Day 5 in Florida - Fishing & Shopping

Tuesday was a good day as well. We woke up early and Dennis headed out to go fishing with Joe. They went along with one of Joe's friends and caught a lot of big fish. They brought home a bunch of red snapper. They had also caught some grouper, remora and a 5-7 foot shark! Because you can only keep 2 fish per person, they had to throw the rest back. We do have some video of the shark catch though. It is amazing that you can actually reel in some of these big fish without breaking a fishing line! After bringing the fish back to the beach house, the boys cleaned and cut the fish and prepared them for dinner. Since we had a fish fry on Friday night, we decided to grill tonight. It was a DELICIOUS dinner!

While the boys were out fishing, Teresa, Traci and I went out for a fabulous lunch of Mexican cuisine - margaritas and all! It was great! Then we did a little shopping. I picked up some jewelry and a few Christmas gifts. It was a great day....again...! :)

Here are the two fish that Dennis brought back in from the fishing trip. They had to put them on ice in the cooler while they got ready to clean and cut them.

That's a pretty big fish for a first time fisherman....well first time fishing in the ocean anyway...

Joe getting ready to prepare the fish at the end of the dock.

Dinner! Yum! Grilled red snapper! My new favorite fish!

Here's a "zen" picture that Den took today and is very proud of, so I thought I would post it!

Day 4 in Florida - at the Beach

We spent all of Monday morning and afternoon at the beach on the gulf. We found a lot of shells and just lounged around. In the afternoon we went to Flounders Restaurant for Bushwackers and Sun Stroke drinks and lots of shrimp - very good stuff! Monday night we hung out with Joe & Teresa and Traci & David. It was a very relaxing day....

Here is a sand dollar that Dennis found on the Sound beach. We are hoping to find a nice big one on the Gulf sometime. We have found many pieces of large sand dollars at the Gulf but no whole ones yet...we'll see.

Day 3 in Florida - Payton's Baptism

Sunday was a special day in Pensacola. Today was Payton's Christening. We spent the day hanging out and having fun. The Christening took place at the beach around sunset. While we've enjoyed all of our trip, this is the real reason we came down here. Joe and Teresa long ago asked Dennis if he would be Payton's Godfather. Here are some pictures from the day.

The beach house we are staying at is called the Pensacola Pelican. There are many pelicans to be found here and Payton has discovered one of them on the front porch. Although she is only 2 1/2 she easily remembered that the bird is called a pelican and that it catches fish by scooping them out of the water! She is so adorable and smart as can be!

Here is Payton wearing her Uncle Dennis's shoes!

And here she is wearing Aunt Julie's sunglasses!

Payton and I take a break from jumping on the bed....

She is possibly the cutest kid I have ever hung out with. She will be 3 in February. In the 3 days we have hung out with her, we have learned that she talks very regularly and fluently. She can spell her name, she can count to 20 in English and Spanish. She knows more Spanish and Sign Language than I do. She has many songs memorized and can sing them understandably pronouncing words like "philosophy" and "hakuna matada." She LOVES being read to. She has an incredible memory. She loves to dance and sing. She is more than excited when she finds her favorite book sitting at the top of a toy chest. She remembers who people are and what their names are. She loves swimming and being at the beach. She likes to draw and she always asks if she can help. She says please and thank you and has the most extensive vocabulary of any 2 1/2 year old I have ever met. Joe & Teresa are super lucky to have such an extraordinary daughter. Dennis is proud to be her Godfather and we are proud to be a part of her life. On top of all of that she is just super cute with her red/blonde curls, bright blue eyes, and lively smile.

Here is Dennis at the beach at the site of the Baptism. This area is known as "The Cross" There is actually a large cross on the beach that has been standing nearly forever. This area of the beach is where the first ever Catholic mass was held when the "New World" was discovered in the 1500's. It was very meaningful to have the baptism here.


Here is Payton with her Godmother Traci and her Godfather Dennis. It looks like they have all burried their feet in the sand!

Payton was baptised in the Gulf. Here she is with mom and dad and the Pastor.

Payton and mommy listen to the Pastor before the baptism.

Lindsey, Julie, Dennis and Jason at the beach.

Back at the house - No wonder Payton loves her Uncle Jason so much. He looks just like once of her favorite Disney characters - Woody from Toy Story! Check out those eyes!

We've Moved! (Surprise!)

It may come as a surprise to some of you, but we have decided to move. We got a great deal on this little beach house and we plan on coming back to IL just to pick up our stuff and get back down here. If you were here, you would have made the same decision...believe me. Anyway, here are a few pictures of our new neighborhood.

Here is out new house. I was sold once I saw the double tourets. I love them. The location is perfect too. Right on the beach!

Here's the walkway leading up to our new home. I can already imagine how wonderful my morning tea will taste as I walk down the beach.

I plan on spending most afternoons and early evenings taking a nice dip in the Gulf or laying on the beach with a good book.

We will have great views from our back porch as well facing the Sound.

And here are a few of our neighbors....

