An American Weekend

Hey Ya'll! I hope your Fourth was a blast!

We headed up to Daytona last weekend to visit family and to attend the Daytona Coke Zero 400. Wooohooo!
I had never been to a NASCAR race before and I loved it. Thanks again Uncle Bill!
I felt so American this weekend, and of course Husband was happy as a pig in you-know-what :)


We started out the race in the parking lot. Everyone there was very patriotic.


Husband and the girls pose on the bridge over to the track.

We walked around a bit and ran into #21 Trevor Bayne!
Husband tried to get his hat signed but there were too many fans.




Here I am arguing with an elderly woman about women and racing.
Of course women belong on the race track - especially if they are as awesome as Danica Patrick!

The boys had cigars.


And we looked at some cars.



Not sure what they are discussing here...



And then we walked through this tunnel to go see what was on the other side.


We checked out the track and then relaxed a bit while Martina McBride sang.


Brittany, Me and Mom pose in front of Trevor Bayne's car.

The Grandstand.




It was a long, hot day.


We headed to our seats.

And watched the loud cars go fast! Shake and Bake!!


I can't wait to go back!

Sunday we spent the day at my Aunt Carole's house eating and swimming and lighting things on fire.


Brittany looks cute with a cupcake.

Dad and Uncle.



Mom and T by the pool.


Aunt C.
Grandma and Mom.



Lorraine and Uncle Bill lovin the noodles.




It was a nice end to a great weekend. We had a wonderful Fourth of July and I hope you did too!

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!

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.