EASTER 2012 WITH AMY AND TONY

                       
                          At 3 am Thursday morning Donna and I adjusted all the gadgets, instruments, navigation system and seats in our car. Feeling comfortable, we then started our mini vacation trip. The Volvo S80 / T6
was filled up with 160lb of 93 octane fuel and good for about 450 miles before next fill up. We had a bag full of snacks and a cooler full of water, sodas, red bull and sandwiches. According to our navigation system, we had to travel 820 miles and our estimated arrival time in Panama city beach was 4pm. There was 1 minor problem with tremendous thunderstorms around us and we had to travel through them, on and off, all morning long. Needless to say, we did not made very good time the first 200 miles, but after the weather turned sunny I made up for it the rest of the way and we entered Tony's garage at 3:15 pm.


                            Tony greeted us in the driveway and made us feel welcome. We encountered a nice gift basket in our room with some Bavarian chocolate cookies, Lindt chocolate, mixed nuts and beverage. Donna had a special gift from Amy, a cute hat to protect her from the sun.  Amy was still at work and while we waited for her to get home we enjoyed a few Bacardi and coke and after Amy arrived, Tony spoiled us with some delicious homemade crab cakes, pickles and pepper relish. Before that we already had a big horsed'oeuvre platter with cheeses, Bavarian ham, Cervelas, Landjager and Met wurst.

Happy to see Amy and Tony

Drinking to our arrival

Tony explaining the house rules

Last minute repairs

Getting ready for dinner

Yum

Tony's home made crab cake

Relaxing after dinner

The Ladies have lots to talk about

 
                             Since our last reunion was over 6 months ago, we had a lot to talk about that night and  because I was very thirsty from the long drive I think the excessive Bacardi made me forget when I finally went to bed.





                             Friday morning, Tony treated us to a fluffy frittata, like a crust less quiche with fresh spinach.It was so good, I had to have 2 pieces.

Delicious

                              On we went, with my favorite past-time. Tony had the scooters serviced and Amy drove us to the mechanic to pick them up.From there we scooted up and down the coast and also checked out  all the fishing going on on the pier. We actually saw somebody try to bring in a baby shark he had on his line. Exciting!
                               For lunch we all drove to "Shuckums Oyster Pub and Grill" and  believe it or not, the 4 of us consumed 10 dozen Oysters.

At Shuckums

Waiting  for Oysters to arrive

There came in all sizes  and taste wise some of the best I ever had

                               Of course it is without saying, that whole day we helped to keep the profit up at the Bacardi company and about 5:30 pm Tony drove us on the golf cart to the private beach to observe the sun set. It was out of this world, what a beautiful site.

Tony, Donna and Amy

Donna, me and Amy

Check out this amazing white sand

Cheers

Tony collected sea shells and kept them in his shirt pocket

Bacardi and coke enhancing sun set

My favorite picture

Always happy

                                Back home we got served some grilled gourmet burgers, stuffed with a spicy artichoke dip and homemade Coleslaw.

enjoying my stuffed burger

                                Tony surprises me all the time, like Saturday morning he whipped together a  fantastic hollandaise sauce and served us some great tasting eggs Benedict. It was so good I forgot to take a picture.

                                 After breakfast Tony and I went on our routine scooter drive, while Donna and Amy went to a new park for a Doggie Easter Egg hunt.  We then made an attempt of beach shoes shopping, but to no avail, so we drove  straight out to the air boat and alligator viewing place. We enjoyed our self on a 1 hour air boat ride, even though we had no sightings of any alligators in the wild.

They made me do it

Even Tony looks not comfortable

Donna in front of our air boat

Ready to take off

Protection against the immense noise

                                After coming home, Tony and I grabbed the scooters again to go check out the spring break scenery at the waterfront. The rest of the evening we played kinect and kept the Bacardi company's profit afloat. That night, Tony, changing his menu, came up with a delicious cold platter spread with salad,  bread and pretzel rolls. Again I do not remember the time I went to bed.

My favorite scooter

We went shopping for ice 

Inside joke

Check out this clean garage

Tony's change in plan

I love this kind of dinners

I am getting hungrier by the minute just looking at the spread

After dinner fun time

Amy is amused and

Donna is laughing about me trying to play kinect

Relaxing with Tayho

                                 Sunday morning, Easter and our last day with Amy and Tony this fabulous weekend.
 The time goes fast when you have fun, but we still had a whole day ahead of us. This morning we had  some warm croissant and the privilege to eat Amy's last grape jam, my personal favorite of her home made marmalade's. Also the fresh watermelon, strawberry and grapes ware great.
                                  Tony started early preparing Easter brunch and Donna and me went to Carrabba's to meet our fiends Allison and Patrick to keep up with all the gossip and enjoy some Bloody Marys.
                                 
                                  Later that afternoon Stephanie and Todd came over with their new baby Payton and we all enjoyed Easter brunch Tony prepared for us. There was broccoli salad, butter lettuce with tomatoes,  asparagus and montricher dressing, honey glaced ham, grilled fresh grouper, Oreo truffles and ice cream.
Tonight we had to make an early one, because we where planing on getting on the road at 6 am in the morning.

Stephanie with Payton

Donna had her moments

Payton is very comfortable with Donna

                                 Monday morning we had to pack, load the car and say good bay to our best friends Tony and Amy. Tony fixed us up with some food for the road  and then it was time to leave.

                                 At 7:30 we arrived safely at our place in St Charles.