Florida - Friday, June 21st
07-09-2002,

Florida - Friday, June 21st...

July 09, 2002

Friday was a lesson in planning. It was a reminder that even the best laid plans don't always turn out the way that you want them to. It was to be Jen's birthday day, which we were excited about, and the thing she wanted to do most was go on a shelling tour. We made our reservations, and we were all looking forward to it very much. I even got everyone shelling bags back in April as part of their easter presents (see how far in advance we planned it, hehe) and we were all set to go. We got up a little later than we should have, and the place called us later than they should have (but actually, when I got back to work, there was a message on my phone here from them, they had my work number as a contact, so they were trying to call us earlier, in the wrong place). I know that I should have called them sooner too, but time just slipped away, and so we got a late start, and it just didn't work out. We got there as the boat was leaving, and we were all very disappointed. If you could have seen the look on everyone's faces, or the slump of our shoulders, you would have laughed.

I think it took a minute for us to get over the disappointment, before we could make the next plan. We knew that we could get on the later tour, and normally it wouldn't have been a major deal to me, but it had been raining every afternoon, and they were calling for the same that day as well.. and I just wanted the whole thing to be so perfect. Still, we had no other choice, so we headed over to the tour place, and set up the next tour. They were really nice about it, and they even offered to take us out to meet the boat and let us stay on the 2nd tour anyway, and I would so have loved to do that, but noone else seemed to want to, so I didn't even say I wanted to, and we went to go eat brunch instead.

It took us a while to find a place to eat, and I think we were all still pretty upset over having missed the first tour, but we all snapped out of it once we sat down to eat, and once again, we were back to having a great time. Since it was Jen's birthday day, Tonny and I ran over to ask the waiter to bring out a piece of cake for her, while she and Cory were up at the Buffet. Jen had said that she wanted an ice cream cake, so we asked him to make sure that there was ice cream with it, lol.. Hey, gotta do whatcha gotta do, right. I don't think that Jen ever even suspected a thing. We were cracking up when they brought it out though, especially with the waiters throwing themselves at her. What a birthday present she could have had, giggle.

After we ate, we made sure that we had plenty of time to get back to the beach where the Shell Kat was meeting, and in fact, we got there a little early, so we were able to look around and take some pictures before hand. The boat was cute, and the tour guides were so funny. Okay, and the guy was, hmmm how do I say this, hot! Let's just say that Cory is still having dreams about Mitch. We were all excited to finally be on the boat and we were ready to have a good time.. and then the rain rain rain came down down down. It was a cold hard rain and with the boat moving, it was a stinging rain... we tried to cover up with our towels and stuff, Cory and Tonya ahead of us hiding under their towels and Jen and I sharing one...with just our faces sticking out. It was actually fun for a while, and we were all laughing so hard. I could barely see the water was in my eyes, but we were having a good time. Then we got to the area where we were going to shell, and that's where I got miserable. Once we got off the boat, I was freezing, the rain was still coming down and I had to leave my camera on the boat, and it just wasn't what I had planned on for the day, and so I went off by myself to shell a little, and mostly to pout, because I really was miserable. I only pouted for a few minutes, and told myself that I didn't want to let the day be ruined, Jen was having the best time, and this was supposed to be for her, so I should be grateful for that, and I was. Shortly after I decided to make the most of it, the rain stopped and while I was still soaked, it was warming up a little, so I wasn't as miserable. And I was able to get my camera out too, which as you know means the world to me, taking pictures. I really was so upset that we wouldn't have pictures from this trip and so it really improved my mood to be able to take some pictures finally. We all looked like drowned rats and stuff, but it didn't matter, at least we had pictures. I went around getting some pics really quick, and then I got back to finding more shells. We really did find some awesome shells, and that really was a good point to this trip.

Finally it was time to get back on the boat for our return trip, just as we were really starting to enjoy ourselves, but they promised us a chance to find dolphins and we were excited about that, so back on the boat we went. This ride was much more fun too, hehe.. without the rain stinging our faces. I got some cute pictures, and while we did see some dolphins, they were rather elusive and so I didn't get any pictures of them. It was a bummer, but we still had a great time all together. I am so glad that we did this, and even more glad that Jen had such a great time.

We would have really liked to stay in Marco Island for a while afterwards, to visit some of the little shops and stuff like that, but we were all soaking wet, and miserable in our clothes. In my case, my new red shirt had ran, making my new white shorts pink, and my new matching bra and panties pink, and gosh, I couldn't wait to change and see if I could bleach my stuff back to white, so we just headed back to the condo to do something there. We thought about taking showers and figuring out what we wanted to do, but instead, we got our swim suits on and went swimming at the pool for a while. We really had a fun time doing that, and Jen got some really cute pictures of us while we were playing in the water. She didn't feel like swimming, but she came out and sat with us, so that was really nice. Tonya even made us more of her yummy drinks that she had been making all week, giggle.

Eventually we all made our way back into the Condo. It was Tonya's night to make dinner, and she was making us a wonderful one, with steaks (that had been marinating since the night before) and baked potatoes with Corn on the Cob. Oh yah, and friend shrimp for them, yuck, giggle. She wanted to get it started as we were all getting hungry, and in the meantime Jen and Cory were reading.. Me, I went to lay down with evern intention of reading but ended up taking a nap. Boy was that enjoyable, giggle. We had a great evening, and a delicious steak dinner. And then we decided to get dressed and go to the mall for a while. Jen was on the phone with Don, so we decided to start walking and have her meet us there. It was a nice walk, and we even stopped to take some cute pictures along the way. Unfortunately, we got a late start though, so we really only had a little while to shop. Okay, so that was only unfortunate to those of us who actually like to shop, giggle. I bought a really cute bathing suit that I found a great deal on, and Jen tried on one that really made her look soooooo beautiful. I wish that she had bought it but it was really expensive. Still it looked so good on her.. I got one picture of her in it, and I still think she looked great in it, but it was expensive. Cory and Tonya got new shoes at the same store, so we all walked away with something new except for Jen. We looked in a few really cute stores, but didn't get to shop long, before it was time to head back. Cory and Jen drove back and Tonya and I walked.. only we walked past the condo and went a little further hehe, no it wasn't an accident, we wanted some exercise after that awesome dinner we had. Then it was back to the condo to try our hands at another card came. We never did finish a whole game...we had so many other things to do. That is so funny, considering how much we love to play cards when we are together.