Lamar Thames

Well, I am back from a two-week “vacation.” I know, you are thinking, “How can a guy who is retired go on vacation?”

I used to think the same thing about other retirees. Now I know. Going on vacation when you are retired is taking your wife or significant other out of town on a trip that you really can’t afford but you do it anyway.

Getting out of town accomplishes two things. It means you don’t have to do any yard work and it means you don’t have to do any house work. So, from that standpoint, retiree vacations are extra special.

We didn’t do anything really extravagant but it seems like even small trips can add up when you are trying to watch your pennies. We spent two days at a bed and breakfast in St. Augustine before heading south and taking two of the Orlando grandchildren to the Universal theme park. I am hoping to turn both of those activities into travel articles on a companion web site that I am developing. I’ll let you know what the address is when it is up and running.

Universal Theme Park, Orlando

Part of the two weeks was also spent hosting all six of our grandchildren at our house on Easter weekend, coloring Easter eggs, doing the egg-hunt thing and going to church on Easter Sunday. I am firmly convinced that God gave us grandchildren as a reward for the trials and tribulations of raising our own children. (Not that mine were bad, but raising children is just different from raising grandchildren. Grandchildren are like eating cake, while your own children are sometimes like broccoli. As Jim Varney would say, “Know whut ah mean, Vern?”

After Easter, we were back home and all alone for two days before my wife headed to Lakeland and the state science fair competition along with two other curriculum specialists from Clay County and 14 students who were competing in the fair. I took advantage of the time alone to visit my sister in Lutz (just north of Tampa) and then my uncle in Tarpon Springs. Read the rest of this entry »