Tampa Bay Bucs vs Houston Texans (last game of PreSeason)

We are getting into the swing of football and had the last tailgate of Buc's pre-season! The picture was taken from our seats, in the nose-bleed section. We only stayed for the first half since it was the third-string players. Three minutes left in the game and the score is tied at 24-24. Wanted to get this posted and get on with things. Hopefully the Bucs will pull this one out.

FSU Football kicks off Monday with the first game being away at Clemson. Should be fun!

Day of Golf at Hound Ears

We've stuck to our commitment and have played full rounds of golf every other day while we're in Boone. Frank had an awesome round a few days ago! His lesson has paid off and given him a few things to work on. Hopefully the next time we're in Stuart, I can take the same lesson.

Tomorrow we're leaving the cooler temps of Boone and heading back home for a few days. Will be great to see everyone. The last pre-season Bucs game is on Thursday and hopefully the weather will be nice.

Then the travel and FSU football fun begins on Labor Day.

We're counting down....2 weeks from today until we get to see Chris and Nate (Daniel and Kathy too!)

Golf in the Mountains

We've been in Boone, NC for almost a week and it has been very warm! Days in the high 80's and lows in the 70's. (The cabin doesn't have a/c.) Most of NC has been experience high temps and droughts.

Our golf has been interrupted by thunder and lightening, but we did get to the driving range one day and play 9 holes another. Hopefully with an early start tomorrow, we'll be able to play a full 18 holes.

Frank took a golf lesson when we were in Stuart and they provided him a really cool video analysis of his swing. So now when we go to the driving range, we've been doing little movies and conducting our own expert analysis. :) (We'll see how it works tomorrow.) Hopefully we'll hit them well, but not often.

Just a few more days in the 'cooler weather' before we head back to Tampa.

Update from the Nauti Nole Fish Camp

We've been at the Fish Camp for the past week and went off-shore three times. Monday it was just Frank and I(no fish). Thursday was Frank's brother Rich, his buddy Eddie, Frank and I(and again no fish). But it wasn't for lack of trying. And we tried almost everything!

Our friends Ken & Victoria (Nauti Gator) came over for the weekend to celebrate Ken's birthday. We were ready (and REALLY hoping) to catch some fish. Pulled away from the dock at 7AM and had a smooth ride out to the inlet. Found the bait (along with about 100 other boats), joined the frenzy and stocked the bait well. (This time we made sure the pump was on all the time.) Off to some spots where we've had luck in the past. And to make a long story short...Ken got his birthday wish...I mean fish! A big bull dolphin chomped down on one of the outrigger baits. We were able to get some live-action video and with great efforts from the Captain and crew, landed a big darn fish in the boat!! We were all very excited! Then Victoria got a bite from a schoolie and reeled it in! While were were hoping for more, we were very happy with the catch. After trying a few different locations with no luck, decided that it would be a good idea to head back in before the afternoon storms rolled through.

So, in the end, it was a great week at the fish camp!

Happy birthday, Ken!

First Entry

Thanks to my wonderful sister-in-law 'mamamooregon', we've got a blogspot! We'll give this a try for posting life updates, photos, our whereabouts and activities.

Here's our nephews, Chris and Nate who live in Portland, Oregon. This picture was when they came to see us in Tampa November '06. What a fun time that was!

Our story (the abbreviated version)

In January of 2004, I attended Publix Cooking school. It was a 6 week class with only 12 people. And we learned so many things (techniques, recipes, etc). Frank and his youngest daughter, attended as well. It wasn't until after the class, we learned we had so much in common, including his daughters (Allison and Andrea) losing their mother at about the same age I lost my mother. Needless to say, our friendship and love blossomed. In August of that year we decided that in order to travel and do the things we both enjoyed I would have to give up my job. (That took about 30 seconds to decide!)

In February of 2005, while we were on our first big trip together (6 weeks in Europe), Frank proposed while we were walking along the Champs Elysees, on the anniversary of our first date. Very romantic!

I soon became the Director of Domestic Operations, handling many of the household responsibilities for two houses in Tampa and one in Boone, North Carolina. Our travels included trips to North Carolina, to the east coast for fishing, to Tallahassee for Florida State football games and out to the Pacific Northwest to see my brother Daniel and his family (Kathy, Chris and Nate). (Keep in mind that Daniel is a die-hard University of Florida Gator, but he is tolerant of Seminoles in his house.) :o)

In May 2006, we did another European trip. This time it was 2 cruises. One down the Danube (from Nuremberg, Germany to Budapest, Hungary) and the other...an FSU Boosters Cruise (from Athens, Greece to Venice, Italy).

After having completed the remodel of our home in Tampa, we were bored. Several years ago, Frank bought a townhouse in Tallahassee and Allison lived there until her senior year. We were planning to use it during football season and perhaps rent it out during off-season. So we decided to update the kitchen and bathrooms. (It was a lot of work, but fun.) Right before school started, Andrea decided she was going to live there and since she didn't have a roommate we used the second room when we were in town. Having successfully completed that update we decided we could remodeled the kitchen in the house in Boone. (This time we called in the professionals!) It turned out really nice, but has taken forever to get the little things completed.

For the past 2 years we have been looking for a little place on the east coast of Florida to use as our 'fish camp'. Finally, we found the perfect place in Stuart! (A small 2 bedroom/2 bath condo with nice amenities including views of the canal/and docks out our patio.) About a 30 minute boat-ride on the Nauti Nole and we're in the Atlantic Ocean!

So from now on, our posts will begin with our location...at least that is how our conversations begin. :) (Tampa=home, Stuart=fishing, Tallahassee=FSU events, Boone=cooler weather and golf). And how we came up with our blog name....because our travel schedule is CRAZY!