More meat and a driveway surprise

Last Monday was Memorial Day and we celebrated the holiday with the traditional grillout. Ribs were on the menu and boy were they good, slow baked in the oven first for 3 hours then thrown on a hot grill and smothered in bbq sauce!

Today we were sitting down to lunch when there was a commotion outside. We rushed out the door to see this snake slithering across the driveway. No idea what it was but I left it well alone!

Man, meat and fire...

What a difference a week makes, surburn last week and nearly drowned this. It's been raining here pretty much nonstop since last Sunday evening, in fact we've had over 9 inches of rain! However with the grill under the porch it hasn't stopped us cooking out at every opportunity. We got a GREAT deal on New York strip steaks @ $6.95/lb and so we helped ourselves to these 2 "little" beauties. At over 2 inches thick and weighing in at a hefty 20 ounces each you just can't get meat like than anywhere other than the good ol' US of A.


Good news on the house we've had written approval from the mortgage company that we can buy the house under short sale (that means we're buying it for less than the current owner owes on their mortgage). We had the inspection done yesterday and it threw up a couple of rain/water related issues but with the recent weather it comes as no surprise. We're now in the process of choosing new flooring and a colour scheme so that I can get to work on it. We're supposed to complete the purchase by mid June so that doesn't give us long to get the financials and paperwork sorted.

Lobster pink

Got a bit sunburnt yesterday, we went to the pool for an hour or so and then I washed both cars cars, all without applying any sunscreen. Shoulders, back and chest are bright pink and sore to the touch. Listen to your Mothers when they tell you to put sunscreen on!

Live long and prosper

Mrs P and I went to see the new Star Trek film today at the new cinema complex that's just opened in town. The theatre has stadium style seating which means that it's impossible for the person in front to block your view of the screen. They did have a few teething troubles as we watched the film and it must have paused between 5 to 10 times but upon leaving we were ushered into another room and given a free pass for another film!

As for the film it's great, really great and all the characters manage to portray their more famous namesakes astonishingly well. Go see it.

The rich and famous are in town at the moment, last night Snoop Dogg played a gig downtown and Tiger Wood's has his yacht harboured in the marina while he's competing at The Player's Tournament just up the road in Ponte Vedra. Also found out this morning that Judas Priest and Whitesnake are coming to town later this summer. Mrs P and I think we might have to get a couple of tickets.

Mother's Day tomorrow and Mrs P wants Eggs Benedict so I'm on kitchen duty first thing. Never made a hollandaise sauce before but I'm sure Delia's recipe will turn out just fine.

Grrrrs, Grills and Girls

Camping was a lot of fun although a "jobsworth" Ranger tried his best to disrupt our plans. If he'd have had his way there would have been a large sign at the entrance saying "No fun allowed". Any how here's a picture of the Beast in it's natural environment...Grrrrr!

I'm rapidly becoming assimilated into the American way of life with a new addition to the family. I'm now in possession of a propane gas grill which I was given for free. After a bit of cleaning and a new part it fired up first time ready to cook last night's dinner of tuna, mahi mahi, shrimp and grilled veggies.

Last week we finally got to see inside the house we put an offer in way back in January. We've been pressing to get inside since we put the offer in but the occupier (who's not the owner) was refusing to let anyone inside on the advice of their attorney. We've still yet to hear from the mortgage holder whether or not they'll accept our offer so the waiting continues. Let's just say that the place needs a lick of paint, new flooring and some new fixtures and fittings to make it liveable to Mrs P's standards. Good job she didn't come to see my house in England until it was nearly finished otherwise she'd have been on the first flight home again!

I know I'm biased but isn't this the cutest picture ever? Baby C is doing really well and is nwo sleeping from about 9 or 10 at night through to 5am next morning. Mrs P is ecstatic to be able to get 7 hours sleep a night.

I'm off on a course this coming week down in Daytona. It's called Income approach to property valuation and is heavy on the maths. The geek in me is looking forward to it.

Anyway must dash the grass is looking a bit parched at the moment and I need to adjust the automatic sprinkler system as it looks like it's missing a few patches.

Busy as the Easter bunny

It's been superbusy around here again and last Friday was Raina's 8th Birthday. We held a family party out our house as it's now big enough that we can do that. Dinner was taco's at Raina's request. We gave her a Nintendo DSi as her main present along with Super Mario Bros as a game.

Saturday we hosted a pool party at the Community pool and over 20 kids turned up.

Sunday morning the Easter bunny had turned up and spread tons of eggs around the pond. The kids next door as well as some friend's kids from down the street.



Sunday was our turn to host Easter for the family and this time we did an Easter lunch. Sunday afternoon I lay on the sofa and watched the conclusion of the Master's golf. It was about as much as I could do after drinking Poinsetta's (champagne and cranberry juice) and white wine at lunch time. I swear that drinking during daylight hours counts double.

After all of this the house looks like a disaster zone and next weekend we're all off camping too.

Oh and I've bruised or cracked my ribs. I was larking about with kids in the yard the other weekend playing ball and I took a diving catch (think Gordon Banks at his prime) and I landed rather awkwardly and dug my elbow into my ribs. I think I would have utter some foul language but I had the wind knocked out of me and couldn't breathe.

March in a nutshell

Apologies for not posting sooner but it's been a VERY busy time. Firstly my parents flew out for a week to see us and more importantly their first grandchild. They stayed in a wonderful condo just a couple of blocks away that overlooked the ocean. They were treated to some wonderful weather while they were here and had a great time with baby C. Mrs P's uncle and his family also came over from Texas for the weekend and so we all spent a fair bit of time together. We ate and drank like kings and queens and Grammy and Walter entertained the entire troop (all 14 of us) tirelessly.

Granddad enjoys a cuddle

and Nana has a little chat with Charlotte

While everyone was here the space shuttle Discovery launched from the space center and we all went down to the beach to watch it. Mrs P was most surprised at the number of people there too as she was expecting us to be the only sad losers watching.

Secondly we've moved house. We've not heard anything from the bank about the one we're trying to buy but we've moved into a PHAT house in the same neighborhood. It's a 4 bed 2 1/2 bath that has a big bonus playroom for the kids. We moved ourselves with tons of help from several friends without whom the job would have taken more than the 4 hours it did.

Thirdly we've closed Mrs P's house and so there's no going back now. Mrs P and Raina were understandably nervous and not sure the new house was them. To be honest the first few dasy were tough as we had boxes everywhere and nothing was unpacked and it felt like a house and not a home. However this weekend we'vw managed to sort a ton of stuff out and everyone is happy again.

Lastly we've had no landline or more importantly internet access from home but all that has been fixed. That's the orange flags you can see in the picture of the front of the house