Easter Weekend

Julian's Spring Break started Thursday before Easter so we took off to the park that day and I took some photos. We had missed his school picture day, and to be honest, my photos are always better anyway. He doesn't mind posing for photos so we walked the trails by the river and on the dock and took lots of photos. This is just one of many that I took. You can see the rest of them online here.

After we left the park we went to Moe's to meet some of the Youth from church to eat lunch. Then I took Julian to his elementary school to visit his 5th grade teacher, Mr. Gibbons.

On Good Friday, Tim had to work but got home a couple hours earlier than usual. We decided to head out to the Clay County Fair and enjoy the evening. I wish we had found a friend to take along for Julian, I'm sure it would have been much more fun for him. We had a good time though and Julian rode quite a few rides, although he doesn't do any of the scary ones or anything that goes upside down. Tim and I didn't ride any rides, we just watched. My stomach got queasy just watching the rides. We watched the K9 Frisbee dogs while we were there. They were great! Since Julian watched the show he has been wanting to play Frisbee all the time. He's actually getting pretty good at it for someone who's never really thrown a frisbee much!

Saturday we headed out to to the Mandarin Arts Festival to look around. I'm fortunate that Tim likes to go to Art Festivals. We enjoyed looking at everything but didn't end up buying anything. As usual we were lookers but not buyers. :)

On Sunday morning we went to a Pancake breakfast at church, then church services and communion. Afterward, we came home and changed and headed out to Ronnie Van Zant park to meet up with all my cousins who were gathering there for a covered dish lunch and an egg hunt for the kids. Since Mom is out of town at Shelly's and KD went to her in-laws for the day, we didn't have any plans so I was glad we were invited to join them. I'm sure Julian had a good time having someone to play with.

These were all Aunt Eileen's kids, grandkids and all their families. Aunt Eileen just passed away last month, so I'm sure this was a hard holiday for all of them. I'm glad I got reconnected with them though, just sorry it had to be under the circumstances it was. Too often it takes a death to make us appreciate the life we have and love those around us a bit more.

Here's a photo of the kids just before they headed out to hunt for eggs. I loved just watching the kids run around excited, looking for these little plastic eggs like they had never done it before.... knowing that everyone of them probably had already done it at least once this weekend! I snapped alot of photos too, because that's just what I like to do. You can see them and the rest of the Easter photos here.

We had a good day and I was glad when I got home and got to put up my feet and relax! :)

It was a busy weekend, but a good one. Now, if I can just survive the rest of Spring Break with Julian at home! :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Western Caribbean Cruise

For Thanksgiving week this year, we decided to take an 8 day Western Caribbean cruise. We took the Carnival Freedom out of Fort Lauderdale on a Saturday and returned home the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

The first full day on ship we went to watch the "Marriage Game", also known as the "Newlywed Not So Newlywed Game." We've watched this show every time we've been on the boat, but this time we were picked to play! One couple had been married a day, the other had been married 61 years - so we were the couple in the middle. We were chosen because we acted like fools in the audience in order to get picked! It was fun - Tim got all the answers wrong and people on the ship now know more about us than anyone needs or wants to know! We had fun though and spent the week being recognized by all the people on the ship.... usually they would have a remark to make about one of our answers!

We had a great time and enjoyed relaxing and catching up on our rest. Since we had 5 days at sea, we had plenty of time to rest. The itinerary took us to Cozumel, Costa Rica & Panama. We had never been to Costa Rica and Panama, so we were looking forward to seeing new sights.

The excursions booked through the cruise line are so expensive we decided we couldn't really do much if we booked through them. So we decided to do like we've done before and hire someone off the boat. This usually costs us the same for all 3 of us that it would cost for just one of us otherwise.

When we got to Cozumel we hired a cab to take us on a city tour and to the Mayan ruins. After about 20 minutes we realized the cab driver the tour company hooked us up with spoke no English and we speak no Spanish. Not only that, but she was on the phone talking & texting and all over the road. Needless to say, I had to ask her to take us back to the port. We were going to try another driver but then decided we'd had enough and since we'd seen those sights before we headed back to the boat.

