Sunny FL!

Hello!

I thought I'd take a quick moment before I head back to work for the first time since the beginning of June (the back thing, remember?) and give ya a brief rundown of our trip to visit Todd and Paige.

We'll sum it up as fun, adventurous, tiring, pain inducing, and somewhat relaxing all at the same time! It was really great to see T&P, as it's been a while. And they've got a cute place right now--if you were familiar with their old place here in VA, they've got much more room, with a nice big kitchen (it's very nice!) So even though it's in FL, they're doing well.

We flew in on Sunday morning (those flights seemed to take forever!), met up with them, checked out their place, and then grabbed a bite to eat at a yummy Chinese Buffet (Chinese food is my thing right now, but I think I'm starting to get over that...) As it was getting later, and we had to get on the road again, we headed to Ft. Walton for a few days of fun in the sun (and on the boat!)

Spent some time along the way stopping to check out the sites--some little shops along the Gulf, a fruit stand where we got some yummy "Pluots" (an apricot-plum hybrid... really good!), before finally making it to Todd's parents' house. What a long day! After dinner that night, we fished for dinner for our prey for the next day off the dock behind the house. It was fun at first, but then they stopped biting, and it just got frustrating. Oh well. Luckily, plenty had found their way into the trap, so we were okay.

Monday was an early morning (early if you really could have used a sleep in day!) We were on the boat probably by 9, and bumped our way out to sea. Lemme tell ya, boat rides are only smooth if you're NOT going fast! Oi... by the end of the day, our butts were so sore that sitting without a cushion was just plain painful! As my brothers would say, though, "It's all part of the experience!"

Jeremy had better luck fishing than I did. The biggest thing I caught was more bait to use on the bigger fish. At least Jeremy caught a few bigger fish (like 18-20 inches), though they were still too small to keep. But at one point, he hooked what must have been a shark, because he and Todd fought that thing for at least 30 min, and it dragged us (well, we chased it, I guess) for over half a mile, before Todd lost it (way to go, Todd!) Oh well... I guess it was impressive it lastest as long as it did, considering the rod he was using wasn't designed to hold something so large!

Paige was the only one of us who suceeded in getting us some dinner--she caught a 25 lb cobia (I guess that's what it was). It was yummy, too. Just a white fish, nothing fancy, not to heavy. It was nice. So she won the prize as fisher of the day! Yay Paige!

Tuesday (the 4th) was far more relaxing. We went out to "Crab Island" (which isn't even an island, it's just a low bay area where a bunch of boats hang out, and you can walk around in the water) to just chill. The water was so warm, it was almost not worth it, until you got out and the air was cold on your skin.

Later that day, we went out again to catch some fireworks. That was fun--got to watch the fireworks in Ft Walton, and Destin, by just moving the boat a mile or so. It was pretty cool, and very relaxing.

Wednesday we had to leave. After leaving at 8 to drive back to Tallahassee, we go to the airport at 12:30, only to find out our flight was delayed (supposed to leave at 1) 'til at least 2:00. Boooo. They ended up re-routing us through Atlanta, and then our flight from there was delayed. To make it even better, once we were on the plane, we had to sit on the tarmac for an hour and a half. Crazy. So we arrived back in DC at 8:30 (instead of 5), tired, beat, and ready for bed.

What a trip, eh? It was fun, but it's good to be home again. Now it's back to work! I hope I can remember what I'm supposed to do! :-)

Oh, and we've got another pre-natal visit this afternoon--don't know if they'll do anything besides tell me (hopefully) "Everything's good, see you in a month!". I'll let ya know if they do. :-) Happy Monday!