Keeping in Touch

Ten Years

2009-07-12T03:46:00.000-07:00

Fourth of July

2009-07-05T06:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a bunch of fun! Tyler and I headed over to Ponce Inlet to meet up with my friend Dianna and her friend Lu Anna, and their kids to hang out at the beach. We headed over there pretty early because we knew it would be packed for the holiday. We were able to get a really good spot just a few feet away from the life guard. For me, it's a sense of security when we can have an extra eye watching out for us (I mean sharks). It was really hot, so we spent most of our time in the water. As we splashed around, so did the fish! All of these little silver fish were jumping in and out of the water all around us. It was as if they were trying to play right along with us. It was fun to watch the kids get excited over them. The kids had a great time boogie boarding, skim boarding, playing soccer, and pestering us adults to swim out to the sandbar with them. The sandbar was about 10 yards out from the shore. Tyler kept saying, "If Dad where here, we would already be out there." Which is true, Steve and Ty love to swim out pretty far to play in the bigger waves. There they stood in a row, Tyler, Bailey, Michael, and I forget the other kid's name. They were staring at me with this pleading expression on their faces. Well, I gave in and before I knew it they were already swimming towards the sandbar. I had to swim pretty fast to keep up with these kids! It took about five minutes to get there. Once I stood foot on the sand, I turned to see Dianna and Lu Anna waving at us. I was ready to swim back right away, and luckily the kids wanted to too. It was allot easier swimming back because we caught the waves coming back into shore. The kids were happy because they got to swim out to the sandbar and I was happy because I made it back alive! We hung out at the beach for a bit more, then headed home to clean up to get ready to for a BBQ over at Dianna's house. We had a great time at Dianna's house. We ate great food, watched the kids run around, and enjoyed fun conversation. Soon after the BBQ, we traveled over to the Port Orange City Center for fireworks. Despite it being really busy, we were able to set up our blankets in front of the field were they were shooting the fireworks from. It was exciting to be so close, because every time they shot one off we felt the ground tremble a bit. It was a great show and a great day. I'm hoping next year my hubby can be with us to enjoy the holiday. I'm so blessed to have such a hard working husband. We are definitely looking forward to going back to the beach where we exchanged our vows 10 years ago! Captiva Island here we come!!! I hope everyone had a great 4Th!!

New Camera

2009-06-18T16:11:00.000-07:00

As you know I've been on the search for a new camera. Well, I found one! Here is a link to all the specs I read before I went and bought it, and a couple of pictures I took.

Flowers Steve bought for me...

and a hibiscus flower right outside our apartment.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9250892&type=product&id=1218068108922

Another One Bites The Dust

2009-06-01T17:37:00.000-07:00

I went kayaking yesterday over in New Smyrna. I got into my kayak with a working camera, and got out with a broken one. I was brave to bring it along, but figured I would take the chance and hope that nature's elements wouldn't work against me taking pictures. I was wrong. My camera was soaked by the time the first few waves poured into the kayak. Anyway, I'm on the search for a new camera. I'll let you know what I find.

Hair

2009-05-26T17:06:00.001-07:00

He wants to keep it growing!!