Our next stop was Costa Rica. Once again we hired a cab driver. (making sure he spoke English!) We had been warned about violence and people getting robbed so I was a little concerned, especially when I saw the armed guards everywhere. But I decided to let it go and enjoy. First he took us to a little boat that we got in with a guy who took us on about an hour tour through the rain forest. We passed a few other boats and even saw some of the people from our ship on a much bigger boat (about 40 people) and I was glad we had a private boat. At the end of our boat ride, the cab driver picked us up and took us to a banana plantation to see showing us other sites along the way. We stopped at a fruit stand and sampled some of their local fruit and it was delicious! We bought a few little bitty bananas to eat and they were by far the best bananas I have ever tasted. We had a good time and didn't spend alot of money.

Our next stop was Panama. We hired a cab driver at the port, again making sure he spoke good English and we were off on our way. Of course we wanted to see the Panama Canal since we were there and just wanted to tour the city and learn about the people and the culture. We hit the jackpot with the driver we hired. He gave us the best tour yet - telling us about the people, the culture and everything in between. He was very experienced and gave us more information than we would have ever expected. We enjoyed him and learned alot from him. When we went to the canal to watch a ship come through, we noticed other people were listening to our tour guide and asking him questions. They had paid the big dollars but didn't have anyone other than the lady on the loud speaker explaining anything to them. Once again, I was glad we had hired a private driver. The countryside was green and beautiful, but Panama City was very dirty and poor and I was a little scared driving slowly through that area....especially when the driver told us to lock our doors. There is an area there where you can buy goods really cheap, but I didn't want anything bad enough to get out of the car there! Again, we had another great day of sight seeing without spending a bunch of money.

We had some really nice dinner table-mates. 2 couples each with 1 child, so there were 9 of us all together. Jonathan, Ruth and Lior were one of the families we met and we ended up meeting them for Nintendo DS Mario Kart racing as well as going to a couple of the shows with them.

Julian had a good time at Camp Carnival and met a couple of boys that he hung out with. He got more free rein than he ever has before and got to run around the ship with his friends and stay up late. He took part in the Kids Talent show and ended up singing Michael Jackson's Beat It for the crowd. He did a great job! Funship Freddy and one of his friends danced while he sang. It was fun to watch him perform!

We had a good time... enjoyed the food, enjoyed the shows and enjoyed the ports. Mostly, it was just nice to have a good time together as a family away from the computers, TV's and other distractions. I missed being with the rest of the family on Thanksgiving and I especially missed our regular Thanksgiving dinnner! Of course, it was also great to get home! Thanks to KD and Bobby for taking care of our animals while we were gone. Balto and Kobe always love going to visit Aunt KD at the farm!

To view the rest of our photos, click here.

Spring Break - Karate Tournament, Camping & a Safari

We made a trip down to Boca Raton, Florida - about a 4-1/2 hour drive from our house - so JT could compete in a tournament there. He was pretty excited because he saw a couple of his old instructors there that he hadn't seen in awhile. He did really well! He brought home a 1st place for Forms, 1st place for Weapons and 3rd place for Sparring.

We pulled our camper down for the weekend to make a mini vacation out of the trip. We ended up staying at a KOA at Lion Country Safari just outside of West Palm Beach, FL. We had never heard of Lion Country Safari, but a few friends told me they had enjoyed it. It was a place to visit! The safari itself was great and lasted about 1 hour driving through at about an 8 mph pace. Of course we could stop whenever we wanted to. They had a CD you play while you're driving through that narrates the area and the animals and does a great job. They are rated the #3 zoo in the country. Other than the safari they also have a walk through zoo which was nice. Not as nice as the Jacksonville Zoo though. But, we don't have a safari. I would definitely recommend it to others to visit when they are down in Southeast Florida.

Spring Break - JT Rock Climbing

Christmas #2

My sister Shelly and her son Bo came down from Tennessee the day after Christmas. The rest of the kids are all grown up now and had other responsibilities and weren't able to come. It's that time in their lives where we will see less and less of them. It makes me kind of sad, really. Bo has grown up quite a bit since the last time we saw him and he seems to be doing well.

Since they came in after Christmas, we waited to have our Christmas dinner and present opening with the family until Saturday, the 27th at Mom's house. Here's a photo of Mom. She's doing well since she had a pacemaker put in the first part of December.

Since all 3 sisters don't get together very often, we tried to make sure we got a few photos of us all together. I think the older we get, the more we appreciate and enjoy each other's company.

