Shooting in the Hood.....

I’ve been trying to post this but haven’t been able to down load the pictures. Finally I have time. You may have seen this on the news if you live near by. We live in a condo and we’ve been hit with several assessments since hurricane Wilma and on top of that our maintenance keeps going up and up and this year it went up 10% which is a lot. And it seems no one knows where the money is actually going.
I guess the financial stress finally caused someone to snap. A Disgruntled owner went to the condo association office to complain about the assessments and maintenance and he had a gun with him and apparently took two women who were working in the office as hostages. One of them managed to call 911 and within minutes the building was surrounded by SWAT Teams. Now this all happened around 3pm while we were working. And when I get home, I get half way into our complex and the police are turning people away. Right away I freak out, what’s happened, I’m thinking our building must have had a fire or something, but it never crossed my mind that there was a shooting, but that’s what I was told as I was stopped and told I could not enter my building. OMG!!! A shooting!! Right away I’m thinking which of my neighbors would be capable of such a thing….apparently none of my neighbors, but someone from another building.
So to make a long story longer……..the man with the gun finally came out with the two ladies and they were friendly, one woman even gave him a kiss on the cheek and the two woman walked peacefully away toward the cops and the gunman was ordered to drop his gun, but he took his gun and started to point it towards his own head and at that point the SWAT Team took him out, I believe he was hit 7 times. Unbelievable!!! The Man was 57 years old and he did not survive. I think it’s tragic and I feel sorry for this family, clearly the man had problems.
So we had to park down the street and were able to walk to our building to get in. It happened in the building next to ours, so I don’t know why they wouldn’t let us in our parking lot. More news crews and cops just kept showing up, we finally went to sleep at around Midnight and they were all still there. What takes so long!! I took some pictures from the balcony from our building. Here are a few pictures that I took.

The Sheriff Van

This is a SWAT guy all dressed in his SWAT Gear

The SWAT Truck News Crew and Cops
More News Crews Kept Showing Up

Safe on the Ground

I made it back from Charlotte, but not without drama of course. Going up was good, just a tiny bit cloudy and a few bumps, nothing I couldn't handle. BUT when it was time to leave for the airport in Charlotte, it was right in the middle of a Thunder Storm. So of course I freak out, but by the time we get to the airport the storm had passed BUT the pilot greets us and says you want the bad news or worse news....WHAT!?!?
The bad news is they are very backed up because of the bad weather and the worse news it there was a Medical Emergency on a US Air Flight and the runway is shut down....oh GREAT. Secretly I was fine with it..hee hee

We ended up leaving about an hour late and it was a pretty good flight a little bumpy as we got into South Florida, but I survived.
Everyone was sleeping, there were only 4 of us, but I can't relax enough to sleep on the plane. We really have great pilots and since we were on the Lear Jet, we don't fly to high, only about 40,000 -42,000 feet and we flew back down the coast, so it was cool seeing the Florida Coast lit up and glowing at night.

And now we are SOOOOOOOOOOO excited about our cruise. This time next Sunday we'll be cruising to the Caribbean. Yeah Baby!!!

Flying to Charlotte today

I have to fly to Charlotte today for work and I just looked at the weather in Charlotte and it says thunder storms all day..ugh.

You know I HATE to fly anyway and now I'm so freaked out I can't even relax. Please pray that the bad weather is gone by the time we get to Charlotte, we'll be arriving about 2:30 pm and returning tonight about 10pm. I think I'll need a few drinks before I get on the plane today.

Rob was Rocking

Last night Rob went to see Ministry at Club Revolution.
This is thier final concert, they are currently on the C U Latour. He came home very smelly from sweating because he was all up in the Mosh Pit...Whatever makes you happy Babe!!
Today he's horse and not feeling so well and his ears are still ringing.

Busy Weekend

We had a busy weekend. I had to work in Orlando, and since it was so close I drove up. I'd gladly spend 3 hours driving than 1 hour flying, I know it's crazy but it made me feel better driving. We had another Team Excellence Dealer event in Orlando at the Hilton Walt Disney World Resort. Here's a picture of my room and my view, I could see the fireworks from Epcot.

