Fun with the family...

Well Joaquin and Karen arrived... There was a surprise with their arrival. Pam came a weekend early and was able to go with us to my dad's property. This was also the first time I had been there.
We left straight from work on Friday. Dad and I were in the lead with the dog. Behind us was Jesse, Joaquin, Pam and Karen. Dad and I arrived at 6:45 and went to the store for beer and dinner. The others were only 30 min behind us so we waited for them on the front porch. Dark was approaching quickly so dad went out to find them.
The story goes like this... Joaquin was driving and not paying attention to the signs. The co pilot (Jesse) was also not paying attention. They passed the exit and were almost all the way into Georgia when dad called them. In the meantime they would not allow their mother to use the bathroom or stop for directions. I can't say for sure because I was not there, but I believe Pam.
All was well in the end and everyone made it there.

The next morning the guys put together an outdoor wood burning stove.
The dog (Capone) had the time of his life running around 5 acres.We got ourselves together and drove to Manatee Springs State Park. The drive was only 8 min from the property. It had clear blue water and was a cold 72 degrees. Jesse and I will be going back to do a little biking and canoeing for New Years.
We walked down a few trails before moving on to Cedar Key. We drove about 30 min to Cedar Key. It was amazing. This was Key West way back in the day before it became commercial. The rich have now turned it into a shopping nightmare and have taken away the Key West charm we all grew to love. I still like to go there, but it is not the way I will remember it growing up.... Ok enough rambling.
There were plenty of restaurants to choose from in Cedar Key so we decided on The Captain's Table. This one sat on a corner and gave us a great view of the ocean from all sides. The service was extremely slow, but worth the wait because the food was awesome!!

We walked around the island and hit a few of the gift shops before heading back.
We then hit the grocery store to prepare for the cook out and I called to see if my uncle was there at his property down the street. Jim and Val were there and came over to join us for a bit. I don't have to tell you how the rest of the night went so I will just put up the last picture for you to see. LOL !!

On the move for another adventure...

Jesse and I flew into Jacksonville to take a look around and see if it was a good place for living and working. Of course we headed straight to the beach to see if it's nicer than ours. Yes! Yes it was!! The beach was extremely well preserved. We grabbed a bite to eat at Joe's Crab Shack. The pigeons were very aggressive and landed on the table to grab the rest of our meals.

We drove along the beach and there were miles and miles of untouched land. It's what Florida should be instead of hotels and condos. So as we drove even further down the road we got to Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve where people were fishing and there were lots of hiking trails to explore. We were not dressed for the occasion but could not pass up the opportunity for a short hike. The hike ended at the Intra-coastal Waterway. It looked nothing like south Florida. It was untouched nature at it's best. We made our way to St. Augustine and met up with Wendi and Chris for some shopping at the outlet malls. After 3 hours of hard shopping we ate dinner at the Raintree Cafe. The food was great and I had no room for dessert.

On Sunday we continued our journey on the west side of the highway and looked at a few towns along the St. Johns River. My favorite was San Marco where we walked around the square and looked at some nice houses!! Then on to Jacksonville Landings, which is like downtown Ft. Lauderdale on the river. There was a live band playing and people were out with their mothers for Mothers Day. We called ours of course. We then took one last drive to some of the islands surrounding the area before returning home.

Before I sign off... Some of you are slacking with your posts!! I don't need to name names... Good luck Rinah and Skyler on your trip. Try to keep us posted if you can with lots of pictures. Have a great time!!!

Key Largo Sunset

This weekend we decided to take a trip to Key Largo and go snorkeling. We started our journey early Saturday morning. I drove down there and it was pouring rain. Jesse was freaking out but all ended well with sunny skies in the keys. We ate some breakfast and asked about the happening spots. We snorkeled at John Pennekamp State Park. The water was perfect and the visibility was great. We ended up seeing a green eel that was absolutely beautiful and huge!! Then a little ways down we saw the biggest nurse shark. It swam around and rolled on it’s back playing in the sand. Oh yeah!! There were also little jelly fish floating in the water. We tried avoiding them but one got Jesse pretty good. Lucky for us we were not in Australia… The day went very well. We checked into our campsite (we had reserved the last spot) and started setting the tent up. This was a brand new tent and we had used it for our New Years trip. The pole broke and we tried rigging the tent to somehow sleep in. First of all the campsites were the worst we have ever seen and I can say with confidence we will never camp there again. You felt like you were sitting on your neighbor.

We took our showers and headed out for Happy Hour. The drinks were 2 for one at "Snooks" on the water. We ordered a plate of wings, drank beer and enjoyed the view. We were not there long after we were told there was a private party being held in an hour. So we paid and left to venture out. Next door to Snooks was "Bayside Grill". The restaurant was on the 2^nd floor. It was completely open with the best view. We ate some bread, escargo and garlic mussels for dinner. You could say it was an all appetizer night.

After sunset we returned to the campsite and looked at our sorry excuse for a tent and decided to drive home, only an hour and a half away……

Sunday morning we woke up, drank some coffee and decided to check out “Deerfield Island”. It was a lot nicer than I expected. There were great places to cookout with really nice trails. Hopefully we can get everyone together and plan a day trip when it’s cooler.

News coming soon...

Sorry guys we have been busy and really nothing exciting to tell. Just busy scrap booking and the only one that would appreciate that would be Karen. I will write more after our weekend away. Have a great weekend!!