Weedon Island

What a packed weekend we had. I have to upload a million photos from Gasparilla but I don't have the time yet. I hope to get to it later on today....but here is what we did yesterday :)


We took the kayaks out at Weedon Island with our friends Matt and Sarah. Of course my camera died pretty quickly but I did manage to get some photos.

We didn't get there until around 3pm. The sun was mostly out and it was beautiful.


We saw lots of rays and some of these guys as well. I saw an even bigger one than this but I couldn't reach it from the kayak.



It was a beautiful afternoon....we had a peaceful end to a very fun weekend, which I will tell you more about in the next post. Hope your weekend was enjoyed as well!

Tomato Love

Dear Tomatoes and Tomato growers,

I love you.

This is a recipe I have made before and it is Ina Garten's from Barefoot Contessa. I believe they are called Scalloped Tomatoes.

It is so awesome. I serve it on top of chicken but you could eat this all by itself believe me.

So you need 2 1/2 lbs. of plum tomatoes to start.


Then you need 1 1/2 C of crunchy french bread cut into little cubes. Toast them up on the stove in some olive oil.

Chop up the tomatoes and mix them in a bowl with 2T sugar and some salt and pepper.
Add them to the french bread croutons (Med/High heat).

Cook that up for about 5 min. Take off the heat and add about 1 C slivered fresh basil. (It may only call for 1/2 C, I can't remember...but more can't hurt!)

Pour into a casserole dish and top with fresh grated Parmesan (or whatever you have).

Bake it at 350 for 25-30 min or until the tomatoes are bubbly.

Then eat it up before you have to share it with everyone!

Skyway Adventure

So husband and I decided that since we both had no plans or special ideas for the weekend that we needed an adventure.

We both wanted to kayak but it turned out to be way to cold and windy for us to do that so...we decided to drive up to the Skyway bridge and maybe do some fishing and some cooking (I always have to eat).

We drove to the pier but they wanted like a million dollars for us to fish from it and we just weren't sure that the fishing would be good anyway. PLUS it was miserably cold and windy.

So we found a spot we could hang out near the bridge.


And husband cooked us up some bratwurst.


And I stayed in the car because I would freeze to death if I got out. (See my deadliest catch sweater?)

It was a fun adventure but next time I want it to be super hot outside so we can catch fish and hang out in the water. Basically all we did was eat food in the car and then drive home...ha ha oh well.

My Honeymoon Finds

Here are some of the shells I found the other day. I actually found quite a variety and it was fun all over again getting them cleaned up.

A few olives, some moon snails...


Lots of fighting conchs. They are everywhere but I can't resist some of their colors. And you can't see these in the photos but I also found some little cones and a worm snail :)

I know this post is just for the shellers out there but hey, I am one of them so I can't help it!

Stormy Shelling

This morning I got up bright and early to go shelling on Honeymoon Island with my boss Kelly and our friend Linda. It was rainy but that didn't stop us! We spent a few hours there and every one found something special.

Here is my bucket. They are soaking on the porch right now. I found some little guys that I will have to show you when I sort them all out.

Some of Kelly's amazing finds.

Can't wait to go again!

Another Disney Adventure

Last weekend we finally got to visit our friends the Yonfas, in Orlando.
We pretty much always head to Disney when we are over there because it is so awesome and we happen to be FL passholders :)

Albert had a great time playing with my new lens. I will have to tell you all about that later but it is awesome!
He took this picture below of the stars of Tangled....I have no idea where this was.


We tried to take this picture together but our height differences are drastic.


Here Carolyn and I are probably walking back from the restroom...


Pirates is a must!

We got to be in the show on the backlot tour. Very special.





Love this photo Albert took of a Mickey balloon.


We love walking the boardwalk.


Husband with the Main Street Indian.



Love this saucy look Carolyn!



Epcot.

Here is a game Disney fans. Its called: Where are we in Disney?
I know a couple of people who will participate in this but maybe I will be surprised....do you know where we are here?

And here?


And here?


????
This one should be easy...?


How about here?


Sunday we were of little help to our friends who are moving. They are moving into an awesome house which is not quite ready yet. But husband and I cannot wait to play with them there!

Here are the boys painting the apartment back to its original color.

And poor Blondie - she had to chill on the porch because she wanted to help too much.


Hope your weekend was great too. More adventures to come this weekend...

The Last of 2010

OK folks...it only took me about a year to get a post up but here it is. Christmas 2010.

This year we were home in South FL for Christmas with my side of the family. We had a great time just being home with everyone.


This is my mother's nativity. My grandmother painted it and my grandfather made the creche.



On Christmas Eve Husband poured us some champagne :)


Here is some of the family before Christmas Eve Mass. We are always missing some...



Brittany did a lot of baking.

She made these awesome white chocolate lollipops.

Practicing my photo skills on mom and dad's Christmas tree.


Christmas morning brought us lots of presents. Here is my pops looking at the photo album I made for him and mom.


Mom opening her gifts.
Husband and I were really proud of the gift we got Brittany. She had been looking for this fenton three tiered candy stand for a long time and we found one!

Here she is about to discover this awesome gift.






See? Pretty huh? (I think we actually were more excited than she was lol)

Notice the knock hockey game behind the tree? I got that a few years ago and every time I am home for Christmas we go crazy playing it. It's hilarious.

After presents the girls start cooking and the boys do this.


Mom and Teresa starting on a pie I believe.


On to New Years....

We had a few friends over to celebrate the New Year with us this year. We had quite the feast for 6 people!

Jen and Alan came from afar to play with us.

Matt and Sarah did not...

Don't they all look cute?!


I still have a bunch of pictures to go through so there is more to come. Have a great week family and fellow bloggers.