Well we finally made it back from Liberia, Costa Rica. We went there from June 1 through June 8, 2007. We flew Delta of course to Liberia. Upon arrival we had to go through their customs and head to the place where we stayed. We stayed at Condovac La Costa, which was part of our time share. It was nice, but Costa Rica is definitely still a third world country. We had a nice place, but there was only air conditioning in the sleeping area that we stayed in and there was no air conditioning in the living area and kitchen area. We actually ended up getting use to it toward the end of our stay.
Saturday, we decided to scope out the place. We went to a local town called Tamarino. That place is nice, very touristy and there is a Best Western there. There are a lot of surf shops and local shops to shop in. We heard later that it was the place to go to purchase wooden goods. We ended up getting a fishing boat from that area for Monday.
Sunday, we went to another local town nearby and tried to find a volcano called Rincon. We drove down about 20 KM of a dirt, bumpy road and through a gate to find the place. We hiked in about 15 minutes to see a waterfall with very cold water. We hope we got some pretty pictures. We ended up driving around to return home and we ran across an animal rescue center where we saw local animals that are being re-habilitated to go back into the wild. They are building a monkey cage so that way the monkey’s that were burned by electricity could tell the other monkeys to stay off the electrical wires. That is the leading cause of monkey death! Did you know that? I sure didn’t. We saw toucans and local birds as well as a raccoon and something that looked like an aardvark, but forget the name. They had a butterfly garden area and learned that once you touch a butterfly, you have pretty much killed it as they have certain things on their wings that do not work well with human touch.
Monday, we went out on the ocean to try to catch a blue or black marlin. The only thing we caught was a 4lb dolphin and drank lots of beer. We saw a lot of the flipper dolphins in which Keith got mad at me for pointing those out to Katelyn because they are bad luck for fishing. Needless to say Keith was real disappointed in the fishing boat that we rented for the day. We did see plenty of the flipper dolphins which was real neat. We also saw a turtle floating in the ocean and a pelican was sitting on his back. We knew it was going to be a bad fishing trip right from the beginning because I even spotted a school of fish in the ocean and the captain and mate did not see them. If that is telling you anything about the fishing excursion. (I don’t see those things).
Tuesday, we went to the beach in the morning just down the hill from our resort and then we played the rest of the afternoon in the pool at the resort. Katelyn loved swimming and she even learned to swim to the edge of the pool by herself. She surprised us all!
Wednesday, we went to the Lake Arenal area and saw the larger more touristy of the volcanoes. It was about 3 hours from our resort. It ended up taking 1 hour just to get around the lake because they don’t have a bridge that crosses the lake. Lake Arenal area is very nice. We ended up eating at a German Restaurant that was very good and all of us had the Wiener schnitzel which was Devine. Later we ended up trying to find Tabacon. We thought it was a national park, but it was actually a five star hotel with a hot springs area. The hot springs were great, but because we were sunburned a little, it stung a little. Everything was very nice and we wish we had allocated more time for Tabacon. It costs $55 just to enter the area and they have a nice rainforest and several different pools at different temperatures to swim in. Katelyn was not fond of the hot springs because she thought they were too hot. She loved the slide into the large pool though. She went down it with her daddy! You can see more about Tabacon at tabacon.com.
Thursday, it was cloudy in the morning, so we headed out for the Canopy Tour to swing through the trees. Katelyn started out going on the canopy tour, but then she chickened out at the last minute and didn’t go. I had a couple of really great guys go with me through the trees and they allowed me swing like Spiderman as well as upside down and of course normal since I wasn’t afraid of heights. All things that I know Keith wouldn’t do. After that we went back to the resort and went swimming and packed our clothes up to head home. We swam for the rest of the day in between the thunderstorms.
Friday, we left to return back home. We ate our breakfast one last time at the resort and then headed to the airport to pay a $26 per person departure tax to head home through customs which took almost 2 hours. Katelyn and I had to get up early the next day because we were going to Melbourne to drop her off. We ended up missing three flights to MLB/Orlando area because it was so full as Friday had a blackout with the FAA system. I returned on Sunday to head to Jury Duty on Monday.
Henry County really needs to work on their Jury Duty process because we arrived at 8AM to be stuck in the room until about 11AM and then dismissed to lunch until about 1:15 pm to be asked a bunch of questions like what TV shows we watched to be dismissed from the Jury. Who knew that CSI and Boston Legal may dismiss me from a case for armed robbery. Funny though, all questions they asked us in person could have been easily answered with a simple questionnaire that we could have sent in.
Tuesday, it was back to work like normal.
Overall we had a great time. It went by fast, but just right. I still think Costa Rica is a third world country and they really need to work on their road structures and naming the roads. There are no signs on the roads so a map is virtually worthless and if you plan on going there, definitely rent a 4X4 for those bumpy unpaved roads. Hope everyone is doing well and we would love to hear from you too!
Pictures are online. If you need the username and password, let me know.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Sunday, March 04, 2007
We are back!
We had a great time in Ireland during our vacation and can’t wait till the pictures get developed.
Friday night, we left from the US and arrived in Ireland on Saturday morning. We were very lucky to get on that plane as we were the last 3 people to receive a seat. Keith and Katelyn sat together the whole way and I was towards the back of the plane. Keith said that she was a good girl for such a long plane ride. She made a tent and lulled herself to sleep after a few hours.
On Saturday after we arrived we trekked our way to the airport by taking the city busses and the DART tram service. Everything was fine until we got off at the Dalkey exit and the directions said that it was only a 10-15 minute walk. They left out the uphill part, so we drug our luggage all the way up the hill. Later we found a bus service to take us up the hill. Once we arrived we were in shock. It was a really nice place that was an old castle that was built in the 1700’s. Of course it was completely remodeled for modern times and had an inside swimming pool and gym. Once we arrived we had to wait for our room since it was so early over there and we had an official tea party. Katelyn had a good time and we explained how she should have a tea party with her friends like this. Later that same day we finally got checked in and went further up the hill to find a grocery store about ½ the size of our smaller bathroom. We got the essentials and then went back to the place to unpack and Katelyn and I went swimming and Keith went to the local pub where Bono from U2 hangs out at to watch the Rugby match of Ireland versus England. Of course Ireland won and everyone was happy throughout the town. Katelyn and I ended up going to bed early due to the time change.
