January 6, 2014

Tampa Day 1 and NYE

we arrived in St. Petersburg as the sun was setting. 
We stayed at Ean's cousin's In-laws beach house! 
his Cousin (Nikki & Tony) and their kids were staying there all week!
It was absolutely gorgeous
we found a shusi place and ate till we were so full ... Ean even ate sushi. It was so good
the we came back and relaxed on the patio until about 9:30 and I couldnt keep my eyes open any longer so we went to bed
 we were both pretty tired and slept until 9am
we had a great breakfast with Ean's family his aunt and uncle Dave and Sure were there as well ... they drove down in the RV and will be there all month (lucky ducks!)
we lounged around outside and watched Josie swim and then went and did some souvenir shopping for the boys and grandmas :)
while we were out we tried make reservations for dinner and the only one we could get was at 3:30 so we took it!
We had uncle Dave take some photos of us as we never get to do that .... 
it was like homecoming :)
 
it was a nice dinner I had shrimp pasta ean had a steak flat bread and we had these really good mini desserts. Then we went to check into our hotel changed into our hawk clothes and headed to the Hawkeye huddle!
in the cab
 at the Hawkeye huddle
I met Elvis, his "mama" made his suit! 
 there were probably 5,000 hawk fans to watch the IA vs NE bball game
 the band came and played and we got to high five them :)
 after the game we 
 headed to the bay to watch fire works
 Happy 2014, it was really cool, they had a ball drop and ive always wanted to see that...someday id like to see it in time square
 we left right after fire works and actually found a cab back to our hotel where we had appetizers and another drink before heading to bed!
Had to be ready to cheer on the hawkeyes!

here is a video of the fireworks
there were 2 different ones that we could see

January 5, 2014

On The Road

So my mom arrived on Sunday at 12:30 and after much instruction and good byes we were on the road by 1pm I drove the first leg we stopped in metropolis, IL where I took a photo as superman 
then drove to mt vernon Illinois to eat at a chilli's i had a large margarita since my driving leg was over!
we then went on to Kentucky and Tennessee we had hoped to drive through Atlanta but I wasn't feeling very well and my whole body hurt so we stayed in Tennessee somewhere by Chattanooga, slept for 5 hours and were on the road again. Ean drove a few hours then I drove then we stopped in tiffton georgia for some BBQ at lunch, 
we stopped at a local smoke house and had the most amazing BBQ and sweet tea I have ever had!! then we went to walmart and got me a sleeping bag so i could sleep in the back for a while before driving again. I woke up to RV's and trucks hauling golf carts, we were in florida! I drove again for a while. People drive like crazy down there. we are all going 80 and they will cut you off then slam on their breaks down to 65. twice I had to swerve off the road past the rumble strips to avoid hitting someone and the person behind me almost hit me! when I got off the interstate for ean to drive I had a green light so I went threw it right as some idiot was turning left on her green light which you YEILD for.ahhhhh!!!
Ean drove till the end. and while he was driving to absolutely NO surprise to us someone ass-holed somebody and traffic was down to 20mph for quite a while. 
We got to St. petersburg around 5pm on monday
was hoping to watch the sun set on the beach...but this worked to :)
{more on the actual vacation in the next post!}
We left on thursday Jan 2nd around 11am
 good bye florida!
ran into rain in northern Florida and it rained for quite a while and people again drove like idiots
here comes the rain!
I saw a fender bender before we even got on the interstate. we were sitting at a red light and this DA in a van was looking at his phone and didnt stop and smashed the back of the mustang right next to us. 

then on the interstate between FL and GA we saw 7 fender benders on the interstate involving 2 to 3 cars each. which slowed down traffic. there were a lot of Illinois and iowa plates as we were driving home...none of us were cutting people off and causing accidents :)
we decided we wanted to go to a blues bar in Atlanta so we picked a hotel within walking distance of one. It was a cute old hotel
we freshened up and started walking it was 26 degrees and really windy...felt bitter cold!
it was 8pm and the music didnt start til 9:30 so we stopped at an Irish bar which just happened to be the oldest Irish bar in Atlanta. We ordered these Irish egg rolls which were amazing, sauerkraut corned beef and farmers cheese wrapped in a won-ton!! 
They were playing the LSU Sooner game and it was such a good game we never left to go next door to the blues band!
we were in bed by midnight and up at 6am to make the drive home!!!
Ean drove first I woke up just in time to see the mountains of Tennessee
 
we spent about 45min driving through/around rock city, tn. and will defiantly be back with the boys there is a cave with underground waterfall, trails to hike, a trolley to ride up the mountain, and much more. we didn't do any of it just drove up the mountain for the view! 
 the mountain above
a house id like to buy ;)
it was cold....all the little falls were frozen
we drove and drove got lunch at a BBQ deli in Kentucky...it was home made southern food at a grocery store and must have been the local hot spot for old folks cause they were all gathered with their cute southern accents for lunch...we stuck out pretty bad :)
and we just kept driving. and driving and it got colder and colder
about 15 miles into iowa we saw 3 semis that had just went into the ditch we think it was because of the wind blowing the snow over the roads and made slick spots...plus the wind probably blew the semi's .... about 10 semi's immediately exited at the I80 truck stop. 
we had no other problems and were home by 8pm!!! 

Family Photos at Christmas

I forgot my camera at home so had to take some of these with my phone and they are not very clear :( But glad to have the photos either way!
me and my family! 

great grand kids and grand kids with grandma Flo

 
my mom and her siblings with their grandma

my grandma and grandpa and great grandma flo 

mom hurdling the couch to make the shot :)

4 generations

 
out takes of pickin' and grinnin'





January 4, 2014

Seaba Christmas

Saturday before we left for Tampa we had Christmas with some of the cousins Nile and the Seaba 5!
samantha and dash playing with all the toys


 dash and sammy dancing to the christmas book
  watching Popeye
 sitting down for lunch at great grandma seaba's
The kids all pick names and get that person a gift so after lunch we opened gifts 
played and came home to get ready to be gone for 6 days

Kevin's Christmas

hanging his stocking


enjoying grammies house
playing with his new toy from santa

can you see him...we just kept bringing in gifts and he wouldn't move
until he got hot by the fire and then he laid in the middle of the chaos

he's such a spoiled thing :)