Gone Fishin'

Dad and I had been scheming about a potential adventure for just us - not that we don't enjoy every single moment with the other members of the family, just sometimes it is nice to get away in a smaller setting. So Boca Grande, FL here we come. I'm driving so that Dad (RBDJr.) can work. It is raining - hard. It was like a monsoon. I hate driving in the rain. I turn into a white knuckled, scared granny who has lost all sense of sight. We got there and it stopped raining - that's the important stuff.

I think sometimes people (in general) forget what most of the Sunshine State looks like. It's not all Panama City Beach, South Beach, Old People, and Disney World. Most of the state is pretty beautiful. I'm partial to the marshlands that line the feeders just before you get to the ocean. RBDJr and I sat outside to enjoy a glass of wine and watch the sun set. Later that night we walked 5 minutes to the restaurant and met up with our fishing guide L and her friend R. A scorpion also dined with us.

It took us a little while to catch some bait using some interesting combination of chicken-by-the-sea and oatmeal mixed with salt water. Probably didn't help that the cast net was a 12 footer and the tallest person on the boat was 6ft. Even though I really wanted to help ( i like casting) I thought it best to just watch the sun come up. Eventually we we out to buy bait -- also an interesting experience. Old man in the overalls, no shoes (obviously) and a Merlin beard watched us for a few minutes and then immediately started flirting with our guide. I got a little uncomfortable and looked away -- its a good thing I did! As we loaded bait into the live well, a giant egret swooped in and made a pass at the little fishes.

The seas were not friendly that day -- at least not to us. We caught snook, a trout, a redfish, and a catfish. When I say "we" I mostly mean RBDJr, although I was successful with the small snook and catfish. Both dad and the guide were anxious to have me catch a giant one. So much so that when I failed to set the hook correctly, or failed to notice that my bait was dead, I felt as if I had let them down. I wasn't upset; most of the time I like just being on the water. The bonus of all your catching being finished in the morning is that most restaurants in the area will cook your catch. Fried redfish that was swimming in the salty sea a couple of hours ago and an ice cold beer is the best lunch ever.

I love getting to hang out with dad. I love the water. I love sunshine. Being back in Florida has been good for me. Would I have liked to catch more fish? Duh. But watching and laughing with Dad when the guide parked the boat overnight underneath a chain blocking someone else's slip, or when we phoned a friend for a combination to a lock and then discovered we didn't need it. Fishing got rained out Sunday and instead of taking our time and relaxing more, we raced home to see the kiddos, ready to resume our Aunt T and Grand-dad roles.

(ps. this picture transfer from the phone didn't work out that well - will figure that out before the next post)

Chronic Style

In case I haven't forwarded you guys the blog created by my friend Katie, here you go: http://www.chronicstyle.com/. 

It is a must read. She's a strong, powerful, resilient woman in the face of many obstacles. For those of us with chronic health issues, or just those of us (me included) who think two weeks is a miserably long time to have a cold, Katie is an inspiration. Have I mentioned she is fun and funny too?

Every day is a good day; especially when you get good health news. 

If I post a video from my phone, will it work?

P man LOVES to swim. LOVES.

The answer is no. Bummer. Until next time, some pictures from my phone.

L family staycation

As usual there are lots of things I have yet to blog about so pretty soon I am going to stop talking about it - and for now the most recent blog worthy adventures happened last week while we stayed at home on vacation. B is starting his new job on Monday so we explored what we could of central Florida.

Stop #1: Deleon springs, fl home of ponce de Leon's fountain of youth. Here we ate breakfast at a make your own pancakes place in an old sugar mill. P man LOVED IT, pancakes are his favorite breakfast food and he took flipping and serving them very seriously. After our delicious P pancakes we walked around a bit wanting to rent a canoe to look for alligators and manatee but there was no life vest small enough for baby L so we settled for swimming in the 72 degree fresh spring. P and B were brrrr but had fun swimming in the "dirt" as P said since it was a natural spring with a sand floor. It stays the same temperature year round so we will definitely be making a trip back this summer.

Day 2: Downtown Disney. This trip was a little bit of a bust - it sprinkled rain on us most of the more so the train and carousel were not running but we hopped on the boat to take us around and P and L both enjoyed watching for other boats, going under bridges and dancing to the music. We stopped at "port Orleans" which made me jealous of Aunt T who is spending the weekend in NOLA for jazzfest. I am sure she will tell you all about it soon.

Anyway, we played on the playground and then decided to call it a day so we could make it back in time for P's nap attempt :)

Oh! That morning we also has swimming lessons - P is a swimming machine now and will swim completely on his own from one side of the pool to another, it's pretty amazing. Again, maybe T will post since she has the video. L doesn't have swim lessons anymore...my heart couldn't take it so we will try again in late June.

No pictures of day 2...

Day 3: the big finale.... SEA WORLD!!!

Yay yay rushed home from Gulf Breeze to help us with little L at sea world- they have a promotion going you pay for the day and get a pass for the yet. Definitely a good deal, especially for the summer. We saw sea lions, sharks, manta rays, turtles, and obviously the big Shamu show. P made a special friend in Shamu's happy harbor and B and I got a 10 minute date on the manta roller coaster ( side note: before the babes we went to six flags with Lockheed Martin...still ranks in the top top top of fun days together, we love roller coasters).

All in all, success! And we do not feel like we need a vacation from our vacation. Life is good. Still house hunting, but not that hard, summer will be good at a house with a pool.