Hello again folks…well, a lot has happened since I checked in last, so this is a biggie! The past three weeks have been all about vacation! The week leading up to it dragged by – in anticipation of what was to come; the week of it flew as we enjoyed every moment of it; and the week after it dragged again – mourning what was now in our past and wishing we could go back right now… As always, our weeks have been crazy. The week before vacation, Matt had practice each night and then finished up his wrestling season on that Thursday with a home meet. They won for the third time this year to close out a disappointing season. In mid week, I got news that one of my best friends, Mark Crum, had become a father! Congrats buddy!! That Friday, Ann took off early to run Matt back to the doctor and have his ankle re-evaluated. The good news was that he could get out of the boot and begin track season! The bad news is that he wasn’t cleared to do free style wrestling; so he had mixed feelings. Abby continued to practice her two dances on Monday & Thursday…and is nearly ready for competitions. We attended her Family Fun Night on Tuesday, where her class sang three songs and then we ate. This time, we didn’t have supper (a cost-cutting measure), but instead just had desserts. As for Luke…he must’ve asked us four or five times each day if we were leaving for vacation “when we get up.??? J The owner and instructor of Abby’s dance studio (Dixon Dance) forwarded me an advanced copy of the soundtrack to this years’ revue. She asked me to fix all the sonic differences between the songs. So, I re-equalized and normalized not only Abby’s tracks but the entire soundtrack. I submitted it to her before we left; but I’ve not heard any feedback yet, so I hope she liked it…
Only an hour or so after Matt got the boot off, I got home from work and immediately began cleaning the car and packing up our goodies. We had a lot less than we did when we drove down to Panama City Beach in ’06. We left somewhere around 4 pm and headed towards Florida to see Grandmaw & Grandpaw Bryan. It took us about 17 hours to get down to Largo, stopping for dinner (& restrooms/gas) on the way. I drove about 12 hours and Ann relieved me the other 5. It is an easy drive; we head over to Cincy on I-74 and catch I-75, taking that all the way down to just outside of St. Pete – about 10 minutes from our destination. The Pacifica held up pretty well, overall. She got a little hot on the way down, as I was doing 80 through the (still snow covered) mountains of TN, pushing her pretty hard. J When we got down there, it was about 9 in the morning. We had fun catching up with Mom & Dad before going out to eat at one of their favorite family joints, a local neighborhood pizzeria. We finished up eating that late lunch / early dinner and decided to hop in their pool at their “retirement coach community,??? called Down Yonder. J It is actually a very nice set up. The grounds are immaculate and the facilities are very clean. I think Mom said you have to be 55 or older to live out there, so they are one of the youngest couples out there… We enjoyed the pool for several hours and stayed in even after it was supposed to close. By that time, we were exhausted. I enjoyed a quiet moment in the hot tub before we slowly made our way back and we all crashed-out early…and hard! Matt & Luke got to have a camp-out on Mom & Dad’s screened-in back porch all week, which they thought was pretty cool (and Abby was jealous of)… We were starting to miss our puppy Lola already, and low and behold, Gigi sent us a picture she took of her in the back yard when checking on her. Grandma & Gigi were gracious enough to come over and play with her each day. In fact, Lola even received a couple of play dates with Max & Charlie (a couple of their dogs)!
We were slow to get up the next day, and after lounging around the house for a few hours, we decided to hit the beach. So, we drove over to their condo on Treasure Island. Luke was amazed at the draw bridge. J Even though it is a time share, they are able to use the facilities at anytime! So, we had parking, restrooms, a pool, private beach and perfect weather for our first trip back to the Sand Pebble in many, many years. It looked the same, with a few upgrades. The kids loved the beach and we spent all day out there. Wouldn’t you know it; I bought a special 200 gram Wham-o Frisbee for the trip and on the darned second throw, it flew way in to the gulf and sank…never coming back. L Man, I was bummed! The water was a little chilly, at 70° – which kept the old folks out, but not the kids and I! J For a late afternoon snack, Dad took us to a little ice cream shack a few hundred feet up the beach. It was perfect, eating our ice cream and walking on the beach. The funniest part was Luke chasing after a great egret (or great heron?), which instantly reminded Ann & I of Matt doing almost the exact same thing ten years earlier in nearly the same exact spot (maybe a few hundred yards down the beach). It was cute when Luke gestured to Matt to be quiet as he crept up on the large bird. Afterwards, we enjoyed hunting for shells that evening, as the tide came in. We went back to Mom & Dad’s house in time to watch the launch of the Space Shuttle (at Kennedy Space Center) from their front yard. What a thrill!!