Here's a shot of all of us together at Mom's house.

Happy New Year!

We went to Zambito Oaks Farm (my sister KD's house) for New Year's Eve and the boys set off some fireworks. We just hung out and enjoyed each other's company, eating, talking and watching TV. JT and I left in time to get home by midnight, before the crazy traffic and in time to see the New Year in with Tim since he had gone home earlier.

We went back to KD's again on New Year's Day and hung out for a while before going to Mom's for dinner. We got to see the newest chickens and how big they've grown since they hatched and surprised my sister last month. Momma chicken doesn't like us to get too close, so I steer clear. The boys, JT & Bo, wanted to ride the horses. KD taught them both to ride from as early as they can probably both remember and they both seem to be naturals at it. Maybe it's in their Roman blood?

We then ended up going to Mom's house to eat the traditional black eyed peas for good luck. Mom made us a nice meal and it gave us some more time to sit and visit with each other. We ended up going through some old photos and reminiscing about our childhoods.

Check out the photo we found and posed ourselves now, compared to how we looked 42 years ago! Fun!

Here's wishing all of you a safe, happy, prosperous New Year richly blessed by God!

Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving with Family

Tim's Mom and Dad came down from Michigan to visit with us for the week. The photo below was taken at the Thanksgiving lunch at JT's school. I wasn't able to go to the lunch because I had to take my Mom to the doctor for a follow-up visit after she wore a heart monitor home for a 24 hour period. Apparently, her heart is beating too slow and dipped under 50 beats per minute for a solid 18 hours. They have decided a pacemaker is what she needs and that she should feel better once it is inserted. So, that is scheduled for next week, 12/3/08. Of course Mom is apprehensive about it, but that's understandable.
Wednesday night Tim took me out on a date while his parents stayed home with JT. We went and had a nice dinner at the Bonefish Grill . I had the Lobster Thermador and it was delicious. It had alot of butter in it though - perhaps a bit too buttery. Tim had some type of shrimp, spinach fettucine dish. I didn't taste it but he said it was better than mine. :) After eating we didn't really know what to do with ourselves since we're not used to going "out". So, I'm sad to say we ended up at Publix picking up a few last minute items for Thanksgiving dinner and then heading home. We were gone less than 2 hours. Sad, huh? JT snapped the photo below just before we went out.For Thanksgiving dinner, it was Tim, me and JT, my mom, my sister KD and her husband Bobby, KD's daughter Jenny and Tim's mom and dad. Jenny's boyfriend is a fireman and was on duty so we didn't get to see him.

The photo below is me with my sister KD and my Mom. Bobby took quite a few shots for us, but this was the only one that turned out. A little too much flash, but it's not a bad photo of the three of us.Below is a photo of KD and Jenny. I don't often get a chance to get a photo of them together so I thought I better take the opportunity. It was nice having Jenny come over and spend time with us. I don't get to see her very often anymore since she moved out to the country. She made a homemade pumpkin ginger snap cheesecake and it was delicious! (I think I'm ready for another piece right now just thinking about it!)

As usual, all the food was delicious! Tim tried Alton Brown's brine recipe for the turkey this year and it turned out really moist. I thought it was really good, but Tim was disappointed it didn't have more of the flavor of all the spices he used. I thought it was great and can't wait to have a turkey sandwich tomorrow! :) We also had ham, cornbread dressing, gravy, sweet potato casserole, green beans, mashed potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower & cheese, creamed corn, white acre peas, cranberry salad and several pies. Of course, the amount of food was ridiculous as usual!

JT gave everyone a sheet of paper to write what they were Thanksful for. After dinner we sat around and JT (with the help of dad) read each one outloud. We did this last year and he apparently wanted to do it again, so he took it upon himself to initiate it.

Once everyone left, we settled in and watched a movie and JT snuggled on the couch with me. The photo below was taken while we were goofing off with the camera during commercials.
All in all, it was a really good day with family. Tim's parents leave in the morning to go back home to Michigan. Hopefully they won't hit as much snow going home as they did trying to get out. Of course, as usual, since they are leaving the temperature will be up in the 70's for the next few days after being cold since they've been here.

I hope you all had a very Happy & Blessed Thanksgiving!

Getting in the Christmas Mood Early...

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

JT with his cousins Nathan and Cory.

