Happy Thanksgiving!

The Simards hosted another perfect Thanksgiving this year! We all made it out for a Turkey Trot in the morning...

And as always, the food was amazing!

And the company was even better!

So much to be grateful for. Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

David Bowie exhibition

We went to the Mount Dora Modernism Museum to see their collection of furniture from David Bowie’s estate. For their opening they had a Bowie impersonator which was really fun!

Animal Kingdom - Caring For Giants!

Maddy came home for the weekend to see Gail and we couldn't resist a trip back to Animal Kingdom to see our favorite baby elephant, Stella! The Caring For Giants experience is a really great way to see these amazing creatures up close - we loved it!

Missing you already Gail!

Our Elbow and DC Adventure!

We were so happy that the very best band in the world (Elbow of course:)) confirmed they would be coming back to our favorite venue, the 9:30 club in DC, for their Little Fictions tour this year! This time Gail decided us to join us for the up close and personal experience too! DC is one of our favorite cities and it was Gail's first trip there so we decided to make a long weekend of it:)
We started out at Arlington Cemetery...

And then went to see the Lincoln Memorial - and found the famous typo...

The weather was beautiful and the skies were so blue...

The next morning we headed out to see the White House...

And befriended some newscasters who gave us the scoop and let us see through the windows in their viewfinder:)

Then we went over to the National Mall...

Mike went to meet his friend but was disappointed to miss out on the Hope Diamond...;

After the Natural History and American History Museums we did the National Archives and the amazing Ford's Theater too...

And before we knew it the big day had arrived! We went to the White House again in the morning...

Then we had a quick lunch with the legendary Tom "Llama" Tracy!

And the we got ready for the big night. We arrived in line nice and early to bag our front row spot. As we stood in line we saw Pete Turner, Craig Potter and Alex Reeves as they went to their tour bus. And then we were delighted to discover that the club allows the first 35 arrivals early access to a special bar in the venue...!

Once we got our front row spot, we met Lois from the New York Morning video! And before the show even started Guy Garvey came out onstage to introduce his support act...

I took photos of the setlist that I've been dreaming about for the past year:)

And then we got to relax and enjoy the most amazing show I have ever seen from about 10 feet away...:):):)

The venue is so tiny and the stage is small too so it really felt like we were having a private concert just for us...

And just when things couldn't get any better - I snagged the setlist!!

It was truly an unforgettable night. As I woke the next day and braced myself for the trip home, Mike eased me back into reality with the one word that gave me something special to look forward to..."Juneau" - which helped:)
We finished up the last hour in DC with a trip to see the Capitol Building...

And a walk through the beautiful and moving memorials...

And in a flash we were back home to our beautiful girl :)

Thanks Gail for the most Magnificent (She Says) weekend!!

Happy Halloween!

We didn't win Mike's company pumpkin carving contest but I was still pretty happy with my tribute to Juneau this year. And Maddy looked adorable as ever!