Some Scary News

Cameron and I spent the morning at the Ocala disc golf course.  Cameron loved the sport, but I had never seen him play.  It was a lot more fun than I would have thought.  The course was set up inside a forest of Georgia pines.  The tall trees made for some challenging basket placements, but they also provided a lot of shade while we were walking from hole to hole. There were benches to rest, and the course was maintained very well.  Cameron said that it was one of the best that he had played even though it was difficult.  While he was playing, I even had a chance to catch a Snorlax on Pokemon Go.  The only downside was when I got lost while waiting for him on hole sixteen.  Luckily, I had the car locator on in Apple maps, so I was able to find my way out from that along with Cameron's guidance.  

While Cameron and I were at disc golf, I received some very scary news.  My mom had to be taken to Goshen hospital as the paramedics believed that she had had a stroke.  My dad said that she had been sleeping on the couch because she didn't feel well.  When he came downstairs, she told him that she had the worst headache that she had ever had and had fallen when she got up to get medication for it.  The hospital confirmed that it was a ministroke and made arrangements for her to be admitted.  

I checked in with my dad later in the day.  He said that my mom could not use her right arm and was very hard to understand.  The doctors told him that was normal with a stroke.  It took quite a while to get her a room, but she did finally move to one this evening.  My dad was very optimistic about her recovery.  I thought that was a good sign and decided that I would be extremely positive as well.  I did ask for prayers from my friends, and the Heinisch children started sending good thoughts her way as soon as they heard the news.  I wish there was more that we could do, but for now, we will just continue to think positively and pray.

Cameron Arrives

Cameron flew in late last night.  Even though it was only a twenty-minute drive, I appreciated Nick riding with me as it was well after midnight when the plane arrived.  Plus, it gave the three of us time to talk about a more interesting topic - "ex-woman tennis players now participating in pickle ball leagues."  Meg and Doug were both asleep when we arrived, so we headed to bed shortly after getting back to the apartment.

Today was a lot of fun in Orlando.  After sleeping in, Meg took Cameron on a tour of Baldwin Park.  He really liked the area, especially the lake.  After lunch at Chicken Guy, we went to a local driving range, so that Cameron could help Nick with his golf swing.  I was impressed with how well Meg hit the ball and how helpful Cameron's lessons were for Nick.  Both of them hit the ball well by the time they finished a bucket of balls.  Our last stop of the day before Cameron and I headed to Ocala was Swig for their popular soda drinks.  I had one flavored with Fresca and raspberry that was delicious.  

Tonight, we hung out at home and ordered Piesano's for dinner.  I was smart enough this time not to order the 20-inch pizza, so the pieces were a lot more manageable for everyone. We gave Doug his Father's Day gifts this evening.  Doug loved the shirt from a Greek beer fest from Cameron and couldn't wait to read the book about UCLA in the 1960s from Cal. Doug also picked the first lime from our tree which we used to make mixed drinks.  Afterward Cameron showed us a slide show of his pictures from Greece which both Doug and I really enjoyed.  It was fun to hear in person what was going on in each photo.  Overall, it was a great first day for Cameron and we appreciated having him here very much.  

Car Troubles

I was talking to Doug on his way back to work after picking up a bean burrito from Taco Bell today when all of a sudden, his car died.  It had been sending out a low battery for the keyless fob warning in the drive thru, but soon after all of the warning lights on the car lit up.  Doug wasn't sure what to do but knew that he needed to get the car off the road as there was already a line of vehicles behind him.  Thankfully, it was a side road so there was plenty of space for him to move it and someone from work happened to drive by and gave him a life back to the office.  

I heard from Doug later that he first tried fixing the key fob, but when that didn't work, one of the guys tried to jump the battery.  When that didn't help either, he called our insurance to get a tow to the nearest Honda dealer.  It took a couple of hours, but they did get it there this afternoon.  I was bummed to hear that it would be more expensive than I was hoping, but at least Doug was in a safe place when it happened.  It would have been awful if this had occurred when he was on the interstate.  He was already planned on staying at Meg's tonight, so that was a blessing as well as he could Uber there after work tonight which our insurance took care of for him.  Overall, glad that this should all be a memory soon.

McAlister's

When we first moved down here, McAlister's was our go to place for dinner or lunch.  We ate there at least once a week or sometimes twice.  I loved their chicken n' dumpling soup while Doug enjoyed the variety of their food choices.  We both appreciated the extra pickles that they would give with every meal.  Once they started adding more and more turkey sandwiches to their menu, it was as if we found our perfect place for a quick meal.

Unfortunately, things have changed quite a bit with our favorite restaurants over the past few years.  The food is still very good, when they have everything available.  The wait time to order has increased dramatically, but that has been nothing compared to how long it takes to get a meal to our table.  There have been many times recently when it has taken over an hour to receive our food once we have ordered.  Because of this, we have drastically reduced our visits.  

