Spring Break 2011

For Spring Break we went to Tampa for the week. We had beautiful weather, low 80s for highs and no rain. Of course we came home to highs in the 50s, but I digress. We spent several days at the beach. It wasn't too hot and the water wasn't too cold. I had never seen St. Pete beach. It was okay but the beach was very shelly. We also went to Sarasota witch was another first for me. The beach there was gorgeous. The sand was soft powder. Parking was terrible though. I would hate to see it in peak season, and we were there on a weekday!

Lawson and Brantley went to see some spring baseball training. There is a ton of spring training going on in Florida. They went to see the Yankees vs. the Blue Jays. The Yankees won. I went shopping while the boys were at the baseball game. I found a Nordstrom Rack really close to the stadium and scored 2 pairs of shoes. Then I spent the rest of the time perusing the mall. I didn't find any stores that I don't have here so that was kind of a bust.

We also went deep sea fishing for the first time. I wasn't going to go because I thought I would get really sea sick, but I really wanted to see Brantley on his first fishing trip. So, I sucked it up and took a couple dramamine and hoped for the best. We got really lucky because there were very few people on the boat. Brantley was the only kid on the boat so he had a deck hand fishing with him the whole time. They made sure he caught lots of fish. As we were cruising out to our first fishing location they were trolling. They gave one of the poles to Brantley and he caught the first fish of the trip, a spanish mackeral. It was an ugly fish with teeth! We caught several red groupers but they had to be thrown back because they were not big enough to keep. They had to be 20 inches in order to keep them. We ended the day with 29 fish, most of which Brantley caught. He caught a couple of black sea bass and the rest I wasn't sure what they were. Other fish we saw or caught that had to be thrown back included a lizard fish (caught by me), a sea robin, a couple of puffer fish, and a shark sucker.

After we came back the deck hands cleaned our fish for us. The pelicans were at the doc waiting. They get all of the fish parts that are thrown away - easy food for them! There were also a couple of egrets and a heron there waiting some fish. One egret actually swooped down while the guy wasn't looking and swiped one of our fish fillets. Once cleaned, you can take some of your fish to the restaurant and they will cook it up for you. Brantley actually tried some of the fish, but decided he'd rather have a hamburger. At least he tried it!

On our last trip to Tampa we went to Busch Gardens. Brantley really enjoyed it so we went again this year. This year he was tall enough to ride everything (there were 2 roller coasters he wasn't tall enough to ride last time.) He wasn't brave enough to ride the 2 big roller coasters but rode most everything else. We also got to see kanagaroos for the first time. They are interesting looking animals. What stuck out to me was their back foot. It looked like a really long finger.

Thanks to Aunt Betty for putting up with us. She's always very gracious in letting us stay with her. And thanks to Aunt Faye for cooking us lunch while we visited Sarasota. Next time we'll have to spend a couple of days there!

Enjoy the pics (if you click on the slide show you should be able to flip through the photos and see some video clips)--

Vacation

I can't believe I have not posted in a month! July was pretty busy for us. But, summer is now over...school starts back tomorrow. We spent last week in Florida. It was hot and crowded everywhere! We went to the beach a couple times, Busch Gardens twice, and we went to Lowery Park Zoo. We also spent a lot of time in the pool at my aunt's condo. Lawson and Brantley got to go to a Rays game which was pretty cool.

I think Brantley's favorite part was getting wet at Busch gardens. Unfortunately, Brantley is 47 and a half inches tall (with shoes ;)). Had he been 48 inches, he could have gotten on a lot more rides. He did get to ride his first roller coaster, which I recorded with the video camera. Lawson is in charge of the videos, so I'll have to get him to post it. It was the scorpion, which I believe was the first roller coaster I ever rode. And, there were a couple rides that you could stand out side and get wet.

The thing I like about Busch Gardens is that it's also a zoo. We took the train around the Serengeti and this Rhino was so close to us, I thought he was going to charge us. They stopped the train so the Rhinos could move; they have the right of way. There was also a baby rhino that was just a couple months old.

