I was recently in Northern California visiting with some friends. Like good friends, I felt fortunate to have been blessed by their generosity. Landon and Shadley informed me of the adventure and then patiently waited until I reached Visalia. We then headed in the Rasmussen's stylin' van to the Petersens in Suisun City. We played a little rock band. I admit that I'm a novice, and I was intimidated by Alex and Sydney's mad-skills, but in all, I had a great time. To my delight, the Ethington family was also visiting from Toledo, and Morgan was very good at instructing me in blogging 101. Thanks to Morgan, I've learned about making this blog more fun.
Unfortunately, I only have two pictures from the trip.
Landon and I finished our Sundaes without problem.
2. Florida Vacation
I have had one fine week in Florida. Right now, I chatting with my sister-in-law, Lori. She is telling me that I should talk about the top ten most memorable experiences on this trip. Here's her wish fulfilled:
-Dave's work. I surprised to see that my brother already has his dream office on the 14th Floor over-looking downtown JAX. At age 33, he has reached the top, and what more can he hope to accomplish. How depressing! In reality, we had a great time as he introduced me to his co-workers who begged me for some embarrassing stories.... Lunch at the burrito gallery was pretty good too.
Here's an extra picture of JEA's Mr. January (P.S. Dave, I want my own autographed copy, since I hear you gave one to Julie.)
-Megan's Gymnastics. My niece is not just beautiful, she is also talented. She let me come to her gymnastics class with her and her mom. She worked out for 1 hour doing tumbling and un-even bars. She is awesome. Here's a video of her tumbling.-Saturday with the Girls. An unexpected wedding forced a change of plans, but it created a fun day for me with my nieces. We made some fun cards for their aunts, played at the park, ate dinner at McDonalds (their favorite restaurant), made brownies al a mode, and watched a fun movie.
-Sunday BBQ. I enjoyed a relaxing, Sunday afternoon BBQ including Hamburgers, macaroni salad, and baked beans.
-Late night Miracle Whip runs. Life always has its share of unexpected events, and it occured late one night. The jar of Miracle Whip was empty. Panic ensued. After an awaking slap back into reality, we made what was to be a journey never to be forgotten. Every store seemed to be closed. No Winn-Dixie; No Target; No Kroger. How could life be so unfair? Could we ever see peace on Earth? Luckily, Walmart saved the day. They had six bottles left that late night, and a potential disaster was avoided.
-Learning to blog. Lori wanted to learn how to set up her own blog. So, I helped her with my limited knowledge. I hope you will check out the link to her blog on the column on the left. Way to go Lori.
-Beach Day. I don't know if there could have been a better day to go to the beach. One of my all-time favorite activities is building stuff in the sand. So, we set out to make a couple of sand's most fabled objects: a pyramid and a sphinx. In addition, we had a great time in the Atlantic Ocean. See the video below.
-Petting sting rays at the zoo. Lori and the kids treated me to a day at the Jacksonville zoo. Megan and Emily told me that I was in for fun, but I had no idea until we arrived and paid $2.50 to pet live sting rays. We got a little fish food, and fed them too. I have a video below, and it shows my excitement as well.
Here's a picture of my nieces outside the monkey cage sharing their best monkey impression.
-Running barefoot after a bus at the Kennedy Space Center. This was a great day full of science and exploration. We both tried the new flight simulation machine and watched the 2 new 3D IMAX films, and concur that these are good additions. However, the best part was the new, guided tour which takes you up closer to the launch pads. We were able to ask questions to our live guide, and had a pleasant experience. After the tour however, we did have our only drama of the day.....I realized I had left my camera on the bus, just a minute or two after getting off. I went running back toward the bus. As you know, flipflops are not easy to run in, and so I flipped them off and ran barefoot back to the bus. I'm glad I got my camera back.
Check out this link to see where the International Space Station is above your home town: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station
-Baseball game. We scored some great tickets to the Dodgers' AA-affiliate in Jacksonville, the Suns. Our seats were the first row just a few feet off center behind home plate. We also had the major league scouts sitting near us with their speed guns. We enjoyed it a lot, however we skipped out early from the gospel rock concert after watching the post-game fireworks.
