People Magazine

Mary is kind enough to endulge me in one of my addictions, People Magazine (Thanks Mary!). When went to get the mail today I was so excited because I could see it through the tiny window. It is like my own golden ticket. (we get a golden ticket when we have a package) I pulled it out, looked at the cover and thought, hmmm, this cover again. I looked at the date, February 9. Just a few weeks late, almost 2 months!

A few weeks ago People came in a plastic bag. The postal service had accidently ripped up the first few pages. I am grateful that they thought highly enough of the magazine to send it to me.

Keep up the good work USPS!

Ft.Myers Beach '09

We had a blast in Ft.Myers! Good food, good company, good drinks, good weather. What else do you need! The kids had fun seeing everyone and cannot wait to see everyone again in June!

Happy Birthday Uldis!
Where Jay spent his vacation..on the phone..even at the ballpark
The starting line up for the Red Sox vs the Cardinals.
Aren't they cute in thier matching suits!
Donuts for breakfast, every day!

Let's go Sox!

We went to a Red Sox Spring Training game today in Ft.Myers. Before
the game started we saw the Budweiser Clydesdale horses.

Oreo

What the kids do while Mom is shopping

Susie, Jen and I went out shopping and for lunch this morning. Matt, Uldis, and Paw Paw were in charge of the 3 kids. One adult for each kid is a good ratio. They went for a dinghy ride and look who they found...a manatee named Lumpy.

Pierced ears

Walker just got her ears pierced!

Boating, Ft.Myers Style

We spent the morning boating on Aunt Suz and Uncle Uldis sailboat. The children spent most of their time in the cabin playing uno. The adults enjoyed thier time on the water. On the way home we say dolphins, bald eagles and manatee's. After our boating adventure we hit Target while the kids regrouped. Once we got back we all hit the pool. Now its time for a yummy dinner of fish, and tons of fresh veggies. Yum!

Missing Pictures

Sorry for the missing pictures on two of the earlier posts. (thanks dad for the heads up) I would re post the pictures but we are on vacation in Ft. Myers Beach. It all depends on computer availabiltity.

We are having a great time so far. Jay headed up to Orlando today to see his parents, Hi Mary and John! He is also going to work for a few days and head back here on Thursday. Its time for us to go get Aunt Suz at the airport!

Dinghy ride

The first of many dinghy rides

Quinns Creative Movement

Pictures from last weekend

Feeling the spray on the way to Jost.

Walker jumping from the top of the boat

Jay and Margaret discussing how the anchor line flew off the boat so Jay had to jump in to get in but Pretlow already had it but then they had to get the line to the boat so in that process Margaret tried to run them over with the boat. Interesting discussion!

The girl loves to dance!

Final Day before Vaca

Spring Break is finally upon us! Yea to say the least. It has been crazy at school! On Friday there was our monthly student of the month assembly. The First Grade performed in "Creative Movement". Basically its free dancing to a drum. Quinn's interpretation of this is to run around and laugh at the same time. I will see if I can post the video. Its pretty funny! After the assembly there was a spelling bee between the 2nd and 3rd grade. Walker did very well. She was one of the final 6 left. Once they did the last round there was only 2 left. The word she spelled wrong, blizzard. She only put one z in it. We are still very proud of her, she did awesome, and she wanted to win!



Here he is getting ready.

Saying Hi before the bee.

The spelling of blizzard. Out of the final 6, 2 were 2nd graders and 4 third graders. The third child from the left and the 2nd from the right were the two finalists with the Ty (the boy) winning.

We are off on our vacation to Ft. Myers Beach tomorrow. Jay has to work for a few days but we plan to hit the beach, the pool, the boat, the stores, and a Red Sox spring training game.