Mother's Day

2009-05-17T08:00:00.000-07:00

Tyler and I went down to Fort Myers to visit the family for Mother's day weekend. Steve had to work all weekend, so I decided to travel instead of staying home. We woke up early Saturday around six -thirty and were on the road a little after seven. We arrived at my mom's house around eleven. We had our usual greeting of hugs and kisses, seeing how we hadn't seen each other since January. Afterward, I called my brother Jason and my brother Adam to let them know I was in town. Within the first half hour of talking and planning we agreed to spend the day at the beach. It was great to see everyone. My nieces and nephew are so cute, and have grown so much. We talked and caught up with one another. Soon afterward, it was time to play some beach football. Before you knew it we were jumping all over the place and each other. I ended up winning the game for my team (Me, Jason, Shawn) by intercepting the ball from the other team (Adam, Shani, Tyler) and making a touch down! The beach and the game were so much fun, but it made us tired and hungry. This meant it was time for some Mexican food! We all got cleaned up and went to Jason's for some grilled chicken, fajita steaks, lemon corn tortillas, and homemade salsa. The food was gone in no time with little leftovers. I didn't want my time to end, but Ty and I had to rest up so we could visit more family in the morning. Ty and I said our goodbyes and went to my Mom's house to spend the night. Sunday morning we woke up and had a nice breakfast with my mom, then packed up the truck. We said goodbye to Ma, and told her we would be back in July. We left excited, because we were going to go make a surprise visit at Ed and Sue's. They didn't know we were in town. But first, we had to stop and pick up some flowers for Sue. It was great to see her face when she opened the door to see Ty standing there with her flowers. They couldn't get over how much Ty had grown. We sat around and talked for a bit. I wish our visit could have lasted longer, but it was getting late and we had to head on home. It will be nice when all three of us go down to visit in July (plus celebrate ten years of marriage). For now, here are a few pictures of the kids at the beach.

Ty and Josiah

Rosa
Baby Lilliana

On The Go

2009-03-29T11:00:00.000-07:00

Tyler started soccer a few weeks ago, which means I've been on the go. I bring him to soccer practice twice a week and then to his games on the weekends. Here are a few pictures of him in action.This is Ty and his good friend Shivam. They have hung out together since the 6Th grade. Ty's team has won all their games so far. I'm crossing my fingers that they keep up this winning streak!

Blue Springs

2009-02-09T16:16:00.000-08:00

We took a trip to Blue Springs State Park yesterday. Blue Springs State Park is along the St. Johns River near Orange City here in central Florida. I heard that the springs provide a safe warm water refuge for manatees during the winter time, so it would be a great time to go and check them out.

This mother and her calf came really close, and we were pretty lucky to get this picture. They were only a foot away from reach, not that I was going to reach out to touch them. Most of the manatees kept a distance and stayed on the other side of the spring. It was an absolutely beautiful and serene place to visit. We wanted to dip our feet in the water, but swimming wasn't permitted at the time because of the manatees. We really enjoyed our time together and the beautiful weather. We hope to visit again sometime soon and go kayaking.

Black & White

2009-01-17T11:00:00.000-08:00

Ma & Lilliana

Me & "Bean"

I was playing with some of the photos I took during our trip to Fort Myers last week. I love black & white photos. I think it gives a picture more of a dramatic feel, or the sense of capturing the feeling in that particular moment. I remember falling in love with black & white prints when I took my first photography class years ago. I loved working in the dark rooms, and developing my own film and printing my own pictures. Anyway, here are a few pictures I converted to black& white and sepia.

Ty, Grandma Sue, & Grandpa Ed

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T08:33:00.001-08:00

Last night we went to the Daytona Beach Ocean Walk to watch fireworks for the new year.
We all look pretty silly, but we were trying to endure the chilly ocean winds coming at us in full force.
We walked around for a bit after the show. We saw some of the sand sculptures they had on display.
It was a really nice night. I thought about what this new year will bring. What ever may be, I'm excited to see what the future holds. I wish for peace and happiness for all my loved ones. Happy New Year!

The Best Christmas Gift Ever

2008-12-28T07:48:00.000-08:00

Tyler gave me a wonderful gift for Christmas this year. He gave me a homemade Christmas card. The inside read like this:

"I love you with all my heart and I hope you put aside all your feelings away and know that I will always love you with all my heart till time ends itself. I kinda feel bad because I couldn't get you anything for Christmas so I made you this card. I love you and I am grateful for all you've done for me the last 13 years and 3 months and 3 days. I know that I always show how much I love you but today with this card I am loving as much as I can. And I hope you enjoy every minute of today."

He also went out on his own to call my mom and Sue to quote a saying from them. But, I'm going to keep those sacred for now. I'm not too sure what he meant by putting my feelings to the side, but I think he was trying not to make me cry. I ended up crying like a baby anyway. It is such a gift when a child expresses gratitude and love for all the things a parent does unconditionally.

