We went biking again today, this time on the lovely bike paths alongside the 192, because we had a bit of shopping and returning to do.  All went well until we were passing a lift vehicle which was parked in the middle of the sidewalk.  I thought there was room to pass it, but my basket on the side of the bike caught on the big tire of the machine, and for some reason, my feet would NOT come off the pedals and I just fell sideways onto the grass.  Fortunately it had rained a LOT last night, and the ground was soft, so nothing major - just dirty clothes and a few pulled muscles, which I am really starting to feel now!  OK, so I'm a clutz!  Paul says I'm an accident looking for a place to happen!  :-)

Fruit growing on tree

Yummy piece of fruit

Fruit after one bite

Seeds in the fruit

Enjoying our lunch

A little friend joined us for lunch!

Big truck at the Fun Spot - an amusement park next to Old Town

We discovered some of that fruit that I told you about in an earlier blog, and some of it was ripe - m-m-m, is it good!  I took a few pics to show you what it's like.  But I can't describe how sweet and juicy it is!


It has been a hot day, and a swim in the fairly cold pool felt awfully good after - I think I heard a sizzle when I jumped in!

Sunday in Kissimmee

I woke up fairly early this morning, looked out the patio door at the back and was delighted to see 3 deer grazing on the other side of the pond.  Unfortunately, it was a little too dark to get a decent picture, but I'll post the best I have.  After breakfast in the common room - yes, this is the only resort I know of that gives us breakfast every day! - we went to church at the Celebration Community Church, a new one to us.  The CCC  was kind of similar to the CAC in many ways, and we enjoyed the service.  After church we went to Logan's Roadhouse (the one where you eat peanuts and throw the shells on the floor), where they were offering 2 for 1 meals on Super Bowl Sunday.  M-m-m-m, was it good!

You can see how done in I was after that big meal!  Here I am, enjoying the rainy Sunday that they were forecasting........

........and here is Paul doing what we rarely do - relaxing by the pool.  We even went swimming, though the water was plenty cold!

I have no idea why these little creatures do this sometimes.  It just shoots out this colourful balloon, then sucks it back in - very entertaining!

And yes, now we know that there IS a resident alligator in the pond behind us, just like the sign says.  We haven't seen a snake yet.....

Moving day

Today was moving day, and we moved all of about a mile.  We decided to check in, do the paper-work and come back later, but our room was ready, so we were moved in by 10:30 this morning.  We went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch, and this duck was swimming all by himself in the pond next door - I still don't know what kind it is, but it sure is pretty!

We are in a Town house type unit, ground floor, and this little pond is steps away from our back door.  We've never actually seen an alligator here, but I guess there is at times.  This place is called Bare-footin' in the Keys at Old Town, and it is right across the street from Old Town.  So of course, we walked over tonight to see the old cars.

Our unit

This car belongs to a man from Orillia, ON, and he brings it to our car shows in Cobourg.  It is amphibious - goes on land and on the water.  It's pretty cool.

This is called a Pantera - pretty rare.  It was one of these that Tim Horton was killed in.  I believe there was a mixture of speed and alcohol involved in that.

This little sweetie, called a Fiat, would fit quite nicely in our garage with 2 other cars, I think!

I have NO idea what this is!  I don't think anyone but the person who constructed it knows!  It was a truck of some sort.

I loved this one - a Citroen from France.

This is a MOON, built in 1923 - very unusual!

Shopping day

Today was our first day of outlet malls in the 5 weeks we have been here!  Incredible!  And yes, I did find a few bargains, but mostly I got lots of exercise, walking around the 2 malls we went to.  I'm really pleased with the great $100 walking shoes for $20.

Another gator!

My favorite water flower

Ibis

Wood Stork

One of the many sculptures in old Kissimmee

Since I never even had the camera out of the case today, I'll put a few pics on from the past 2 days.

These "beautiful" vultures were waiting for us at the beginning of our bike ride to and through Celebration this morning.  Hope they weren't waiting for us!   A new yellow waterside flower has suddenly started to show up - so pretty!  It looks a lot like an iris.

This Northern Mockingbird sang a lovely song to us.

I said I wasn't going to take any more alligator pictures - THAT didn't last long!  I just couldn't resist this guy - he was so close!

The brown bird is a young ibis - good camouflage for a youngster!

There were 8 turtles and an alligator sunning together on the bank.

This female grackle was trying to soften the cheese that she found somewhere.

I just love these little blue herons!  Sorry, just couldn't resist posting another one.

Paul had this fellow by the tail.  Jeff, remember how much time you spent in Dominican trying to catch one?  You finally did!

Anyone know what kind of ducks these are?  The male is mostly black and white, the female more brown.  They are diving ducks.

Another pic of the female of the species.

Lunch by the lake - someone had our usual table, so we settled for the rocking chairs.  Kerry, I'm sure you remember these!  We needed the shade today - it was very hot!

We went biking again today.  This time we drove east on 192 to the old original town of Kissimmee, which is on the shores of Lake Tohopekaliga, commonly known as Lake Toho.  We thought it unusual to see these 2 white ducks swimming along together.  There are always lots of Muscovie ducks, but not often white ones.

This picture of a wood stork gives us a good idea WHY it's called a wood stork - his neck looks like wood.

There were several of these on the shore, and we think the reddish stuff is the meat out of the shell.  We suspect it was the stork who had been fishing.

We found these as we were biking along.  We love to eat them, but most of them are not ripe enough to eat yet.  They are very sweet, but made up largely of pits - 4 or 5 in each one.  I don't know what they are called, but can only imagine what the trees look like in full blossom.

Enjoyed a picnic and a book to read as we do most days.

male grackle

female grackle

wood stork fishing

purple galinule

This little fellow was very bold, lying in the sun.

This tower is a monument of some sort to the states.  It is at the waterfront, which is under extreme construction.  What they have already done is beautiful, and I'm looking forward to seeing it finished next year.  They have also been doing some serious sprucing up to the old downtown - it's really starting to look good.