Beach Time!

On Sunday morning, we headed up to St. Augustine to attend mass at The Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine -- what a beautiful church. The Cathedral Basilica is oldest Catholic Church in the US (founded in 1565).  After church, we had lunch and did a little shopping.

What a nice looking family but...
Who's that weird guy in the background?

... and now it's BEACH TIME! 

Somebody needs a suntan :)

Somehow the tide had created a sandbar between the ocean and a pool of water that was just right for Hannah and Alex to play in.  They LOVED it!  So much so that we spent the rest of the day there and planned the whole next day at the beach.

We made sandcastles:

Ate popsicles:

Buried Papa in the sand:

Felt sorry for Buried Papa and fed him popsicles:

And with all this going on, Alex found time to take a nap:

What a fun time for us all !

Visiting Grammy and Papa

We were so excited John, Janet, Hannah and Alex came to visit us.  We met them Saturday morning at the Orlando airport...

Big girl with her own Dora travel bag

...and headed straight to Cocoa Beach.  Lunch and shopping at Ron Jon's -- we NEEDED lots of beach toys and a boogie board for the upcoming week -- and then a short trip to the beach and, even though no one was actually dressed for beachtime, everyone was excited to see the ocean.

What is this stuff?
I don't think we're in Kansas anymore...

Toes in the sand

Hannah found a wishing fountain at Ron Jon's and
ran Papa  (and everyone else!) out of change

After such an early morning flight and long drives in Florida, ALL the kids were ready for some rest time at the house.

Beach toys!

Not quite the ocean, but we love Grammy's
"Big Tub"

Arnold Palmer Invitational

Lucky, lucky us -- our friends, Dave and Margaret Brim, were volunteering at the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament and gave us tickets to attend. 

Arnold Palmer's Bay Hill golf course is just beautiful
and the weather was perfect!

We got to see so many great golfers -- Tiger Woods, Bubba Watson, Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia...

Tiger really had a great day, finishing the day at 10 under to take over first place.  He had started the day at 3 under in fifth place. Impressive! 

I wanted to sneak some pictures but could not (several people almost lost their camera phones).  I really wanted to take a picture of Tiger and Ernie Els eating PB&J sandwiches on #6 teebox.

Bike Week 2012

Bike Week was pushed back one week this year -- therefore, it fell on the same week as Spring Break and St. Patrick's Day.  Wow! What a week!  Tons of people and wonderful weather.

Joe's sister and brother-in-law, Lou and Dave, came down again this year ...

Lou and Dave at the Full Moon Saloon

... and they brought their oldest daughter, Michelle, who turned 25 on St. Patrick's Day.

Michelle at Daytona Beach...
right before the huge wave behind her wiped her out :)

We felt so lucky the weather was so good all week and took advantage of it by riding up the coast -- almost to St. Augustine -- and, of course, stopping by some of the great coast bars.

Headed up to the upper deck at Finn's Beachside Pub

And then... St. Patrick's Day!  (and Michelle's Birthday)

Started out with breakfast at Booth's Bowery -- Michelle started her day with Bailey's Irish Creme french toast and a Mimosa.  Yum.  Then on to Ponce Inlet for parasailing.

Will she like it?

Yes she did!

Fun times!

Race Week 2012

Our good friends Pat & Dianna Smith, Randy & Laura Ellis, and Chuck Nichols came down for Race Week and the Daytona 500 this year.

The first few days, we all hung out and just had a great time in general.

The girls went to some great places to
shop and eat on our outings

What happens when you let guys shop on their own

The weather was beautiful right up until Daytona 500 day -- then RAIN.  So the race was delayed from Sunday until Monday night, but what a race it was!  The first Daytona 500 held at night -- and a spectacular wreck when Juan Pablo Montoya hit a jet dryer and blew it up -- on the back stretch of the track where the boys were sitting!

It was a long wait for the race, but they had one they could hash and re-hash forever.  Sadly, Pat, Dianna, and Chuck had stayed as long as they could and had to head back to Kansas City after the race around 1 am.

On Tuesday, Randy and Laura rented a Harley and we all went for a ride up the coast -- it was a beautiful day to ride.

The day started out a little cool...

... but turned out BEAUTIFUL and we stopped
at many great beaches and bars along the way

We had a great few days -- lots of food, lots of laughs -- and were so glad they could come down to visit us at our winter home in Florida!

Laura snapped this beautiful sunset picture
from our Florida room

Winner Winner...

Amazingly we WON the Crane Lakes Valentine's Day golf tournament!  It was a fund raiser tournament and we had a great time.  It was a scramble so I managed to play all 18 holes, although I whined like a 2-year-old about having to get up so early :)

AND Joe won closest to the pin -- the second day in a row, since he had also won closest to the pin the day before on his Wednesday Men's League.  All his golf playing is paying off -- literally (haha).  He is squirreling all his winnings away and I'm sure he has some big plans for it :-D 

We were paired with the nicest couple
Barb and Mike LeFlair

Daytona Beach

It was a birthday celebration for three friends here in Crane Lakes so we went with four other couples to the Top of the Daytona, a restaurant on top of the tallest building along Daytona Beach. The restaurant has a 360 degree view of the Atlantic Ocean and Intercoastal -- and the sunset views are just amazing.

The restaurant is the entire top floor of the building

More exciting Daytona Beach news -- a whale has been sighted off the coast of Daytona Beach right where we usually go to lay out at the beach!  According to news reports, it is species called a "northern right whale" and they come to the Georgia and Florida coasts during calving season.  It would have been exciting to see them from the Top of the Daytona or out at the beach but we haven't seen any yet, although lots of toursists have.

Right whale photo from local tv station