Sometimes You Just Need A Day Off...

....at the beach. And, that's what we did. Todd's brother, Tripp, got a room for a couple of nights and invited us down for the day. So, after church, we threw our suits and some towels in a bag and headed to Pass A Grille beach in St. Pete. The beach is not my favorite place, but my son loves it and once I get there, I do enjoy the serenity of it all. We arrived around three in the afternoon which was just after the heat of the day and so we got just enough sun and managed to leave without getting blistered.

Nathan loved diving for shells. Every so ofter, he would come up to the beach where I was and show me a treasure he had found. Most of his treasures were broken shells...except for this one...

...a perfect sand dollar. I even managed to get it home without breaking it. Which scored me a lot of points with my son. When we lived in Jamaica, we visited Negril and the boys went snorkeling. Nathan found a really cool sand dollar and I put it in the sink in the motel room. When we got back home, his sand dollar was still in Negril. He has never let me forget it.

We ate dinner at the famous Hurricane. I wasn't very impressed with my salad and Todd wasn't very impressed with his grouper sandwich, but Nathan's cheeseburger was good. I was definitely impressed with the butter pecan ice cream I got in the waffle cone at the ice cream shop, too.

Thanks, Uncle Tripp, for sharing you room with us and inviting us down.

Muffins With Mom and Mother's Day.

Mother's Day weekend started off with a bang. Friday morning I had muffins with my son in his class. His teacher invited all mothers to come to the class and enjoy muffins and juice with their children. The kids had poems they had written to present to mom and they put on a little mother's day play. Mrs. Flagg worked hard to pull it together and make us moms feel special.

Saturday, Nathan had a baseball game and what an exciting game it was. Nathan's team beat the strongest team in the league. I was so proud of him. He played a solid game as did his teammates.

Sunday, we went to Mama's for lunch. I struggled with her cooking the feast she did, but neither one of us wanted to go out to eat and wait for hours to get served. We took lots of family pictures which were well over due.

I love this picture. My son is a mama's boys and I love that he loves me the way he does.

The three of us. We haven't had a family picture taken in a long time. Nathan of course has changed the most.

This one was funny. We had just moved into the sun and Nathan was caught in mid sneeze.

It has been a really long time since I have seen my brother with a tie. Isn't he handsome?

Picture with Mama and Daddy. I love them so much. I have a wonderful family.

And, now you know where my white hair comes from. Love this woman.

The Ray's Game!

Last Sunday we took Nathan to his first professional baseball game. It was little league day at Tropicana Field, home of the Rays. Nathan plays for district 13, so we went with some of his teammates and some of the players and parents of other teams from Pinecrest Little League. Needless to say, Nathan loved it. Not long after we were seated, he looked at me and said, "Mom, I'm going to do this when I grow up."

The game began with presentation of the colors. The Rays were playing the Toronto Blue Jays so the special guest sang the Canadian national anthem as well as our Star Spangled Banner.

He was even happy to oblige me and pose for a few pictures. That made me happy because I didn't have to bribe him.

Our seats were just behind left field. Perfect to catch a Crawford or Upton home run ball.

We had a perfect view of Carl Crawford, who plays left field. He showed off a few times for us.

Nathan had his glove ready at all times. But, just as I suspected, when an opportunity to catch a ball didn't come in the first five minutes of our arrival, he was ready for something different.

First, came the $4 bag of cotton candy. Todd helped him eat that. I didn't.

More waiting. Then he convinced his daddy to take him to the concession stand. I was so glad they went.

Because, they came back with a Papa John's pizza and an ice cold Diet Coke. I was more than ready for the Diet Coke. Before they left to go get the pizza, Nathan handed me his glove with strict instructions to put it on in case a ball come our way. The little boy behind me had a ball he had gotten in warm ups. I asked him if I could borrow it to play a trick on my son and husband. So, when Todd and Nathan returned, I had a ball in Nathan's glove. The look on his face was priceless. And, I and the boys behind me, got a good laugh.

The Rays won 6-0, so it was a good day. After the game, Nathan and Logan posed for me in front of a Rays banner.