Wanee Festival at Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak announced its 2012 lineup and it's a doozy. Continue Reading: Allmann Bros, Bruce Hornsby headline Wanee

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Allmann Bros, Bruce Hornsby headline Wanee

Dustin Hoffman's portrayal of Raymond Babbitt in Rain Man defines the word “autistic” for many people. Raymond never looks anyone in the eye and dislikes being touched. He yells loudly when his brother, played by Tom Cruise, tries to hug him. Raymond also clings to familiar routines, such as watching “Jeopardy” every afternoon, and he often becomes very upset by new experiences. The prospect of getting onto an airplane, for example, throws him into a panic. So when children with autism arrive at a Florida resort where they encounter crowds, music, a sun-drenched beach full of scratchy sand, people splashing in the pool and other forms of sensory overload, they may, like Raymond Babbitt, get very upset. The TradeWinds Islands Resorts in St. Pete Beach have decided to help by adopting “autism-friendly” practices that minimize potentially upsetting experiences for people with autism. At the TradeWinds – the Island Grand Resort and the Sandpiper Suites Resort – the entire staff has been trained to be more aware of autism. In 2010, when the National Autism Association (NAA) held its annual meeting there, CEO Keith Overton recognized the challenges faced by families with autistic children, so he contacted the Center for Autism & Related Disabilities (CARD), located at the University of South Florida in Tampa , and requested a training program for all his employees to make them more aware of autism. “We are an autism-friendly resort now,” Overton said. “The staff is trained to be aware of behavioral issues involving autistic guests, and CARD has even conducted a refresher course for new employees.” As a result, the NAA has contracted to hold its annual meeting at the TradeWinds at least through 2015. “They've shown so much interest in our families,” said Aimee Allenback, director of development for the NAA. “They even stopped a renovation project when we were there so the noise from the jackhammers and other equipment wouldn't bother the children. That's unheard of.” The families who have attended the NAA meeting with their autistic children marvel at the patience and understanding shown by the staff. “We once went away to a beautiful mountain resort,” said Stacy Guarneri of South Carolina, who brought her 4-year-old daughter Sophia with her to the TradeWinds last November. “She was playing with a musical toy and humming quite loudly, so hotel security came to the door and told us we have to leave if she didn't quiet down. A strange environment, noise (or) sensory overload can all put autistic children in a frenzy, which has stressed my family so much we said we would never go away again, but at the TradeWinds, we felt comfortable as soon as we arrived. We didn't get those looks from the staff that say, 'Can't you control that child?'” Two other hotels in Florida – the Wyndham Tampa Westshore and the Crowne Plaza Tampa Westshore – also have hosted training sessions conducted by CARD. The day-long training program provides a crash course in autism and the behaviors associated with it, so staff members will be able to respond with patience and sympathy. “We try to make the hotel or business autism-friendly,” said Mindy Stevens, assistant director of CARD. “From the administration down to the kitchen staff, everyone gains some knowledge about autism. Once they've been trained, they have strategies that will help them serve the guests with autism.” For example, to help people with autism prepare for their visit, the TradeWinds now maintains an online “social book” with pictures and descriptions of the restaurant, the swimming pool, the beach, the swans and other sights visitors will encounter. (You can find the social book at justletgo.com/autismfriendly .) “For a person with autism, predictability is very important,” said Stevens. “We want to prepare them for their visit.” Also, the CARD training teaches employees how to meet the needs of families with autistic children. When a beach attendant at the TradeWinds saw that a young girl with autism was afraid to try a slide on the beach, for example, he came over, talked to her and gently coaxed her to give it a try. “He gave her a soft introduction, and helped her down the slide,” said Travis Johnson, VP of Marketing. “The girl's mother commented on how autism-friendly the resort is. That's a testament to the staff's awareness.” Gluten-free menu items are now available at all resort dining outlets. (Many believe that a diet free of gluten – a protein found in wheat, rye barley and other grains – reduces some of the symptoms of autism.) Families may request a free safety kit that includes a hanging door alarm that will chime if an autistic child tries to wander from the room during the night. Cushions for table corners also are available to protect against a fall. Staff members who take reservations are trained to ask families with autistic children about special sensitivities the children may have – to cleaning products, for example, or noise. The Wyndham Westshore, which became autism-friendly in 2009, also provides a “toolbox” to families with autistic children containing some toys, a map of the hotel and a book with pictures of what the children might see during their visit. “The purpose is to get them to feel more comfortable in their environment,” said Pam Avery, general manager of the hotel. “But it's not so much about what we give the children. It's more about the sensitivity training our employees go through. We make sure our employees understand how to serve these families and their children.” The Crowne Plaza Tampa Westshore offers a similar bag to families with autistic children. “The most significant part of this bag is the Storyboard book that CARD furnished our hotel,” said Becca Zarcone, the sales manager. “The book explains what the child will encounter at the hotel, such as ordering from a server and riding in an elevator.” Somewhere between 600,000 and 1.8 million Americans have some degree of autism, compared to about 400,000 with multiple sclerosis and about 250,000 with muscular dystrophy. In 2011, autism was specifically included in the Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act of 2008, along with cancer, cerebral palsy, epilepsy and several other disorders. Other child-friendly venues are also becoming more autism-friendly. Busch Gardens in Tampa, as well as Walt Disney World and SeaWorld in Orlando , offer front-of-the-line passes for autistic guests, although the family may have to present a letter of diagnosis from the child's doctor. Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo holds an early-morning Father's Day event for families with autistic children, which gives them an opportunity to visit the animals without large crowds around. Just a little understanding goes a long way for parents of children with autism, according to Nicole Torres, founder of the PEACE support group in Lakeland (Parental Education & Encouragement for Autism in Children Everywhere). She and her 10-year-old son Chase, who has autism, have stayed at the TradeWinds twice for the NAA conference, and it has become her son's favorite place to stay. “We had a really nice room with a full kitchen, so I could cook for my son, who is on a special diet,” said Torres, who lives in Polk County and serves on CARD's constituency board. “We became friends with Paddleboat Joe, who was so welcoming and so kind to both of us. My son is pretty high-functioning – often people don't see right away that he has autism – but he wants to talk to everybody, and the people at the TradeWinds were so patient. Chase was never dismissed or ignored. He can't wait to go back.” View original post here: St. Pete Beach's TradeWinds, 2 Tampa Hotels Build in Sensitivity for Autism