Christmas Pictures

2008-12-06T20:00:00.000-08:00

I wanted to do something fun for Christmas pictures this year. So, I dusted off one of my old tripods and packed up my little digital camera. My memory card was ready to be filled with great memories. I figured since we hang out at the beach when we can, let us go there and take some pictures. The beach is always a pretty background for great pictures.
Steve and Tyler gathered the sand and put it in my beach bag. We had to haul the wet sand over to a shaded area, because the sun was too bright/harsh to get good exposure for the pictures. I would end up with too many shadows if we took our pictures in direct sun light. I don't have fill in flash for all that fancy stuff I used to do.
Here they are forming Sandy out of sand...Yes, I named the snowman.

Here is Sandy!

Here is our beautiful Christmas picture. Everyone will be getting a different version of it in the mail soon.

Thanksgiving

2008-11-28T16:42:00.001-08:00

Here are just a few pictures from our trip to Fort Myers. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Ponce De Leon Inlet LightHouse

2008-11-23T08:00:00.000-08:00

Last weekend Ed and Sue came up for a visit. There was a bunch to do since it had been a while since they were here last. They were able to see our new apartment and see a few places where we hang out. So, we took them to the Ponce Inlet Light House.

The Ponce Inlet Lighthouse is 175 feet tall and is the tallest lighthouse in Florida, and is one of the tallest in the nation.
It takes a long 203 steps to get to the top of the viewing deck.

Steve, Sue, and Tyler went to the top of the lighthouse. Ed and I didn't go up. We sat and timed to see how long it would take for them to get to the top. It took them less than ten minutes to get there.

I tried to get a picture of the three of them. You can see Steve and Tyler and just a bit of Sue's head. It was a nice visit to the lighthouse. Afterward, we went to Inlet Harbor for lunch. We sat out on the water and enjoyed the beautiful weather, and caught a glimpse of a dolphin swimming by. We are planning on going kayaking next time they visit. I wish we had more time to visit, but they had to head back home on Sunday. I sure do miss family and really appreciate the time we do get to spend together.

Our Sunday Journey Down A1A

2008-11-16T13:28:00.000-08:00

A few Sundays back we got up and went traveling down A1A. A1A is a Florida state road that runs mostly along the Atlantic Ocean. Our first stop was at a miniature golf course called Congo River. We weren't there very long before Steve and Tyler became very competitive with the game. They watched each others moves/strokes every step of the way.

Here you can see Tyler watching Steve make his putt.
Steve is adding up the scores while Tyler does a one leg in the air putt.
Look at the two of them..."Did it make it?"
After golfing Tyler played in this panning station. It was a neat set up.

These are all the little stones he found and kept. Steve kept them in his pocket because Ty's shorts didn't have any. They ended up at the bottom of the washer.

After playing golf, we headed back onto A1A going north heading towards Flagler County. We had no specific destination. There isn't much to look at other than the ocean and some fancy million dollar ocean front houses, houses, oh yeah, and more houses. We were on the road for a half hour before Tyler started going nuts from boredom. I saw a sign that read, MarineLand 14 miles ahead. Out of curiosity we kept traveling until we got there.

MarineLand is a town right outside of Palm Coast Florida. We stopped and visited a dolphin conservatory. When we were there, some of the dolphin trainers were practicing some of their tricks with the dolphins.

The trainers didn't do as much with the dolphins like they do at SeaWorld or anything, but it was fun to watch the dolphins swim and jump. After MarineLand we stopped for dinner at Outback Steak House, then headed home on I-95. We took I-95 because we would get home allot faster than A1A. I decided A1A is a nice road to travel on when you can afford a fancy million dollar ocean front home, but until then I'll stick with I-95.

Shopping Cart Surprise

2008-10-23T07:00:00.000-07:00

Tyler has a great sense of humor and he tends to share it with us no matter where we go. For instance, he uses it to keep himself occupied when we go grocery shopping. On more than one occasion he has surprised me by throwing random food products in my cart while I wasn't looking. And, I normally don't find out about it until it's time to check out. I hand things right back to him and then he goes and returns stuff from where it came from. One day, he surprised me by filling my cart with all sorts of hot dogs, bacon, spreadable meats, sausages, and any other packaged meat he could find.

