A week of rest??

Last week I ventured down to West Palm to visit my mom, with my suitcase loaded up with books, continuing education articles, and paperwork to organize. Since I knew mom would have to spend some time at work, I thought I would need some things to keep me occupied. Well, let's just say that most of them stayed in the suitcase! It turned out to be a busy, fun week. On the way down south, Mom met me at my uncle's house in Deland to help me go through some of my grandparents' things. It was really nice to spend some time with my Uncle Frank and his fiancee Lori. She is really sweet, easy to talk to, and makes my uncle very happy. Mom and I give her our stamp of approval! We took a couple pictures but they're all on mom's camera, so instead here's a sweet picture of me and my Uncle Fwank.

This is slightly off the subject, but I can't write about Uncle Frank and not mention his gator car. This man is quite possibly the biggest UF fan that ever lived, and he's not shy about it. He debuted his Gator Mini Cooper during last football season, and it was such a big hit that he was asked to drive it in the homecoming parade! Here are a couple pictures of his sweet car! (FYI, he played trombone in the marching band, thus the "Gator Bones" references.)

Pretty sweet, isn't it? Anyway, back to my week at home...

Highlights:

• Attending a Zumba class with Uncle Frank! That was worth the trip in itself! Zumba is like aerobics/latin dancing, so it's all about the hips. Uncle Frank was the only male in the room (Lori teaches the class), but he stood front and center! It was a riot.
• Lunch with Stewart's grandparents, Grandmama and Papa, who also live in Deland.
• Hanging out with Mom and Robin on Mom's newly redecorated back porch.
• Kohr Bros frozen custard (with rainbow sprinkles) at the Sawgrass Mills mall. The only other place we get to eat Kohr Bros is on the boardwalk in Ocean City, NJ. It was definitely worth the drive and the journey through the crazy mall.
• Completing all three of my 25 minute runs (we're now up to 28 minutes)
• Line dancing with the girls at Renegades. We determined that the first time we went there was 13 years ago, when it was Country Nites. We had a great time, even though they didn't play our favorite dance song. We were also surprised to find that Renegades is now located in a Lowe's parking lot instead of a secluded area behind a seedy video store (ah, the continuing urban development of South Florida...)

Erica, Robin, and me

Robin's cute haircut

Me, Erica, and Logan

I guess we stayed too long...

More highlights:

• Finally seeing the Sex And The City movie. Overall I liked it, although I wasn't a huge fan of Jennifer Hudson
• Lovely afternoon with Mom and her best friend Kathy, who spoiled us with lunch and wouldn't even let us help clean the dishes
• Bowling with Erica and her kiddies, Aubrey and Danny (and Robin, who was admittedly more excited about the deer shooting arcade game than the bowling.) The kids are getting so big, and I wish I got to see them more often!

Downfalls:

• I spent way too much money on clothes.
• I gained back 3 of the 5 lbs that I had lost :-(
• The South Florida summer afternoon thunderstorms seemed to have turned into mid-morning thunderstorms that hang around the rest of the day
• The continuing education and paperwork organization has yet to be done!

Overall I had a great time, and it was wonderful to be there for a whole week. Now I have about a week to accomplish everything that I wanted to do this summer, including Project Clean-Out-The-Apartment. If we end up moving to Jacksonville for Stewart's rotations we want to save some money by getting a one-bedroom apartment, so one of my big objectives for the summer is to get rid of the stuff we don't want/need. I've already taken two loads to the consignment shop and one to Goodwill. In the plans for the next couple weeks are a short trip to Atlanta for a Braves game, and then a long weekend in Destin to celebrate my mom's birthday. I start orientation at my new job the beginning of August. Where has the summer gone?