We can't wait! It's going to be so fabulous! Now we just need the right numbers to pop up on the lottery and we will be ready to go....well it was nice dreaming. Don't worry there is a very slim chance we will be moving anytime soon! It sure is beautiful here!

Day 2 in Florida - at the Beach House

On Saturday we headed over to the beach house. We are staying right in Pensacola Beach right down the street from Portofino. There are several houses in the subdivision. We have the sound on one side of us and the Gulf on the other side. It is a beautiful view anywhere you look. The house is perfect with plenty of room for all of us. For the weekend we will have Dennis and I, Joe, Teresa, Payton, Jason, Lindsay, Jaci, Traci and David staying here. It's nice just being a few steps from the beach. Here are a few pictures from our first day.

Here is the house we are staying in...so beautiful!

Dennis & Joe having lunch on the deck.

Joe cleaning off fishing poles after fishing on the beach



Dennis and I at the beach on the Gulf side.

Den & Joe at the beach

Den and Payton walking down the beach.

T & me

Lindsay and Jason making salsa....mmmmm

Day 1 in Florida

On Friday, we headed to Pensacola to spend some time with our friends Joe & Teresa and their daughter Payton. The drive to Pensacola from Alabama wasn't all that bad - about 5 hours. It rained most of the way there but was nice by the time we arrived.

As we hit the Florida state line, we started seeing cotton fields everywhere.

When we arrived, Joe opened the cooler to show us what he had caught earlier in the day - 2 red snapper and a grouper

Joe begins preparing Friday night's dinner....

Here's a picture of Payton wearing her new Bears hoodie that we brought her.

Alabama

On our way from Georgia to Florida we stopped in Alabama for a couple of days to see some friends. Although we just saw Jason and Lindsay about a month ago when they were in Chicago for a wedding, we have never been to Jason and Jaci's house in Glencoe, AL. There wasn't a whole lot to do there, but it was nice to spend some time together. Here are some pictures from rock climbing at Cherokee Rock Village.

Here's Jason climbing up the rocks - the reason you can't see me is because I passed him up and am at the top of the rocks....haha - yeah right.
Here's a cool picture Den took from the top of the rocks.

Jaci's long winding driveway....she has 9 acres with lots of interesting plants and gardens...it's very pretty.

ahh...what vacation is all about....relaxing...

Half of Jaci's property is out in this pasture....there is so much room to roam!

Stone Mountain

On Tuesday we went to Stone Mountain Park in Stone Mountain, GA. Stone Mountain is the largest piece of exposed granite in the world. The "mountain" was created billions of years ago when the Continents collided and due to the pressure and heat, a large pocket of magma was created underground. After millions of years of cooling and then erosion, the land around the magma eroded leaving part of the magma turned granite rock exposed. While most of the rock is underground, 800 feet of the rock is exposed. The distance across the rock above ground is 2.5 miles. Below ground the distance is over 10 miles.

In the early 1920's an artist / sculptor came up with an idea to create a sculpture on the face of Stone Mountain honoring Civil War Heroes Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Jefferson Davis. The carving wasn't finished until after WWII.

One interesting fact is that the man who first started the carving quit and left to create his own project which later became Mount Rushmore. Other artists, sculptors, stone quarers and workers took on the responsibility of finishing the creation in the mountain. Standing on the ground and looking at the mountain it doesn't look all that big, but in actuality it is 160 feet wide and 75 feet tall.

The park normally has a lot of other attractions like a train ride around the mountain, amusement park type rides, etc. Because it is off season and a weekday, most of the attractions were closed. We did get to see a 4-D movie, check out the museum and ride up to the top of Stone Mountain on the sky lift. With the perfect weather at 82 degrees and a very slight breeze it was relaxing to hang out there for a while on top of the mountain. The rest of the park was closed, so that was all we got to do there.

View from the top of Stone Mountain

Another View - I thought the views were so great that I had to post a few of the pictures. It was a great clear day. You could look out to see the skyline of Atlanta and some other major cities from the top.

Julie, standing on top of the world's largest piece of exposed granite.

Den looking very zen - hanging out on a rock. We were surprised that there were so many trees growing on the rock. The entire rock use to be covered in trees. Through years of erosion, most of them are gone, but some have found a way to stay.

Another view looking out from the top of Stone Mountain

The cable car that takes passengers up and down the mountain. Supposedly there is a VERY steep hiking trail. We weren't up for that so we took the tram. It might not look that big, but it holds up to 80 people.

Dennis entering the tram to head back down

The ride back down.

Another view from top

Dennis at the top. There was a very large area fenced off that you could hike around and look out by walking around the top of the mountain.

Here is somewhat of an idea looking at Stone Mountain from the parking lot.

Here we have the carving of Lee, Jackson and Jefferson

Here you can see that the carving looks small but when you enter the museum you can get an idea as to how big the carving really is.

Here I am standing in front of a reporduction of the actual size of one of the horse's bridals inside of the museum.

This shows how large the carving actually is. It was pretty cool!