Lincoln's First Baby Photos

Click here to view this photo book larger

Create your own custom photo books at Shutterfly.com.

Here is a link to the Shutterfly photo album we created for our Italy Honeymoon trip last spring.

Click here to view this photo book larger

The new way to make a photo album: photo books by Shutterfly.

Hemingway House

We went to Key West, FL this week in search of a venue to get married. We looked at many places, including three hotel resorts, the Audabon House, Truman's Little Whitehouse, the Lighthouse, and the Hemingway House. After weighing the benefits and downsides to all, we are almost certain we are going with the Hemingway House.

This is the front view of the home. It is a historic building that Ernest Hemingway lived. His office is off the back of the building, in a separate loft. In that office is the desk he worked at that we would sign our marriage license after the wedding.

This is to the left of the photo above. Here is where the wedding ceremony would occur. The nice part is that we would not need much as far as decorations because of all the plants already present. There is plenty of seating for all of our guests.











This is a view from where the reception would be. We would likely have a tent as it rains almost every day here in Florida, although short lived. I am standing where the band would play from this picture. The dance floor would be over the mulched area. To the right of this is where the pool area is as seen in the next photograph.

Here is the pool area. This is where the cocktail hour would be. There would be high-top tables in the lawn.















The Hemingway House is a neat place with a lot of history. Also, across the street is a botique motel/bed and breakfast that is very affordable for hour guests. It also has a top floor suite with a full kitchen that we would likely have a brunch the day after the wedding.

 This is Kermitt's Key Lime Pie Shoppe. Delicious. They also have a chocolate dipped key lime pie on a stick. Equally delicious.

 This is all of us on a small island where there is a delicious restaurant. Val's parents took us out for our birthday's (My 29, her 30).

Val and I at the Southernmost Point bouy, which is 90 miles to Cuba.

Dr. Suess

Val and I at Universal Studios in Orlando, Fl. We had season passes and they expire in a few weeks so we decided to go one last time. It was not crowded at all, considering most have started school back up at this point. So, we did not have to wait in line and actually rode all the coasters in the front seats. It really made a huge difference sitting in front compared to the back of the coaster. It is a lot of fun, but I am not sure if we will get season passes again. We may try Disney at some point since I have never been there either.

Gator

The one that was finally harvested. 7'10"

Gators

Mike and Brandon have been gator hunting all week. No luck, though. I went with them last night and we saw a bunch of them. Basically you go out on the boat and drive up and down the river shining a flashlight around until you see their eyes glow. Then, if you can get close enough, you either spear them with what looks like a long pole and a knife at one end, or you use your fishing reel equipped-bow and arrow. Or, you can hang nasty rotton chicken from trees. The bait is wrapped around a wooden peg tied to a long string that is connected at the other end to an empty bottle with reflectors. When the gator takes the bait, you later come by to find the bottle floating around because the wooden peg is stuck in the gators digestive tract. Unfortunately I had to leave early because these shinanigans take place between 8pm and 6am. Here is one they caught about 30 minutes after I left. It was small so they let it go unharmed, back into the wild to grow old and become a nice pair of boots.

Mike holding the gator.

Bikes

Around Christmas 2010 we bought new bikes in hopes to get some exercise in and have some fun doing it. I got a Trek 6000 and Val got a Trek 3700. We rode quite a bit and rode on the Alafia River trails once or twice a month. They have pretty intense (for Florida) mountain biking. A couple of months ago our bikes were stolen from our apartment complex. They were locked on a bike rack within our secure garage about 100 ft from our security guard and on camera. The guy who stole them got caught and is getting multiple counts of felony secondary to this. There were seven bikes total stolen from our building alone. We went to go buy new bikes! I ended up getting the Trek Fuel EX8 and Val got the Trek 6000. These were pretty decent upgrades from our prior bikes. After dropping some dough on these, the police called and stated they found our bikes at a local pawn shop. Pawn shops are required to document the serial number of the bikes, which I reported to the police as stolen. When the police ran a search on the "pawn shop database," our bikes showed up on the list! So, this past week, we have had 4 bikes sitting in our apartment (we are not trusting the "secure" garage anymore). Already sold my old one and someone is interested in Val's. Our new bikes are awesome!!!

Trek 6000

My old bike

Trek 3700

Val's old bike

Trek 6000

Val's new bike

Trek Fuel EX8

My new bike