St. Augustine Day of the wedding!

Saturday, April 7, 2012 Day 300

Too much stuff has been going on these past few days. So much so that we haven't been able to keep up. Today is the wedding and lots of work needed to be done. Kyle and Serenity seemed very calm in the morning... They made time to connect...

This is from the afternoon shooting session with the photographer. Harris caught Kyle from a different angle than the photographers. He is still looking calm.

Long time friends Joe and Helen came by to help and lend support to the parents.

Dwight, Sana, and Samantha also came by to help and witness the union.

The group that "prepared" the getaway vehicle.

The wedding info will follow when there is more time to write.

St.Augustine Pre wedding day

Friday, April 6, 2012 Days 298 & 299


Thursday was spent purchasing stuff for the rehearsal dinner and wedding day food. Marilyn and Harris went shopping while others readied the rental house. After wonderful weather all week the wind suddenly made its presence known. It's been blustering all day with wind gusts of 40+.

Serenity and Kyle rented a tent in case of rain. It may now serve a purpose of shelter from the wind. The forecast differs on when the winds should subside. Any time from 11PM, which didn't come to pass since I'm writing this early Saturday, to sometime early evening the day of the wedding. We shall see and make preparations in case the wind sticks around.

Not everyone was disappointed in the wind...

These folks are prepping for a wedding just down from us and eventually had to take it indoors. We're keeping our fingers crossed.

Al and Keith killing some time.

After a rehearsal dinner of burgers, salmon burgers, and brats (food kind of brats) Kyle and Serenity were presented with some bottles of wine for "special occasions".

And Kyle and Serenity presented gifts to people including the chef of the wedding day meal.

A few of the attendees watching on. Tomorrow is the big day.

St. Augustine (Day 3)

Wednesday, April 4, 2012 Day 297

Another wonderful sunrise!

Dolphins were spotted...

Al, Tasha, Ewan, and Keith arrived!

St. Augustine (day 2)

Tuesday, April 3, 2012 Day 296

Waiting for the kids... The day started off so well. There was a great sunrise over the Atlantic. Harris went for a walk on the beach while Judy did some things around the rental (great deal).

One of the neat things about our rental is that unlike most vacation homes in the area, this one has space on either side of it.

While Harris was walking and snapping pictures, this critter was walking and eating. Smart critter.

Harris ran into this full timer (17+ years) who is a Wilder from the Little House on the Prairie Wilder clan. He told Harris that he didn't know it until he was invited to a Wilder reunion. He could have talked until next year but Harris begged off after hearing about the best places to fish and a factoid about the Little House. Did you know that in one room the floor was insulated with old newspapers under the rug? When they redid the room, the old newspapers were discovered and provided much entertainment for the workers.

And then...These chairs represent Ewan and Tasha who were delayed from arriving today by the tornado that touched down in Dallas. Many flights were cancelled because the planes must be inspected before they can be back into service. It seems that these two have a knack of ticking off Mother Nature when they fly. It has been awhile since they've had regular boring flight that has landed on time (and on the day it was scheduled for). Hopefully, they will arrive tomorrow morning.

Another interesting character.

Kyle, Serenity, and Reliance arrived (on time). Harris had sampled the water this morning (but was in Jacksonville waiting for the flight that would never come) so Kyle and Reliance went for a swim. It is of note that Harris was the first Thomas in the water since normally he is the very last person. Perhaps this was the result of the tornado disrupting the normal geoforces at work.

Later Harris joined them for awhile. Kyle was like kid on Christmas morning in the water. He was insistent on catching every wave.

He caught an exceptionally big wave that pounded him onto the sea shell encrusted sand; he proclaimed that it was "worth it"!

Total miles driven today = 65

St Augustine, FL

Monday, April 2, 2012 Day 295

Today we left Gainesville to take claim to our beachfront home for the next week in St. Augustine, Florida. After a great Kyle breakfast of eggs, bacon, and rolls, we cruised the 80 miles to the rental home. We parked Howie next to the garage where he will sit for the next week.

It was 90 degrees today and the shade on the beach side was inviting.

It's great to hear the waves and see people in the water. Perhaps we will join them.

We were treated to a nice sunset before eating our almost ritual cobb salad which tonight was accompanied with baked chicken.

Total miles driven today= 80

Gainesville, FL

Sunday, April 1, 2012 Day 294

This morning found the rain dissipating, but the clouds sticking around. The magnificent live oak is providing ample shade for Howie. Kyle and Harris went did some errands in Kyle's pickup.

Meanwhile Serenity and Judy were busy assembling programs for the wedding.

Reliance tested the pool temperature for Harris and Judy. He found it cool and both Harris and Judy passed on the swimming opportunity.

Later in the afternoon Kyle took the dogs for a walk with us around the neighborhood. Dinner was Kyle's soon-to-be-famous sticky finger sauced hamburgers. Judy and Reliance finished things with their chocolate chip cookies for dessert.

Total miles driven= zero

Tallahassee, Florida

Saturday, March 31, 2012 Day 293
Crash! Bang! Boom!
A noisy thunderstorm woke us up in the very early morning. It was exciting to watch and hear, only because we were snug in our bed.
We were headed to Gainesville to see Kyle and Serenity and Reliance, but stopped on the way to visit the capital city of Tallahassee. We didn't know that there was a big festival and parade going on or we might have tried to get there earlier. As it was, we missed the parade, but caught some of the traffic.

We met these women walking along the road. We asked if this was normal Floridian attire, and found out about the parade we'd missed.

Tallahassee has two capital buildings...the old one and the new one. The old one was open on Saturday, but the new one wasn't. The new one almost encapsulates the old one. You can't see it from this angle, but it's behind the old building. The original capital was built in 1845, was expanded, almost completely knocked down, and then restored.

The rotunda dome window.

The Senate chamber. Judy's up on the podium...Senate president!

The slightly larger House chamber.

We decided to stick to the backroads on the way to Gainesville. Good thing, because we drove through more huge thunder and rain storms. We were glad there wasn't much traffic on these roads because it was hard to see at times.
We arrived at Kyle's in time for an excellent dinner of chicken, asparagus, zucchini, and potatoes. After dinner, we all played a game called Munchkins. Harris's character died before the end, and the rest of us were neck and neck to the finish line. Kyle won! (much to Reliance's disgust)
We parked Howie outside their townhouse and slept well.