Then I spent Sunday pretty much driving home and was home early afternoon.
Rob spent the weekend helping some friends with thier home improvement projects and by Sunday night we were both exhausted.

Surprise Visitor

Tonight we had an unexpected visitor stop over our house.

It was baby Riley and her Daddy Donny. I was so excited to finally meet Miss Riley. What a great surprise. She's the cutest thing.

Donny works with Rob and recently moved into our neighborhood.

Riley & her Daddy
Sweet Girl
Silly Girl

It's the Big 40 for Kelly

Today my beautiful friend Kelly turns 40 today!! Happy Birthday Kelly!!!
We hope your Birthday is the best ever and may all your dreams come true!!
Kelly is spending her birthday in California with her family.
Have a safe trip Kel. We can't wait to see the pictures...enjoy

Kelly & Her handsome Husband Bob

Happy Anniversary

Happy 2nd Wedding Anniversary Jamie & Lauren!!
I never remember Anniversaries but theirs is easy because it's on tax day...LOL

Lauren & Jamie

April 15, 2006

New Addition to the Family

Introducing Sarah!!! Isn't she cute.
She is a Labradoodle

Sarah lives in Texas with Karen & Moate, Rob's Parents. Sarah might be coming to visit us over the summer with her Mama.

FFF

Today is Favorite Photo Friday. Here is a photo of my favorite people, the Loves of my life!! My Sweetie Husband and my three beautiful step-children.

Rob, Megan, Ian and Nathan

Happy Birthday Terry!!

Our Good Friend Terry had a birthday on Friday!! Happy Birthday Terry, we hope you have the BEST year ever!!
Last night we went to a birthday BBQ party for Terry. I took a some good pictures of Terry blowing out her candles, but something happened to my photo card when I tried to download the pictures. I did something wrong I guess and now it says I need to format the disk, whatever that means and I will lose all the pictures.
But I found a picture of Terry & Mike from another time fun time we had!!

Congratulations Lauren & Jamie!!!

We found out today that our good friends Lauren & Jamie are expecting baby #2!! They already have their precious Joey!! Below is a picture of Joey, look how excited he is to find out he's going to be a big brother!!

Joey, turns 1 in about two weeks. We know he will be a great big brother!!! We are so happy for our friends and we can’t wait to meet the new addition to the Roberts family.
XOXO

Meet Maria Elena

My friend Kelly and I have sponsored this beautiful little girl who lives in Guatemala. We are sponsoring her so she can go to school, as her parents can not afford to send her to school. She will get new shoes, a backpack and supplies and be able to attend school. Below is more information on our precious Maria.

Maria Elena is 9yrs old. She is in first grade. Her birthday is December 4th.
She lives in Santa Catarina with her father Esquipulas 30yrs old and
her mother, Maria 29yrs old. She has one sister, Angela Griselda 3yrs
old and one brother, Roberto 10yrs old. He is in first grade.

The father works as a builders assistant and earns $33 US per week.
The mother stays at home looking after the children.

They are renting their house, they have one room made of mud brick and are sharing a kitchen with the mother in law.
They are paying $27 US per month for the room. They have two beds.
They have one closet.
They do not have a table or chairs.
They have a pila.
They have electricity connected. and pay $3 US per month.
They have a toilet.
They do not have a water filter.
They do not have an onil stove.
They do not have enough blankets for the bed.
Their main diet is bean, past and wild herbs.
Maria Elena's brother, Roberto has a problem with his speech. He is very hard to understand when he speaks. He has never received treatment for this.

If you would like to help Elena and her family or any of the needy chilldren and families in Guatemala please go to www.mayanfamilies.com

Happy Birthday NATHAN!!!

Our handsom Nathan dancing with his beautiful cousin Kylie

Happy Birthday Bubba!!! We sure wish we could be with you on your birthday little man!! We Miss you so much!! We can't wait for the summer when you get to come down and stay for a few weeks.

We hope your BIRTHDAY was the BEST Ever.

WE LOVE YOU!!!!