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St. Pete Beach’s TradeWinds, 2 Tampa Hotels Build in Sensitivity for Autism

The South Beach Wine and Food Festival is Feb. 23-26, 2012 and one event in particular is aimed specifically at families: The Fun & Fit as a Family event at Jungle Island. Tickets are only $20 and going fast and that’s because it’s the most fun you can have teaching your kids about healthy lifestyle options. The event will feature Kellogg's Kidz Kitchen and uses an interactive approach to “show families that through daily exercise and healthy food choices, they can improve the qualities of their lives and have fun in the process.” As you walk around Jungle Island , you’ll find five major destinations of activity: Destination Garden – learn how food goes from the ground to your table Destination Food – sample healthy snacks & drinks Destination Fitness – work up a sweat! Run an obstacle course then learn to check your heart rate & see how many calories you’re burning Destination Discover – learn how to make delicious, healthy meals from favorite local chefs Kellogg’s Kidz Kitchen – See celebrity chefs like Guy, Rachel and Robert. They’ll show you how to make heart healthy meals So, let’s recap: Delicious and healthy food. Hands-on fun in the kitchen. Fascinating animal exhibits. Celebrity chefs. $20 tickets. You just have to decide whether to go Saturday, Feb. 25 or Sunday, Feb. 26, 2012 . To get your tickets , log on now. Do not wait or they will be sold out! I hope to see you there. Read more here: SoBe Wine & Food Fest: Family Event at Jungle Island

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SoBe Wine & Food Fest: Family Event at Jungle Island

If you live in Florida, sunglasses are more of an appendage than protective eyewear. On the beach, fishing off the pier, driving or just walking around the block, it’s rare to spot someone without them. View a slideshow » When Ellie Parkin of Pace…

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Made in the shades: Sunglasses can be about style, substance or both

If you’re looking for a one-stop vacation spot in the Florida Keys , check out The Postcard Inn Beach Resort & Marina at Holiday Isle (PCI for short)! The Postcard Inn name may sound familiar; their first location is on St. Pete Beach. Now, they have a sister resort in Islamorada , a famous one at that. Holiday Isle was, and is, an icon in the Keys. Its famous Tiki Bar has attracted visitors for decades (I practically grew up here)! But over the years, the property became run down and worn out. To the rescue? Postcard Inn! PCI has all new rooms and suites overlooking the Atlantic. You’ll find comfortable, Americana-style d

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Postcard Inn at Holiday isle