Brantley is a total fish and loves the water. We swam a lot in the pool, and we did get in the ocean some. Here is my little surfer boy. (Click here to see the rest of our vacation photos.)

Time sure flies

We spent last weekend in Chicago and I'm just now posting about it. It was a big baseball weekend for Brantley. On Friday, he got to go to the cross town classic. For those that don't know, that would be the Cubs Vs. the Sox. It was at US Cellular Field which was nice since he has already been to Wrigley. Unfortunately, the Cubs lost. On Sunday, the boys went to see the Schaumburg Flyers. I guess that team is a couple steps below minor league. Brantley still enjoyed it and came home with an autographed ball. Who signed it? Who knows!

Thursday was Aunt Rosemarie's birthday, so we also got to celebrate her birthday with her and her family. She has a big Italian family and it's fun getting to know them. Rosemarie wanted to have a cornhole tournament, but the weather didn't cooperate so we were stuck inside.

The other highlight of the weekend was the Wii. Brantley had so much fun playing the sports games. He became a pro bowler in no time. Uncle Matt hasn't even achieved that status yet!

I didn't take many pictures, but here is one of the birthday girl with Matt, her mom, dad, and brother and a couple of the boys playing cornhole before the weather turned off bad.

Costa Rica

I uploaded pictures here and here. I had trouble uploading so many pictures and I don't think I got them all uploaded.

Our flight into Costa Rica was uneventful. We got a little turned around in the airport in San Jose, but it wasn't bad. Jorge picked us up and took us back to their condo so we could leave some of our luggage. He said he had the beach house ready and we would spend the weekend there. So, we packed up enough stuff for the weekend and headed for Puntarenas. It wasn't really that it was hot, just very humid. After the weekend at the beach house, we headed to Arenal. The Arenal Volcano has been active since it woke up in 1968 after 400 years of inactivity. It's really something to see. We didn't get any good night pictures, but some beautiful ones during the day. I would definitely recommend the Arenal Springs resort. It was really nice.

After two nights in Arenal, we headed to Monteverde. We took a Taxi Boat Taxi from Arenal to Monteverde which takes about 5 hours. If you don't cross the lake, it takes about 8 hours to get there from Arenal. Monteverde is very pretty. It's so high that you look down on the clouds and the clouds come in like fog. It's very cool to see. I managed to sprain my ankle there so I had to take it easy our second day there. The roads and sidewalks are terrible so be very careful if you ever visit Costa Rica.

After our two nights in Monteverde, we finished up our vacation just relaxing in Heredia. I even went and got a pedicure, even though I had a sprained ankle. I figured I deserved it. And, where else can I get a pedicure for $15.

The trip home was unreal. We got through security and everything in Costa Rica with no problem. We got to the gate about 45 minutes before we were supposed to board. Another plane was boarding and we watched one take off. It had started to rain, but the plane that had been boarding had started to taxi out only to be stopped. They closed the airport. CLOSED!!! No one could land, no one could take off. It wasn't very long before they told us the plane that we were supposed to get on had circled all that it could and would be diverted to Managua, Panama to refuel. It would be at least 5:15 before we would board and there would be no connecting flights for any of us in Miami. At his point everyone rushed the counter to start making arrangements. Luckily the nice family we were sitting with gave me the number for the hotel in the Miami airport and a calling card so I could call. After being herded around the airport, we finally got to on a bus to be taken to our plane. We ended up in Miami about midnight. It was good we got a room because we didn't get a flight back until noon on Monday. The next morning was a mess. Miami must be the worst airport I've ever experienced. We finally made it back to Nashville about 1:00 - only 14 hours late.

All in all, Costa Rica is a beautiful country. It's very mountainous and the vegetation is unreal. If you go, don't go expecting a cheap vacation, let someone else do the driving, and be careful on the sidewalks. Oh, my only other tip is make sure you wait until you get there to change you currency. Most every place takes dollars and you will get a much better exchange rate there.