Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Realization By The River.

Tuesday morning started of wonderfully with a trip south to Ellenton. Rosemary, Jordan, Liberty and I were headed to Hickory Hollow. Rosemary kept talking about these fabulous corn fritters and by the time we pulled into the parking lot I was ready to devour them. There were only a couple cars in the parking lot and when we got close enough to the window, we could read the sign that read "On vacation. Reopen July 21." Are you kidding me??? We had to come up with a back up plan real quick! We decided to head over to Woody's River Roo Pub and Grill across from Prime Outlets. I couldn't remember its exact location, so we drove around for a couple minutes and ended up in the correct spot. Woody's is located at 5717 - 18th Street E in Ellenton right on the Manatee River. There was ample parking as well as a section marked off for motorcycle parking.

First stop - the bathrooms! The restrooms are outside, but the ladies room does have a window A/C unit. The bathrooms were surprisingly clean and nicely decorated. I thought I was going into a beach bathroom that would not be clean. I was astonished.


Rosemary Nickel is the founder of M.O.M. - Motivating Other Moms. After spending the afternoon with this phenomenal woman and her children, I was inspired to take a look at my own life and find out what it is that really makes me tick. I have only been working on this a couple of hours. Rosemary, on the other hand, has got her game on! She is here to help every mom out there. Most women who become moms do not really have an outlet to be who they really are. Some lose their identity because they become a wife and a mom and they lose themselves. Women are so focused on their children and families and do not take time to take care of themselves. A lot of women do not have someone to talk to and just listen to them or they are afraid to say what they are really feeling. I was so comfortable with Rosemary almost immediately. She is such a genuine and caring person! And wait til you meet her kids!

Jordan is her six year old son. He is currently homeschooled. ( Rosemary will soon be starting a blog about unconventional homeschooling. - more on this later.) What an intelligent, bright child! He was explaining things to me about how things work and even about the business he is starting. He wanted a websight to sell something and make money to buy a travel trailer with bunk beds and a metal detector. Rosemary encouraged him to find his passion - something that he really loved - and his answer was tea. They met with a blender and she asked him what flavors and things he liked. He came up with his own tea! They go to Empress Tea once a month for tea lessons. His website is just short a shopping cart which they will have very soon. You must check this out though! Click here. Check back later once they have the shopping cart and order some of Jordan's tea!

Liberty just turned four and is such a precious little girl. Seeing the way Rosemary works with her children and inspires, encourages and supports them just makes my heart happy.
Rosemary is currently working on a "Mom's Tea." After listening to exactly what this is, I told her I was going to get pregnant just so that I could attend one! (I was kidding!) A group of 20 women will get together one afternoon/evening from 4pm-7pm. They will have the opportunity to sit, talk and just share their feelings. She said the women leave there feeling uplifted and ready to conquer life. Once again, women just want someone to listen to them. With the price of admission, a ticket will also be given to a disadvantaged youth so that she can attend the princess tea. (This is on a seperate night for young girls.) The Princess Tea teaches young women confidence and shows them that they are important and can do or be what they want!

Back to the homeschooling blog that Rosemary will be starting soon. Rosemary will show some unconventional ways to home school your children. Most parents start with a desk and soon realize that does not work. At lunch today, she taught the kids about the river and estuaries, which animals live there and the kind of plants you might find. She said if her husband would have been there he would have talked about the bridge, the construction and how it worked. Everything is education and does not have to be confined to a room.

We sat at the restaurant for several hours and were delightfully entertained by our server, Cindy. She was not afraid to tell it like it is! We started out (by her recommendation) with the fried pickles. ($5.99) They were breaded and fried spears served with a dipping sauce. I think it may have been ranch. Rosemary ordered the gazpacho. It sounded cool and refreshing. This is a nice healthy vegetarian option. Cindy said, "To me it's salsa, but they call it soup!" It was reminiscent of cold gumbo without any meat. It had a defininite kick! I was having a hard time deciding what I wanted to order for lunch. I wanted something unique - as I do this all for you. I opted for the Grouper Roo-ben ($12.99) and Rosemary had the River Roo-bbq ($8.99). It was served with fries or coleslaw or you could pay 50 cents more for homemade chips. The kids ordered the fried shrimp with fries and hot dog with applesauce. All kids meals are $5.99. The grouper roo-ben was very tasty, but quite messy!








I will definitely pop back in here when I am down in Ellenton shopping. I will probably just have an ice cold beer and watch the boats. It was enjoyable watching the cars cross the bridge too. You can get her by boat or by car - or even by motorcycle.
I think we were just too disappointed about not getting to go to Hickory Hollow that we just couldn't enjoy our meals.
Does anyone know where I can get some good homemade chips with my sandwich? Man, that just makes a lunch!!!


1 comment:

  1. Wow, that grouper roo-ben looks so good!! I didn't really feel like commenting, but something about this write-up really motivated me.

    ReplyDelete