New Year's in FL

After our 13 hour drive from Winston-Salem, NC, to Zephyrhills, FL, on the 26th, we arrived in sunny and warm FL on Wednesday night 10 minutes 'til midnight. On Thursday morning we went with my parents to Plant City to buy oranges, strawberries, and tomatos.
On Thursday afternoon Uncle Milt and Aunt Ruthie flew in from Denver and their week with John, Jeff and Sarah. After they had gotten snow measured in feet and single digit and teen temps. for highs, they got into the 70s and 80s mainly for highs! We met them and Grandma T.J. and Coleman at Sweet Tomatoe's in Tampa for lunch. Notice the Cayenne Pepper my dad is holding, it is always a popular part of any meal when Milton is around!
We enjoyed a fabulous display of Christmas lights on Thursday night!
Opening presents on Thursday night, December 27!
Mom and dad smile as they look at the St. Joe's lighthouse pictures taken by Carrie and Gregg and matted by Carrie. After hours of work and many different experiments, Carrie settled on this one; you have to see it in person to see how awesome it is! My parents love it and can't wait to put it up as it brings back many good memories.

Uncle Milt and Carrie enjoying shuffleboard on Friday late morning! Milt and dad beat us in the first game 67-45, but we came back and won the second game 62-57. The only reason the final score was that close in the second game was that Uncle Milt and dad made a 20+ point comeback in the final 2 rounds.

The scoreboard on the shuffleboard courts.It was 13 months ago that I got my Grand Prix after my Bonneville was crushed in 1/2 by a tree that fell down at the Boy's Dorm parking lot at Mt. Vernon Academy. I rented a car in Columbus and drove to Collegedale at Thanksgiving of 2006 where I saw Carrie for about 4 hours at got my new car. I then drove it down to Zephyrhills with mom and dad for Thanksgiving. It was 4 days of 10+ hours in the car for 2 days in FL. Now 13 months later I drove the car down here again, and by the time I arrived back in Collegedale the mileage is 78, 839. When I bought the car 13 months ago, it was 54,000!

On Friday afternoon we went to Dive City to watch Sky Diver's and stayed for about 2 hours. Dad and I got in some frisbee and football throwing as well.

The picture on Sabbath after church in front of Grandma's house. This has been a tradition over the years ever since 1993, and for the first time Carrie is there!! It was a lot of fun to have Carrie there and to get to finally meet Uncle Milton and hang out with everyone else!
This was the scene that we saw as we got to Treasure Island beach on Saturday evening! It had been all sunny and beautiful during the rest of the day and as we got close to the beach the beach fog moved in! It was sunny on Sunday though, so it was a great day to enjoy the beach.Dad poses for a picture in the fog, notice you can actually see the water droplets in the air! Florida is not always sunny, to say the least, as this was not the only time there was fog. The high there today is actually 47 degrees!Mom enjoying the sun!Uncle Milt whittling away at a piece of wood.Carrie and I waiting for my mom and dad to finish shopping accross the street! It was so warm and sunny and is hard to believe we were just there with snow flying here in Collegedale last night and a high of 30 today with snow flurries off and on!