I haven't written anything for OVER two weeks because we have been really sick with a respiratory flu.  I have never coughed so much (and so hard) in my life.  We still are coughing, but are SLOWLY getting better. 
Since we were feeling so rotten when we got to Destin, we did nothing for at least the first week except go to immediate care, go to Walgreens for meds, and go get a few groceries.  This past weekend, we felt good enough to get together with my brother and sister for a nice time here in Destin on Sat. (eating at McGuire's Irish Pub on St. Pat's day, walking around the Harbor Walk, riding along the gulf to our place here at Majestic Sun) and then on Sun. we went to a state park that had an old restored home  with beautiful trees (see pics) and drove to two quaint small towns on the gulf (Seaside, where we had a great lunch, and Rosmary's Beach, where they had a coffee shop - not Starbucks though).  This week, we have been to the beach several times, ate lunch at the Crab Trap right on the beach, gone to the mall a couple of times, ate lunch again at McGuire's, and today took a ride to a small town just east of here on the gulf (Santa Rosa) and had great oysters and shrimp for lunch at the Smiling Fish.  We walked to the beach there and watched the people.  For the last few days, there has been a ESE wind of 15+ mph, making for bigger waves on the gulf.  (see pics)  Red flags on the beach, so no one is supposed to get in the water - strong rip tides.
We leave tomorrow morning in order to get home by Sunday for Paige's birthday party.  One day early at this point doesn't mean a thing.  Wish we could snap our fingers and magically be home and unpacked! 

The view from our balcony.

The view of the little lake from the walkway to our door, opposite side of the villa.
You can just see the gulf in the far left middle.

Sunrise from our balcony.

We love the beach here - prettiest we ever see - with the fine white sand and emerald colored water that turns to purple, then dark blue. 

(Sun is setting, so sand is a little reddish.)

Sunset at the beach (clouds obscure the sun, but give good color).

This is west of us a little at the Crab Trap restaurant.  The wind is making 4 to 6 foot waves on the gulf, but some kite surfers were out.

Compare the kite surfer with the waves to get a better idea of how rough it was.  There's a second guy to the left.

  Also, note the beautiful water color and the white sand.

At Eden Garden state park east of Destin.  Lots of huge old live oaks.

My sister, Jean, me, my brother Tom, Tom's wife Pat.



Sunday - Weather:  High 67, low 41. Early rainstorm, then mostly sunny, breezy.

When I got up at about 5:30 this morning, we were having a rainstorm - lots of wind, a little lightning, lots of pouring rain. This is the first storm we've seen since we came in early January. They desperately need rain, so it's not bad, especially since it was short-lived. In about 2 hours, it had cleared off and was mostly sunny, but still very breezy. For our mid-morning break, we went to Starbucks for coffee, tea, and a cranberry-orange scone. We went to the 11:00 service at the Presbyterian Church and came home for lunch. Late afternoon, we went to the Florida mall, and Linda went shopping to replace some broken sandals. I sat and read at my usual spot in the Starbucks store near the Florida Hotel, enjoying my 2^nd Starbucks coffee of the day. Home for supper.

Monday - Weather: High 73, low 59.   Mostly sunny. Wind NW 9.

Easy morning, lunch here, and then early afternoon we went to the library. We turned in several books, but did not check out any new ones because we are going to Destin on Saturday. Then we went to Celebration for a mid-afternoon break and had our usual fare. Linda has a nasty cold, so she sat and read while Bob took a walk around lake 1. We read for a while longer and then came back to the villa for supper.

Tuesday - Weather: High 76, low 61.  Partly cloudy. Windy, E 21

Easy morning, lunch here, and now we both have a nasty cold. Neither of us feel like doing much, but late afternoon we went to see the movie 'The Artist'. We didn't have a big desire to see it, but it has received so much attention that we thought we would check it out. It's the black and white silent movie with the French actor and the cute dog. We agreed it was better than we thought, good but not great. It's something from an era that we did not experience. I hope one of this kind of movie is enough for Hollywood. Stopped at Panera Bread for soup and sandwich on our way home.

Wednesday - Weather:81, low 64.  Mostly cloudy. Very windy, E 25

Our colds are kind of like the flu, in the sense that you feel achy and listless. So today we did not go out – pretty unusual for us. We took cold medicine, laid around, drank lots of tea, and just rested. Workers at the resort came and changed the lock, changed the AC/furnace filter, and put a new battery in the smoke alarm. I understand the latter as usual maintenance, but I wonder why they changed the lock.

PICTURES OF DISNEY'S ELECTRICAL LIGHT PARADE,
NIGHT AT MAGIC KINGDOM.



Can you see Peter Pan in the front of the ship?

The best one in my opinion.  You can't tell, but this was huge.

PICTURES TAKEN BY BRENT AT DISNEY'S ANIMAL KINGDOM

Mickey came by while we were eating lunch.

