I have arrived...

In Florida, that is!

Aunt Carol picked me up at 6 this morning and then we headed to Granma's to get her and her car. We headed up to Dayton and got there with plenty of time to spare. Granma and I went to the Max and Erma's in the airport for breakfast and still had time to sit at the terminal for about 10 minutes before we loaded.

The first leg of the trip was from Dayton, Ohio to Charlotte, North Carolina. Once we got to Charlotte, we decided to stop at Cinnabun and share a cinna sticks. They were yummy. Then we got to watch the US Airway employees make us load 20 minutes late. Our flight was supposed to leave at 11:20. We settled into our seats at 11:24. The problem was that to get onto the plane, you had to walk through a door, down some stairs, across the tarmac and then up about 10 steps to get into the plane. And there were about 6 people in wheelchairs that would need to get loaded onto the plane before anyone else. All but one said that they could make it up the stairs, but one needed a ramp. So, they loaded the ones in the wheelchairs who could walk up the stairs and then pulled a ramp around and hooked it up to the plane, and loaded the one man. Then, they pulled the ramp away and stood on the stairs talking for a couple of minutes. THEN, they started boarding all of the other passengers. When it came down to it, we didn't get into the air until 12:05 because there were a lot of other planes that got into line in front of us because we weren't ready to leave when we were scheduled to.

We got to Sarasota about 15 minutes late, but our bags arrived with us and neither of them were searched. Mom and Dad were waiting for us and we went to a late lunch/dinner at Applebee's and Granpa and Nettie and Carmello met us. It was about 2:30.

Ever seen the Seinfeld episode where Jerry is visiting his parents in Florida and they have to eat dinner at 4:00 PM to get the early bird special? That is kinda how that was. That was the last meal of the day. We did snack a little, but really, that was it.

We left Applebee's and had to stop somewhere for supplies.

That's Joann's for those who couldn't tell. I bought some cutting supplies that I couldn't fit in my luggage to leave down here for the next time I come down.

We got home and I got to see the dogs.

Here's Joker, a greyhound that my parents rescued about 10 years ago.



And here's Bosco, the hairless wonder, with Joker. Bosco has not aged well.



This is Jeepers Creepers Jasper, or Jasper for short. My mom rescued him from a family that was neglecting him. He is very happy to be around people who pay attention to him and he just eats it up! His right eye is brown and his left eye is blue. It makes for some very interesting pictures!



This is how he sleeps in the chair with my dad. Sorry about his ball bearings being front and center. Mom is going to get him snipped as soon as she can. :)



Then there is Daphne. Daphne has quite decided about me yet. There has been some growling and plenty of barking. But she tolerates me petting her when Dad isn't around.



Here is how the new dogs sleep in Dad's chair.