Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Father's Day Recap

We had such a nice Father's Day weekend with my dad. My parents and 2 of my sisters came up to Tampa to spend the weekend with us and celebrate our father.

Saturday Husband took dad to the range to shoot some clay. I think they were both pleased with this idea of fun.


By the way, I did this the prior weekend with Husband and it was really fun. It's like a way bigger version of Duck Hunt.

That evening we went to the Ray's game. We played the Marlins and we won!

Brittany and mom are so cute in blue.


Teresa got a ball at the end of the game from a Marlin!

And Sunday we took it easy with church, lunch and relaxation by the pool.

I hope you all enjoyed your weekend with your fathers, I certainly did.

This weekend I have a surprise...well I can't keep a secret actually so, anyone following the Casey Anthony Trial out there? I am and I am headed over to Orlando this weekend where I will attempt to be a member of the audience on Saturday! Wish me luck and feel free to let me know how you feel about the case. I will talk to any and everyone about it!

Monday, June 13, 2011

Sarasota, Longboat Key, Bradenton Beach

We had a fun and full weekend here on the West Coast. I hope you did too!
It is our goal to explore Florida as much as we can and this weekend we did a little bit of that.
Husband and I headed to Sarasota on Saturday to check out their annual craft fair and swim in the beautiful blue-green water.



There were pretty flowers, lots of art work and crafts for me to look at.
I didn't take many photos though because I thought I might get in trouble with the artists!

My major purchase was an ice lemonade and these camera and sunglass cases.
It was really hot.

These are so cute though and I am inspired to make some nautical and sea life cases of my own.

We then headed North along the beach to find us a nice spot to play in the water.

We stopped at Bradenton beach right next to the bridge leading to Longboat Key.



The bridge went up a few times for these lucky folks with boats.


We sat out here for a while.

And we came across quite a few critters.
Lots of olive shells were digging themselves into the sand to avoid being dried out in low tide.

And these guys were everywhere. It looks like a picture of rocks right? That's what we thought they were at first, but upon further inspection...


We found that they were buried ghost crabs!

Tons of them. Everywhere.


We rustled a few up. Just for fun ;)



We found some pretty shells with critters in them of course.

This one is for my boss. I know she is gonna love the color of this one - I don't think these are too easy to come by but he was still alive!! Darn it.


It was a lovely area to swim and explore.


Next we went on a bike ride.

And explored a bit of Longboat Key.
We read about the first homes on the island.

I love this crab on their house.


We came across some peacocks.



This guy was trying to impress these lady peacocks. They thought little of his show.


And we ended our adventure with a nice dinner on the water at Mar Vista.


We had to sit outside. Look at this view.

The trees were beautifully lit.

The food was spectacular.
Husband had the grouper sandwich.


I had the tots. Yes these were called tots on the menu. They were a delicious combination of potatoes, onions and cheesy goodness with a chipotle dipping sauce.



We walked out on the dock before we left.



A perfect end to our mini adventure on Saturday. I hope your weekend was fun-filled as well. Enjoy your Monday everyone.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Gifts

Last week, Husband surprised be with a Dyson Animal vacuum cleaner!
We have been discussing a new vacuum cleaner for quite some time now, and this is what I requested, but I did not know we were able to get one yet.
Husband found a deal and here we are.

Now some women may think a vacuum cleaner is not a good gift but to me it is the perfect gift! I am allergic to dust and I know this vacuum will help me feel better every day.
Plus, it's purple, my favorite color! Thank you husband - I love you.


Monday, June 6, 2011

Lillian's Graduation

My Niece graduated from PreK!! She is so cute and I am so proud. I wish I could have been there but I know I will see her and her big brother real soon.
Congratulations Tiny Girl!!






She looks so smart!


Mom and kids :) Miss you guys.

Photos by Daddy.

Back to Caladesi

We love Caladesi. Can you tell? You can only get there by boat or kayak so there usually aren't too many folks over there. The water was crystal clear this weekend.





We went with our buddies Matt and Sarah. They have been dating a year now. Congrats love birds!

We always encounter some wild life. We saw many birds, some horseshoe crabs, a little sting ray and 2 dolphins! We got real close to them in our kayak. I loved it!





As I was heading into the water to cool off, I saw this guy fluttering by in the water.
He is a baby ghost crab I believe. Doesn't he look just like a spider? I would never touch a spider but somehow if it comes from the ocean it's no big deal lol.


Matt and Sarah are enjoying their new, very cool kayak.

I found a few shells, not as many as usual but that's ok ;)

We had a great trip and none of us really got sunburned at all. I think we are all proud of that!