Friday, June 27, 2008

this week - Bear Camp and other Cub Scout activities


This week was mostly geared toward scouts...

Saturday afternoon we went to the Pack's June family activity. We met at Blue Springs Park, played games, visited and ate snacks everyone had brought to share. The kids spent a lot of the time on the merry-go-round and slides at the playground.

Bright and early Sunday morning, Brad and Alec met our den at the church and headed out for Bear Camp. It was at Camp Naish starting Sunday morning and going through Monday afternoon. They did activities that included woodworking, leather working, archery, BB guns and water play. They called Sunday night at 9:40 and both sounded very tired. But they agreed it was a 'good' tired and they were ready for a good night's sleep.

Meanwhile, back at home, Jason and I didn't do anything too exciting. I drug him to Linens and Things to check out their 'going out of business' sale. No great bargains yet. I could have gotten a greater deal using coupons but they no longer allow them. Oh well. Jason survived that and we went to the mall for a little while. We didn't do much there but eat in the food court and walk around a little bit. Neither of us knew what we wanted to do so we came back home. I mowed the lawn and Jason goofed off.

Monday was even less exciting. I cleaned out the fridge and went to the grocery store. Jason kept asking when Alec would be home. He's lost without his little buddy.

Brad and Alec arrived home around 5:30. They said they had a good time at camp. I wish they had taken a camera. I will have to get some pics from one of the other scouts.

Tuesday was back to work for Brad and I. Brad found out he was moving to a different team and is going back downtown. He was very happy about this. There had been a lot of 'issues' with his current team.

Tuesday night - one last scout activity for the week. This one was just for me though. I had to attend the day camp parent meeting. It was fine but lasted too long. Day Camp is coming up in couple of weeks. I am going to go with Alec on Monday and Friday. The other 3 days are covered by other parents. I think he prefers it when I don't go. Oh well - he is stuck with me for 2 days anyway.

That's about it. Wednesday and Thursday were just work (me and Brad) and play (the boys). Brad and I did go buy a new color laser printer last night. I am kind of bummed though that my ink jet photo paper will not work in it. It just comes out as a big smear. Guess I will have to go buy laser photo paper. I did not know there was a difference.

Until next week.........

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Back to our routine

We have been home a week now and are back into our summer routine.

Taryn and Brady came down on Friday. It was nice that Brad had at least 4 of his kids with him on Father's Day. We missed Michael.

They went home on Sunday and took Hunter with them. He is going back to South Dakota to start his summer job at the grocery store deli. It was really great he could stay for a few weeks and go on vacation with us.

Brad went back to work on Monday and I did on Tuesday. The boys are just enjoying their summer vacation from school and being lazy.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Day 8 - Thursday 6/12

Time to go home....

Our flight from Tampa to Atlanta was delayed so we had to run through the Atlanta airport to catch our connecting flight. We barely made it.

In the Tampa airport



But we did make it, had a good flight to KC and even landed 15 minutes early.

It was a wonderful vacation. It is definitely one of my favorite vacations we have ever been on. Although it is always nice to come home - I could have easily stayed there for another week!

Day 7 - Wednesday 6/11

Our last full day.
Today we went on Dolphin Racer cruise. The Dolphin Racer is a large speedboat that creates a wake that dolphins love to surf in. We saw 2 baby dolphins as well as several other adult dolphins. We saw 3 of them surf in the wake of the boat. It was fun and interesting. Unfortunately I couldn't get any good pictures of the dolphins. My camera is not fast enough.

The Dolphin Racer


The boys on the boat



There really are dolphins in there somewhere.



We had a nice dinner at the Hurricane. We went all out for our last night with drinks, an appetizer (gator bites), dinners and desserts all around.

The Hurricane



After dinner we went across the street to watch the sunset.

Brad and his souvenior glass


Alec


Jason


Hunter

Day 6 - Tuesday 6/10

More swimming



All you can eat crab legs R Bar



Another beautiful evening





With a few storm clouds thrown in

Day 5 - Monday 6/9

Today we decided to drive to Venice Beach. It is about 1 hour south of St. Pete.
When I had been to Venice Beach about 20 years ago - the entire beach was covered in shells. There was very little visible sand. You could search through the shells and find shark's teeth. I thought the boys might enjoy that.
Unfortunately, things can change a lot in 20 years. The beach was nothing like it used to be and had few shells. There wasn't even the possibility of finding shark's teeth.
We did pick up a few shells and then headed back to St. Pete. I was kind of disappointed but it was still a nice day. We ended up buying a couple of shark teeth necklaces back in St. Pete.

