Fishing trip to Sebastian

Rob and his friend Hans were gone all day Sunday fishing.
Rob was up at 4:00 am and he went and picked up the boat, the bait, then Hans and off they went. Sebastian is two hours north of us, they were in the water by 8:00 am. They borrowed our Cousin Frank’s boat. Thanks for loaning us the boat Frank!!!
The main reason for going all the way to Sebastian was to catch flounder, and I have to say, being a Floridian and living here and fishing here all my life, I have never caught a flounder, so I was a little excited to see what he came home with. I remember going to Sebastian with my parents as a young child to go claming and I remember it was lots of fun but I don’t remember ever fishing for flounder.
Well the boys fished all day, and they did catch some fish, but no flounder. I think they caught Sheepshead.
I believe they finally headed home about 5:30pm – 6:00pm and they had to make a stop in Jupiter, and after dropping Hans off and taking the boat back to the warehouse it was
after 10:00 pm before Rob got home. He was very sunburned and tired and smelly…LOL
It was a long fun day of fishing and hanging with the Dutch Boy!!!
Since they did not take any pictures, this is a picture I found on-line of the inlet.

Quick Trip to Atlanta

Today, Saturday, I had to work a dealer event in Atlanta. It's a long day and for those of you who know me well, know that I am not a good flyer and if I didn't have to fly I would not.
But since it's my job to be in Atlanta then I have no choice. The best part is that I don't have to fly commerical, NOPE, we get use the company jets. And let me tell you they are soooo much nicer than flying commerical. Yes they are smaller than a traditional jet but they are jets, no props. I still have to admit it still scares me terribly to fly. And my friend Kelly who was also traveling with me gets really sick when she flys so between the two of us we were quite a pair.
And of course tonight on our way to Atlanta it was smooth sailing until we got to Atlanta then we had to cirlce for 30 minutes because of a Thunder Storm, then we still had to fly through some bad weather to land....ugh. I was NOT happy but the pilots did a great job and it was a little rainy when we left Atlanta as well, but not for long. It's always an up and back same day trip. We had a very succesful event and now I am soooo happy to be home. I still have to fly to Charlotte and Orlando in April. UGH.. I think I'll drive to Orlando, it's only 3 hours a way.
Below is a picture of our ride, check it out........

This is just one of the JM Family Jets

Easter in the Keys.....

We finally made it to the Keys over Easter Weekend and got to see my Dad’s little place in the sun. It’s a true Keys Cottage. If you know my Dad, you know he is a minimalist and I love that about him. It doesn’t take much to make him happy. One thing that’s for sure is he loves the Keys, no matter what he seems to always find his way back there. I mean really what’s not to love about the Keys, it’s beautiful and water is all around you. If it only had a Barnes-N-Noble, Macy’s, Target and Starbucks it would be Paradise…LOL
I took some pictures of Dad’s little Keys cottage, it’s not so bad, except for the bathroom. Let me tell you how TINY it was, and the pictures really make it look larger than it really is. When you sit on the potty, your knees touch the sink cabinet and at least one of your feet will be in the shower for sure, it’s very cozy. It’s smaller than any cruise ship bathroom that’s for sure. It really gave you the camper feeling. LOL. It’s not so bad if you leave the door open. The best part is he is on the water; actually there is water in the front and the back of his place.
Our weekend was lots of fun. Saturday the weather wasn’t so great, we just hung out and tried to fish under the 7 mile bridge but a storm chased us away. We did manage to grill steaks for dinner. Dad is a great chef. And Dad cooked us Great Breakfast both days!!
Sunday it was beautiful out, so we rented a boat and spent four hours in the Florida sun fishing. It was a blast. My wrist was killing me by the end of the day from catching so many fish. My Dad found the perfect spot because we fished non-stop and just kept filling the boat with fish. We even caught 3 little sharks. My Dad caught 2 and I caught 1, of course we threw them back, they sure were to fun to catch. I do have to say that my Dad and I caught more than Rob. We told Rob if there are any Hightower’s on the boat we’d definitely be the big catchers and we were. Although Rob did catch the biggest keeper, so we’ll give him that. Of course we were so excited to fish that none of us even thought about putting on sun screen so of course we’re all fried. We did have it on the boat. I’m sure between the three us we caught at least 30 fish, we didn’t keep them all because if they didn’t meet the guidelines by length we threw them back. We came home with plenty of fish that Dad & Rob cleaned and Dad let us take all the fish home to cook…yummy.
Thanks for a very FUN weekend Dad!!! We Love You and We Miss You!! We’ll be seeing you again real soon!! Check out the pictures below.

Pelican waiting for some treats

Rob cleaning the boat
Dad cleaning the fish in his back yard
More Pelicans waiting for scraps

One of the baby sharks we caught
Getting the hook out of the shark
Rob with a keeper
Dad taking a Beer break, letting Rob try to catch up....
My view on our way out to sea
Dad's little kitchen/dinning area

The Bedroom
The tiny bathroom
it's petty cozy
living area
Dad's view from the front door

The front of Dad's little Keys Cottage
Dad's backyard view
Rob fishing in the backyard
Fishing under the 7 Mile Bridge

Bad Weather on the way
Getting ready to fish

Happy Birthday Uncle Vernon!!

