Way to go Tyler.....I mean, Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day Jim

Jim wanted to go out fishing on his special day.....but the only thing he caught was 1 catfish (sorry Jim, but it's true!).

Like many other fishing outings, Tyler came out victorious among the men. Tyler reeled in two trout (which we grilled up later that night), two shark (one of which broke his line), and one ladyfish (who also broke his line). Way to go Tyler!! Now we just have to work on getting him to touch the fish.........

How do you know a Redneck fish when you see one?

Count his teeth!!!

Once again, I'm in awe with the sharks.....this one was bleeding all over, dripping on the deck of the boat, on the seat....yuck! (Another one of Tyler's fish.....)

Even though we were seeing stingrays galore, we ventured off the boat in the middle of the Bay to catch large sand dollars (still alive). I am suprised, yet grateful, the large stingrays stayed away from us. We captured 31 large sand dollars - JACKPOT! ;)

Derrick cooked Tyler's fish along with Mahi Mahi and some crab legs - it was his gift to Jim for Father's Day.

this past week...

....was a busy one for me.

• Monday I was preparing for a personal, one-on-one Photoshop class with a fellow co-worker (turned out Monday was a bad day for him...so we rescheduled for Tuesday/Wed - which was fine with me b/c I was not in the mood for a late night)
• Tuesday I began my PS class - 4 1/2 hours - wrapped up shortly before 11pm
• Wednesday I wrapped up my PS class, another 4 1/2 hours - wrapping up again shortly before 11pm (did I remind you that my bedtime is anywhere between 9-10pm?)
• Thursday was my purse party - FUN - I got 1 new Coach and 1 new Kate Spade purse (I never knew there was a "purse" side of me before......I am becoming high maintenance! jk)
• Friday I was able to sit, relax, and do NADA (translation: not a damn thing!) for the entire night - I think I watched a movie - or fell asleep on the couch - or maybe that was the night I fell asleep with Tyler and woke up at 2am to return to my own bed....who knows!
• Saturday I took Tyler and his two friends to the pool for a couple of hours, then raced home to get ready for my Passion Party two hours away (not a bad turn out - signed up another consultant)
• Sunday the kids and I tried to get the house turned over and ready for Kris and Kammie's two month visit - I feel like we accomplished what we set out to do...now I just have to put away the laundry (and say goodbye to laundry for two months!). Did I mention that my sister-in-law loves to stay busy and cleaning house and doing laundry is what she actually likes to do? OMG...how did I get so lucky!?!?

I am spent. It doesn't seem like a whole lot, but it feels like it!

I am hoping to get some of my Photoshop pics up here soon -- I am SO excited to have this program and know how to use it (at least a little bit)!

20

That is the approximate number of sharks that were caught off-shore yesterday morning, afternoon, and early evening.

This is the first shark we saw as we were putting "The Toon" into the water -- a boat of men had JUST cut this shark open and gutted him right in front of us (yuck). I don't think Tyler thought it smelled good...either that or he didn't like the blood dripping from the shark's body - and who can blame him?

I think Bruce was the first to catch a shark.......this guy is about 3.5' (the pic doesn't do him much justice). We put him on a line (sorry if I'm making some improper fishing terminologies to all of you professionals out there) because we were told that someone would be brining a grill and we would be enjoying shark for lunch. We let him hang out right next to the boat. He sat mainly on the bottom of the sand and at one point I thought he had died...but my screams told me different as I tried to pick him up to show the kids....yeah, I'm a chic.

Here is Tyler realing in his second or third shark of the day....

And here he is! I'm guessing the Bay is probably not the best place for us to be swimming....

We had to let the small ones go......but they are still very intimidating when they are in the water!

There's Katlyn telling us it's her daddy's second shark of the day (caught about 20 minutes after his first catch of the day) Maybe 4'??

Up close & personal - please don't bite into my leg!

Our "line" consisted of tieing the rope to the shark's tail (hey, I'm from the North...I have no clue if this is the right way or redneck way of doing things......but I'm guessing it's redneck since Dangle is the one who is demonstrating for us ;)

The kids were swimming in the same area.....and there were a couple of times I had to remind the kids that there was a 4' shark directly below them!

After the party float had gotten a few holes poked into her (remember the big float from previous posts?), we needed to make a run to Dangle's truck to get some superglue and try to make some repairs to the popular float. Here's some pics of our trip back to the boat launch...

