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I’m very delinquent in posting these due to our trip to Alaska, but here are the pictures from Allison’s 8th Birthday party.  It was a swim in the lake and sleepover party with just a few of her close friends.  A good time was had by all.

Michael’s Beginning 6th-Grade Band had their spring concert on Monday.  The performance is below for Grandparent viewing pleasure…

When we got up this morning, the wind was already whipping at about 20 knots and it just built from there.  The thunderstorms didn’t hit until later in the afternoon, though, so we got out for a little bit.

Michael caught a red that escaped my iron skillet by 1” and Allison caught the most exotic fish of the trip – a tiny hammerhead shark!

We need to be out of the house in the morning but we’ll look at the weather and I’ll let the kids decide if they want to try and go fishing again, or just head on back towards home.  Either way, it’s been a fantastic trip.

Until next time, happy Floridays…

The wind kicked up on us today making the fishing a little tougher.  We did manage to get out and catch a few.  Allison caught a good sized sheepshead and Michael and I caught a few real nice trout (18-20”).

No pictures from today so I’ll just show you the little place where we’re staying.  Its small but very nice and right on the bay with a nice dock and even a lift.  It is really just perfect for the three of us.

Today we went meat-hunting.

I had arranged for a local guide for a half-day just to go out and find some fish and pick up on a little of the local techniques.  We didn’t catch a lot of glamorous fish (although I did catch a real nice trout) but we got lots of really good eating ones.  Mostly whiting (two different types) which the guide swore was the best-eating fish in the bay.  I’m still partial to blackened redfish but this stuff was good…

Michael was the star today with the biggest catch.  A really nice black drum that, if we don’t get any eating sized reds tomorrow, I will probably blacken up for dinner.

I broiled the whiting in some butter and lemon with Tony Cachere’s on it and served it with some linguini.  Everyone ate every bite.  It was really good…

I also did something for the first time in my life – I paid someone to clean the fish.  When we got to the dock there was about a 184-year old man there in the truck he got when he was 16 who offered to clean them up for us.  I said “absolutely.”  We followed him to his “cleaning shack” (an apt description) where he proceeded to perform surgery on our catch like I’ve never seen before.  He cleaned filleted and skinned 34 fish in about 14 minutes and didn’t leave a bone behind.  That’s the first time since I was about 6 that anyone else had cleaned my catch but it won’t be the last!

Tomorrow, we’ll see if we can find some Reds and Specks on our own.  I’ll try and check in at the end of the day.  I think we’re going to be blessed with another fabulous weather day so maybe we can catch some more fish too.  Until then, happy sunsets…

So we slept in a little bit in our stopover hotel and didn’t get out until after 9am (with a 5 hour drive still today).  Then, as I’m pulling out of the hotel parking lot I notice in my rearview that the driver side tire on the trailer is warped out in one place – that thing is gonna blow any minute.  So we had to find a tire place and have it replaced.

All that to say we didn’t get to St. George until right at 4pm and then I had to get the boat in the water, drive it to the house and then walk the 1 3/4 miles back to the ramp to get the car.  So, it was 6pm before that was done, but the kids have been dying to go fishing so, off we went for just a little bit.  I ran over to Bob Sykes cut which is a narrow channel through St. George between the bay and Gulf.  I had heard you could catch reds there.  We pulled up in the midst of several boats who looked very bored from catching nothing, got some shrimp on the hooks and put them down.

About five minutes later Allison yells "I’ve got something!" and the fight ensued.  By the time she got this thing (a 10lb+ red over half her length) to the boat (the first time) the other boats were driving by to see what the little fisher-girl had hooked into.  Everyone cheered as I hauled it over the transom.

Michael and I didn’t catch a thing but we didn’t care .

Last night I got to go out on a date with a true angel.  It was the annual “Princess Date Night” for me and Allison through her Indian Princess Tribe.  We took the girls to a nice venue and had dinner and evening of fun and dancing.

The theme was Hollywood and Allison had the real movie star dress.  It was magic.

We both look forward to this night every year (this is our third one).  Allison started asking me about it somewhere around six months ago.  It was a truly great time – and Daddy even won one of the prizes for craziest dancer (doh!) .

The past few weeks have seen both Sharon and I embarking on some fun activities with the kids. 

First, a couple weeks ago we had a particularly crisp beautiful morning and Sharon (since she was soon leaving for a return trip to England by herself) wanted to take the kids out for a hike.

They headed to Crowder’s Mountain – a small peak about an hour from our house – and had a grand time (including almost getting lost in the dark).

Next, while Sharon was on said trip back to England, I decided to take advantage of the Veteran’s Day holiday (thanks, again, Dad) and take a quick fishing trip with the kids.  We headed to New Smyrna Beach because it was reachable in a day’s drive and had some potential for good fishing.

As it turns out, the fishing wasn’t stellar due to a cold front arriving with us, but the kids and I still had a grand time.  It wasn’t a total bust as we managed to bag a real menagerie of 12 different kinds of fish (but, alas, no reds or trout).  Allison ended up with two of the most interesting – landing a very nice Jack Crevalle and a small Puffer Fish.  Michael landed lots of fish too – having the most fun with the wildly jumping Ladyfish.

And, finally, with the weather blowing us out on the front end of our fishing trip, we stumbled on another activity.

We went ice skating! (in Florida, no less).

Both kids did incredibly well.  It was Allison’s first attempt and Michael had only been on skates a couple times when he was three or four.  Dad even managed to not break anything.

Halloween was a great success.  Michael went to a party and trick-or-treating with his friends (in a Limo!) and Allison went around the neighborhood with me and a bunch of the other kids from our cul-de-sac, including our new next-door neighbors.  They are a really nice family with two kids and the daughter (just a year older) and Allison seem to be becoming fast friends.

The rain gave us just enough of a respite to allow us to get the trick-or-treating in and then it was party time at one of our other new neighbor’s house.  A great time had by all.

Pumpkin carving activities took place during the week before with Allison and I carving a puppy dog face in her classroom with all the other dads and kids and Michael (who opted for the Alien face) did his own pumpkin completely by himself for the first time.

Allison was a “Pretty” Witch and Michael,  well, you decide whatever that is…

Allison and I went on our semi-annual campout with her Indian Princess group last weekend.  As usual, it was a fun time for all and we had great weather.

The activities included:

• Horseback Riding
• Canoeing
• Archery
• BB Guns
• Hiking
• Crafts
• Campfire/S’mores
• Zip lining
• Bouldering

…and staying up late and just plain having fun.  Pictures can be viewed on our Kodak Gallery here.