Florida-July 4th

Bevan and I flew to Florida to spend the 4th of July with my family at the beach. We had a great time while there and did a lot of fun stuff. Crazy stories were remembered and some new one's were made. I don't think my brother-in-law Alan will ever forget my brother's dog Max. He definitely left his mark on Alan.



This is a picture of the sun rising as we were leaving the bay. My dad took Clark, Alan, Bevan & myself fishing on his boat that he got last year. We caught a ton of fish and dad showed us all how it was done. He caught the most fish out of all of us. Some of the fish we caught were red & black grouper, scamp, amberjack, red snapper & one wahoo. We lucked out on the conditions for the day as well. The water was very calm almost like it would be in a lake, but it was rather hot once the afternoon came. We left out of the pier at 6 am & didn't arrive back at the dock until 7pm. Needless to say we were exhausted.This is the first catch of the day. On the way to our destination to bottom fish, we put out the trolling line & within 2 minute's a Wahoo hit. Dad brought this bad boy in with no problem.

Here is a picture of the Wahoo on ice that my dad caught.


You have to look closely at the picture, but here are 2 dolphins that started following the boat. Dolphins are always nice to see while you are out, but you don't want them around you while you are fishing because they will steal your fish off your line when you are bringing them in. One of us had caught a grouper that was to small and we turned him loose. Some times when you bring the fish up so fast with the electric rods it takes them a minute to adjust once you turn them back loose. When we turned this grouper loose he was on top of the water and I saw a dolphin swim by. About a minute later you saw a big splash and there was no grouper left. The dolphin devoured him within a second.Here is Clark with the Amberjack that I caught. We let him go since no one on the boat really cares for the taste of Amberjack.

Dolphins

Here are some dolphins that were swimming next to the boat. Talk about beautiful.

This is my dad's fishing boat. It is a great boat, but the only thing it doesn't have is a sleeping quarters. This would be great while driving to your destination. Oh well, you can't have everything right? just kidding. We are extremely blessed.
Here is a picture of some of the fish we caught. Starting from the left is my brother Clark, myself, my brother-in-law Alan, Bevan & dad.
Here is a picture of Clark & myself. Clark is holding up the Wahoo that dad caught.
These are my brother's 2 English Bulldogs. Abigal is on the left and Max is on the right. They are a mess. I always thought Abigal was huge, but she is nothing compared to Max. The last time I saw Max was a year ago and he was still a puppy. He is HUGE now. They are both real sweet and wouldn't hurt a flea.
Here we have my nephew Mitchell. We were riding around on his "tricked" out golf cart that Clark & Jeanne got him. He loves driving this around the compound where Clark & Jeanne and my parents have a place. I meant to get a picture of the golf cart at night because that is when it looks the best. It has purple lights that shine from the bottom of it while he drives around. It is too funny to see. Next up has to be a kickin stereo for it. Wouldn't you agree Mitchell???

This is a picture of my brother Clark's power boat. He took Cynthia, Rich, Bevan and myself for a ride in it one day while we were there. The water was a little choppy that day so he couldn't get it up to as fast as he wanted. Our top speed that day was 80 mph. It will flat out get on it. Clark loves the Rolling Stones and you can see that he has their tongue emblem all over the boat.
Here we have a picture of my sister Cynthia and myself.

This is a sand bar close to the marina where my brother keeps his boat. There were a ton of people there that day. He mentioned that a lot of the time people tie their boats up to one another while spending the day there.
Bevan and I taking a swim while out on the boat. The water was crystal clear while we were at the beach.
That is me on the left and Bevan on the right doing back dives off the boat.

Here is my dad holding court while on the beach with all of us. I think his words were "naw, naw, naw, Alabama would've beat Auburn if you throw out the first quarter of this years Iron Bowl". Last time I checked a football game was 4 quarters and Auburn clearly dominated Alabama from start to finish. Those Alabama fan's (meaning my father) will spin it any way they can. just kidding dad.
My sister Carla, myself and Clark relaxing on the beach. Talk about great weather while we were there.
Here is a picture of my brother's best friend Pat and his dog Copper. My brother-in-law Rich is in the left corner of the picture playing cards. Pat had about 40 people over to his place for a cookout. When I say cookout, I mean cookout too. Pat is originally from Louisiana and had one of his good friends come down who is a chef and cook for all of us. My gosh, we had everything. He cooked crawfish pies, jambalaya, potato salad, white beans, etc. The jambalaya was my favorite and was out of this world. You should've seen the huge pot this was cooked in. There was enough food to feed a small army. Thanks as always for your hospitality Pat. Oh and another thing, WAR EAGLE!!!!!

Bevan and I over at Pat's.

Here is my sister Carla & my brother-in-law Alan. From the look of this picture my sister has had one too many margarita's. I cannot believe you would let her get away with this Alan.

Here is Jamie & Clark. Jamie married my nephew Eric this past May.
Here is my nephew Mitchell and me. He's letting his hair grow out so that he can look like a surfer dude. He messed up when he asked Nana (my mom) to cut his bangs. She took a little to much off as usual. I bet that is the last time you ever have her cut your hair again Mitchell. You can't really tell from the picture, but Mitchell has orange all over his shorts & his t-shirt. Bevan and I had taken him to see Superman Returns that afternoon and he put a ton of cheddar cheese on his popcorn. I laughed so hard when we came out of the theater since he was covered with all of this. Even his hands were covered in it.