Florida

Gorgeous days in Florida..there are never bad days.  Even if they start out rainy (like yesterday), the sun comes out before long. I love it.
We are thinking about looking at townhouses tomorrow.  Small ones, that we could use in the spring or summer, and rent out (somehow..with a property manager?  and someone to clean it?  umm..working on that!).  We found some places in south central Florida, but we'll check halfway between Orlando (Disney!) and Clearwater (Phillies' Bright House field!).. Lakeland, I think?  I am always full of good ideas. heehee  Yes, we'd have to almost break even or it wouldn't be worth it! ; )  Then YOU could borrow it! : )  Well, if you love Disney or the Phillies (or the beach?)..I'm thinking I need themed rooms!  Ches and I talked (ok-I talked, he listened-Ha!) about decorating with only Phillies and Disney stuff.  Yes, cheesy, but that's what you get in a rental.  Things you wouldn't normally do in a house you live in every day! : )

So, today we slept in went to a Phillies game-they played the Baltimore Orioles.  We didn't do so well.  : (  We like to watch anyway, and there is always excitement!  One of the Hooter girls forgot she was supposed to catch foul balls, and everyone yelled at her : ( then we had a guy on the berm pull his pants down when he was on the big screen (he was wearing boxers or running shorts or something, and they immediately took him off the screen, but we could all see him across the field-strange man!), then there was the double-play by the Phillies-AWeSoMe! and the sweet lady sitting next to me.  We talked about the players, and she's from Philly, lives in Center City, and had to leave the game to catch her plane home.  I hope she made it safely!  She was super nice.  There was good action-lots of foul balls, and they really let the guys all play-I like that-they haven't committed to only letting the best kids on the team play.  : )  I like it when Clay's team does that too-that's how you get better--with practice!

Yesterday we had "box" seats, but today we had home plate seats.  I think yesterday's were better since we didn't have to look through a net!  And there was actual potential for catching a foul ball. Today=zero chance.

It is totally not a good picture (phone pix, sun in our eyes, travel clothes) but it's us!  The really nice man selling baseball cards offered to take our picture. : )  (those our shirts for my kids in that bag..I miss my babies!)

Love the palm trees and field-sometimes I just take pictures as reminders of what I like, so I remember.  Often I get home, and wish I had gotten pictures of the plain stuff, not just the action.  So, I'm trying.

Then we headed south to Ellenton to go to a movie, go to the factory stores (fancy name for outlets), and had dinner (at 9:30!).  We saw Unknown (just ok.), then made a run for the outlets-we didn't have long until they closed!  There is a good Johnston & Murphy factory store, so we split up-I ran into J. Crew and obsessed, drooled, and settled on a dress I could wear for Easter (great excuse for a cute dress!), a cool necklace with beads, pearls, and rhinestones! and a ruffled tee (with layers and layers of short ruffles) for Mary Claire.  Then I exchanged some shoes for the boys at Stride Rite, and we met back at J&M.  After they closed, we had some dinner and played cards.  We are hooked!  We normally only play with the kids, but it's addictive I guess.  Good thing we aren't gamblers! : )

Just a few pictures-we love Tampa, Tampa Bay, and all the water (although near the factory stores, it smelled of corn tortillas-everywhere. And near the ball field, it smelled like musty dirt.  It's weird how different cities smell.).

We *heart* you, Florida!  Can't wait to see more tomorrow..we are thinking Downtown Disney! : )