festival of Lights. This particular family is very generous on every Holiday. We all find interesting gifts on our door steps for every holiday. This family home schools their kids, so they consider it the art part of school. A very sweet and loving family for sure. My next door neighbors had been loving my lights so much. when they got theirs they had to hang them up. I seem to be the resident expert.

I think Disney had a few more light hangers to pull this castle off for sure. This is getting my all time favorite so far for Holiday castles.

What is your favorite memory of lights that you have seen?

We had so much fun this weekend.

The parks are decorated for the Holidays in all their splendor. Wow.

This is a picture of us backstage before the parade. On Sunday we surprised Erin with being guests of The Animal Kingdom by riding a float in the parade. I got to see all my friends that I used to work with and be in the parade. Totally mind blowing.
The musical shows in The Animal Kingdom are just superb.

I will say the parks were packed all weekend. People people everywhere.

After all was said and done, she couldn't decide which park she liked the best.

Just an all around fantastic time was had by all. It was great seeing my friends, and just having some down time.