On Sunday, we got up real early ~ 4am and tried to go back to sleep, but our course off from the time change. We got dressed and headed to Dalkey to see what was there. We trekked down the hill to walk to a park to have a better view of the bay area and Irish Sea. There was an old structure at the top of the hill, but it didn’t have any plaques or anything on it. All we know is we walked a long way uphill and then up probably about 75 stairs to reach the top for the awesome view. After that, everything was downhill and went to Dalkey to try to get some lunch. We ate at a local pub called the “In”. The food was real great almost everywhere we went. Of course I had the fish and chips and I believe Keith had the Guinness Stew there. Once we ate we went to the local Dalkey castle to do a tour. We passed through a graveyard that was as old as the 1700’s and as late as the 1960’s. The graveyard was finally closed in the 1960’s and it is a good thing as the plot of grass is about 20 feet above the street level. There were 7 castles in Dalkey that were built throughout the time. We saw Bulloch castle from the road when we passed by on the bus. We found another grocery store in town which we later visited almost every day to find our dinner. We also went to the next town over in Dun Laghoire to find the bus that would take us back uphill each time to the hotel.
On Monday, we ventured to Dublin. We practically walked the whole Hop on/Hop off tour through the town. At least we got a slower version of it. We ended up eating in the Temple Bar area at Fitzers which I believe is a fancy chain wine bar restaurant. Anyway it was real great food with a great presentation on the plate. Katelyn had the best tasting hamburger we have ever had. We took lots of video pictures of this area and went and did a tour of Guinness. Guinness was not like the brewery’s here in the US where you see the production line. Over there, they have videos of the production line and then afterwards you head to the 7th/6th/5th floor to the bar areas where you try a sample of the Draught. I will have to say that Guinness was very good. The 7th floor has the best view of all over Dublin.
On Tuesday, we actually purchased the Hop On/Hop Off tour and passed by most of the sites that we saw the previous day and then took the bus all the way to the Dublin Zoo. That zoo is great as they don’t have the barriers that we have in the US and the animals are real up close and personal. We hope to have some great pictures from that day. They are adding onto the zoo in the African Safari area and should have a great restaurant in that area. Katelyn played a little in between the rain and we found a really nice cell phone that we later returned to the rightful owner. We ate at the Marakeet restaurant where the back portion of the restaurant was the Marakeet exhibit. The food was great there. Later that same day we went to the Natural History museum and saw all the “dead” animals on display. That museum must have every animal known to man as there were 4 floors of stuffed animals. Then we went to the Art Museum and actually saw the 2 Monet’s that were on display. Then we tried to find another local grocery store and then find our way home. We took the long way home as the bus ride must have take over 2 hours to get back.
On Wednesday, we took the train to Wicklow which was in the outskirts of Southern Dublin. When we got off the train, we thought we were in a time warp. There was nobody at the train station and all the people walked down the hill somewhere to town. We found a public swimming pool and went in to see what there was to do in that town. They too agreed that there was nothing really to do but visit the jail that wasn’t open. We found out that most things don’t really open until after St. Patrick’s day and through the summer for the tourist season. After a trek to town for Katelyn and I we stopped into a café and had some coffee and desert and waited around until the train returned back to civilization. The train ride was beautiful to/from there, but that was definitely the country side of Ireland that we got to see.
On Thursday, we took the train to the North side of Dublin and went to Malahide Castle and did the tour there. It was great to learn that the castle had been owned by the Talbot family for over 800 years and was recently sold to the government in 1973 to become a tourist site. To this day they do dinners in the castle, but no overnight guests and it is said that the castle gets haunted when changes occur that one of the masters doesn’t agree with. We ate at the castle in a little café there where they had homemade soup and homemade bread and we tried a pear and cheese tart. It was great. Katelyn played at this awesome play ground and Katelyn and I got on one side of this gyro while Keith got on the other side and played on it. Later that same day we took to bus to see a 12th century castle called Swords. There was nothing left but stones and went up on the upper deck of it and then headed back to town to get a green shake at McDonalds and Katelyn a Smartie Sundae. ½ the people over there we couldn’t understand as we believe they were speaking Gaelic to us instead of English. Keith was funny as they had a non-dairy Sundae, Smartie, or Crunchy Sundae. So Keith thought Smarties were a smarter drink. Of course they were the chocolates that look like M&Ms. We later found a pizza joint near the bus stop and had some Pizza before the long trek home on the Dart. Later that same day when we were passing through Dalkey, Keith got to use some of his American skills on a guy over there because he was so drunk that he fell over himself and knocked himself in the head on this stone fence. He finally came through and we waited around until the ambulance came for him. We learned that you don’t want to get hurt over there as it will take about 20 minutes to get an ambulance and the police over there don’t carry guns.
On Friday, we took the train North again to Howth where we went to see the working fishing village. If we would have found that place beforehand, we would have had seafood galore each night. The fish there was great. We ate at the Waterside Wheelhouse bar and Keith had the best seafood chowder he has ever tasted and my clams were awesome in a butter and garlic sauce. Keith had the fish and chips and by that time I was fished out and I had the parmesan shrimp and chips. It rained hard that day too so we didn’t get to see much outside stuff and once we ate, we went back to the hotel to pack, clean up the place, and also do our last swimming of the winter. I was finally able to use the steam room for more than 5 minutes without a screaming kid in tow. Katelyn was good this whole trip except for the last day (Friday), she became a tyrant and was ready to come home.
On Saturday, we headed home and didn’t have a problem getting on the plane. We got 3 seats in the middle and Katelyn didn’t use the baby seat. She sure was happy about that. If you go to Dublin though be sure to arrive early to return home via the airport because there are tons of security check points to go through before you get to the gate. We got up at 6am, to leave the hotel at 7am to arrive at the airport around 8:30 am to check in our luggage and get some breakfast to head through to security about 9:30 am for an 11:40 am flight. Need I say more.
On the way back the pilot said that we got a rare view of Greenland from the right side of the plane. It was nothing but snowy mountains!