Susie (pictured with me) had her 5 year old take this shot of us......

Kneeboarding with a REAL kneeboard and a REAL rope, made for such sports :) (I tried to kneeboard, but the pics didn't turn out - seriously - I have to admit that I was unsuccessful and very weirded out about being left afloat in the middle of the same Bay that 20 shark were pulled out of AND more stingrays were jumping out of!)

Your very cool captain.....

Jim's turn to kneeboard (I was told that I did a better job ((thanks Susie!)) -- but he gave it many more tries than I did! I was too scared in the water)

Did I mention that we are wearing a child's Scooby-Doo life vest?? lol -- much better than the orange life vest though!

After pulling out of the water at 7pm we managed to make it home and then back out the door at 815pm for dinner at O'Charley's.......

Justin, Jim, Bruce, & Dangle Susie, Jenn, & Cindy

The kids were WHIPED OUT! Kelsey cuddled in her own chair and fell asleep....Katlyn and Tyler took a nap kindergarden style, and Addison could barely keep her eyes open.

Last Day of School!

Already? Yes.....it's true. The kids are out of school already! We take pictures on the kids' first day of school,

so I figure we can take pics on their LAST day of school, too!

Dude, seriously....you need a haircut!







Jayce...why are you hiding??















Now that's a happy face!

When Addison Takes Hold of the Camera

I have no idea where she gets it from.........

Redneck Kneeboarding

I have no clue who had the idea - probably Dangle - but as soon as I heard the "idea" I stopped the boat (I was Captain for the day) to see if he would really do it. So what is "it"? Kneeboard of course....you did read the title of the blog right? ;)

What do you need to go kneeboarding?

#1 - a kneeboard (check - we have a wakeboard...it will have to do)

#2 - nylon rope (check - a rope will work)

#3 - a willing body (Dangle)

#4 - don't forget about safety! (bright orange USCG Approved life jacket - CHECK!)

Above - Dangle gets pushed into the bay by his good friend Justin

Below - are you ready Dangle?

LMAO!!

Still LMAO!!

Dangle HAS HAD to have done this before! He's way too good!!

Memorial Day Weekend

The chronological order of these next couple blogs will be nil....long story short: I took ALL of my pics off of the harddrive and put them onto an external drive (hurricane preparedness, but also to make space for PHOTOSHOP!). I just uploaded these pics from my camera...so enjoy these first! ;)



MY MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND.....

Consisted of:

• pub crawling (sort of) - pics to follow
• family time in Michigan - pics to follow
• a plane ride back to Florida - no pics of this, sorry!
• Nyquil taken in the a.m.
• a day on the beach - see below!
• a day in the storm on the beach
• a taste of freedom
• a shark hold
• redneck kneeboarding
• sinus infection
• double ear infection

......and THAT is pretty much a good idea of the order of how things went :)

We still have no name for her...I call her "The Toon" - others call her the party barge

We spent our day with Justin & Cindy, the Yangsons, the Kings, Sara & Dangle (the redneck kneeboarder), The Shelts, and TONS of kids..........we have to thank Dangle for bringing the awesome party float! I have to find one of my own now!

Ok, so I wasn't feeling very well ever since leaving Michigan Saturday afternoon. My ears would not "pop" on the plane, my sinuses were giving me horrible headaches, not to mention the pressure alone. So, prior to our 0930 departure on "The Toon," Jim tells me to take some Dayquil - good idea! What color is Dayquil? Orange or green? Guess what color I took?? Yeah.... so I'm feeling like "get me to the beach so I can fall asleep in the sun." And I did this - for about 10 minutes. The sleepiness effect must have worn off pretty quickly, leaving me with a really good drunk feeling......my day was getting better by the minute ;)

The kids on the party float.....we let them play first.....

OH THE SWEET TASTE OF FREEDOM!!

A hundred or more yards away from the shore and Susie and I are thinking this is GREAT! No kids, no husbands, no nothing! FREEDOM!!

I have to admit, it did get a little frightening after going so far away - especially after seeing the sting rays jumping out of the water twice. I really didn't want one of those things in the party float!

Bruce and Dangle deserved some cheers after hauling us girls back to shore.....

SHARK!!
Yes, I was inspecting it prior to letting it go. It wasn't nearly as squirmy as the shark I caught (mine was bigger ;)





Addison took her "babing" suit off only after a couple hours....





Father & Son