gasparilla - the pirate parade that DIDN'T happen for us

when we moved down here uncle chris had informed us that he was coming down to tampa (from stl) especially for the annual "pirate parade". he had said that it was a party full of hot pirate wenches, and he wanted to get in on that. justin and i had never heard of this parade before, but it sounded like fun(!) and we were excited when it finally came time for the PIRATE PARADE.

little did we know that our experience of the infamous pirate parade was going to be a big fat huge dud - kind of like the pirate parade fireworks that we got to sit through...more on that later.

the pirate parade is also known as GASPARILLA. its, like, a huge deal here in tampa. the weeks leading up to gasparilla was a marketing frenzy. from the grocery stores, walgreens, billboards, radio broadcast - everyone was going to gasparilla, and they wanted YOU to know about it.  its essentially a celebration about when some pirate dude named gaspar took over the state of florida, bringing with him deck hands, booze, beads (an STL favorite!) and wenches...lots of wenches. so many wenches in fact, that they have to break the celebration up into two weekend. one weekend for children i.e. no wenches or booze, but LOTS of pirates and beads. and the second weekend dedicated just for those wenches and drunk deck hands...oh and LOTS more beads, for, you know, "show 'n tell" with the wenches. "hooters. hooters. hooters."

we were pretty determined to get out to the children's pirate weekend. (had we no children, i would also be all over that adult weekend. it's supposedly like stl mardi gras, but on steriods. think a mix of mardi gras and lake of the ozarks "party cove" - hell yeah! amazing people watching, i'm sure). the night before i had justin look/research what the children's weekend was all about. what time, who-what-where, kind of thing. without the damn flashplayer on the ipad, he couldn't really find anything, so he went to a local radio show's website and read that the parade started at 11am. perfect! we can totally make that!

we woke up saturday morning with pirates on our brain! i had heard that people get all dressed up for this sorta thing. so instead of going out and buying something that the kids (and j and i) would only wear this one time, i figured i'd take some old clothes and try to make pirate-esque outfits for everyone. for the most part, i think the outfits turned out pretty great!

we jump in the car and head for the pirate parade, which was located on bayshore. we thought parking was going to be an absolute nightmare so we left a little early hoping to get decent parking and a good parade spot. we get to the nearby park and it's pretty much empty. huh...that's strange. as big as this thing seems to be, you'd think more people would be here by now, considering it's 1030 and the parade is supposed to start at 11am. but whatever. we park, hop out of the car and start making the 1/2 mile walk towards the parade route.

we get down to the parade route and it's like the parade had already ended! other than the sponsors and the corn dog stands, it was a ghost town. i was a little concerned. did we miss it? was it yesterday (friday)? are you sure you got the right time, justin? we're positive it's THIS weekend? where is everyone? why are WE the ONLY ones in costume?? omg.omg.omg. how.em.barassing.

the homes along bayshore are pretty spectacular...these are just a couple along our walk. there are other ones that are like right out of MTV cribs.

the further and longer we walk we start seeing random people...who are dressed as pirates. yes! thank god. justin, can you please check your phone to make sure we have the right time? no. damn iphone has the same problem as the ipad - needs that damn flashplayer thingy to view the "gasparilla" website. shit. shit. shit. well, lets find a spot along the parade route and wait, i guess. it's gotta start soon. i mean it's 11. how much longer are we possibly going to have to wait...can't be that much longer.

well, we wait...

wait...

wait....

wait...

its now 12:45pm. and it's HOT as HELL. conner is starting to overheat, so he takes his shirt off. he's now just a hoosier kid, with cut up pants and a drawn-on mustache with runny eyebrows. a nice little family is brave enough to sit by us sets up their parade-route-shop right next to us. a little girl, a couple years older than addi, and her mom and dad. they got it all; chairs, cooler, umbrellas, blankets, frisbe. huh, thinking we came a little underprepared. the mom starts chatting it up with us while the dad and daughter ask addi and conner to play frisbe with them. in the middle of the conversation we got up the courage to ask if she knew what time the parade would start, afraid that we would get laughed at or not like what she had to say. she happened to have a newspaper cut-out that contained all the parde information (never wish i had a newspaper subscription more than at this moment - damn technology!)

no. we have no idea who that guy sleeping behind this pirate bead boat is. didn't even know he was there until i went to edit the photo. a drunken hobo or pirate, or a someone who also passed out from the heat that day waiting for the damn parade to start??

oh...look at that...the parade does NOT IN FACT START AT 11am, like we had thought. rather IT STARTS AT 300PM!! WTF!?? not the answer justin nor i had wanted to hear. awesome.

seeing that our son was about to pass out from dehydration, they offered him a capri sun - again, we came a wee bit underprepared...and a FEW HOURS too early. she continues to inform us that there is a dog and childrens parade at 130pm, down the street, in soho, and then the big parade starts at 300pm followed by the airshow at 600pm and then the "biggest fireworks display you'll ever see" at 700pm.
yeaaaaa...we've been here for over 2 hours, sitting in the hot florida heat, on itchy-ass grass with a son that's about to over-heat. we're not staying any longer.

