The Triple J Fishing team started it's season the last week of February. The Marco Island tournament was scheduled for February 27th. PJ, Keith & Stevie started prefishing on Tuesday, Feb 23rd. As we all know this winter has lasted what feels like forever and the weather postponed the tournament. The tournament is now rescheduled for March 14th and the Naples tournament on March 13th. PJ, Keith & Stevie start fishing on Monday March 8th and once again the tournaments are postponed. The boys head down on Thursday evening and do one day of prefishing but do not catch a single King Fish. In unfamiliar territory, PJ, Keith, Stevie, Jeff & Jake head out on Saturday morning. After a long day of fishing and traveling 270 miles, they come in with a 27lb fish....not exactly setting the world on fire. I get a phone call from PJ saying "I am just glad we are weighing a fish". An hour and a half later I get another phone call stating "We are two minutes away from winning the tournament". Not only did they win the Naples tournament but they went out the next day and caught another winner. They win back to back tournaments and Jake wins Junior Angler in both as well. Needless to say they are estatic. Now this weekend is the Ft. Myers tournament....can they do it again????

Jordan's softball team played their mid season tournament this weekend. They played two games Friday night, three games on Saturday and one today. They qualified to play in the championship game but the game was rained out. The rules say that to decide the winner, they will flip a coin. The coaches agreed that this was not the best scenario and named the two teams, co-champions. We were very proud of the Aim High Team. They outscored their opponents 69-5.....not too shabby. Jordan had been a little slump but got two hits and two RBIs in the final game.

Rally Day

Last Friday was Rally Day at Grace. It is always the Friday of Lutheran School's week and the kids love it. All the classes compete in tug-o-war, relay races, basketball shoot outs, etc. The parents get to come and watch all the fun. Jake and Jordan both participated in the tug-o-war and both of their teams went down in flames. But what they lacked in strength they made up for in speed. Both teams were victorous in the rely race. The pictures were taken by another Grace mom....Monica Stoltz.....my pictures were not as good :( but here is a taste of the days festivites.

In November of '09 we traveled to Biloxi to the SKA National Fishing Tournament. PJ, Keith & Stevie drove the boat out and Jake and I flew out. At the banquet Jake was awarded top Junior Angler....woo hoo! The boys fished the first day in high winds, the weather the second day was too rough to go out. So we packed up the boat for the long drive back to Florida.

Over the summer, Grandma took Jordan to down to Papa's for some one on one time. They did lots of fishing, blowing bubbles and wound the grandfather clock......creating memories as my mother would say. Jake would go down in a few weeks and he had some big shoes to fill. Jordan caught 60 something fish, a turtle and an alligator. She is more like her dad than I thought. They are both looking forward to the trip in 2010.

This past August, I got the opportunity to go to the US Open. AMAZING is all I have to say. If it was possible I would make the pilgrimage to Flushing Meadows every year. I got to see my boyfriend Roger in person (PJ knows I would never leave him), the Bryan Brothers and Melanie Oudin's memorable run to the quarterfinals. Not sure when I will make it back but I am destined to attend all four grand slams....definitely on the bucket list.

Keys 09

Every July we go to the Keys for Lobster Mini season. We spend several days "scouting" for lobster and deciding where we will start our hunt once the season opens. This year we hooked Jake up with a regulator (tank on the boat) and let him go to work. After several hours in the pool he was ready to tackle the lobsters. We had 66 lobsters in the boat by 8:30 on day one but motor trouble threatened our day two adventure. A friend of PJ's drove down with the part we needed in exchange for a day of lobstering.....no problem. This made our goal for day two 72 lobsters. It took us most of the day but we were not leaving without all of those bugs. So for those of you who do not like math that's 138 lobsters in 48 hours. It is my favorite trip of the year. It won't be long before our goal is increased by another six when Jordan becomes an "active harvester". Cannot wait for this years trip!!!!! Bring on the bugs.

Baseball Moms

Over the summer we played baseball.....and played baseball.....and played baseball. Wendy, Michelle & I (along with many other fabulous moms) spent hours in the hot sun watching our sons play baseball all over the state of Florida. I did a great job taking pics of the moms but have very few of Jake & the boys playing ball. We shaved heads, we drank beer, we played cornhole....and we made lots of friends. I have been fortunate enough to attend all sorts of sporting events, from the US Open to the BCS National Championship game but I have to tell you that there is nothing more fun than watching your son's team when the are "hot". Jake's team qualified for the State tournament and we traveled to West Palm Beach in July to watch them play. They did not advance past West Palm but we had a blast watching them try.

OK so I have been somewhat behind on the blog. But after watching Julie & Julia I have a renewed spirit for keeping it updated. Don't get too excited...I have not gone completely crazy....there will be no cooking in my house, unless of course PJ is doing it :). I have been promising my oldest brother that I would post a pic from this fishing trip that he, Taylor, Mom & Jake took LAST JUNE. Better late than never. They had such a good time fishing on Lake Okeechobee. Jake & Jordan are looking forward to going fishing with "Uncle Bub" in the near future. If they do...I promise the pics will be posted in a much timelier fashion. Our family has been very busy over the last six months so I am going to try to catch you up....we shall see.