All in all we had a great time and the weather was better than what we expected. The people there are very nice and friendly. We do plan on going back to Ireland and doing more of a country side tour, but for that you need a separate train ticket or tour bus to go around and see the rest of the beautiful country. Cork, Kerry, and Shannon will definitely be places that we visit next. Now we just have to get back on track with our time again as Keith, Katelyn and I were ready to go at 4am here this morning.
Friday night, we left from the US and arrived in Ireland on Saturday morning. We were very lucky to get on that plane as we were the last 3 people to receive a seat. Keith and Katelyn sat together the whole way and I was towards the back of the plane. Keith said that she was a good girl for such a long plane ride. She made a tent and lulled herself to sleep after a few hours.
On Saturday after we arrived we trekked our way to the airport by taking the city busses and the DART tram service. Everything was fine until we got off at the Dalkey exit and the directions said that it was only a 10-15 minute walk. They left out the uphill part, so we drug our luggage all the way up the hill. Later we found a bus service to take us up the hill. Once we arrived we were in shock. It was a really nice place that was an old castle that was built in the 1700’s. Of course it was completely remodeled for modern times and had an inside swimming pool and gym. Once we arrived we had to wait for our room since it was so early over there and we had an official tea party. Katelyn had a good time and we explained how she should have a tea party with her friends like this. Later that same day we finally got checked in and went further up the hill to find a grocery store about ½ the size of our smaller bathroom. We got the essentials and then went back to the place to unpack and Katelyn and I went swimming and Keith went to the local pub where Bono from U2 hangs out at to watch the Rugby match of Ireland versus England. Of course Ireland won and everyone was happy throughout the town. Katelyn and I ended up going to bed early due to the time change.
On Sunday, we got up real early ~ 4am and tried to go back to sleep, but our course off from the time change. We got dressed and headed to Dalkey to see what was there. We trekked down the hill to walk to a park to have a better view of the bay area and Irish Sea. There was an old structure at the top of the hill, but it didn’t have any plaques or anything on it. All we know is we walked a long way uphill and then up probably about 75 stairs to reach the top for the awesome view. After that, everything was downhill and went to Dalkey to try to get some lunch. We ate at a local pub called the “In”. The food was real great almost everywhere we went. Of course I had the fish and chips and I believe Keith had the Guinness Stew there. Once we ate we went to the local Dalkey castle to do a tour. We passed through a graveyard that was as old as the 1700’s and as late as the 1960’s. The graveyard was finally closed in the 1960’s and it is a good thing as the plot of grass is about 20 feet above the street level. There were 7 castles in Dalkey that were built throughout the time. We saw Bulloch castle from the road when we passed by on the bus. We found another grocery store in town which we later visited almost every day to find our dinner. We also went to the next town over in Dun Laghoire to find the bus that would take us back uphill each time to the hotel.
On Monday, we ventured to Dublin. We practically walked the whole Hop on/Hop off tour through the town. At least we got a slower version of it. We ended up eating in the Temple Bar area at Fitzers which I believe is a fancy chain wine bar restaurant. Anyway it was real great food with a great presentation on the plate. Katelyn had the best tasting hamburger we have ever had. We took lots of video pictures of this area and went and did a tour of Guinness. Guinness was not like the brewery’s here in the US where you see the production line. Over there, they have videos of the production line and then afterwards you head to the 7th/6th/5th floor to the bar areas where you try a sample of the Draught. I will have to say that Guinness was very good. The 7th floor has the best view of all over Dublin.
On Tuesday, we actually purchased the Hop On/Hop Off tour and passed by most of the sites that we saw the previous day and then took the bus all the way to the Dublin Zoo. That zoo is great as they don’t have the barriers that we have in the US and the animals are real up close and personal. We hope to have some great pictures from that day. They are adding onto the zoo in the African Safari area and should have a great restaurant in that area. Katelyn played a little in between the rain and we found a really nice cell phone that we later returned to the rightful owner. We ate at the Marakeet restaurant where the back portion of the restaurant was the Marakeet exhibit. The food was great there. Later that same day we went to the Natural History museum and saw all the “dead” animals on display. That museum must have every animal known to man as there were 4 floors of stuffed animals. Then we went to the Art Museum and actually saw the 2 Monet’s that were on display. Then we tried to find another local grocery store and then find our way home. We took the long way home as the bus ride must have take over 2 hours to get back.
On Wednesday, we took the train to Wicklow which was in the outskirts of Southern Dublin. When we got off the train, we thought we were in a time warp. There was nobody at the train station and all the people walked down the hill somewhere to town. We found a public swimming pool and went in to see what there was to do in that town. They too agreed that there was nothing really to do but visit the jail that wasn’t open. We found out that most things don’t really open until after St. Patrick’s day and through the summer for the tourist season. After a trek to town for Katelyn and I we stopped into a café and had some coffee and desert and waited around until the train returned back to civilization. The train ride was beautiful to/from there, but that was definitely the country side of Ireland that we got to see.
On Thursday, we took the train to the North side of Dublin and went to Malahide Castle and did the tour there. It was great to learn that the castle had been owned by the Talbot family for over 800 years and was recently sold to the government in 1973 to become a tourist site. To this day they do dinners in the castle, but no overnight guests and it is said that the castle gets haunted when changes occur that one of the masters doesn’t agree with. We ate at the castle in a little café there where they had homemade soup and homemade bread and we tried a pear and cheese tart. It was great. Katelyn played at this awesome play ground and Katelyn and I got on one side of this gyro while Keith got on the other side and played on it. Later that same day we took to bus to see a 12th century castle called Swords. There was nothing left but stones and went up on the upper deck of it and then headed back to town to get a green shake at McDonalds and Katelyn a Smartie Sundae. ½ the people over there we couldn’t understand as we believe they were speaking Gaelic to us instead of English. Keith was funny as they had a non-dairy Sundae, Smartie, or Crunchy Sundae. So Keith thought Smarties were a smarter drink. Of course they were the chocolates that look like M&Ms. We later found a pizza joint near the bus stop and had some Pizza before the long trek home on the Dart. Later that same day when we were passing through Dalkey, Keith got to use some of his American skills on a guy over there because he was so drunk that he fell over himself and knocked himself in the head on this stone fence. He finally came through and we waited around until the ambulance came for him. We learned that you don’t want to get hurt over there as it will take about 20 minutes to get an ambulance and the police over there don’t carry guns.