"thank you so much for this information - but i think we need to get out of here before our son passes out. besides, its nap-time, so he's not only hot and sticky but crabby too. we'll be back for the big firework display(!), i guess"

so we left the parade - with two unfullfilled, crabby children. walking BACK the 1/2 mile to our car, in pirate costume, with comments like "you're done already?" "that's it?! the parade hasn't even started yet!" "if you're leaving, can we have your parking  spot??" from the folks we pass by.

yes. we're done already.

we know. the parade HASN'T even started yet.

and, you're welcome for the parking spot. hope you get pegged in the head by random flying beads.

yeah...i was crabby too, i guess.

kids were bummed out. i was bummed out. we're all hungry, hot, sweaty, and dressed like pirates. or gypsies. whatever. we stop by subway, grab lunch and head back home, less one pirate parade.

the fireworks were that night though! so we at least had that to look forward to, right!? we were told and read lots of great things about this gasparilla firework display. things like, "this is the #1 firework display in the country!!" so that's pretty cool. that'll definitely be a good show, right?! but that's not until 7. so we'll grab dinner and take that with us to a good fireworks spot later that night.

a few hours go by. everyone's showered and back into civilian clothes. we head BACK out to bayshore / gasparilla fest, grabbing panera bread for dinner. this time, we were prepared! we had the stroller, chairs, blanket, food and drinks! hell yeah, we were going to get something right this weekend! the drive down to the fireworks was a P.I.T.A (pain in the ass). it was like sitting in L.A. traffic. hair pulling exhausting. and add to it that the fireworks started in like 30minutes and we were no where close to parking, much less walking down to the water and finding a spot to watch the fireworks at. ugh...might be another comedy of errors tonight.

we pull down a local street with signs all over it that read "local traffic only" all baracaded up. justin says, screw this(!), we're local for the night. we park the car, grab our ton of things, throw the kids in the stroller with our panera bread and make the walk down to the water.

it's EMPTY...

again.

trash trucks are driving up the boulevard picking up the trash cans, police men are just standing around chit-chatting, its pitch black other than the few street lights, and did i mention, it's pretty much empty!?

"are you sure the fireworks are at 7pm, babe?"

we ask one of the officials and he responds "i beleive they start at 730"

okay, so that's cool. we only got a half hour - but where is everyone!? i thought this was supposed to be like the biggest thing since 4th of july 1777 (the first official 4th of july celebration)!! where's everyone at!?

the fireworks finally start...and i know where everyone's at...at home, in their beds.

the "biggest firework display in the country" was a total snooze-fest. granted, we weren't right up in the action, but still, the cardinals homerun fireworks are bigger than these things! it was a dud...no pun intended.

 i went to edit this photo and realized this firework display looked like palm tress :)

 that shiney building to the right of the fireworks...that's justins work. that's tampa general hospital. did i mention, he has to take bayshore to get to the hospital (bayshore = parade route = closed) and he was on-call the following weekend, the weekend of the adult pirate parade. he said watching the boats and the partying going on that weekend reminded him of summer at the lake house [lake of the ozarks] :)

sad to say, but that whole saturday was pretty much a dud. the only thing that made our comedy of errors worth it, was the fact that we got to hang out as a family, all four of us, for the day. i love being able to do that. but still, pirates suck. i miss st louis mardi gras.

xoxo
michelle

just because

looking through photos, trying my damnedest to finish up the "addi birthday weekend" post (oye...its taking me, like, over a week now to finish that post! for some reason i get started and then half way through i get bored, close the computer, and get this, go do laundry. i know! i get that bored! but digress...) and i found these from our last walk around the bay / bayshore.

they're nothing extraordinary or special, but i wanted to post them. just more great memories of the time we had here in tampa. these pictures were taken on new years eve, 12.31.11. the weather was (and still is) ah-mazing!

on this day it wasn't the dolphins that joined us on our walk, it was a group of stingrays. daddy was pointing them out to conner.

conner waving to the stingrays

we're not 100% sure on where we're headed after this fellowship is over (5 1/2 more months...hollah!), but staying in tampa wouldn't be too bad ;)

xoxo
michelle

* sei, sex, hat, se', szes'c', zeks, SIX!

