Catching up....

Goodness gracious!  It's been a long time!!  I have a lot to catch up on!!  I will try to start at the beginning from my last post.

Tuesday morning (4/26) we got up nice and early to meet John and Kathy to head out on our adventure.  It rained in a few spots on our way down, but all in all, the weather wasn't that bad.  Especially seeing as how there were MAJOR storms and devistating tornadoes the very next day in the same areas we had just been through!  Scary!

Here is a photo of John and Kathy taken when we stopped for lunch.

We stopped in Marietta, GA on Tuesday night and stayed with Aunt Marcia.  She was an awesome hostess and her house is amazing!  Here is a photo of her back yard.  You should see the rest of her house!!

We got back on the road Wednesday morning and finished the drive to Florida.  Here's a photo of the Atlanta skyline:

We actually stayed in Brandon, FL.  It's just east of Tampa and it was a really nice area.  There was a very nice mall and lots of resteraunts and things to do.  

Wednesday night was John's first meet-and-greet and hockey practice.  He was excited to meet his team and get on the ice!  The guys on his team came from all over and it was fun to see so many guys that have the same passion for hockey that John does.  Here is a photo of the first team practice with John tending goal.

Thursday morning we got up and went shopping.  There was a really nice mall about a mile from our hotel.  Nick got a very nice jersey for his birthday along with some other t-shirts.  I also found a couple of cute shirts and we all walked away with some new clothes.  Then we went back to the ice rink for John's first game.  His team, the Stars, played the other pick-up team in the tournament.  The game a a lot of fun and the Stars won!  Yay for John!  Thursday night we drove to Clearwater Beach.  It took us about an hour to get there thanks to some rush hour traffic.  There was a storm out in the gulf and the surf was intense!  We played in the water for a while and then enjoyed the sunset. 

Friday morning we went to the Hyatt in Clearwater.  They have a really cool nature walk that spans about a 1/2 mile.  It was a nice day and we got to see some great wildlife and beautiful flowers!  There were lizards and little crabs everywhere! 

John had another game that afternoon and the Stars didn't fare so well.  The guys must have been tired.  They skated their hearts out, though! 

Saturday we went back to Clearwater Beach in the morning.  It was a beautiful day.  The water was much more calm and we swam and sunbathed for a couple of hours.

 

We headed back to the ice rink and John actually ended up playing a double header!  He did great, though I was tired just watching him!!  His stamina amazes me!  The Stars lost their game, but he was asked to play goalie for another team and happily obliged!  They won that game and it was a lot more fun! 

Sunday morning we headed back out on the road.  We went back to Marietta to Marica's to stay Sunday night.  We had a very nice BBQ and got to meet Marcia's daughter, Tracy, and her family and Marcia's other daughter, Laurie's, kids.  We played in the pool and had a nice visit. 

We finished the drive on Monday and got home about 6.  I was very sad that it was chilly and rainy when we got home.  It was BEAUTIFUL in Florida!  In the  upper 80s and sunny!  I am ready for it to be warm here!

We took Tuesday off work to recoup a bit.  We ended up going to the mall and doing some more clothes shopping and some Mother's Day shopping.  We went to dinner and just enjoyed the day.  Then back to work for me yesterday.  Nick doesn't have to go back to work until tomorrow. Lucky duck!  It is nice to be back to work, though we are already planning our next trip to Clearwater!!