On Friday, we took the train North again to Howth where we went to see the working fishing village. If we would have found that place beforehand, we would have had seafood galore each night. The fish there was great. We ate at the Waterside Wheelhouse bar and Keith had the best seafood chowder he has ever tasted and my clams were awesome in a butter and garlic sauce. Keith had the fish and chips and by that time I was fished out and I had the parmesan shrimp and chips. It rained hard that day too so we didn’t get to see much outside stuff and once we ate, we went back to the hotel to pack, clean up the place, and also do our last swimming of the winter. I was finally able to use the steam room for more than 5 minutes without a screaming kid in tow. Katelyn was good this whole trip except for the last day (Friday), she became a tyrant and was ready to come home.
On Saturday, we headed home and didn’t have a problem getting on the plane. We got 3 seats in the middle and Katelyn didn’t use the baby seat. She sure was happy about that. If you go to Dublin though be sure to arrive early to return home via the airport because there are tons of security check points to go through before you get to the gate. We got up at 6am, to leave the hotel at 7am to arrive at the airport around 8:30 am to check in our luggage and get some breakfast to head through to security about 9:30 am for an 11:40 am flight. Need I say more.
On the way back the pilot said that we got a rare view of Greenland from the right side of the plane. It was nothing but snowy mountains!
All in all we had a great time and the weather was better than what we expected. The people there are very nice and friendly. We do plan on going back to Ireland and doing more of a country side tour, but for that you need a separate train ticket or tour bus to go around and see the rest of the beautiful country. Cork, Kerry, and Shannon will definitely be places that we visit next. Now we just have to get back on track with our time again as Keith, Katelyn and I were ready to go at 4am here this morning.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Out with 2006.. bring it on 2007
Hi Everyone:
We’ll it’s that time of year again where I get to let you know all the happenings… basically since June. If you would like to hear about prior to June, you can read down further in the blog to see what happened.
Carolyn has basically been traveling from sea to shining sea with her work. She has been several different places such as: Indianapolis, Phoenix, Houston, NYC, San Francisco, Jacksonville, FL, Tampa, Hartford, Minneapolis, San Antonio, New Orleans, and Toronto Canada….just to name a few places. You know though it is never more than a day and of course no sightseeing involved…just work. But I have been there. Some of the most memorable items that I got to do with work was attend some Braves games, Hockey Games, Madonna Concert at Madison Square Gardens and a couple of trips. I guess it hasn’t been all that bad… just miss Katelyn whenever I am out of town. She is still my little sleeping buddy (but that is another story!)
We got to celebrate a couple of birthdays and baptisms with our friends earlier this year and a couple of my friends have multiplied over this past year too. We did a Keys vacation this past July with Mimi, Don, Lisa and Tony. We had a great time. We got to go out on the boat and see several stingrays below us. Katelyn finally let go of the back of the boat on the last day that we were there. It was really cool one day as the seas were rough and then all of a sudden they turned to glass and you could see for miles with no waves. It was the weirdest thing to see, but cool. The condo that Mimi and Don rented was right down the way from Dolphins Plus and so we went over to peak at the people swimming with the dolphins. Keith had the best time fishing and got several dolphins the first day out, but only very few on the rest of the time. Keith even made the November 2006 issue of Florida Sportsman again with Tony for the fish they caught.
Not too long after that, I was able to take a trip with work to San Francisco. We had a great time as I went with a fellow agency and they were able to obtain cruise tickets on the bay. We went past Alcatraz and toured a few hotels. We got to eat breakfast at “Top of the Mark” and also had a great buffet at the Marriott. If you ever go to San Francisco, that is the way to do it. Another thing that I saw there that I wanted to do was to go wind surfing. We talked to a couple of people on the boat and they said that you had to be real strong in order to do that. I guess that leaves me out, but it looked fun.
We also celebrated Katelyn’s birthday in style this year. We had several people over and had a great time. Later in September, I was able to take Katelyn to SuperGrover at the Philips Arena in Atlanta. She had a great time. She was also able to attend Disney on Ice with me later on the year and had a great time there too!
Later in September on another trip with work, we went to New Orleans. We had our North American conference there and had a great time. We also assisted in building (actually painting and moving dirt) houses for Habitat for Humanity. It was fun and love doing it each time that I am able to. Another good volunteering activity that I did this year was volunteer for the Girls Inc. Summit. I didn’t do much but throw drinks in a bin and pack Chick-Fil-A bags for the girls, but it was for a good cause and that was what it was all about.
Katelyn had several birthday parties that she attended this year. One of our most memorable one’s was at her friend Madison’s birthday party. There were so many kids there is was unreal, but it was a great party as there were stations where the kids could play their games and get toys. They also dressed up for Halloween. For the party Katelyn was a lady bug, but for actual Halloween, she was Ariel where I was able to paint her hair red. (You know she does not like wearing a wig on her head!)
Thanksgiving was a blur. We just ate at my parents house and I didn’t even go out for shopping the day after Thanksgiving this year. Keith didn’t decide to spend Thanksgiving with us, instead he went fishing.
Other memorable items that were done this year…. Katelyn finally got to go roller skating for the first time. If you ask her about it, she will tell you all about it. She made it around the rink once and then she wanted to play in the playset after that. Later mommy fell down and hurt herself too and she was there to comfort me all the way. (My knee still hurts from that fall!)
Not too long ago we were able to take Katelyn Ice Skating too. She had a good time, but I don’t think it was her cup of tea. She was able to stand by herself and walk over to daddy after a while. That was a hard day for her, as she fell asleep for the rest of the afternoon after that.
This past weekend, we celebrated Christmas in Florida by seeing Keith’s side of the family. We also go to do a little fishing and I caught 2 crokers. Katelyn caught a trigger fish and one other kind of fish, but the fisherman Keith hasn’t caught anything yet. Hopefully he will soon as it is Sailfish season and they are out there … somewhere!
Keith lost yet another truck again this year. This time a lady slammed into the back of him and it didn’t look so bad, but the damage to it was more than 70% of the truck’s worth, so he had to give another truck to the insurance company after only about 2 months of ownership.
