January
Nancy and I woke up on New Year's Day 2017 in Florida, as we have for many years. This year, we were hanging with my mother in Zephyrhills, catching up on daytime dramas and watching bowl games. Before heading home to the Pointes, we meandered over to Disney World for a few more days of warm weather. We stayed at our favorite haunt, Disney's Old Key West Resort, and traveled around to theme parks and other attractions in the least onerous fashion - the bus. Each day's adventure began here, just a few steps away from our vacation home - the closest station for catching on-property Disney buses.
Taking the bus is way easier than gassing up, navigating theme park parking lots, and getting to and from one's car at the various stops of the day. Plus, you get to commune with all sorts of other interesting travelers and mechanical devices for assisting mobility. It's an education that I appreciate as one day I may need to acquire and learn how to use such devices. And as as most of you know, I like to plan ahead. Here's a shot of Nancy and me on the bus making the most of this educational environment. You can tell that I as a potential beneficiary of mobility devices (pushee) am more excited than my bride, who may be contemplating her future as an operator (pusher). Just a guess.
During our few days at WDW we made the rounds to several of our favorite spots as at the time we were annual pass holders. This privilege enables a person to wear themselves down to a bloody pulp in a combination of places instead of doing it in just one venue. In the shot below, a selfie within camera range of the Tree of Life at Disney's Animal Kingdom, we are taking a short break in between a ride on the Kilimanjaro Safari and checking our BP at the customer assistance station.
We did have a couple of new experiences this trip that proved interesting. The first was at Hollywood Studios. This next pic is another selfie of Nancy and I outside of the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater.
Over the years, I had walked by this eatery a hundred times on my way to other, more well-known attractions like Planet Pizza and the Muppet 3-D Theater. But this time we peeked in and were intrigued. Turns out this campy restaurant has tables in the shape of convertibles parked at a drive-in theater showing sci-fi movies. Here's a shot of us taken by a friendly car hop, about to take our order.
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And a second shot showing the cars and the drive-in movie screen which ran a constant rotation of trailers for diners' enjoyment. I was feeling very much a part of the program as (being a collector of cheesy sci-fi) I actually own several of the movies that were on display.
The other first-time event was this light show at the newly expanded Disney Springs shopping center (which encompasses all of what used to be Pleasure Island and Disney's West End). The lights are actually attached to a couple of hundred drones hovering in formation over Lake Buena Vista. The light show was driven by a computer which rearranged the drones into several different formations (like this Christmas tree) during about a 15 minute show. We watched it all from the new bridge that spans the east end of the lake from the Rain Forest Cafe area to the Lego store. Awesome.
We finally left the sunshine state and headed home by the second week of January. Back in the Pointes we did our best to keep warm, and worked in a little dog sitting. The Reinharts' dog Abigail bunked in with our Coco one weekend while the two-legged members of the family went on a ski trip. Now, I'm not saying Abby was a little out of sorts being abandoned for a few days, but I've never seen any of our dogs assume this position.
She did settle down after awhile and joined Coco for the usual evening puppy lounging area in front of the fire. This looks way more comfortable.
But as most of you already know, the big event of January 2017 was the arrival of daughter Cathy and her hubby Matt's baby boy, Ian Mathew Kuhlman, at 5:00 pm on the 17th. Or in military time, 1/17/17 at 1700 hours. Here's a shot of this one-day-old marvel in Grandma Burk's freshly knitted baby blanket with his new Teddy bear from Grandma and Grandpa Kuhlman.
And, of course, first photos with Grandpa and Grandma Burk.
And one more pic of Ian, deep in thought, bundled for the trip home from the hospital. Nice hat.
February
As you may imagine, February was all about snow removal and the new grandson. I have thoroughly covered my snow removal adventures in a number of previous posts. Fancy equipment, nifty outfits and lots of foot or deeper snowfalls. So let's move on to the grandson. As his first month unfolded, little Ian probably thought he had been born into supermodeldom. And that cameras (read phones) were some sort of life-sustaining activity that had to be repeated every 15 minutes. Here are a few finds from the February festival of photos.
At two weeks.
Three weeks.
Learning to walk. Well, learning to be walked. He's in there somewhere.
During his first visit to the Pointes (it's good to explore one's roots at an early age).
With Aunt Christine.
In the rocker with Grandma.
And finally with mom, exhausted from his east side road trip.
There was a little non-Ian photo activity during the month worthy of note. I received this great pic of my mother taken by her park for their annual directory. She is 92 years Ian's senior. The lad has some fine genes working for him.
And finally, the full group.
At two weeks.
Three weeks.
During his first visit to the Pointes (it's good to explore one's roots at an early age).
With Aunt Christine.
In the rocker with Grandma.
And finally with mom, exhausted from his east side road trip.
