July 31, PAD Challenge

Here is the last photo for my photo a day challenge that Heather over at House of Paper sponsored. I was hoping to make a spectacular ending to my album. But, alas, this is it!! LOL! Everyone in our family now owns a pair of these ugly shoes! They were wonderful to have on the cruise and for our beach vacation. Hose these babies off and you are good as new. Gaye, please don't barf!

July 30, PAD Challenge

Today Sarah insisted that I make a Capri Sun purse for her friend. It was her birthday a couple of weeks ago. We didn't have enough Capri Sun pouches to sew with at that time, so I had the kids drinking them for the past couple of weeks. I sure hope Monica enjoys her purse.

July 29, PAD Challenge

This is the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. I shot this while driving so it is not the best shot. I have so many memories about this bridge. When I was in high school a big ship hit the old Sunshine Skyway bridge during a very bad storm. The bridge collapsed and many people perished. Even a bus was on the top of the bridge when it tumbled into the water. It took years to rebuild this bridge to a bigger and better one. It is placed in the channel in a better position and also has a bunch of bumpers in case a ship goes astray. There is also a high wind warning system in place and they will shut the bridge if it is too windy.

July 28, PAD Challenge

Here is Chelsea sitting with Sarah in one of the hammocks out on the patio. Chelsea was content to swing back and forth like this for more than a half hour. We were surprised at that! The patio under the house is a fun place to hang out. There is a swing, hammocks and even a tv. It usually isn't too hot, either. The only bad thing is the mosquitos! They were pretty bad this year. They were eating Sarah and Daniel alive, even with insect repellent.

July 27, PAD Challenge

We went down to the pier tonight. The kids like to go to all the junkie shops and walk all around. Usually we end up with an ice cream cone, but tonight the Dairy Queen was closed. This also shows Bill sporting his new do!

July 26, PAD Challenge

I have a wonderful photo of Daniel with his sandcastle for today's photo, but who can resist a Pringles Duck bill?

July 25, PAD Challenge

We grabbed a last minute trip to Ft. Myers Beach for this weekend. I called my aunt and the weekend was available so off we went. I have been going to our family beach house since I was a kid....maybe 8 or so. One of the nice things is we are allowed to take Chelsea with us. She loves to go to the beach. She loves the water at the beach. The swimming pool, not so much! She doesn't like it when we leave for a bit. We leave this window shade up for her so she can look out the window. Every single time we come home, we have our Chelsea looking out the window for us.

July 24, PAD Challenge

Here is our main computer. It is really Bill's computer, but when he is at work, I can use it. Almost all of the iPhoto library is on this computer. It has more updated software and is much faster. It is very cool because what you see is the monitor/computer all in one, a wireless keyboard and mouse (maybe you can't see the mouse in this photo). I think the screen is a 27". I'll have to look that up. All I know is it seems large for the desk, but Bill is all about bigger is better. Whatever.

Correction: It is 24 inches. Honkin' BIG!

July 23, PAD Challenge

I feel like I am running out of things to take photos of each day, so here is a photo of my house. I realize now that I need to plant some new flowers because the last batch got fried. I will do that next week.

July 22, PAD Challenge

HERE'S CHELSEA! She was not really in the mood to have her photo taken today. She was suspicious. She kept thinking I was going to give her a treat. NOT! She smelled the camera. I finally got her to sit pretty. This is about as good as it gets.

July 21, PAD Challenge

Well, this is it. The complete awareness that vacation is over! The mountain of laundry. Actually, I took the photo is a bit late. What you don't see is the load that is already in the washer. AND the load of towels that still are not here in the laundry room. I need somewhere to stand, so they must wait.

July 20, PAD Challenge

Good bye Disney Wonder. It is sad to say goodbye. We luckily were assigned to the later breakfast seating. When we woke up, we were already in port. We even saw some folks already leaving the ship, but we were able to take our time. We had breakfast and then walked around a bit. The lines to leave and go through customs were a little bit long so we figured we really were in no hurry. We didn't have a plane to catch or anything else to do for that matter. We leisurely made our way down to the gangway and then through to find our luggage. The line to show our papers for customs was long, but moved pretty steadily. After that we walked to our car, which was in the first row, packed up and left. This photo is of the aft of the ship. I thought it was funny.
We picked up Chelsea on the way home and she was so excited to see us. She is settled back into her routine and I have a mountain of laundry to attack.