Keith also bought some land in Alabama on Lay Lake in Peckerwood Cove. Fits him perfect and he closed on it on December 18, 2006. I guess he plans on going there alot soon. He also just informed me today that he will NOT be spending Christmas Eve with my family and I. Oh well, his loss!
Carolyn is still with Delta. Keith is still at the Fire Station and hopefully Katelyn will be starting some sort of school here shortly. Hope everything is well with you and that you have a great holiday season! We look forward to hearing from you too.
Keep in touch with us!
We’ll it’s that time of year again where I get to let you know all the happenings… basically since June. If you would like to hear about prior to June, you can read down further in the blog to see what happened.
Carolyn has basically been traveling from sea to shining sea with her work. She has been several different places such as: Indianapolis, Phoenix, Houston, NYC, San Francisco, Jacksonville, FL, Tampa, Hartford, Minneapolis, San Antonio, New Orleans, and Toronto Canada….just to name a few places. You know though it is never more than a day and of course no sightseeing involved…just work. But I have been there. Some of the most memorable items that I got to do with work was attend some Braves games, Hockey Games, Madonna Concert at Madison Square Gardens and a couple of trips. I guess it hasn’t been all that bad… just miss Katelyn whenever I am out of town. She is still my little sleeping buddy (but that is another story!)
We got to celebrate a couple of birthdays and baptisms with our friends earlier this year and a couple of my friends have multiplied over this past year too. We did a Keys vacation this past July with Mimi, Don, Lisa and Tony. We had a great time. We got to go out on the boat and see several stingrays below us. Katelyn finally let go of the back of the boat on the last day that we were there. It was really cool one day as the seas were rough and then all of a sudden they turned to glass and you could see for miles with no waves. It was the weirdest thing to see, but cool. The condo that Mimi and Don rented was right down the way from Dolphins Plus and so we went over to peak at the people swimming with the dolphins. Keith had the best time fishing and got several dolphins the first day out, but only very few on the rest of the time. Keith even made the November 2006 issue of Florida Sportsman again with Tony for the fish they caught.
Not too long after that, I was able to take a trip with work to San Francisco. We had a great time as I went with a fellow agency and they were able to obtain cruise tickets on the bay. We went past Alcatraz and toured a few hotels. We got to eat breakfast at “Top of the Mark” and also had a great buffet at the Marriott. If you ever go to San Francisco, that is the way to do it. Another thing that I saw there that I wanted to do was to go wind surfing. We talked to a couple of people on the boat and they said that you had to be real strong in order to do that. I guess that leaves me out, but it looked fun.
We also celebrated Katelyn’s birthday in style this year. We had several people over and had a great time. Later in September, I was able to take Katelyn to SuperGrover at the Philips Arena in Atlanta. She had a great time. She was also able to attend Disney on Ice with me later on the year and had a great time there too!
Later in September on another trip with work, we went to New Orleans. We had our North American conference there and had a great time. We also assisted in building (actually painting and moving dirt) houses for Habitat for Humanity. It was fun and love doing it each time that I am able to. Another good volunteering activity that I did this year was volunteer for the Girls Inc. Summit. I didn’t do much but throw drinks in a bin and pack Chick-Fil-A bags for the girls, but it was for a good cause and that was what it was all about.
Katelyn had several birthday parties that she attended this year. One of our most memorable one’s was at her friend Madison’s birthday party. There were so many kids there is was unreal, but it was a great party as there were stations where the kids could play their games and get toys. They also dressed up for Halloween. For the party Katelyn was a lady bug, but for actual Halloween, she was Ariel where I was able to paint her hair red. (You know she does not like wearing a wig on her head!)
Thanksgiving was a blur. We just ate at my parents house and I didn’t even go out for shopping the day after Thanksgiving this year. Keith didn’t decide to spend Thanksgiving with us, instead he went fishing.
Other memorable items that were done this year…. Katelyn finally got to go roller skating for the first time. If you ask her about it, she will tell you all about it. She made it around the rink once and then she wanted to play in the playset after that. Later mommy fell down and hurt herself too and she was there to comfort me all the way. (My knee still hurts from that fall!)
Not too long ago we were able to take Katelyn Ice Skating too. She had a good time, but I don’t think it was her cup of tea. She was able to stand by herself and walk over to daddy after a while. That was a hard day for her, as she fell asleep for the rest of the afternoon after that.
This past weekend, we celebrated Christmas in Florida by seeing Keith’s side of the family. We also go to do a little fishing and I caught 2 crokers. Katelyn caught a trigger fish and one other kind of fish, but the fisherman Keith hasn’t caught anything yet. Hopefully he will soon as it is Sailfish season and they are out there … somewhere!
Keith lost yet another truck again this year. This time a lady slammed into the back of him and it didn’t look so bad, but the damage to it was more than 70% of the truck’s worth, so he had to give another truck to the insurance company after only about 2 months of ownership.
Keith also bought some land in Alabama on Lay Lake in Peckerwood Cove. Fits him perfect and he closed on it on December 18, 2006. I guess he plans on going there alot soon. He also just informed me today that he will NOT be spending Christmas Eve with my family and I. Oh well, his loss!
Carolyn is still with Delta. Keith is still at the Fire Station and hopefully Katelyn will be starting some sort of school here shortly. Hope everything is well with you and that you have a great holiday season! We look forward to hearing from you too.
Keep in touch with us!
Friday, June 02, 2006
Through June 2006
Hi Everyone: It has been a while since I made a blog entry and I can’t believe it is already June. Nothing much has transpired in the last 6 months except that I have been doing a lot of traveling with my work. It seems as if I am going somewhere almost every week. I wish it was for pleasure, but it is only work that I travel for. I was suppose to go to Denver in February to see my friend Angela, but that weekend ended up flopping because the flights were so full, so stayed home over president’s day weekend, but the next weekend, we ended up going to FL to celebrate Keith’s grandfathers 80th birthday. We had a great time and we were able to surprise him as well as everyone in the family kept it a big secret. That is almost a miracle with him not finding out. But all worked out well!
