2009

I promised my family that I wouldn't post the early morning Christmas pictures on my website this year. But our animals can't complain directly to me, so here's a few of them :-)

We were in GA to celebrate Thanksgiving and surprised John by also having his 50th Birthday party that evening. Lydia's family always does a spectacular rendition of "Happy Birthday" and this time was no exception - be sure to see the video on my YouTube channel.

The majority of my Symantec team were in town for technical training in mid Sept 2009 so I took the group to a local Florida venue. Black Hammock Adventures does air-boat rides on Lake Jessup, which has the highest population of alligators in the US.

Unfortunately, not many gators were out at this time of year and time of day as it was too hot. Nevertheless, we had a good time, good company and food that was good enough.

Following our weekend in Cordele and Macon, we went to Augusta to join in the celebration of Fr. Michael Roverse's 25th Anniversary of ordination to the priesthood. Mike and I met in the summer of '76 when we were room mates at Camp Villa Marie for our first summers there as camp councelors. Lydia and I met at the same camp the following year, and as they say "the rest is history".

In early September 2009 Lydia and I were in Macon for a Mount de Sales mini-reunion. Less than 20 of us were able to make it, but we had a great time and I had not seen most of the classmates from high school since graduation. I missed all prior reunions for one reason or another and rarely get back to Macon. Thanks to Tommy and Liz for opening up their house to us again!

You might have guessed by now that we have a membership at the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse. We went primarily because we heard that the waves were going to be awesome due to Hurricane Bill in the Atlantic causing swells. Everyone else heard as well and flocked to the beach, so we didn't get out there because it was far too crowded. Check out the hi-res pictures looking at the jetty and you'll see how many surfers are in the water.

For our anniversary we were back to St Augustine and stayed At Journey's End once again. We saw some new sites we hadn't seen previously and ate at several restaurants we had not tried before. Opus 39 was fantastic - we had a 5 course dinner which the chef selected for us.

We went to GA so Lydia could celebrate her birthday with her family

Lydia and I went to Ponce Inlet in mid-July for a nice Saturday morning trip. We went to the lighthouse and then to the park near the inlet. I got to try out my new camera, and I'm pretty impressed with the quality of the zoom as well as the clarity of the action pictures.

We were in GA to celebrate Lydia's dad's 80th birthday. This was a little more than a week after he returned home from the hospital after having had a heart attack. Make sure to also see the dancing videos in the YouTube section ;-)

We went to Savannah again in mid-June, primarily so that I could hit the racetrack again. My good friend Mike came down from Augusta to see us. We had dinner together Friday night at Elizabeth's on 37th (our favorite in Savannah), and Robert met up with Lydia, Christine and Mike for breakfast on Saturday morning. Saturday afternoon, Lydia's friend Jan met with the girls at the Griffon Tea Room.

Lydia and I spent the weekend in St. Augustine at our favorite B&B, At Journey's End. Friday night we got to see John (Ellen's husband and inkeeper) performing at the Gallery Cafe. Before it got too hot out Saturday morning, we went to see the Nina and Pinta replica ships which were in the harbor for visitors to check out. And we had a great dinner at Collage which has become our favorite restaurant in St. Augustine.

Lydia, Christine and I were in Savannah to celebrate St. Patrick's Day for 2009, as well as watch the parade which started right behind the Mansion on Forsyth Park where we were staying.

Lydia and I went to Ponce Inlet for lunch at Down the Hatch and to renew our membership at the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse. It was a beautiful day, with clear blue skies, temps in the 60s and 70s and a stiff breeze coming off the ocean.

Throughout the year I will continue posting pictures of our pets here.

Lydia and I took off to stay at our favorite B&B in St Augustine for the first weekend of 2009.