Grandma and Daniel on the Safari ride.  Lots of wild animals, roaming around, not in pens!  I can't believe they do this, because of liabilities.  There must be some unseen barrior between the animals and you in the real truck that goes around.

The Sutton family with Pluto.  Note Daniel's stuffed Pluto sitting on his nose.

 One last swim for the Sutton men in the pool.

Tuesday - Weather: High 83, low 65. Partly cloudy. Wind SE 10.
The Sutton family went swimming this morning, and after lunch we went to Celebration to walk around a little.  Yes, of course, we went to Starbucks for coffee.  For supper, we went to Joe's Crab Shack.  When the waitress found that Daniel had just turned four 2 weeks ago, and that grandma & grandpa had missed his party, she had others come over to sing Happy Birthday to him and brought him and Ben a dish of ice cream.  After finishing it, the boys went outside to play on the playground for awhile before we left to go back to the villa.


Wednesday - Weather: High 86 , low 66. Partly cloudy. Wind SE 10.
I dropped Laura, Brent and Ben at the entrance to Universal this morning.  It's only about 20 to 25 minutes away.  Since most of what they were going to do was Harry Potter stuff not appropriate for Daniel, he stayed with grandma & grandpa.  We stayed around the villa until late afternoon, and then went to Disney's Boardwalk to ride on the shuttle boats.  We were in a store when we got a phone call to come and pick up the others, and Daniel didn't get his boat ride.  He was disappointed at first, but he didn't cry or have a meltdown - he's really a very good boy.  We picked up the others, and they told us of the fun they had and how realistic the Harry Potter area was.  For supper we went just down the road to one of the boys favorite places - Ihop (International House of Pancakes).  But would you believe they had a long list of things they were out of, so we left and went to one further west near Celebration.  They only had one waitress, but the wait for our food wasn't too long, and the pancakes were excellent!


Thursday - Weather: High 88 , low 64. Partly cloudy. Wind SW 10.
The boys went swimming this morning, and after a lite lunch we went to Disney's Magic Kingdom again with the idea of staying for the evening parade.  Very warm, but it doesn't seem too bad with the breeze.  Ben got to ride the roller coaster at Space Mountain, and Daniel got to ride the People Mover two more times - for him, it's like a mild-thrilling roller coaster!  We had supper at a large self-serve type restaurant, then walked over to see the end of the stage show at the castle, and from there watched the electric light parade.  It is awesome, and the lighting on the castle is spectacular!  (See photos below.)  Daniel seems to enjoy these parades the most of anything there.  Brent got both boys a light-up toy, and they enjoyed the parade a lot.  Everyone is tired on the way home, but we all thought it was a great idea to see the Magic Kingdom at night.

Friday - Weather: High 90, low 66. Partly cloudy. Wind S 11.
The last full day for the Sutton's vacation found us going to Disney's Animal Kingdom.  Again, it didn't feel like 90 - very warm, but not bad.  Laura had made a reservation for lunch at a restaurant where the Disney characters come around to the tables.  The buffet was excellent, with lots of choices and great quality.  It's a diet buster though - I had beef, pork, and chicken (small portions, okay!) along with potatoes, green beans, and corn. Also, 3 SMALL deserts!  During the meal, Mickey Mouse, Goofy, and Daisy Duck came into the room for fun visits.  After lunch, we went to several things, including the safari ride where you see African animals in a natural habitat.  We finished the day with the Lion King show - it's very entertaining for kids and adults with lots of music, dancing, acrobatics, and floats.  Back to the villa for a lasagna supper.


Saturday - Weather: High 88, low 59.  Partly cloudy.  Wind SW 12.
Ben went swimming one last time, but Daniel was too busy playing games on the ipad.  For lunch, we went back to Ihop, and then we went to Disney's Boardwalk, and Daniel finally got his boat ride.  Back to the villa, and the Suttons packed up.  At about 4 p.m., we took them to the airport and dropped them off.  Very sad to see them go - it is so enjoyable to have them here for a week.  Ben is such a nice kid, and it is very interesting to see Daniel learning so many new things.  He's sounding out things and is close to reading - he already recognizes several words.  One big thing was reading road signs, frequently saying things like, "Grandpa, the sign says you should go 50.  How fast are you going now?  We are on 192."  We will see them in about 3 weeks, and we're anxious to get home and see everyone.  But we are also anxious to be in Destin for 2 weeks after one more week here.

At Celebration, enjoying our coffee.

Walking around lake 1 at Celebration.

To the right is a robotic disc-jockey playing music.  The boys had fun dancing to it.

Ben with his light sword, waiting for the parade.

Daniel with his Mickey Mouse spinning light toy.

On the stage at the castle.

The castle is lighted in different colors.

Love the all-blue look.