Katelyn has been on vacation a lot this year. She traveled to NC with my parents for a week and then to FL for a couple of weeks at a time. We hardly saw her. Grandma ended up buying her a “princess” suitcase on our latest vacation to Disney. Now she can begin traveling and rolling her own stuff through the airport…right? :-)
April 9 was a great day as Katelyn and I traveling to NYC to see the Ringling Brothers. I was able to entertain clients and their kids too, so it was a great opportunity for the both of us. She was very well behaved and had fun the entire day. It was a long day as we went to NYC and back in the same day. I also ended up getting off at Grand Central Station and walked to Penn Station. Anyone who ever goes to NYC, don’t do that, they are very far apart. Make sure you are getting off at the right station.
Another cool thing that I got to do was in May when we took an account out to the Tampa Bay Devil Ray’s game. One of the guys I use to work with now works for one of my accounts and he got to throw out the first pitch. It was awesome as his name was lit up on the board as well. It’s very cool to know someone who has thrown out the first pitch at a baseball game. I still think it is even cooler doing it. He is so lucky! He’s a great guy and deserves it.
In May we were able to finally take our Disney vacation we had been planning for over a year. We ended up having to switch resorts the first couple of days and the last day just because we ended up staying in Orlando for 10 days total and our resort switch was for only 7 days. It was great though and we all had fun. On the first Saturday we were there we ended up going to Blizzard Beach with one of my co-workers and her daughter. We had a great time and it was fun seeing Katelyn’s reaction to some things. She went down the double tube slide with Keith and I in a double ride and fell into a pool at the end. She had fun, but I had to try to keep her afloat too. All I can say now is that she is not so afraid to go under water now. My uncle ended up coming in/out on the weekends too for a visit. So it was a great family vacation!
On the Sunday after that we went to Animal Kingdom. Katelyn loved seeing the animals and we spent most of our time in Africa and ate lunch in Asia. Food was great at Disney. I was actually able to get mom on the Everest ride, which is a fast high speed train (really a roller coaster) She had so much fun, but she said that she was going to read the captions of the rides before she believes me again because she absolutely hates roller coasters. She said she didn’t see much as she closed her eye’s half way through the ride. It was still fun!
The next day we ended up going to Typhoon Lagoon. That is different than Blizzard Beach but had very similar rides. We liked Blizzard Beach better because Katelyn could do the rides more there than at Typhoon Lagoon. At Typhoon Lagoon though they have this wave pool that blasts out waves of 6-8 feet and then spreads it out over the water. You can even take surfing lessons there too for an extra fee. A buzzer goes off before the wave comes out and Katelyn picked up on that real fast as when the buzzer went off Katelyn ran to the end of the pool so the wave could not get her. After a while, she ended up loving the wave pool and wanted to go deeper. They also had a salt water lagoon there too where you can swim with fish and safe sharks. We didn’t end up doing that, but you are able to watch underneath from a sunken ship as others do it. It was fun and a great time was had by all there.
The next day after that we ended up going to Epcot. There wasn’t much for Katelyn to do there as all the rides are mainly for older people, but we did watch the 360 degree movies and did “The Bugs Life” attraction there that was a 3D movie (Maybe that was at Animal Kingdom, can’t remember!) Anyway, the Bug’s life movie ended up scaring Katelyn as it spits out water and bumps you in the back and butt and spits out air at you. She wasn’t impressed with that as she talked about that for many times on the trip. However, she absolutely loved the Mickey’s Magic 3D show at Magic Kingdom. We got stuck in the white ball for about 30 minutes in the dark at Epcot and Katelyn didn’t like that either.
We ended up needing a day off from the attractions so the next day we went shopping throughout the area. One other day we went to DisneyQuest too which is nothing but video games for everyone. Katelyn played her old standby game which is skeeball and I liked frogger. They also had a game called Astroblaster where you go into a pod and gather balls then shoot them at the other cars in pods like bumper cars. It was fun, just wish we could have taken Katelyn on that ride as she would have had a blast. She likes gun games… Is she a girl? Why yes, she is a “primper”.
We didn’t go to MGM Studios as we just couldn’t take another day of theme parks, but we saved the best park for last. Katelyn had such a blast at Magic Kingdom. I think we took 2 rolls of pictures there alone. She loves Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and the princesses, but if Goofy or Donald Duck or Bears come near her she is not interested. I guess she doesn’t like the tall and big characters. She even ran from Chip and Dale. There is one great picture that the Disney photographers took of her with Jasmine and I think I am going to get that one since none of our pictures came out as well as the Disney one’s. The rolls are developed now. If you would like to see them, just log in to walmart.com and type in my email address and then the password is password. Disney photo’s are available too for the next 30 days, so let me know if you would like to see what the photographers took there as well.
The next Saturday, my friend Melissa from Delta ended up coming in and we went to Blizzard Beach again. This time Katelyn ended up going down the Toboggan racers ride. She totally did not like it the first time and then she absolutely loved it and went down again. Later Keith and I actually did the longest drop off one. I think it is tagged at 7 stories. Which really is not much if you think about it considering I worked at that Bungee tower and we did that every day too!
On the 28th of May, it was our 6th Anniversary. We did go to Emeril’s and had a great time. Luckily they had a 3 course meal package that we could try everything and we ate like kings over lunch at Universal City Walk. The food is very delicious there and nobody left a scrap on their plate… except Katelyn! Later that night we went to Pleasure Island and Keith got to shake Dennis Rodman’s hand. I wish I had my camera with me because that would have been cool!
Hope everyone is doing well. Please keep in touch and let me know what you have been up to too if I haven’t talked to you in a while.
Katelyn has been on vacation a lot this year. She traveled to NC with my parents for a week and then to FL for a couple of weeks at a time. We hardly saw her. Grandma ended up buying her a “princess” suitcase on our latest vacation to Disney. Now she can begin traveling and rolling her own stuff through the airport…right? :-)
April 9 was a great day as Katelyn and I traveling to NYC to see the Ringling Brothers. I was able to entertain clients and their kids too, so it was a great opportunity for the both of us. She was very well behaved and had fun the entire day. It was a long day as we went to NYC and back in the same day. I also ended up getting off at Grand Central Station and walked to Penn Station. Anyone who ever goes to NYC, don’t do that, they are very far apart. Make sure you are getting off at the right station.