Both Doug and I do still keep trying McAlister's with the hope that it will return to the way it was.  The food and their rewards program are still some of the bests in town.  We now know only to try it when we have a lot of time on our hands and aren't overly hungry.  I have filled out a few surveys online when they have been sent to us after visiting, but so far it hasn't changed much.  At least they haven't run out of pickles on our past few trips.  Thankfully, McAlister's isn't the only place to eat in town, so we have other options for now.  

Saying Goodbye to a Family Favorite

This weekend a family favorite closed at Hollywood Studios, and we were all sad to hear it.  Although, the Muppets in 3-D had needed to be updated for a decade or so, we would all miss it.  Bean and the 3-D character Waldo had been on my nerves for years, but even though I wasn't quite ready to say goodbye.  There had been a lot of fun family memories made in the show, and I know that all of the Heinisch children could recite the pre-show verbatim, tripping exactly when Gonzo demonstrated why it was important to find a seat before putting on the 3-D glasses.  Sam the Eagle's line "It's a glorious three-hour finale" followed by Kermit's response "You've got a minute and a half" could still bring a laugh in our home.  

Making the event even more bittersweet was seeing all of the goodbye pictures and finding out that Jim Henson's daughter had been the last person to walk out of the theater after the final showing.  I could still remember when the Muppets' creator died of pneumonia over thirty years ago.  Finding out that Muppets 3-D had been the last project he had worked on made it even sadder especially since I was there the year it opened.  Even before that, I had always been a Muppets fan starting from the moment I first saw Kermit on Sesame Street. I was glad that I passed that love along to my own children.  Nothing showed that more than the Sam the Eagle shirt that Brett wanted to wear to his rehearsal dinner or Cal asking Paw Paw to build him a bed for his beloved Kermit doll.  Although Meg had the most Muppet stuffed animals out of all of the Heinisch children, nothing proved loyalty more to the famed group than Cameron's infamous line "What if we all become Muppets when we grow up?"  

I guess that all good things must come to an end.  Thankfully, we got to experience the show many times over the years.  The other good thing that has come out of it closing is that the Muppets will now be taking over Rock N Roller Coaster.  Doug and I probably won't see them on that ride, but I know that all of our children will be glad to hear that.  

Where Are the Lemons?

When we first moved down here, Doug and I bought a lemon tree at the plant sale at Kanapaha Botanical Garden.  We were both excited, but I was probably more so since I would now be able to grow my own lemons to make lemonade just like Granny did years ago.  I even found her recipe and couldn't wait to try it.  We watered the tree, fertilized it and found the best spot in the yard for it to get both shade and sun.  After that, we waited . . . and waited . . . and waited.  Fast forward almost two years later and we are still waiting for our first lemon.  The tree has blossomed, but so far it has produced no fruit.  

On the flip side, the lime tree that we bought this past October already had several limes growing and one that will be ready to pick next week.  With that being the case, I decided to search Google to see what the problem could be.  One thought was that the lemon tree wasn't pollinating itself.  That usually only occurred when the tree was indoors, but it was flowering without any issue, so maybe the internet was right.  Since it was very easy to pollinate a tree, all I had to do was rub pollen from one flower to the other with a Q-tip, I decided to try that first.

While I was pollinating the tree, I realized that there were snails crawling all over the area close to where the lemon tree was.  I didn't know how the snails had gotten into our backyard and was sure that they were harmless but thought that I would check Google about those as well.  As soon as I clicked on a website about snails in the garden, a lightbulb went off.  Snails loved lemon trees and tomatoes and caused damage to both.  It made sense to me since the two plants that were suffering the most were the lemon tree and tomato plant.  I looked through all of the remedies and finally decided to buy slug and snail bait from Lowe's.  I spent an hour this morning putting it down all around the border of our fence and back porch.  I don't know if it will work or help our lemon tree grow lemons, but my fingers are crossed.  Either way, it was a lot easier than picking all of the snails out of the yard like I tried in the first place.  

Get Ready, Promotion

Cal texted the family group chat today to let us know that he had been promoted to manager at Plante Moran.  We were not surprised to get the text as we knew that he had been working hard the past few years to reach this goal.  Even though, Doug and I were extremely proud as this was a big milestone in the public accounting world.  Cal said that his responsibilities wouldn't change much as he was already fulfilling the role of manager on most of his jobs now, but his pay would increase greatly, which was wonderful for him.  

As proud as I was of Cal, I was even more proud of my children's texts in the group chat.  Every one of them congratulated him and recognized the accomplishment that he had just made in his career.  Although, I am sure that there are times that they drive each other crazy as most siblings do, I love that they are not jealous of one other and celebrate each other's wins in life.  My favorite text of the day came from Meg as she sent the meme of Patrick Star parachuting in to celebrate Spongebob's big promotion to manager. Although it didn't really work out for Spongebob, we were glad that Cal's promotion was real and there were a lot of reasons to celebrate at the "Goofy Gooby" tonight.