I walked away from the cart for a few moments to look at something that I wanted to buy, and then walked back to my cart to find that it was a bit harder to push. I looked in the cart to find piles of packaged meat! I thought it was hilarious! It was such a ridiculous amount of meat! I was impressed by the amount he was able to throw in there in such a short period of time. We both had a stomach ripping laugh. Afterward, we got to work putting all the meat back. As we emptied the cart, some old woman strolled by trying to figure out why we are unloading all of this meat. Of course, all I could do is smile and nod my head at her. We had a good time and I know now to keep an eye out for any other surprises Ty might have up his sleeve. I wouldn't be surprised if I turn around one day to find my cart full of frozen turkeys!

He is OK

2008-10-17T15:18:00.000-07:00

My youngest brother Adam was robbed while at work a few days ago. He is doing just fine, but was shaken up a bit. He no longer works for Dairy Queen and has started a new job in construction. When I found out about him being robbed, I felt my knees almost go weak. My poor mom found out when she was at home in bed watching the news. She flew over there in her pajamas to meet up with Adam's new wife Shani and her parents. When she arrived, Adam was giving his statements to the police trying to describe what had happened to him and the others during the robbery. The four robbers came in through the back door and forced Adam along with his co-workers into the freezer at gun point. I talked to Adam the next day, and he said, " I was just coming out of the restroom, when all of a sudden I felt one of the robbers put a gun behind my head. The robbers forced me into the freezer and had me lay down with my face to the freezer floor, and then the punks locked us in the freezer while they robbed the place. All of these thoughts were going through my head. I thought about Shani and the family... if I were to die. I'm not afraid to die, I'm just afraid of what the family would go through." I told him he was lucky he went to the restroom before all this had happened, because he would have messed his pants up. We had a good chuckle about that and then took a deep breath. It really has made us stop again and think about how precious life is, and who we have in our lives, and you never know what your day may bring. Thank God in the heavens he is o.k.

Here is a link to a short story of what happened.
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2008/oct/14/4-men-rob-dairy-queen-fort-myers/

I'd Rather Be....

2008-10-14T08:25:00.000-07:00

Quality Time with Uncle Grant

2008-10-11T06:00:00.000-07:00

Grant and Penelope visited with us for a short while yesterday. Becky was out conducting business with some of the local doctors, so Grant came over to see what we were up to. Steve was at work and Tyler wasn't home at first. Ty was at the YMCA working out and hanging out with some of his friends. In the mean time, our dogs got acquainted with one another. Grant showed me all the tricks he has taught Penelope, and then I showed him all the tricks my dogs know. Penelope is such a cute dog and we were happy to have finally met her! Grant and I talked for a little bit before Tyler came home. Once Tyler was home, the two of them were in the zone talking about video games. I don't play video games, so I sat and enjoyed listening to them talk. It wasn't long before the two of them were playing Guitar Hero and Smash Bros. Brawl. Tyler was a great challenge for Grant. Now, they plan to play one another through wi-fi. I know Tyler will be contacting Uncle Grant very often to play games. He already has his Uncle Adam lined up and ready play. I think it would be great for everyone to join in!

A Quick Glance at New Smyrna Beach

2008-10-07T18:15:00.000-07:00

We took a trip to the New Smyrna Beach area a couple of weekends ago to see what the place was all about. New Smyrna is about twenty to thirty minutes south of Port Orange, and is surrounded by bodies of water. The Atlantic Ocean is to the east, the Intracoastal Waterway is to the west and Mosquito Lagoon is in between the two. This place a has such a small town feel to it. There are a bunch of boutique shops that I have to go to and check out the next time we visit. While traveling over the intracoastal, this draw bridge had us wait before we were to cross over. We thought that maybe a huge yacht was passing through.
No, it was a small sail boat with a really huge sail! We were eager to see some monstrosity of a boat, but instead this is what we saw sailing by.
After we passed over the intracoastal, we headed toward the beach. It was pretty busy because there was an art show going on at the time. There was no where to park, so we decided to keep looking around to see if we would come back for another visit. I don't know if we will go back anytime soon, but I definitely want to go back and see what the beach is all about. Maybe we'll go the next time family visits.

