Monday Again (5/18/2015)

Time sure flies . . .  We had a pretty busy weekend getting things done after being gone for 5 days.  It took most of the weekend to get the laundry done, but we managed to fit in some other things.  Friday night John and Joe went and picked up a pizza so we could eat at home and Andrew could sit in his high chair.  We had a fairly early night.  Saturday John and Bridgette did some of their normal weekend errands (didn't get all of them done) while Joe and I headed south to Bradenton to the flea market.  We didn't find any great buys but it took a big chunk of the day.  I got my scrapbooking materials out and messed with them for a while that evening, but we didn't make it to Walmart to print pictures so my progress was minimal.

But Sunday, we were back in the boat!  This time as scientists.  Bridgette needed to check out the drainage into the Hillsborough River along the University of Tampa for some of her summer student projects, so we loaded up the boat and headed to Tampa Bay again.  She and Andrew had to stop by her school, so we drove separately, which was a good thing because when we got ready to unload the boat we found it had a dead battery -- the prop wouldn't even go down.  We think there was a small light left on.  After some debate between John and his dad, we waited for Bridgette to arrive with the car, and John hooked up the jumper cables to her car and got it started.  We were on the boat ramp, so as soon as they got it running, we put it in the water.  No harm, no foul, and lesson learned.

While they messed with the boat, I walked over to the dog beach and took a few pictures.  Their Annie dog would love to come here.

Once we got going, we headed upriver to look for drainage pipes -- scientist stuff.  And we found several.  Bridgette was writing down the coordinates using her phone so she can come back with her students.  She decided some of the drainage pipes would only be accessible on the sidewalk so she will probably need a crew there as well as one in the boat.

 And there's always birds!

After we finished with our work, we boated out into the bay to check out potential fishing and sandy beach locations.  We saw several patches of seagrass which excited our scientists, and then found a really nice little island with a dock, beach, and sandbar.  We didn't bring our "wet" clothes with us so we didn't take advantage of it but plan on coming back here with Kaylee next week.

Andrew was getting tired so we headed in, back to the house.

 

I decided tonight was the night Joe was taking me to the casino, so after John fixed our spaghetti, we took showers and headed to the Hard Rock Casino.  I actually came out $90 ahead, but Joe lost $40 so we only had a net gain of $50 -- but still pretty good.

Monday, we spent most of the day running around.  I went to Walmart to get pictures printed, but their machines were down, so then we went to Walgreens.  But I forgot one camera chip so I had to make a second trip there.  We also went to a radio stereo shop (don't ask), and the grocery store -- didn't find everything on the list there either.  It wasn't long after we got home that the rest of the family came in.  Bridgette had to take Andrew to Walmart to buy a white t-shirt for him to decorate.  He will be wearing it at his graduation next week from the 1-year old room to the 2-year old room.  Rumor has it that he, along with the rest of his class, will be performing Itsy Bitsy Spider on stage.  Gotta get that on the calendar!