Halloween

JT dressed up like a Ninja for Halloween. They had a party at the karate school that he went to that allowed us to go out on a date a few hours alone as well.








The people Tim works with decided to dress up again this year for Halloween. Tim ended up being a cowboy this year. Judging from all the photos, there were quite a few very imaginative costumes. There seems to be a theme going on as well. Take a look at all the photos here.

Random Labor Day Video Clips

Labor Day on Ichetucknee River 2008

We had a great time Labor Day weekend with the Emerson's. They invited us to their house on the Ichetucknee so we went down Sunday morning and came home Monday night.

We packed alot of fun into those two days we spent there with them. Shannon said the river was much higher than usual due to tropical storm Faye. Because of that, we had the pleasure of seeing lots of Manatees come right up to their property where they swim. Once there were 8 manatees there at one time. The kids had fun swimming with them and taking photos with my camera underwater.

It took awhile, but JT finally got to touch one. I told him I've never swam with them, much less touched one before so he was pretty lucky.

JT had a few firsts this weekend besides swimming with the manatees. He drove a golf cart, swung off a rope swing into the river and jumped from a high platform into the river. You can tell from the photos he had a great time. I don't think the smile ever left his face.

Tim and I had a great time too! Thanks Shannon, Derek, Zach, Jacob, Josh and Mia for a fun and memorable weekend with friends! Also, thanks to Becky (Shannon's mom) for giving up her bedroom for us for the night!

Happy Birthday America!

It was a pretty quiet day around here this Fourth of July. We were invited to a friend's house from church for a cookout. Besides us, there were quite a few other couples from church & Emmaus, including KD & Bobby. JT had a couple of teenagers to play with in the pool, so he had a good time. It was nice spending time with people from church and getting to know them better.

When we got home Tim and I just wanted to relax and watch TV. JT really wanted to go to the fireworks downtown so at the last minute we decided to head out. We left the house 20 minutes before the show was supposed to start. I didn't think JT was going to be able to stay awake long enough to get there.

Fortunately, we were able to park at Fidelity where Tim works. By the time we got there, carried our chairs out on the lawn and sat down, it was 9:45 pm and the fireworks started. Less than 15 minutes later they were over and we packed up and left. Since I'm used to going way early to find a place to park and a place to sit, being there just 15 minutes felt like it just wasn't worth the trip. I should have just been thankful to have a place to park and not have to hang out too long. JT barely sat down in the truck and fell asleep immediately.

I was glad we went though. I have memories of fireworks from when I was a kid and I don't want JT not to get to experience them enough to have good memories.

JT's Summer Activities

With JT being on Summer break, I've been trying to keep him busy so he doesn't get too bored and doesn't spend too much time watching TV.

So, for the week of June 9 - 13th, he spent the mornings at Karate Camp learning about pressure points and self defense. Since he spent 15 hours training during the week, he earned an extra belt advancement, which brought him up to a Purple belt. Below is a video of him showing some of his new self defense moves on the 13th during testing.

The following week, June 16 - 20th, JT went to "Power Lab" Vacation Bible School at our church. (He also decided this week that he wanted to get a buzz cut. So, that's him with no hair in the bottom left corner of the following photo. He quickly decided he really didn't like it so I don't think he'll be asking for a buzz cut again anytime soon!) He had a great time at VBS as usual.

The following Friday, June 20th, was normal graduation time for Karate and he had earned moving up a belt. Since he received his Purple belt already, he tested for his Blue belt. Needless to say, he's pretty excited about being a Blue belt already. Below is a photo of him during testing just before he broke the board. You can tell from his face he is very serious!

The following week, June 23 - 27th, JT went to "Rainforest Adventure" Vacation Bible School at the Presbyterian church where his friends Joseph, James & Jacob go to church. This is his 3rd year going to VBS there and he loves it there too. Plus, I get 15 hours of childcare for $18!

Today, the Cub Scouts went to the IMAX theater at World Golf Village to watch the documentary on Antarctica. Then afterward, they went to a nearby park and cooked out and had some fun. I wasn't able to go because I had an Emmaus team meeting all day getting ready for the July walk.

Now that June is over, it's time to start looking at what's happening in July. So far he has Music Camp at church for one week and sleep away camp in Leesburg, Florida for one week. Stay tuned for more!