Today we drove to Tampa to visit with family. Uncle Renny and Aunt Tracy graciously invited us to their home for dinner, and to hang out for the day.
We got a late start, and Vavo and Vavu had been wanting us to try Cracker Barrel for breakfast – they have a really good breakfast, according to them. So we went over to the Cracker Barrel by our house, but the wait was 45 minutes, and it was already after 11am, so we decided against it this time. We chose to just grab a quick sandwich at Quiznos instead. So we drove back past our house to get it, and when we got there, the restaurant was closed down. There were stacks of boxes inside, and the stools were all jammed up. So we were 0 for 2. So we ended up driving through Burger King and heading west to Tampa.
Tampa is a really nice area. Right on the ocean, a nice big city, lots of stuff to see. We met up with Uncle Renny and Aunt Tracy at their house, and got to see all of the recent renovations they have done. It really looked great! And the house was all decorated for Christmas. It felt so nice and comfortable there. Uncle Renny and Aunt Tracy had Christmas presents under the tree for the boys. It was really nice. The boys opened the presents there, and had fun playing them. :-)
We got a late start, and Vavo and Vavu had been wanting us to try Cracker Barrel for breakfast – they have a really good breakfast, according to them. So we went over to the Cracker Barrel by our house, but the wait was 45 minutes, and it was already after 11am, so we decided against it this time. We chose to just grab a quick sandwich at Quiznos instead. So we drove back past our house to get it, and when we got there, the restaurant was closed down. There were stacks of boxes inside, and the stools were all jammed up. So we were 0 for 2. So we ended up driving through Burger King and heading west to Tampa.
Tampa is a really nice area. Right on the ocean, a nice big city, lots of stuff to see. We met up with Uncle Renny and Aunt Tracy at their house, and got to see all of the recent renovations they have done. It really looked great! And the house was all decorated for Christmas. It felt so nice and comfortable there. Uncle Renny and Aunt Tracy had Christmas presents under the tree for the boys. It was really nice. The boys opened the presents there, and had fun playing them. :-)
Jeremy playing with his new ipuppy
the boys playing with their new robots (first thing they did was make them fight)
Playing doctor with Aunt Tracy (we all had a lot of "shots" by the end of the evening, courtesy of Aiden - Vavu said he wants a second opinion)!
We relaxed for a little bit, then Uncle Robert (aka Uncle Bob) came by. He bought some nice prime rib for dinner, so Aunt Tracy started working on that. The rest of us took off to meet Uncle Renny’s employer, Mr. Guy.
Andrew with his Uncle Robert
We went to Mr. Guy’s house around 2pm. It was decorated so beautifully for Christmas. He and his wife had only wonderful things to say about Uncle Renny and Uncle Robert. They were happy to meet more of the family.
After saying goodbye, we headed over to see Mr. Guy’s office, where Uncle Renny works, and tour the boat that they take out on the ocean. Mr. Guy owns a boat called a North Sea Trawler. This boat is built to withstand the harsh conditions of the North Sea, so it can be taken out in all kinds of weather conditions. It was really beautiful. When we arrived, the First Mate was on board, decorating for Christmas. The kids really liked being out on the water. But the wind was blowing quite a bit! So Jeremy started saying “brrrrr cold”!
Vavo and her brother, Uncle Renny, at his office (great view)!
Aiden inside
Jeremy: "Brrrr....cold!"
Uncle Renny and Vavu
We went back to the house and Uncle Renny went to pick up his mom (Andrew’s Grandmother – Aiden and Jeremy’s Great Grandmother). Uncle Robert gave Maria a much needed massage. She was really grateful. We all gathered for appetizers and then dinner. It was great! We had dessert out on their new screened-in patio. It’s like having an extra room in the house! Great Grandmother brought some presents for the boys that they enjoyed playing with after dinner.
We had a really nice time seeing everyone and spending time together. Aiden and Jeremy really enjoyed seeing more of their family, spending time with them, and playing with them, too! Thank you to Uncle Renny & Aunt Tracy for their hospitality today. And thank you Uncle Robert for the dinner contribution! Yum!
Family Photo------------------------------------------
The best part of day 35 was spending time with family.
The worst part of day 35 was the conspiracy against us eating breakfast.
What we learned on day 35 was Florida has temperatures other than hot. It really cooled off tonight.
The weather on day 35 was raining in the early morning, low 70’s during the day, chilly in the evening.
Our character sightings on day 35 included none.
The crowd level on day 35 was icky at Cracker Barrel!
6 comments:
Aww! I miss my family! I'm glad the boys get to see them so much and play with them. :)
Hey Steph.... forgot to mention that Uncle Bob wanted me to pass on a message to you. He either said "Shove it up your butt" or "Blow it out your butt" I can't remember. But I guess you can take your pick :)
hahahaha that pic of the boys with their new robots.....they sit like you used to sit when we were kids Sis :)
Wow, that was a great observation by Angela. I never noticed that the kids do sit just like I used to sit as a kid. Cool. :-)
I'm glad that you were able to survive longer than an hour at Uncle Renny's since he has the two dogs. What did he do with the dogs? Maybe I can make the same adjustments and you can actually spend the entire day at my house, too.
Uncle Ren has 2 dogs that stay mostly outside. When inside they stay only in a non-carpeted region (the kitchen). He has only one area of the main house that is carpeted and the dogs don't visit there, so the pet dander around their house was very minimal to start with.
When we were there, he put the dogs in his office the whole time and when it started bothering Maria, we went outside on the patio. We also left the house midway through the visit to do other things and that helped too.
Wish we could go onto your screened patio, but its like hecka cold in AR :)
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