Today is My Uncle Vernon's Birthday. Happy Birthday Uncle Vernon!!! We hope you have the BEST Birhtday ever. We sure wish we could be in South Carolina to celebrate with you all!!!!
We Miss You!!
XOXOOX
I sure wish I had some good pictures of Uncle Vernon. This one is Dad & Uncle Vernon fishing on our family vacation in Lake Seminole.

Happy Birthday Kelly

Happy Birthday Kelly!!
Today is my good friend Kelly's Birthday. I've known Kelly since the 5th grade!!
We Hope you have the BEST Birthday ever Chali!!!
We Love You Kel!!

This is Kelly and her husband Hans!!

Happy Birhtday Chad!!

Yesterday was our Brother-in-Law, Chad's birthday. I didn't get to post because we were out of town and no access to a computer. We hope you had the BEST birthday ever Chad!!
We'll be celebrating with Chad very soon on our cruise!!
I don't have very many pictures of Chad and he'll hate this one....but it's from our family vacation at Lake Seminole, Chad was doing the broom dance around the fire...those of you who were there, know what that means....LOL

We hope you have a GREAT Birhtday Chad XOXO

Happy Birthday Aunt Ginger!!

Today is my very special Aunt Ginger's Birthday!!! Happy Birthday Aunt Ginger!!

We hope you have the BEST Birthday ever Auntgingerbreadhead!!! And we can't wait to see you in May for our fun fun Cruise!!!!
We Love You!!!
XOXOXOX

This is a picture of my Gorgeous Aunt Ginger, on the left with her handsome brother, Buck (my Dad) and her beautiful Sister (My Aunt Dot)

This Weekend......

This will be our view this weekend......Don't be jealous!! We've been trying to get down to the Keys for three months. Finally I think we've actually managed to commit to it. Lucky for us my Dad lives down there, so it's totally free to stay. Stay tuned for pictures of our Keys Weekend.

That's the 7 Mile Bridge in Marathon behind the boat

Birthday Stuff

I had a GREAT birthday but didn't really take any pictures on Saturday when everyone came over, but I did get a picture of the cake that Aunt Dot made for me, it was yummy and check out the chocolate covered strawberries, yum!!! Thanks Aunt Dot!!!

I got some of great gifts and loads of gift cards and money to go shopping with to buy new clothes for our Cruise, yippee. I am very excited to go shopping, below is me getting ready to do some serous shopping, can you see the excitement??? I put this picture on so you can see my new earrings, but It's not really that good of a picture, but they are hearts, my fave!! The earrings were from Aunt Dot & Uncle Lenny. I also got some gold hoops from Jen & Frank that are gorgeous as well. I am so spoiled!! Thanks everyone!!

Russell Earl Moate...is Missing

I'm sad to say that Rob's Parent's Dog, Rusty is missing.
He is the BEST dog and we pray he comes home soon. He loves wearing his bandannas. We hope whoever has Rusty is taking good care of him, we know he misses his baby and his treats he gets from his Mama.
PLEASE be safe Rusty and find your way home soon!!!

Russell Earl Moate

Birthday Flowers

Thank you Gina, Chad, Beau & Billy for the beautiful flowers!!! They are gorgeous and smell GREAT.

Thanks for making my birthday extra special.

XOXOX

Happy Birthday to ME....

On our birthday, why oh why, must a girl be reminded all day long, that she is getting older, I mean really??? If we choose NOT to celebrate why doesn’t anyone listen to us!!! When I was in my 20’s and early 30’s it was great to celebrate but once you get into your 40’s it’s not really a joyous occasion for woman. At least not this woman, for me personally, it’s just a reminder that I’m too old to do some things that I put off and now it’s too late. Or that fact that when people ask how old are you today, you have to say it out loud, NO WAY!! I try to talk myself into to being happy by saying, life begins at 40, or 40’s the new 30, blah blah blah, but the fact is……I can’t do anything about it, so I will stop whining now and I will embrace my OLD AGE, okay okay maybe it’s not old age, so I’ll just say I am embracing my MIDDLE AGE.

Today I am GRATEFUL that I have such a great family and amazing friends that always make me feel special and loved, and what more could a girl at any age ask for, really???

So, thank you to all my friends for making me feel special at work and my friends who sent me warm birthday wishes via email or texting and cards and flowers. And a Big Thank You to my husband for making me feel so special the minute I woke up, although he makes me feel special everyday!!!

I feel very blessed today and I’m even more grateful that I am happy, healthy, safe, and loved because I know there are so many in the world that are not happy, healthy, safe or even loved. I can’t even imagine. And lately I've been drawn to those less fortunate, especially the children, but I am trying in my own small way to help those people that are not as fortunate. If you want to know how, or are interested in helping, send me an email and I’ll give you the details.