July 19th, PAD Challenge

We woke up today already docked at Disney's private island called Castaway Cay. Living in Florida, we are spoiled by beautiful beaches and have access to them at any time so we were not too excited about a beach day. BUT it was amazing. The water was beautiful and the weather was perfect. After breakfast, we made our way down to the beach. In the harbor, Disney's The Flying Dutchman ship, used in the Pirate's of the Caribbean movies was anchored. It was very cool looking. They have hundreds of chairs all positioned with umbrellas and amidst palm trees for natural shade. This was all at the family beach. There was a climbing structure in the water and Daniel took a few tries at climbing across the rope before they had to close it due to low tide. We rested in the shade, read our books, listened to music. Daniel went to his kids' activities for a bit and then joined us for lunch, which was a BBQ. He also ran down to watch the crab races which he thought were funny. Sarah and Daniel went over to the game pavillion and played pool, ping-pong, chess, shuffle board and basketball. Daniel found a treasure chest with coins, too. Bill and I walked around and Bill tried out a hammock which he fell out of.
After cleaning up, we went to the show of the evening and it was wonderful. Sarah was happy to finally see Cinderella, too. Dinner was at the Animator's Palace and dinner was wonderful. Bill and Daniel had the filet mignon, Sarah had Pasta alfredo and I had salmon. Yum!
After dinner, we needed to pack up our suitcases because they needed to load them up for our disembarkation. We had to have them in the hallway by 11 p.m. We all then went down to the movie theater to watch Wall-E. We went to bed late and were very glad that we had the second breakfast the next day.

July 18th, PAD Challenge

We woke up today coming into the dock at Nassau. It was fun to watch the landscape as we arrived sitting on our veranda. The Harbor Pilots are amazing and they come in a little boat right up to the side of the ship to pick him up. In the morning, Daniel wanted to go to his kids' activities while Bill, Sarah and I sat poolside. We got into the hot tub and enjoyed the sun and the relaxing air. After lunch, we decided to walk around Nassau a bit. It was hot! My knee was hurting so I was slow but we did get to go to quite a few stores. We got asked many times if we wanted a taxi or hair braiding which kind of freaked the kids out, but they quickly got used to the confrontation. We found a store called Del Sol that had products that change colors when exposed to UV light. A t-shirt and some nail polish managed to make it home with us.
After our stroll we made it back to the ship. The show on Friday night was Toy Story, The Musical. It was so cute and upbeat. Dinner was at Triton's. This was probably our least favorite menu. It was hard to pick something that we liked. Sarah did try ratatouille and Daniel tried escargot. Sarah liked the ratatouille and Daniel didn't gag on the snails, but he said he wouldn't crave them. LOL!
This was the night of the Pirates in the Caribbean deck party. Everyone got little bandanas and there was lots of dancing around on the deck. They covered the pool with wood and people danced all over the place. Something very cool that happened was they set off fireworks of the aft of the ship right there as we were moving along. Very cool! Sarah and I then found the dessert buffet and had some. Bill took Daniel to his kids' club and Bill decided to relax in the room.

July 17th, PAD Challenge

Today was the first day of our 3 day Disney cruise on the Disney Wonder. What an amazing ship! Our stateroom is wonderful and has a lovely veranda. We arrived at Port Canaveral with no problem. Unloaded our suitcases, Bill parked the car in the lot. Just happened to get a spot in the front row. I have a photo of the terminal with our car in it, too! We quickly got checked in and we were allowed to board the ship early. We explored every deck and got a lunch at the Beach blanket buffet. Wonderful, pretty food started right away. At 1:30 we checked out our stateroom. It was all set and our luggage showed up right away. We unloaded it all and explored some more. We had to do a mandatory safety drill complete with life jackets right away and then the ship took off. We waved at folks on the dock and then down the channel as we made it out to the open sea. A funny group of people at a restaurant on the way had Mickey Mouse hands on and were waving at us. Sarah and Daniel LOVED the ship's horn. It plays 'When you Wish Upon a Star' when it blows. We then went to the Good Bye party. It had to be inside because it was raining a bit. It was very crowded and we really couldn't see much, but the music was nice and they gave everyone a streamer thing to wave. Mickey, Goofy and Donald walked right by us and I got a couple of quick photos of them. We discovered snacks on the deck because our dinner was not scheduled until 8:15 p.m. The Golden Mickeys show was amazing. The entertainment on board was very similar to Broadway style shows. Our first night's dinner was at Parrot Cay. It was really good. I had a wonderful appetizer with grilled eggplant, tomatoes and fresh basil. Daniel and Bill had Crab Martinique appetizers. We each had something different for dinner. I had grouper, Bill had a mixed grill, Daniel had pork and Sarah had prime rib. Dessert was creme brulee cheesecake for me while everyone else had ice cream sundaes.
After dinner the kids checked out the kids' programs while Bill and I enjoyed some quiet time sitting on deck in the quieter adult section.

July 16th, PAD Challenge

I know that today's photo is almost the same as my banner, but I just made boiled peanuts last week and yum! Bill and the kids hate the smell of them cooking so I had to make them when they were all gone. They are easy to make.

Green peanuts
water
salt
Boil.

July 15th, PAD Challenge

This is a photo of a woodburning that Sarah did while at Grandpa and Grandma's house this past week. She has done one each year for the past three years, but this one has really caught my eye. She has developed great technique. She really enjoys doing this, too. Click on the photo to enlarge it and see the details that she put in this work of art.

July 14th, PAD Challenge

This might seem like a weird photo, but I wanted to remember something in the years to come that I might otherwise forget. Tweet! Tweet! That is what Aubrey would yell out as loud as she could when she saw a yellow car driving down the road. I asked her what the heck that was all about and apparently our friend Mark had made a little game for Aubrey because, poor thing, spent a lot of time driving here and there in the car. When you see a yellow vehicle, you can yell out Tweet! Tweet! and you get a point. It really wasn't a bad game and it did pass by the time on all those long trips to her school, visitations, etc. I took this photo today with great pride. Not only is it a Tweet! Tweet! It is a Yellow Punch Buggy, No Punch Back! I think that is worth double points!

