We joined Joe, Angie, Lucas, Ty, Lytha, Will, Brian and Melissa (Jason and Joe's step siblings and spouse) on Christmas eve day for the 4th Annual Disfunctional Family Olympics. Jason started this tradition and creates 5 or 6 fun activities for people who range in age from 9-72! We played softball, concentration, the Dating Game, had a 3 legged race + carrying raw eggs on spoons and pie/ice cream eating contests and more. It was great fun!
Shared secret Santa presents and then Bill and I went to Holy Trinity for carol singing and 11pm eucharist. We had helped decorate the church the week we arrived so it was wonderful seeing it all lit up at night. The music was wonderful!!
Since Christmas, we have gone to Lucas' basketball games, seen both University of Florida women's and men's basketball games, gone to several movies and walked a lot! From our apartment we can walk to church, the UF campus, lots of restaurants, a theater and Starbucks!
On Saturday 12/29, Bill and I visited the home of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings in Cross Creek, Florida. She lived there for 25 years and that is where she wrote her Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Yearling. It's a state park and offered a fascinating view of her life. We learned that she had lived in Rochester, NY where she and her husband, Charles Rawlings wrote for the Rochester Journal and Marjorie wrote a syndicated column called "Songs of the Housewife". While living in Rochester, she visited Cross Creek and fell in love with it.
http://www.floridastateparks.org/marjoriekinnanrawlings/
Then on 12/30 we celebrated Bill's birthday with pizza and ice cream and a trip to Micanopy with Joe, Angie, Lucas and Ty. Micanopy is a little town just outside of Gainesville which is known for antique shops.
Around the 2nd or 3rd of January, the students started returning and the city got a lot busier. We have 2 small children living upstairs so we often hear the patter of little/big feet!
I've started attending Bible studies at Holy Trinity and some women's groups and have met some nice people whom I'm hoping to get to know better. Bill has found some tennis groups and could play tennis every day of the week if he wanted to!
Ty and Lucas had a day off from school on Friday, 1/18 so we took them to St. Augustine, Fl. Founded in 1565 it is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city and port in the continental United States. We visited the pirate museum and fort and had lots of fun.
Oh no! We moved this anchor to the wrong place!
Yikes! They caught us!
Pirate Papa Nick looking good!
Tomorrow we're going to the first Friday of the month City of Gainesville Art Walk and then Lucas' basketball game in the evening.
More later,
Cappy