There was a little non-Ian photo activity during the month worthy of note. I received this great pic of my mother taken by her park for their annual directory. She is 92 years Ian's senior. The lad has some fine genes working for him.
March
March usually involves a trip south for us to rush spring a tad, visit my mother and relax at a Disney resort with friends and family. 2017 was no different, except it ended up being a little harder to get out of town. You Detroiters may recall that on March 8th last year the city was hit with a violent windstorm. The storm knocked out power to much of the southwestern portion of the city, including just about every traffic light in the area. Add to that the closure of the southbound lanes of I-75 due to reconstruction, it was just about impossible to navigate one's way from the east side of town through to the freeway south of the Rouge plant viaduct. It took us a couple of hours to go the first 30 miles.
But even before our road woes, we had an adventure at home. The same wind storm that crippled the city did this.
Yes, that's a shot of our family room roof. And, no, it's not a fancy new overgrown roof planter. It's a big chunk of maple tree that used to be located....here.
The limb in the middle with the abrupt end used to be much higher. The wind snapped off the top 30 feet of the limb like a toothpick and dropped it on our roof. I knew something was wrong when, while in the kitchen packing my Manhattan kit for the trip, I heard a loud thud overhead. I stuck my head out the back door but saw nothing. So I stepped out onto the deck, looked around, and discovered the problem. Here's another shot of the rearranged arboreal matter from our upstairs hallway window. Ugh.
In a surprising but welcome bit of luck, we were able to have a tree service come out within a couple of hours and size up the task of cleaning up the mess. They found no serious roof damage, just a crushed roof vent. And their estimate for removing the downed limb was reasonable. So we made the deal, finished our packing, and got out of Dodge before something else intruded (unfortunately, right into the traffic troubles mentioned above).
Now, remember this little episode as we move through the rest of the year in review, because there was an equally surprising part two of our tree troubles in 2017. But now, back to our trip.
Once the departure day difficulties were behind us, the trip came off without further adventure. We made it to Florida on time, picked up Christine at the airport a couple of days later, and had a nice visit with my mother in Zephyrhills. On Sunday the 12th we headed off to Disney and met up with Cathy, Matt and Ian (who flew in from Beverly Hills) and Ted, Summer, Leili and Cyrus (who drove in from Austin). We started our time together in a grand villa at Disney's Old Key West. Here's a shot of our three grandkids meeting for the first time, Leili almost nine, Cyrus almost seven, and Ian almost two months. This is the first of what I'm sure will be an oft repeated scene for the rest of my days.
The next day Christine, Ted and the rest of the Texans headed off for a day at the Magic Kingdom. The Kuhlmans, Nancy and I headed back to Zephyrhills for lunch and to introduce Ian to his great grandmother. Here they are getting acquainted.
And a second pic, of the four generations.
After a couple nights at Old Key West, we all packed up and headed a few miles down the road to Disney's Vero Beach Resort for the rest of the week (for a full tour of this ocean side paradise, see previous post Hangin' With the Ps). Here are a few pics from the rest of the trip. First, Ian in his beach outfit. Stylin'.
Gathering for a little family competition. This trip the game of choice was Spot-It. It was a little too fast-paced for Grandpa.
A little quiet time away from the hubbub, as demonstrated by Grandma.
A little more Spot-It (new venue).
The customary dining table shot.
There were also outdoor activities, of course. Like the miniature golf (for two).
Water slides (that little pellet about to hit the water is Cyrus).
Sunbathing.
And hamming it up for the camera.
And back in the condo, a little more Spot-It (third venue).
We ended the week together with a big-time photoshoot over happy hour. Here are shots of all the players, happy to have been together for another family vacation. First the Beverly Hills part of the family. Note that Ian is sporting his St. Patrick's day outfit, making an early sartorial statement.
The Texas contingent.
Nancy and I with the grandkids.
And finally, the full group.
With the kids on their way back to their respective homes, Nancy and I headed back to Michigan. But as is our way, we worked in a little more visiting in the process.
Before heading north we spent an afternoon with Mark and Sue Gillman in Venice. Mark is an old high school friend with whom I reconnected at our 50th high school reunion. The Gillmans were gracious enough to have us for a lunch and a tour of their winter playground on the Gulf. Here's a shot of the four of us cruising the local beach.
Our final stop was in Spencer, Tennessee, for a visit with our good friends Jan and Miguel Rodriguez. We get to see them fairly regularly as they live conveniently exactly half way between home and Florida. In the shot below, Jan and Miguel have taken us to Lynchburg, Tennessee, for a tour of the Jack Daniels distillery. Being somewhat of a whiskey drinker, I found the tour delightful and informative. Good to know just how some of the finest mood management products are actually produced.
That brings us to the end of March, and the end of this first installment of my 2017 year in review. But, can't really end the post without an Ian update. Here he is at 10 weeks, still quite happy to be here.
I'll be back with Part 2 soon.
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