The Weekend...It's over already

We had another never ending weekend. Saturday Walker had KATS so Jay, Quinn and I went o the Westin to set up for the auction. By the time we got home we had about 2 hours before we had to go back to the Westin for the auction. Rachel from school watched the kids, Thanks Rachel! I passed hor d'ourves at the auction. It was my first ever waitressing type service. It is not for me, but I had fun doing it! I also was a spotter for the live aution. Lucky for me I was at 2 good tables that had some action at them. Jay came home with a weekend in Tortola http://www.sugarmillhotel.com/ , a day cruise on the boat Outlaw http://www.sailoutlaw.com/ and dinner for 6 at Rhumblines http://www.rhumblinesstjohn.com/. Overall the school raised close to $125,000 for scholarships and the general fund.

We rolled in from the auction around 1230 only to get back up again Sunday and head out boating with the Majette's and Jones's. Thanks Majette family! We went over to Jost and had lunch and Foxy's Taboo. The kids played outside and jumped off the dock. From there we were going to go surfing at Sandy Spit but the waves were not good enough. Quinn and Evan went boogie boarding while the girls danced on the deck of the boat.

When we finally got home we were exhausted. We are still recovering but only have 4 days until Spring Break!! Off to Ft. Myers we go for some fun in the sun with Aunt Suz, the Uldis O'toole, Matt, Jen, Anna, and Paw Paw!

Dead Fish

We have killed them all off. The last one died sometime in the night. This includes the 2 fish that Walker got for her birthday. That brings our grand total of dead fish to 8. 6 in the past 2 months. Technically we do have one left, Ocean Blue. OB lives in Walker's birthday fish tank. OB is a beta and does not need a filter. Hopefully this one will last awhile. We are taking a break on fish until we get back from Spring Break. There are not as many tears when they die. It is like they expect it to happen.

Reef Bay- The beach

The north swells were in again today and it was really windy. That pretty much wiped out us going to Maho on today. We decided to try a new beach. We went to Reef Bay Beach. A few months ago the kids and I hiked the Reef Bay trail. The Reef Bay trail takes you to the other end of the beach. The trail we took was short and sweet and steep. This side of the beach is great for surfing and beachcombing. Some of the kids friends were there so they had a blast!

Here is a video of Quinn surfing and yes you have to tilt your head to watch it.

The Bold

The Environmental Protection Agency ship the Bold was hanging out off the coast of St. John yesterday. The Bold is doing reef studies around the island. We watched for awhile as the divers got shuttled back and forth from the dive site. By sundown the Bold was steaming off towards St. Croix.

Pine Peace Auction benefiting Gifft Hill School

The Gifft Hill School is having an auction on Saturday. All of the profits go to benefit the scholarship and general fund. I am working the auction as a spotter for the live auction. Instead of going solo, Jay is bringing a date. A friend of ours from the island, Anna, has nicely agreed to accompany him. It should be a lot of fun. We are looking forward to going. Here is the link to the auction web site. http://www.pinepeaceauction.org/ Some of the packages look good, maybe Jay will bid on something....

8 Tuff Miles...the After Party

We went to our neighbors, Miles and Susan Stair for an 8 Tuff Miles after party. We had to bring something Mexican. I was in no shape to cook, I was and still am "feeling it". Jay was in charge. What does he bring, this great Mexican dip..."it has Rotel in it so its Mexican". Here is how it is done..

1 lb sausage, browned and drained
1 lb cream cheese cut into chunks
1 can of rotel drained

Mix together and bake at 350 for 30 minutes

The dip was the hit of the party! As many of the guests commented on the dip I gave Jay all the credit he deserved. Here is on conversation I had...

Man.."This is the best dip I have ever had"
Me..."Thank you, my husband made it"
Man..."Congratulations!"
Me..."I am so proud of him"


A friend of ours took a bunch of pictures from the top of Bordeaux Mt which is near where they live. They also have 2 adorable girls that are in my class. Here is the link to his stores web site, he posted a bunch of pictures from the race http://www.big-planet.com/pages/8-tuff-miles-2009