Another cool thing that I got to do was in May when we took an account out to the Tampa Bay Devil Ray’s game. One of the guys I use to work with now works for one of my accounts and he got to throw out the first pitch. It was awesome as his name was lit up on the board as well. It’s very cool to know someone who has thrown out the first pitch at a baseball game. I still think it is even cooler doing it. He is so lucky! He’s a great guy and deserves it.
In May we were able to finally take our Disney vacation we had been planning for over a year. We ended up having to switch resorts the first couple of days and the last day just because we ended up staying in Orlando for 10 days total and our resort switch was for only 7 days. It was great though and we all had fun. On the first Saturday we were there we ended up going to Blizzard Beach with one of my co-workers and her daughter. We had a great time and it was fun seeing Katelyn’s reaction to some things. She went down the double tube slide with Keith and I in a double ride and fell into a pool at the end. She had fun, but I had to try to keep her afloat too. All I can say now is that she is not so afraid to go under water now. My uncle ended up coming in/out on the weekends too for a visit. So it was a great family vacation!
On the Sunday after that we went to Animal Kingdom. Katelyn loved seeing the animals and we spent most of our time in Africa and ate lunch in Asia. Food was great at Disney. I was actually able to get mom on the Everest ride, which is a fast high speed train (really a roller coaster) She had so much fun, but she said that she was going to read the captions of the rides before she believes me again because she absolutely hates roller coasters. She said she didn’t see much as she closed her eye’s half way through the ride. It was still fun!
The next day we ended up going to Typhoon Lagoon. That is different than Blizzard Beach but had very similar rides. We liked Blizzard Beach better because Katelyn could do the rides more there than at Typhoon Lagoon. At Typhoon Lagoon though they have this wave pool that blasts out waves of 6-8 feet and then spreads it out over the water. You can even take surfing lessons there too for an extra fee. A buzzer goes off before the wave comes out and Katelyn picked up on that real fast as when the buzzer went off Katelyn ran to the end of the pool so the wave could not get her. After a while, she ended up loving the wave pool and wanted to go deeper. They also had a salt water lagoon there too where you can swim with fish and safe sharks. We didn’t end up doing that, but you are able to watch underneath from a sunken ship as others do it. It was fun and a great time was had by all there.
The next day after that we ended up going to Epcot. There wasn’t much for Katelyn to do there as all the rides are mainly for older people, but we did watch the 360 degree movies and did “The Bugs Life” attraction there that was a 3D movie (Maybe that was at Animal Kingdom, can’t remember!) Anyway, the Bug’s life movie ended up scaring Katelyn as it spits out water and bumps you in the back and butt and spits out air at you. She wasn’t impressed with that as she talked about that for many times on the trip. However, she absolutely loved the Mickey’s Magic 3D show at Magic Kingdom. We got stuck in the white ball for about 30 minutes in the dark at Epcot and Katelyn didn’t like that either.
We ended up needing a day off from the attractions so the next day we went shopping throughout the area. One other day we went to DisneyQuest too which is nothing but video games for everyone. Katelyn played her old standby game which is skeeball and I liked frogger. They also had a game called Astroblaster where you go into a pod and gather balls then shoot them at the other cars in pods like bumper cars. It was fun, just wish we could have taken Katelyn on that ride as she would have had a blast. She likes gun games… Is she a girl? Why yes, she is a “primper”.
We didn’t go to MGM Studios as we just couldn’t take another day of theme parks, but we saved the best park for last. Katelyn had such a blast at Magic Kingdom. I think we took 2 rolls of pictures there alone. She loves Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and the princesses, but if Goofy or Donald Duck or Bears come near her she is not interested. I guess she doesn’t like the tall and big characters. She even ran from Chip and Dale. There is one great picture that the Disney photographers took of her with Jasmine and I think I am going to get that one since none of our pictures came out as well as the Disney one’s. The rolls are developed now. If you would like to see them, just log in to walmart.com and type in my email address and then the password is password. Disney photo’s are available too for the next 30 days, so let me know if you would like to see what the photographers took there as well.
The next Saturday, my friend Melissa from Delta ended up coming in and we went to Blizzard Beach again. This time Katelyn ended up going down the Toboggan racers ride. She totally did not like it the first time and then she absolutely loved it and went down again. Later Keith and I actually did the longest drop off one. I think it is tagged at 7 stories. Which really is not much if you think about it considering I worked at that Bungee tower and we did that every day too!
On the 28th of May, it was our 6th Anniversary. We did go to Emeril’s and had a great time. Luckily they had a 3 course meal package that we could try everything and we ate like kings over lunch at Universal City Walk. The food is very delicious there and nobody left a scrap on their plate… except Katelyn! Later that night we went to Pleasure Island and Keith got to shake Dennis Rodman’s hand. I wish I had my camera with me because that would have been cool!
Hope everyone is doing well. Please keep in touch and let me know what you have been up to too if I haven’t talked to you in a while.
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
2005 in Review!
Hi Everyone:
Well 2005 was another blurry year for the Minnihan's. We don't really know where the time flies, but it sure does leave quickly. In March we ended up heading to Florida for another big fishing excursion for Keith. I am sure he caught some fish, but can't remember right off hand if they were big or not. Last year was his record breaking fish where he made the September 2004 Issue of Florida Sportsman. It wasn't a world's record, but close!
Carolyn traveled to various trade shows with her old position throughout the year and interviewed for a quite a few new positions. She finally was able to obtain a new position in September 2005. This position is better as it is a work at home position, but she does have to travel about 2-3 times per week. Mainly day trips, so that is not too bad.
Carolyn's parents went to Williamsburg to celebrate a family vacation without the kids. It was only her mother, father, grandmother, and Katelyn that went. They ended up having a great time and wouldn't mind going back.
In March, Carolyn and her friend Maryann ended up in Las Vegas. Maryann won $750 on a 50 cent slot machine at Bellagio. Carolyn won $125 at Excalibur. All in all the trip was paid for and we were able to see the new Wynn hotel that just opened.
