St. Petersblog Day 3

Alright folks, we are currently experiencing the "third day of vacation effect", which means that we're exhausted. So, not much today. But here's a couple of things.

After blogging last night, Vee and I returned to the beach and through the light-up frisbee around. I believe the Adam's can attest to this: throwing around a light-up frisbee on the beach at 12:00am, is just about one of the coolest things ever.

OK, this morning we got up and drove down to the St. Pete Beach shopping block which, while called Corey Ave. that is awesome, isn't much greater than the Plaza or downtown Columbia. In fact, we're probably fine saying that Downtown Columbia is much better than shopping on Corey Ave, last name or no.

Dad, this, nicely framed behind the fountain, is Lindsey's favorite tree...

At noon, Lindsey's good friend Joe came down from Ocala, Fl. We spent most of the day running around with Jose and great fun was had by all.

OK, lunch: third best sandwich of my life. 1) Shrimp Po'boy in Kenner, LA with my boys, 2) Philly Cheese in Philly and 3) a Cuban from St. Pete, FL with my girl. Unbelievable!

At the beach in the afternoon, we discovered that the sharks really were dolphins (thanks for telling me to swim TOWARDS sharks, Mustoeman) because we saw 6 or 7 more and they were, no hyperbole here, like two feet from us. OK, like 25ft. But, really freakin' close and it was amazing. Joe, having lived in FL since 2001, has never had that happen.

Also, maybe from Hurricane Dean, the waves were much bigger today. I had a good time body surfing and Karate Kidding some big ones while Joe and Linds had a bottle of wine. They joined me in the waves, Joe and I taking it easy like pros, Lindsey struggling with each wave like God was breaking his promise to Noah. One did eventually get the better of her, lifting her off her feet and tumbling around, hitting bottom. She's got a nice scraped up knee to prove it. "The sea was angry that day my friends"

Florida Orange Groves and Winery was great fun. We sampled 11 wines made of every fruit you could imagine except grapes. Fruit wine is a lot better than grape wine, but I really still prefer good ol' hops and malts.

So, as you can see, big day. I'm going to sleep. But here's something for you all to enjoy.

B n V

ps. Mom, "booyakasha" is an exclamation used under sudden or surprising awesomeness; i.e. a slam dunk or a surprise pimp-pose from your baby boy.

Peace to all...

St. Petersblog: Day Two

Good evening all of my friends stuck somewhere that isn't Florida!

Day two of our Floridian vacation was one of the best days of my life. We did nothing. Woke up late-went to the beach-went to the grocery store-went to the beach-went to Crabby Bill's for dinner-blogging-going back to the beach. Here's some highlights:

We have seen some wildlife off of St. Pete's Beach. This morning, as we opened the door to head down to the water, a baby lizard fell from it and into our room. In Missouri, we have mice and mosquitoes; FL, lizards. There are tons of pelicans, like this one, flying around. Now, I hate birds that aren't birds of prey. But, this little fishkiller is awesome. We watched 'em fly across

looking down and around and then WWWWWWOOOSSSHHH, straight down into the water for a mouthful of grouper.

Oh yeah, and we saw TWO FREAKIN' SHARKS. I'm absolutely, positively, like 60% sure. Just about 200 yards offshore we saw a fin comin' up out of the water. It wasn't just us. A lot of people saw it and we all got out of the water. No joke. An Englishman (I think) and I watched the water for a while but never saw it again. Crazy.

Lindsey and I both would like to thank our families for teaching us the vacation lunch. Fruits, cheese and crackers, a little sausage. Lindsey has discovered her love of fried plantains, which Brad hates, and pluots(seen here), which Brad also hates.

We've seen too many speedos but no thongs, thank God.

Saw an adorable little Latina girl whose name was, we're pretty sure, Malaria and a little Caucaisan boy who sounded exactly like a seagull.

Lindsey, along with various fruits, has discovered a calling to become a sand artist.

If that doesn't work, we can always buy shells from a wholesaler, glue all sorts of names on them and sell them for 5 dollars a piece.

We've found two sandollars and three full conch shells.

Lindsey was the furthest swimmer from shore for a short period today, a fact of which she's very proud.

Mom and Dad, remember me at the beach sitting in the sand and just looking for shells for hours? Well, turns out I still like that.

We have been doing some pondering out on the gulf as well. And we've come up with this philosophical gem: we (human beings) have NO IDEA what "big" really means. Looking out into the water, we really have no clue how big this world is or how small we are in it.

It was a great day. At one point, Lindsey asked what I was thinking and I said, with confidence, "nothing". Couldn't ask for more in a vacation...

More to follow. Hasta Manana. B n V

Oh yeah, and here's this...booyakasha!

St. Petersblog: Day One

Well, Lindsey and I arrived safely and without much incident in Orlando, Fl late this afternoon. We then rented our car (which gave us our first vacation story not 30 mintues on the ground) and drove about two hours to St. Petersburg on the coast of the gulf of Mexico.

As I said, not 30 minutes on the ground in Jeb Bush's stomping ground, we experienced our first vacation story. We found a car at a great rate online through a company called Payless Car Park and Rental. Probably the last time we'll buy anything but shoes at a place named Payless. After waiting in line for really too long, we come to counter and are greated by a very friendly man with a very heavy Western European accent. He says we have your reservation for a two-door Hyundai Sonata. Which is exactly what we wanted since it was 15 bucks a day. Our friend with the heavy accent then procedes to tell us that for very little money we could get something a little bigger, a little nicer, the same schpeal he gives everyone. Then, observant fellow that he is, he notices by our ID's that today is Lindsey's birthday (to find out which one, you'll have to ask her). After seeing this, he offers us "much more less than 50% off" on either a Dodge Charger or a Ford Mustang, for just 40 dollars more of the total cost. That offer, while generous, put us over the hundred dollar mark for car rental which we wanted to avoid. So, we politely declined saying we appreciated the gesture but we really originally wanted a compact and we're fine with that. He says ok and goes to get the keys. He comes back with a set I am familiar with, since it is in the Dodge family (see earlier post on the new wheels). So, thinking that he's either giving us the Charger-which would, frankly, kickass-or upgrading us to the sporty new Caliber, we hear him say, almost under his breath in a heavier accent than he had before, "We have your Caravan all ready, just round corner". A little shell-shocked, we turn the corner and lo and behold, there sat our vehicle for the week, a light blue '06 Dodge Caravan, complete with stow and go seating and automatic doors. So, as is natural, I get a little upset. I say some things I shouldn't, I snap at Lindsey a little bit, I get in an all around foul mood. And then, ten minutes down the road we discover that I can control the radio with buttons on the backside of the steering wheel. Twenty minutes down the road, we find the power seat controls for the driver's side and dual-climate controls (which lynz promptly turned way up on her side). Thirty minutes later we're commenting on how roomy and spacious it is and I've got the cruise control working, I'm switching stations left and right and, as fast as a dance remix of a song that's already a dance song can cheer up two dudes after driving brush around for four hours, I love the Dodge Caravan.


That's the story for today, more to come all week, so keep checking in. Below you'll find pics of our digs for the week, our first view of the ocean together, and a few of us. I failed to get a picture of the wheels before the sun went down, but rest assured, you'll see it tomorrow.

Peace,
Brad and Lindsey

Aren't we cute!!