What’s in a name? Here’s what. Learn for example that Lutz , north of Tampa , isn’t Lutz like Klutz. It’s Loots, like Coots. Hobee? No-bee. Hobe Sound rhymes with Globe Round. Newmans like the condiment maker? No. Newnans like the lake east of Gainesville. Fort Mose isn’t Mose like in Doze. It’s Mo-zay like in Rose (which of course isn’t Rose but Ro-zay). Kissimmee ? You can unpurse your lips and just simmer instead. It’s Kis sim mee. pullquote Steinhatchee like a gaudy Bavarian mug? Sorry, no. Like in plain Osteen across the state. Lake Tohopekaliga is best handled as Lake Toho. Same as Apalachicola , or Apalach. The river made famous by Stephen Foster isn’t Swanee but Suwannee (though pronounced the same), and its tributary is A lap aha, not Ala pa ha. The farming region below Miami is the Redland , not Redlands, and the old cow town east of Tampa is Tho nota sassa , not Thono tasassa. Mickler Landing won’t tickle your fancy. It’s on the coast so, helped by the Irish personification of the sea, think mikeLer. For some natives, that song isn’t “Moon Over Miami.” It’s “Moon Over Mah-a-muh,” as in its namesake river that means Big Water, which it emphatically is not. Lake Okeechobee is way bigger – the largest freshwater lake in America that doesn’t freeze in winter – and it means Big Water. Which brings us to the flora-inspired. Florida boasts fragrantly named Mango (near Thonotasassa) and flagrantly named Orange Mountain. There’s also Azalea Terrace, Bamboo Key, Banana Creek, Berry, Cabbage Grove, Cane, Carraway, Cassia, Cherry Lake, Citra below Gainesville , Citrus County on the Gulf Coast, Cottondale, Cypress Hill, Ferndale, Floral Park, Flowers Still, Fruitland north of Leesburg, Fruitland Peninsula below Palatka , Goldenrod next to Orlando , Hedges, Hibiscus Lodge in West Palm Beach , Honeyville, Juniper, Lantana, Laurel, Lemon City (now part of Mah-a-muh) and Mulberry below Lakeland . There's also plain Oak, Oak Dale, Oak Groves, Oak Hills, Oak Knoll, Oak Landing, Oak Park, Ridge and Terrace. Yet, there are twice as many Oranges, though no Grapefruit (even in Upthegrove Beach). Also, Orchid, Palm (plain old and every other which way, too), Peach Orchard, Pecan Park, Pumpkin, Satsuma (not to be confused with Samsula), Shamrock, Spuds, Tangelo Park, Tangerine, Tarpon and the Hills helpfully named Tomato and Walnut. As you may know, a hammock is a high patch in a marsh, though Cooks Hammock always puts me in mind of where chefs might chill a while back of their kitchens. That is, if there were any cooks – any anything – in this high ground below (go figure) Mayo . Wildlife persists in place names: Alligator, at least one Skunk Island, Bass, Bee Ridge, Buffalo Bluff, Coral Gables , Crows Bluff, Curlew, Deerfield Beach (from when more deer than people populated the north end of Palm Beach County ), Dog Island (heavenly unbridged getaway off Carrabelle ), Dog Town, Duck Key, Eagle Lake, Early Bird, Fish Creek, Gull Point, Hen Scratch, Hogtown, Manatee County , Mosquito Lagoon, Oriole Beach, Otter Creek, Owl’s Head, Pompano Beach , Quail Hollow, Squirrel Hill and two Tiger Bays. Want more numbers? We've got lots of one-of-a-kind places: Two Egg. Four Corners. Five Points, Seven-Mile Bridge, Calle Ocho, and Nine Mile, Eleven Mile and Thirteen Mile, those last three motes along Highway 98 between Apalach and Mexico Beach. Back to business (as it were). Tate’s Hell is up in northwest Florida, while down in Islamorada ( Eyela -more- ahd -a) is Hog Heaven Sports Bar , close to Paradise Yoga. Throughout the Keys, Paradise attaches like lovebugs to all sorts of businesses. A small sampling: Grooming, Health & Fitness, Optical, Plumbing, Tattoo and Transmission Service. Clearly, Florida commands the planets with Apollo Beach ; yesteryear’s Celestial Railroad that connected Juno, Jupiter, Mars and Venus; Satellite Beach; Sun City; and a different Venus and Neptune Beach beside Jacksonville . You can find Pluto at Disney World and Saturn at car showrooms. Puzzle time: If Nalcrest stands for the National Letter Carriers retirement community, how about next door’s Fedhaven ? Pennsuco (Pen- sook -o) was a worker town of the Pennsylvania Sugar Company now part of Miami, while who could possibly have coined Methobapterian for Red Bay’s proximate Methodist, Baptist and Presbyterian churches? As for Beluthahatchee (Beh- looth -a- hat -chee), that’s the preserved home west of St. Augustine of late folklorist-writer Stetson Kennedy, who often entertained Arlo Guthrie’s famed father Woody. Of the big B, the 1939 WPA Guide to Florida (contributions by Kennedy as well as by Zora Neale Hurston, among others) explains it was “a land of forgiveness and forgetfulness. When a woman accusingly reminds her man of something in the past, he replies, ‘I thought that was in Beluthahatchee.’” That Works Progress Administration was a creation of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, but FDR is hardly the only president hallowed in Florida. He had Camp Roosevelt, while others (not including a few already celebrated herein) are Washington County , tiny Adams (near Jasper in the county named for Hamilton, who had presidential ambitions but died in a gun duel), Jefferson County (county seat: Monticello). Madison County (its own seat), Monroe County , Jackson all over the place, Quincy for John Q. Adams, Harrison (close by Lake Tsala Apopka), Polk County , a Fillmore-shorn Millard, Fort Zachary Taylor , Buchanan (close by Zolfo Springs), Lincoln City, Park and Lincolnville in St. Augustine and Grant. There's no Hayes (but, boy! Did he ever steal his election in Florida!) and no Garfield (but Palm Harbor for years used Garfield the Cat for an icon). Theodore Roosevelt did at least embark his Rough Rider invasion of Cuba from Tampa . And one after another, Taft, Wilson (close to Kennedy Space Center ), a Harding Avenue in Surfside , while the Lakeside Inn in Lake County loudly thumps that Silent Calvin Coolidge paid a visit. There’s a Herbert Hoover Dike around the Big O, and a savvy flack once attired Harry Truman in a splashy, flashy floral shirt while HST vacationed at the Little White House in Key West . ( The Truman Show was filmed way up in northwest Florida at Seaside ). Among colors galore look for Black River, White Springs , Bowling Green, Grayton Beach , Emeralda, Bluewater Bay, Red Head (not far from Scratch Ankle, now folded across the tracks into Milton ). Also Yellow River, all those Oranges, Silver Springs and Golden Glades. Tallahassee is home to admired Florida writer Susan Cerulean. Otherwise, Turquoise Beach on Choctawhatchee ( Chock -taw- hatch -ee) Bay and a Purple Onion Deli & Bakery in Seminole (which is not in Seminole County but in Pinellas, which means Pineapple). But what about that Orange Mountain? Hilolo better sums up Florida’s highs and lows, where there’s a Blue Mountain Beach, Clermont , Crestview, Florida Hills, Highland Meadows, many Hilltops, a Lake of the Hills, Mount Dora , Montverde, Mount Pleasant, Iron Mountain and Skytop. At 95 feet, it's dwarfed 5-to-2 by Clermont's 226-foot Citrus Tower just off to the west that once, as the chief attraction in Central Florida , overlooked a vast realm of groves. Today, it's chiefly Disney – where Cinderella’s Castle stands at 189 feet. Highest Florida point is Britton Hill, 345 feet up, at the far bottom of which is Florala, where a 'Bama B&B keeper used to offend Floridians by telling guests, “It may be the highest point in Florida, but it’s the lowest highest point of all the states.” Maybe it all started when Juan Ponce de Le