In May, Keith and Carolyn celebrated 5 years of wedded bliss by taking a trip to Hershey, PA. We toured the Hershey chocolate factory, the zoo, and visited Amish land. Keith of course aggravated the tamed Florida crocodile there by just looking at it. We ate at the best Smorgasbord restaurant around. We haven't seen a feast like that since! During the trip, on the way home, Keith did find out some bad news as one of his fellow firefighter's - Wes Lummus - ended up getting killed over the Memorial Day weekend.
To celebrate life, several of our friends ended up having children. Frank and Bianca ended up having a boy and my friend Kelli and Ed ended up having a girl in July. We celebrated with them on their new bundles of Joy.
In September, Maryann and Carolyn tried to go visit Bob Barker in LAX, but he cancelled out. It was the craziest trip ever as nothing seemed to go right once we landed in LAX. We rented a compact car and ended up with a mini-van. Good thing, as Carolyn’s friend Carol and her friend Belinda were coming out to meet us and she didn’t get the message that Bob Barker cancelled until the doors were closing on the plane for her to come out. She had a long 4 hour plane ride, but we tried to make the best of it by going to the Santa Monica pier and riding through Hollywood. We didn’t think about it until later that the Emmy’s were in town. We made it to the Shrine where the Emmy’s were being held. We snuck into the campus as USC and hung out with the Paparazzi and LAPD so they could tell us who was coming out on the “Red Carpet”. We called out when we knew it was Paula Abdul and she waived to us. It was fun! The next day Carol and Belinda ended up leaving as our hotel had a small fire and the elevators, power, and electric were out for a while and the fire alarms kept blaring aimlessly. Carolyn and Maryann stayed and ended up at the Hollywood sign and touring the stars homes. We just left a couple hours after Carol and Belinda. We missed every left turn known to man in LAX!
Katelyn is getting big now as she turned 2 years old in September. We had a party for her and her friends with a Dora Jumpy thing. She had so much fun jumping in the Dora jumpy thing that she was sore for the next 2 days. She is now telling us what to do and how to do it. She tells on Cletus all the time as he is always in the trash can loving dirty diapers. WHY? Who knows. Other than that, we have just been taking one day at a time and trying to get through each day. Life has been busy with Katelyn, she keeps us on our toes. She can spell her name as long as we sing the cheerleader song and she almost knows our phone number. We feel blessed to have her in our life! She was a mini witch for Halloween and all she wanted for Christmas was a bike and lipstick. Santa brought her everything she wanted!
Take care and hope everyone has a safe and happy 2006! I will try to keep this updated going forward.
Well 2005 was another blurry year for the Minnihan's. We don't really know where the time flies, but it sure does leave quickly. In March we ended up heading to Florida for another big fishing excursion for Keith. I am sure he caught some fish, but can't remember right off hand if they were big or not. Last year was his record breaking fish where he made the September 2004 Issue of Florida Sportsman. It wasn't a world's record, but close!
Carolyn traveled to various trade shows with her old position throughout the year and interviewed for a quite a few new positions. She finally was able to obtain a new position in September 2005. This position is better as it is a work at home position, but she does have to travel about 2-3 times per week. Mainly day trips, so that is not too bad.
Carolyn's parents went to Williamsburg to celebrate a family vacation without the kids. It was only her mother, father, grandmother, and Katelyn that went. They ended up having a great time and wouldn't mind going back.
In March, Carolyn and her friend Maryann ended up in Las Vegas. Maryann won $750 on a 50 cent slot machine at Bellagio. Carolyn won $125 at Excalibur. All in all the trip was paid for and we were able to see the new Wynn hotel that just opened.
In May, Keith and Carolyn celebrated 5 years of wedded bliss by taking a trip to Hershey, PA. We toured the Hershey chocolate factory, the zoo, and visited Amish land. Keith of course aggravated the tamed Florida crocodile there by just looking at it. We ate at the best Smorgasbord restaurant around. We haven't seen a feast like that since! During the trip, on the way home, Keith did find out some bad news as one of his fellow firefighter's - Wes Lummus - ended up getting killed over the Memorial Day weekend.
To celebrate life, several of our friends ended up having children. Frank and Bianca ended up having a boy and my friend Kelli and Ed ended up having a girl in July. We celebrated with them on their new bundles of Joy.
In September, Maryann and Carolyn tried to go visit Bob Barker in LAX, but he cancelled out. It was the craziest trip ever as nothing seemed to go right once we landed in LAX. We rented a compact car and ended up with a mini-van. Good thing, as Carolyn’s friend Carol and her friend Belinda were coming out to meet us and she didn’t get the message that Bob Barker cancelled until the doors were closing on the plane for her to come out. She had a long 4 hour plane ride, but we tried to make the best of it by going to the Santa Monica pier and riding through Hollywood. We didn’t think about it until later that the Emmy’s were in town. We made it to the Shrine where the Emmy’s were being held. We snuck into the campus as USC and hung out with the Paparazzi and LAPD so they could tell us who was coming out on the “Red Carpet”. We called out when we knew it was Paula Abdul and she waived to us. It was fun! The next day Carol and Belinda ended up leaving as our hotel had a small fire and the elevators, power, and electric were out for a while and the fire alarms kept blaring aimlessly. Carolyn and Maryann stayed and ended up at the Hollywood sign and touring the stars homes. We just left a couple hours after Carol and Belinda. We missed every left turn known to man in LAX!
Katelyn is getting big now as she turned 2 years old in September. We had a party for her and her friends with a Dora Jumpy thing. She had so much fun jumping in the Dora jumpy thing that she was sore for the next 2 days. She is now telling us what to do and how to do it. She tells on Cletus all the time as he is always in the trash can loving dirty diapers. WHY? Who knows. Other than that, we have just been taking one day at a time and trying to get through each day. Life has been busy with Katelyn, she keeps us on our toes. She can spell her name as long as we sing the cheerleader song and she almost knows our phone number. We feel blessed to have her in our life! She was a mini witch for Halloween and all she wanted for Christmas was a bike and lipstick. Santa brought her everything she wanted!
Take care and hope everyone has a safe and happy 2006! I will try to keep this updated going forward.
Saturday, December 31, 2005
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
Katelyn wants to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Her family wishes you well too!
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