Tuesday, April 03, 2012

Meeting Winter

For Spring break Maisie and I were invited to travel down and stay in Naples, Florida with my friend Sophie and her children Brooke and Cole.  Maisie and Brooke are classmates at school and do some of their gymnastics practices together so the girls do well together and Maisie and Cole also get along great.  On our way down to Naples we spent two nights in Clearwater as the children wanted to meet Winter the dolphin from the movie Dolphin Tale.

IMG_3894eReady for the long drive.

photo (28)eGot to love a car with a built in DVD player.  The children were really good for the drive, watching videos, playing with their electronic games, talking and for Maisie, even a little nap.

photo e Once we made it to our hotel in Clearwater we were done being in the car so for dinner we walked over to the car themed restaurant across the parking lot.

photo 5ePosing in front of one of the prop cars. 

photo (8)e The car theme was everywhere, even the bench where the children sat waiting for our table.

photo (12)ePlaying after dinner.

photo (13)eBeing little cuties.

photo (15)eGymnasts working off dinner.

photo (1)eAfter dinner it was time in the pool and then the hot tub before bed.

photo (3)eEveryone was up early Monday morning and ready to see Winter at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.

photo (20)eSeeing Winter.

photo (21)eUnder water viewing.

photo (22)eIn front of one of the sets from the movie.

photo (4)e Maisie & Cole.

photo (23)eAfter a quick lunch we hit the beach where Maisie had fun playing in the soft white sand.

photo (17)eBody Surfing in the waves. 

Our stay in Clearwater was fun but then it was on the road again down to Naples.

At the restaurant we all had ribs and wings and sorry to say restaurant, your wings just didn’t cut it (and honestly neither did the ribs).  If you want to know some awesome, delicious wings, check out these Chinese Five Spice Wings.  Got to make them again one day soon as I’m craving some good wings.  Click on the picture to be taken to the recipe.

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Other recipes posted on Cook Lisa Cook include: Mango Lassi, Stir-Fried Asparagus with Water Chestnuts, Ginger & Cashews, Curried Roast Chicken Pieces with Spicy Sweet Potato & Carrots, Grilled Corn & Bacon Pudding, Oriental Chicken Salad, Potato Salad with Bacon, Coffee Crusted Steak, Home Style Chicken Curry, Watermelon FrostyMango Gazpacho, Toll House Double Stuff Oreo Brownies, Long Beans with Walnuts, Blacksmith Pizza, Rhubarb Crisp, Laksa, Math Book No Bake Cookies, Aloo Gobi, Mint Lassi, Red Curry Chicken, Lamb Curry, Grilled Corn, Avocado & Tomato Salad with Honey Lime Dressing, Baked Egg Cups Two Ways, Thai Peanut Salad, Holy Guacamole, Cantaloupe Agua Fresca, Wallaby Darned, Piggy-Out Cookies, Wicked Good New England Lobster Roll, Long Beans with Garlic, Super Simple Summer Shrimp Salsa Salad, Grandma’s Teriyaki Steak, Watermelon Tomato Gazpacho, Red Chinese Long Beans with Peppers & Red Curry, 24-Layer Crêpe Cake, Fig & Watermelon Salad, Grilled Chèvre & Fig Panini, Spicy Asian Cucumber Salad, Grilled Prawns, Spicy Brown Sugar Bacon, Kicked Up Piggy-Out Cookies, Pesto Pita Pizza, Cilantro Lime Chicken, Nutella Crêpes, Mango, Lime & Chile Spiced Ice Box Pie, Roast Beef & Garlic Herb Cheese Sandwich, Layered Crespelle with Bolognese, Fresh Mozzarella & Basil, Jamaican Jerk Meat Pies, Nutella No Bake Cookies, Velvety Mac & Cheese, Welsh Cakes, Tom Yam Ghoong (Spicy Shrimp Soup), Lime Jewels, Southwest Pasta Salad, Walnut Roca Squares, Uncle Bubba’s Shrimp & Grits, Chocolate Chip Gingersnaps, Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies, Copycat “KFC” Coleslaw, Happy 6th Birthday Maisie Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, Caramel Stuffed Apple Cider Cookies, Thin Mint Irish Coffee, Caramel Apples, “Rotisserie” Chicken, Pulled BBQ Chicken Sandwich, Mummy Hotdogs, Mango Upside Down Cake, Pork Belly Soup with Collard Greens, Aloo Tikki, Pink Strawberry Cake Balls, Praline Pumpkin Cheesecake, Apple Dumplings, Rum Cured Salmon, Apple, Cranberry & Rhubarb Crisp, Hasselback Potatoes with Garlic Sour Cream, Crunchy Oat, Almond, Cashew & Pebbles Granola Bars, Texas Chicken with Lime Butter, Biscoff Fudge, Eggnog Popovers with Cranberry Butter, Creamed Corn with Cheese and Cilantro, Potato Crusted Pork Chops, Oatmeal, Cashew & Chocolate Granola Bars, Texas Chicken Sandwich, Seared Scallops with Creamy Pesto & Lemon Pepper Pasta, Thai Chicken Noodle Soup, Glazed Lemon Squares, Chang-Style Brussels Sprouts, Maisie “safe” No Bake Cookies, Ponderosa Lemon & Sour Cream Tart, Pork Dumplings with Rice Wrappers, Sweet & Spicy Apple Pork, Dark Chocolate Dipped Candied Lemon Peel, Crunchy Fudgy Heart Bites, Double Chocolate Meyer Lemon Mousse Cake, Malted Pretzel Crunch, Shrimp & Avocado Salad with Carrot Ginger Dressing, Apple Pancakes, Baked Egg & Avocado, Health(ier) Peanut Brittle, Crab Cake Stuffed Mushrooms, Broiled Sushi, Tomato Sauce with Onion & Butter, Loaded Potato & Buffalo Chicken Casserole, Slow Cooker Chicken Curry, Slimmed Down Loaded Potato & Buffalo Chicken Casserole and Baked Meatballs.

Enjoy!

5 comments:

  1. Did you think the visit to Winter was good? MY kids are wanting to go down there so bad and we hope to do that sometimes this year. We are only a couple hours drive. I notice she doesn't have her prosthetic on. Does she not wear it anymore? Our local Hangar prosthetic is the company that made the fin!
    Kim O

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The kids all enjoyed themselves and said that they would want to go again. It is small but they have various demonstrations scheduled throughout the day so it's interesting. I don't know if Winter ever wears the prosthetic but they do have people showing them so it is there for viewing and the kids can touch it. One piece of advice, go as soon as they open as it gets very, very crowded so it's hot and tight in there.

      Delete
  2. SO cool! We loved that movie.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That looks like a fun kid vacation! I am struck by the short sleeves and shorts. It's still so cold up here. You know I don't like it hot, but seeing your pictures made me crave summer.

    I haven't seen that movie. Perhaps I should rent it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous9:40 PM

    We also loved that movie and have a trip to Clearwater on our bucket list. Looks like you had fun!

    ReplyDelete

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