The guys on Venice Beach


It stormed on our way back from Venice but Monday evening turned out to be very nice. The boys went for an evening swim in the pool and Brad an I went for sunset walk on the beach. There was a nice cool breeze and it was just a nice, peaceful evening with a beautiful sunset. And rainbow too! No stress, no rush, no worries - just peaceful. I don't know what other word to use to describe the feeling.

The sunset


The rainbow


Just a cool sand castle we saw on our walk

Day 4 - Sunday 6/8

Lazy Sunday just sunning, swimming and relaxing.



We had a late dinner at the Middle Grounds Grille. Jason and Hunter said they liked it the best of all the restaurants we had been to.



Day 3 - Saturday 6/7

On Saturday we decided to take the shuttle to 'The Don". While staying at the Beach House Suites - you have full privileges at the Don Cesar Beach Resort which is a 1/2 mile or so down the road. There are more amenities at 'The Don" including 2 pools with complementary sunscreen and ice cold water to drink, fitness center, spa, shops, restaurants and a lobby with lots sitting areas in which you can relax.
Brad and boys went down awhile before I did to use the fitness center. Alec and Jason said they felt famous when they got out of the shuttle at the Don with so many people greeting them and opening doors for them.

The large pink hotel has been a landmark in St. Pete Beach for many years.

Day 2 Part 2 Still Friday

Later in the afternoon we went to the Pier in St. Petersburg. The outside was interesting to look at. It is shaped like an upside down pyramid. On the inside - we really didn't find much to do. We looked around the shops they have and bought 2 t-shirts and beach bag. Then we went to the top and looked at the view. There is a small aquarium on one of the floors but we opted to not go through it. I guess I am glad we went but it is not someplace I need to ever go back to.

The Pier


A hurricane simulator that the boys tried out.



View from the top of the Pier


For dinner we went to Silas' Steakhouse near our hotel. Brad and I got the Hurricane Eva which was really good. The boys got sirlion steaks. They were not so good - very fatty. The service was very slow. I would probably go back for the Hurricane Eva - which is a Filet Mignon topped with crab meat (or shrimp I can't remember which) and Bearnaise sauce.

It rained most every evening we were there.



But it made for beautiful sunsets!

Day 2 Part 1 - Friday 6/6

It rained pretty hard overnight but we awoke to a beautiful day on Friday.



We sat on the balcony for awhile, read the paper, drank coffee and just enjoyed the view.




Then it was time to go swimming. Which is what the boys did most of the day.





Unfortunately sunburns were involved. Sunscreen was applied but apparently not often enough.


Ouch!

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Day 1 - Thursday 6/5


We left KC the morning of June 5. We had a short layover in Atlanta and then flew on to Tampa. We arrived around 4:00pm Eastern time. We rented a van and drove to St. Pete Beach. We went swimming shortly after we arrived. Both in the ocean and the pool. The water was a bit lukewarm in both.
After swimming for a bit we got dressed and went out to dinner at P.J's Seafood Restaurant. It was good - but not great.
We had a small kitchen in our room so we decided to do a little grocery shopping after dinner. We stocked up on breakfast, lunch and snack food, for the week, at the local Publix.
Everyone was pretty tired from the travel - so the rest of the evening we just hung out (I think - I can't remember completely).



Florida

We recently returned from a week's vacation in St. Pete Beach, Florida. It was wonderful!
We stayed at the Don CeSar Beachhouse Suites. It was a nice place. The staff were all very helpful and efficient. We were on the 4th floor overlooking the the Gulf Of Mexico. The view was beautiful.
The 'we' I am referring to in this trip includes - Me, Brad, Hunter, Jason and Alec.

It's been awhile.....

I originally started this blog in 2006 to record our summer adventure to Nevada, Arizona and California. It was fun to go back and read. I thought I might add to this blog and rename it Our Life. Probably not too many people will have an interest in reading it - but that's okay. It is for us and a way to record the events of our little life.

More later....

Happy Father's Day to my dad, hubby, father-in-law, brother and step-son.