July 13, PAD Challenge

Here is my photo for today. Daniel started being an altar server back in October of last year. He was scheduled for next weekend, but we needed to reschedule that. Unfortunately, today he was the only server to do the water and the wine and all of the other jobs, so he was a bit nervous. I am glad that the visiting seminarian helped Daniel out today. I am so proud of Daniel stepping up to do this important job at our church. Choir was not for him. This is a much better fit.

July 12th PAD Challenge

They're home! The boys just got back from a week at Boy Scout camp. They are dirty, tired and wet. They had a good time and Chelsea sure greeted them when they arrived home. I am still hearing stories that will be remembered for years to come. We are doing a mountain of laundry right now. This after unloading, showers and tick checks!

July 11, PAD Challenge

I got to have an night out with my friends, The FlaminGals. Friday night we got together at Heather's house. We had dinner, some wonderful drinks (courtesy of Amanda)..yum! And even did a little bit of scrapping. We also got to see Heather's daughter, Alyson's scrapbook that she has been working on and her son Stevie even shared his drawings with us. Her kids are so cute. We really need to try to get together a little more frequently.

July 10, PAD Challenge

Here I am at work. I figured that I don't typically have the camera with me when I go to work and I have very few photos of me in my working environment. So, here is one! I am working 1 day per week right now and would like to step it up a bit. This office is such a nice place to work. I do fill in for about 3 or 4 other offices when they have a temp. need, but Thursday's is always with Dr. Soliman.

July 9th, PAD Challenge

Sarah is now at Grandma and Grandpa's house for a visit. She will be there for about 5 days. I have a similar photo of her when she was 6 and had her first sleep over at their house. I will have to find it and do a comparison. Grandma is afraid that Sarah is now taller than her. She will have lots of fun. They have computers and she plans to work on some wood burning this time. Last year she made a huge quilt for her bed and it was a big project. I think Sarah might even talk Grandma into going shopping.

July 8th, PAD Challenge

Sarah and Megan are BFF (best friends forever). Megan just returned from two weeks in Europe and it about drove Sarah crazy. She couldn't call Megan or text Megan. They have known each other for quite a few years, but their friendship blossomed about a year and a half ago. They were in Girl Scouts together for a couple of years. They are in quite a few classes together and ride the same bus. This past year Megan joined Sarah at our dance studio, too. They have a lot of fun together and it is such an important thing to have a best friend.

July 7th, PAD Challenge

Wow! Look at that sky. That is the Tampa Bay area at 4:30 in the afternoon. It is quickly coming toward me and I can hear the thunder in the distance. This used to be a daily occurrence when I was a child. Every afternoon around 4 p.m. the storms would roll in and last about an hour or so. These past few years, the storms are less, but no less intense when they do occur. It is a good thing to get the rain. Our yard is getting crunchy.

July 6th, PAD Challenge

Well, my boys are off to their big summer Boy Scout camping trip. One week at Camp LaNoChe. Daniel has been looking forward to this for months and I think Bill is somewhat looking forward to it because he has so many fond memories of summer camp from his childhood. Bill is not looking forward to sleeping on an Army cot or living without AC for a week, but I think he will be fine. I can't wait to hear all about it and I sure hope someone takes some photos.

July 5th, PAD Challenge

This is one of my favorite places to shop. TARGET! Sarah went with me today to pick up the last minute camping items for the boys. Somehow she managed to talk me into a bathing suit top and we also picked up a birthday present for one of her friends.

July 4th, PAD Challenge

We went to the Rays game today and the Rays beat the Royals 11-2. Go Rays! We than made our way a little farther down into St. Petersburg to see the fireworks. We found a great place to park at the Bay Front Center and then walked across the street right across from the sailboat docks. As the sun went down, we enjoyed the breeze and the sunset. The breeze kept the bugs away and it wasn't too hot. The fireworks lasted about 25 minutes and we all got to say, 'Oooh', 'Awwww', 'Wow', and 'Pretty', many times.

July 3rd, PAD Challenge

So, this is where I have been spending lots of time recently. Physical therapy. My knee is feeling a bit better and next week I am actually going to try two days a week instead of three days a week.

July 2nd, PAD Challenge

Andrew is here! Daniel has been so excited for Andrew to come for a visit. Andrew moved away 2 summers ago and both boys really missed each other. Andrew's mom was coming to Ocala for a visit with her mother and we invited Andrew to come and visit us for a few days during her visit. Daniel was counting down the hours and apparently Andrew was, too. These two have picked up right where they left off two years ago. A lot of silliness going on here at our house today!

July 1st, PAD challenge

I am participating in a photo-a-day challenge on House of Paper. Today is the first day of the challenge so I cheated and I didn't take a photo. I handed the camera to Daniel while I was driving (well, I was actually not driving but getting ready to drive) and he snapped this one of me. Good hair day, huh?