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Apalach to Zolfo: A Guide to Florida Places and Pronunciations

Catch the unveiling of Busch Gardens newest show Iceploration on Thursday. The show combines skaters, larger-than-life puppets, amazing costumes and more. See the original post: Iceploration Opening Day

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Iceploration Opening Day

Looking for some ‘hip’ entertainment? Gather your ohana (that's “family” in Hawaiian) and get to Central Florida for a luau: Disney’s Polynesian Resort No dinner bell, but a blowing of conch shells tells you the doors have opened at this Polynesian inspired restaurant named ‘Ohana. Kids can ‘sweep coconuts’ in a race, listen to storytellers and hoola hoop the night away. Dinner is family style with specialties cooked over an 18-foot oak fire pit. Hawaiian Inn, Daytona Beach Shores The chef at the My Ohana luau is from Samoa and he prepares the all-you-can-eat buffet (with Hawaiian Kalua Pulled Pork) daily. This isn’t your typical luau, but it’s a fun evening and the black lights and colorful neon are a kid-favorite. Learn to dance and be a part of the show. Lowe’s Universal Resort Wantilan Luau This weekly Saturday night show features an all-you-can-eat buffet of Polynesian delights like fresh Pacific Wahoo, pit-roasted pig and even kid-friendly favorites. The music is enchanting and you can burn off your meal learning the hula. SeaWorld’s Makahiki Luau Be greeted with a flower lei, then be seated with fellow guests to watch Polynesia come to life. Park admission is NOT required for this after-hours event that includes a complete dinner delivered to your table whiile you watch the show. You’ll even feel the heat from the fire dances! Kids meals and vegetarian meals are available. Read the article: Luaus That Wow In Central Florida

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Luaus That Wow In Central Florida

A float in the grand parade at Plant City’s Florida Strawberry Festival. Read More: Photo: Grand Parade, Florida Strawberry Festival, Plant City

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Photo: Grand Parade, Florida Strawberry Festival, Plant City

The Florida Strawberry Festival mascot interacts with visitors and vendors alike. Read More: Photo: Florida Strawberry Festival mascot, Plant City

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Photo: Florida Strawberry Festival mascot, Plant City