Brunswick Bowling

This week was mostly work, work, work. But I did take some time Sunday to hang out with friends. Devin, Cate, Andy and I went bowling at Brunswick Lanes Sunday night. My high score was a 95 and my low was 65. Bowling is obviously not my sport. But I did find a purple ball to bowl with which made me happy.

Space Coast Seashell Festival

Devin and I went to the Space Coast Seashell Festival at the Melbourne Auditorium today. There were shells on display by collectors, shells for sale, and shell related crafts that you could purchase. All of the different variations of shells were absolutely amazing to see. I saw many shells that I don't think I've ever seen before. I love thinking about how each animal designed a different shell to fit its needs. My favorites were the ones that had lots of ornamental spiky parts. The one sad part was that many of the shells were taken while alive, not from beach combing. After seeing all of the shell collections I'm motivated to identify more of the shells I have and do more shell collecting.

Mom and Babi visit Florida

Mom and Babi came to visit me in Florida January 5th through the 8th. They ended up staying to the 9th because there was a blizzard in Chicago that they didn't want to take chances flying through. Tuesday night I picked them up from the Airport after work. They were pretty tired after a day of travel so we stopped at home so I could give them the tour and feed Grant, and then we picked up Subway and checked them into the Sea Scape. It was so cold I had to find heaters and extra blankets for the room. The picture is the view from their room.

Wednesday Devin took them on a tour of the Merritt Island Wildlife Preserve since I was working. It was too cold out for being outside and the preserve has a nice auto tour. They saw lots of birds (Mom got a really nice picture of the tri-colored heron), alligators, an armadillo, and the space shuttle as it was being moved to the launch pad (I'm very jealous, I wish I got to see that). I met up with them after work at the Dinosaur Store in Cocoa. We got Indian food for dinner which was super delicious; it's been a long time since I've had Indian food. After that we checked out Ron Jons and the Cocoa Beach Surf Company. We even went up to the third floor surf museum which is very small but interesting.

Thursday I finally got to spend the whole day with Mom and Babi! We started the day at the Blueberry Muffin restaurant which I highly recommend. After stuffing ourselves we went to Turkey Creek since the weather was nice. We didn't see as many animals as they did the day before, but it was a beautiful day for a walk and there were some very friendly squirrels. After walking we went home and Devin and I made grilled veggies for lunch. Mom and Babi enjoyed watching some of my Life of Birds DVD that I got for Christmas. Lunch was yummy and then we went back out to briefly walk through the Brevard Zoo. My favorite part was the sand hill cranes because they were doing a crazy dance as we were walking by. We didn't get to see the entire zoo because we ran out of time, but we saw a good portion. On the way back home we stopped at Incredible Pets so they could see the sloth and monkeys. We made sure Babi stayed out of the reptile section. Then it was back home for some lasagna Devin made in the crock pot and and early night.

Friday I was back at work so Mom and Babi spent time at the house relaxing and also walked around Wickham Park. We went to Pizza Gallery & Grill for dinner after I got home from work. Devin was working in the kitchen and Mark was our server. Mom and Babi were so impressed with the food presentation that they took pictures. It was of course delicious as well.

Saturday Devin and I drove Mom and Babi back to the Orlando airport for their trip home. The snowstorm in Chicago had cleared up and they even arrived at Ohare early.

3...2...1...Happy New Year!

Devin booked us a hotel room in Cocoa Beach for New Years because he wanted me to have a great start to the new year - and that of course means being at the beach. It also was so we wouldn't have to worry about driving back home from the Cocoa Beach Pier which is where we started the new year with their "Rocking the Dock" party and balloon drop. I think this is the first time I have ever been out to celebrate the new year and it was my first balloon drop. The hotel was 2.2 miles from the pier so we had a nice walk along the beach on the way there and back. The pier had a live band, Warehouse, playing most the night and they were pretty good. We spent most of the night at the Boardwalk listening to the band but we did take a brief break to visit the Mai Tiki Bar at the end of the Pier and watch the waves hit the beach. After counting down to the new year we finished our drinks and walked back to the hotel. I had a lot of fun splashing in the shallow waves and Devin had fun taking pictures of me.

I get by with a little help from my friends

I had my friends over for some yummy pizzas so I could catch up with everybody while I was in town. Tuba, Mollie, Shawn, Kathy, Claire, and Casey (Claire's fiance) came over. I got to give them a tour of the new house and we ate pizza (obviously) and cookies, and played Eco Fluxx (an awesome game where the rules and the goal are always changing). It was a new game for almost everyone except Tuba and it was a lot of fun with everyone learning how to play and stealing frogs.

Time with family

Mom invited the family over today so I could see everyone. Almost everyone was there except for Sean and Heather because they had to work (miss you guys!). Jamie and Meghan weren't going to come because Alexis was born less than two weeks ago but they surprised us by showing up (yay). I really can't believe how big all of the kids are getting. Jakob and Josh were both walking around the house. The kids all had fun playing in the sun room and riding the rocking horse that grandpa made a long time ago for Jamie. It was so nice to see everyone. Being far away from family is one of the few major drawbacks to living in Florida.

We wish you a Merry Christmas...

...and a happy New Year! I still had some packing and wrapping to do so I worked on that first thing in the morning. Devin made German chocolate pound cake for breakfast which is a tradition for his family. He used the castle mold that he got me for Christmas and it turned out really well. After we had cake we headed to the beach with Grant. It was Grant's first trip to the beach ever. He had a lot of fun walking at the water's edge and then running away from the waves. I wrote Merry Christmas in the sand so I could send out pictures to make everyone in the snow jealous.
We headed back home and had some lunch and then it was off to the airport. My flight was delayed, of course, but not too long. There were quite a few frusterated people in the airport that didn't seem like they were going to their destination for Christmas so I consider myself lucky.
To be continued...