DISCLAIMER: THIS POST WAS WRITTEN THE SUNDAY MORNING BEFORE I FELL ONTO MY DEATH BED WENT TO MEET THE ER STAFF AT TAMPA GENERAL. SO THIS MAY POST ON FRIDAY 1/13/12 BUT IT WAS STARTED AND MEANT FOR MONDAY 1/91/12.

monday's child is fair of face

tuesday's child is full of grace

wednesday's child is full of woe

thursday's child has far to go

friday's child is loving and giving

saturday's child works hard for his living

and the child that is born on the sabbath day

is bonny and blithe, and good and gay

needless to say neither one of our children were born on a tuesday. damn it. rather they both were born with fair faces (what does that even mean?) unlike her brother, addison chose to be born on a monday (conner was induced the morning of his monday birth)...a whole week earlier than expected. and of course it all started in target (one of her favorite stores). little did i know that after she was born i'd be spending 5 out of 7 days a week in that damn store.

yes, six years ago today, monday, january 9th, 2006 at 10:55pm our brand new, sweet, large (8lb 2oz), beautiful (later down the road a bit retarded looking, per her father) baby girl was born. addison danielle sweeney. hard to believe it's been six years. i need to give justin and i more credit. we can't keep plants alive for more than six days, but we managed to keep a baby alive for 6 years (that's 2190 days) ! and she's a brilliant, attitude filled, gorgeous (not retarded looking anymore!) little lady of a 6 year old.

in honor of addi's 6th birthday i thought i'd write down a few of the things she's currently doing. people do it for babies so why can't i do it for my 6 year old. 6 year olds are doing waaay more than babies anyhow, so hopefully this list is more interesting than a baby's. (sensethesarcasm?)

1. she poops and pees on the potty. nice job, addi! babies can't say that!

2. she likes to make her own nutritious breakfast in the mornings - eggo's chocolate chip waffels (if i'd let her, she'd live on chocolate chip waffles) and chocolate milk.

3. she can ride a two wheeler, by herself - again, can babies say that!?

4. she can swim on her own. and underwater too! - some babies can say that.

5. she's in the last half of kindergarten...and she hates school. she says its boring. her two favortie parts of school; lunch time, and leaving-because she gets to ride the bus. although recently she's been asking me to pick her up from school vs riding the bus. supposedly some little girl named 'ocean' (yes, her real name is ocean) and melitsa (again, her real name) are annoying...which leads me to #6...

6. she puts the addi in addi-tude! justin and i are scared about what the pre-teen years hold for us...please pray for us

7. she has a crush on a boy in our neighborhood - damen - he's very artsy/rock-'n-roll looking for his age (9). he has the beiber haircut, wears jewelry (silver rings and necklace), always very calm, cool and collective at the bus stop, and he dropped off lipsmackers lip gloss and a birthday note on our door step yesterday for addison. poor zachary never stood a chance with damen.

8. she's in "honors" science, math and reading at school. i was informed last thursday that she was just upped another level, beyond the "beyond level" reading class. i asked her what the new level was called and she said, "i'm the first and only one to be in that level, so they created the level for me and ms saul [her teacher] hasn't come up for a level name yet." woo-who, addi! babies totally can't say that! (addi-3 babies-1)

9. her favorite shows; phineas and ferb, wizards of waverly place, spongebob (yes, he's still on the list. slitmythroatnow), icarly, victorious and big time rush. her favorite movies; diary of a wimpy kid, the smurfs, and unfortunately twilight. she's team jacob too, by the way. she thinks "hes hot"

10. the friends she plays with here in florida; feberney aka febe (7), psalm (7), damen (9) and mason (5)

11. she loves playing outside (and riding her bike)!

12. she can't fall asleep with the TV on (conner can...and right now, they sleep together)

13. she told me the other day that she's a "monster whisperer" and she converts the monsters in her  closet from bad to good monsters (her and i love watching ghost whisperer reruns together)

14. she LOVES dancing and singing. her and conner both will make up songs and put on a mini concert for us after most dinners. (we got her a kareoke machine for her birthday - she's gonna flip! okay, okay i too am kinda excited for the kareoke machine) i feel sorry for our neighbors, the kids are LOUD.