IS MY MONEY SAFE?

2008-10-01T17:11:00.000-07:00

I work for a very well known retail bank that is in the process of being bought out. December 31st, 2008 will be the official date of purchase. Once this takes place I will be working for the number 3 ranked bank in America and the biggest in total deposits. What does this mean for me? At this time, nothing at all. Things are going to pretty much stay the same, because this new bank is going to incorporate/adapt to our current banking procedures and operations. I've read and heard from some of the bank "big wigs", that this merger is going to take at least one to two years before we are all working as a whole. In the mean time, I get to work with the confused and frightened account holders. It seems as if everyone and their mother has come in to the bank to ask the same question, "Is my money safe?" So, I respond with all the "warm fuzzies" of my expert customer service, and say, "No!" Actually, I let everyone know that their money is safe at this time, and not to take any risky actions by withdrawing their money. Keeping your money stuffed in a mattress isn't going to keep anything safe.

Our Future Mechanic

2008-09-28T06:32:00.000-07:00

Tyler loves to take things apart and then put them back together. This was very evident when he first started playing with Legos and blocks at such a young age. It seems that during every special occasion/holiday Steve and I would buy him some type of Lego set. With great excitement, he would rip right into the box or container in search of the building instructions. Once he found the instructions, he would spread everything out on the floor and stay occupied for a long time putting his Legos together. After learning how to put his piece together by instructions, he then would pick it all apart and build something other than what the pieces were intended for. Now, that he is older he likes to take bigger things apart. For example, he loves to take his bike apart and then put it back together using bike parts from a totally different bike! He swaps parts between his mountain bike and his chopper bike. He hasn't been riding his chopper bike because the back tire had a hole. Well, this gave Tyler another opportunity to take things apart again. He ended up fixing the the hole in the bike to find out that the entire bike rim needs to be replaced. The bearings must have been really rusted, because they broke as soon as Tyler went to take it for a test drive after fixing the hole. He has asked if we can take him to the local bike store to buy him a new rim for his bike. I figure it would be cheaper to buy him a new rim instead of new bike, because it will be taken apart as soon as Ty can get his hands on it. I'm going to have to keep an eye out and make sure he doesn't start taking our cars apart!

The Beach

2008-09-26T21:35:00.000-07:00

One thing about living ten minutes away from the beach, is the feeling of being on a mini vacation every time we go. There is something about being in that ocean water that tends to make the world melt away. I will only go out so far before I start to feel uneasy about large fish eating me alive, but far enough to be flipped around by some great waves. Steve and Tyler love to boogie board or skin surf the waves. I also like to sit in the sand and just observe all that happens around me. We will more and likely be visiting the beach this weekend to try out Tyler's new skin board. For now, here are a few pictures from one of our trips to the beach.

New Cell Phones

2008-09-22T03:00:00.000-07:00

Our cell phones have been giving us problems lately. They don't stay powered very long after charging them for long periods of time. We figured they needed new batteries, but decided to spend money on new phones instead of new batteries. So, we decided to head on over to our local at&t store (our service provider) and look at the cell phones they had on display. We didn't want to spend too much money on cell phones because we tend throw and go (in other words rug it). We came across the new SHINE by LG. http://ca.lge.com/shine/shine_en.html We bought the slide version instead of the flip phone. This phone is not a throw and go phone. We plan on buying phone covers to protect the "Shine". Tyler is already adding this phone to his Christmas list.

What's Going On

2008-09-21T13:55:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!

I have decided to keep a blog of my own to try and keep in touch with family and friends. I don't promise to post a blog every day, but I will do my best to keep you posted with the most recent events going on in our lives. The most exciting thing going on right now is Tyler turning 13 years old!!!! Our boy is now a teenager!!! Where has the time gone? He had a great birthday party. Steve and I bought him his own Nintendo Wii System along with Guitar Hero the Aerosmith edition. He had a sleepover that included bowling, swimming, and allot of video game playing. We are excited to see what else his life unfolds for us. For now, here are a few pictures of Tyler and his 13th birthday party!