HUGS to all my AMAZING Family & Friends!!
XOXOXO

Congratulatins to My Good Friend Suzie!!

She was promoted to a Manager Position in her job today. It was a long time coming and very well deserved. We are very excited and happy for her!!
What a great feeling to be free of the “cube” world and actually have a door of your own to close when you really need it!!!

IT’S TIME TO CELEBRATE!!!

Congratulations Suzie-Q!!!

Our TV Grew Up....

Remember back in November when we got our new wall unit? And our little (regular size) back in the day TV looked lost in the space. Well it grew up check out our new TV, it takes up all the space.

You may also notice all the new gigantic speakers, we've also upgraded the surround sound system, which I don't really get why we need that, but Rob is beside himself over it. So if it makes him happy, then I'm happy. I just don't know if I like the way it all looks, so I put my roses on the speaker to try and lighten it up.

We also went to Ikea last night and bought a new coffee table, I can't decide if I like it or not, well I like it, just not sure if I like in our house. I'm used to having a round coffee table for the last 12 or so years and this one is rectangle and actually has some storage for magazines and stuff. It's growing on me. I didn't take any pictures of the coffee table, these were take before we got the new coffee table. What do you think?

New TV

Old TV

We were lucky because some friends of ours were upgrading there entire entertainment system, and their downgrade is our upgrade!! So Thanks Fred & Diane for thinking of us. We love the new TV and Surround Sound.

Our year ahead…..

Wow, I can’t believe it’s March already!! After all the hoopla going on last year, I thought this would be a boring year, but so far it’s off to an exciting start and we have lots of exciting plans ahead. Rob is finally back home from his travels…Yippee, it is sooo good to have him home and he’s very happy to finally be home. You know what they say; the best part about going away is coming home. But he had a fabulous vacation visiting his Mom and Sisters. I got to see my Sister In-Law Kate for a very brief visit, but we hope to see Kate again over the summer. Kate is Rob’s youngest Sister and she is just adorable and the kids worship her.

In Late April, our good friend Laura will be Graduating College with her Civil Engineering Degree. We are very proud of you Laura!! We know you have worked really hard and you are looking forward to finally finishing school. We can’t wait to celebrate the big event with you.

Then we’ll be celebrating Rob’s Birthday and our Anniversary on a Caribbean Cruise in May, and we are so excited and can’t wait. My Sister Gina and her husband Chad will be joining us along with My Aunt Ginger-breadhead and my Cousin Amy and we are so excited that we all get to go together; it’s going to be sooo much fun!!! We’ll be cruising on the Carnival Liberty…yahoo.

Then after the Cruise, about a Month later we’ll be getting the kids for the summer, yippee!!! Rob just got to see them over the weekend on his way back from Texas (he drove back from Texas) but I haven’t seen them since Christmas and I miss them so much!! Rob was very excited to see them, even though it was a short visit it was still a good one. And hopefully we’ll be getting a visit from Rob’s Sister Kate and his Mom Karen over the summer as well.

In October we’ll be off to Lake Seminole with the kids on their Fall Break. We can’t wait to get back to the Cabin at Lake Seminole we all love it there so much, it’s so peaceful and quite and relaxing. I think it’s the best kept secret in Georgia!!!

Also in October is a milestone for my Special Aunt & Uncle. Aunt Dot & Uncle Lenny will be celebrating their 50th Wedding Anniversary!!!

Then the Holidays will be here again, and this year we hope to be spending time with the Kids Celebrating Christmas with them at Lake Seminole again…..and maybe we’ll be lucky enough to get a visit from Rob’s Parents, Karen & Moate over the Christmas Holiday.

So these are just the things we know about so far, in between our plans we have Birthdays galore and Births and Weddings and Weekend Get-Aways…..So stayed tuned for our exciting year ahead………

XOXOXO

Sleep over with the Girls...

Last night I had the fun opportunity to have a sleep over with the beautiful Miss Jessica and the beautiful Miss Carlee. Since Rob was still out of town, we had a girls night with no boys!!
We had lots of fun, we went to Build-A-Bear (The girls love this place). We played with markers and stamps, we played on the computer and I taught the girls all about the little kids in Guatemala that are in need of our help and the girls are going to sponsor a child with me from Mayanfamilies.com, and we watched a movie until we all feel asleep.
Then in the morning, after a trip to Dunkin Donuts, we did our nails and our hair!! It was lots of fun.Thanks Jess & Carlee for hanging out with me!!!I Love You Girls!!!

The Girls at Build-A-Bear
Jess & Carlee
The girls watching their bears get stuffed
Jess fluffing up her Bear
Carlee dressing her bear
The Girls showing off their freshly painted nails
French Manicures for Jess
French for Carlee & Pink sparkly toes
Getting very sleepy...how cute are these girls!!!!!
CARLEE RAE!!!