15. i asked her what she wants to be when she grows up and she said, "uhhhhh...a rock star (shaking her head to confirm)"

16. shes still, after all these years, a HUGE snuggler

17. she wants nothing more in this world right now than to loose a tooth - all of her friends have lost teeth and she's got nothing. not even a wiggle. unfortunately for her, her dad and i were both very late bloomers

and that's just a few things about this little girl that you never knew, but now you do! i tried to make it a nice round number to end this list, but let's face it, this post has almost taken me a whole freaking week to write. its been one of those weeks. okay, really, it's been one of those few months!

happy belated birthday to my sweet six year old little lady! sorry your birthday was such a bummer, but we promise to make it up to you on your 7th!

xoxo
mommy + daddy

* the number six translated into; italian, german, hungarian, irish, polish, yiddish and english. addison's heritages.

merry christmas

Merry Christmas, everyone!

we miss you all *so* much!

xoxo

justin, michelle, addi + conner

i'll be home for christmas...if only in my dreams

i admit...i miss my cold st louis christmas. its probably not so much the cold that i miss, more so my family and the christmas feeling i get around this time of year. that feeling has been missing down here in florida. obviously the warm weather isn't helping matters. but not having family around is just the icing on the not-so-christmas-feeling cake. i'm known for not being a big fan of christmas. i think it was the cold weather that i always associated with christmas - and i *loathe* cold weather!

until right now.

(our small tropical inspired christmas tree...being climbed by an elf)

i've been trying everything to get myself in that *christmas spirit* that everyone talks about - i decorated the house (as best i could for a 900sq foot place) extra early knowing i would need help to get in the spirit. i bought christmas smelling candles and have been lighting them since november! i personally searched and found the "christmas radio station" down here in florida - i NEVER listened to the christmas station in st louis, it made me wanna barf. but here in florida, i'm trying everything i can to get that feeling of christmas. and nothing seems to be helping.

and that makes me sad.

(she found richolas aka ricky in the fridge one morning...that's her stylish morning bed-head. don't be jealous)

christmas is in 2 days and this christmas season is going to come and go and i feel like i never got that "christmas feeling" - that makes me really sad. in st louis that feeling came when i would walk outside and smell the fireplaces lit up in the cool winter air. walking into my parent's house and smelling my mom's christmas candles in the dinning room and the family room. the smell of winter in your scarf as you wrap it around your neck and chin to bundle up before going out in the winter air. the smell of the kids' hot chocolate whafting up into the front seat of the car - you can't have hot chocolate in florida, its like an oxymoron! the look of the steam from your starbucks coffee cup floating up into the winter air - we don't see coffee steam down here in florida. we just see normal florida swamp steam. the feeling of jack frost nipping at your nose - the only thing nipping at us are the god forsaken mosquitoes! YES! they eat you all year long.

i seriously hope justin doesn't read this post - he would laugh in my face. all the things i'm missing right now, this christmas season down in florida, are all the things i would complain about to justin the past 7 years we've spent christmas together. craziness! did i mention that i smelt like 50 different candles at walmart and target back in november, trying to find that certain christmas smell that mom uses?? NUTS! people at the stores had to be thinking i had some kind of OCD or something the way i sniffing all those candles. and i don't think i ever really found the right smell - think its because its a party lite smell maybe??

should we end up back in st louis after this fellowship, and be subjected to that god awful winter / christmas season again, i'm going to have to read and re-read this post to remind myself how special and important that winter is to me *before* i start complaining.

tomorrow is christmas eve - we usually spent christmas eve at my parent's house with my dad's side of the family. we would have a big chrismas eve feast, lots of homemade cookies, my dad's bourbon slushies and watch the kids open early christmas presents - but this year we're not sure what we're doing yet. we had thought about maybe staying down in st pete's and waking up christmas morning on the beach. but one of justin's residents had also invited us over to their house for chirstmas eve dinner (the same house that we carved pumpkins at). i think i prefer the christmas dinner at rohit's house, a sense of family would be a great feeling tomorrow. and we love ro. he's like the kid's uncle chris, except in florida!

(lowry park zoo at the "wild wonderland" light display. conner looks posessed, and on some days he is, but i assure this night he wasn't. that is just the really cool flash job of my camera)

whatever we end up doing tomorrow, i'm just thankful that our small family is together, healthy (for the most part - justin has bronchitis. joy. even without the st louis winter weather my two boys end up sickly), happy and in great company! being without family is tough, but looking around our small apartment, hearing the excitment in the kid's voices, looking at *all* the presents under the tree already, i know we are truly blessed! like, seriously blessed! and i'm so lucky to have such a *Wonderful Life* :)

xoxo
michelle