Well, we should have known we couldn't go 2 years in a row without any hurricanes! This week starts the most likely period during the year for hurricanes, and we only made it to the letter "F" before we had problems. Tropical Storm Fay turned out to be not nearly as strong as was predicted, but (what do they know) the system stalled just as it was over Brevard County today. CJ had exactly 4 days of school, and now he has had 3 days off! :) The storm would be nothing to write home about except that it continued to slow and now stop, and has dumped at least 20 inches of rain in our area in about 36 hours, with more to continue! We are all going to audition for a musical here--"The sun will come out, tomorrow..." :) Much of Palm Bay is underwater at the moment, and the drainage ditch behind our home is now a full fledged canal. CJ and I have been home for 2 days and I'm going insane--but we will hopefully begin getting back to normal in the next day or so. Since I've been trying to write this post, the rain has almost completely stopped for the first time today. Maybe it'll be over soon. Anyway, I just wanted to let you all know we are still here! :)

Well, the "Ceej" made it another year--he's 9 years old today! We had another pool party this year, and we all had a great time. The rain threatened several times, and ultimately beat us out about 10 minutes before the party was over, but it was fun anyway. Of course, CJ chose another NASCAR cake, and someone bought him more Jeff Gordon stuff, so he's continuing the theme! Here are some CJ pics from the morning.

Here are some various photos of the morning. We did manage to get in nearly the full 2 hours of party time before the rain fell. It was good timing.

After the party we came home and gave CJ our presents. CJ was just chilling out for a while, enjoying his new presents...then we went shopping so he could spend the birthday money he just got! :) CJ said it was the best birthday ever--awww!

Finally, something worth writing about ! :) We have not strayed very far from home this summer, thanks to gas being $4/gallon. But we wanted to end the summer with at least one fun thing CJ can write about when he goes back to school on Wednesday! So yesterday, we headed to South Florida--Palm Beach County, to the Jupiter Lighthouse, which we've never seen before. The first pic is at the base of the light, the next pic is headed out of the park--my last look, so to speak. The next two are from the top of the light--this one is small--only 105 steps. The picture of the boats racing is where the Intracoastal meets the Atlantic there in Jupiter. The last pic, of the obnoxiously huge white house, is a picture of how the other half lives. By the way, that gray area to this side of the pool is not just a wall, it's a WATERFALL! :) We had a really nice time, and we drove home via US 1 and A1A and just enjoyed the ocean sights for a while. It was a great day!

As we were leaving the lighthouse museum, we got a treat we don't see so much around our house--watching the drawbridge go up! Of course, it's much more enjoyable to watch from the shore--not from your car behind the bridge gate! :) So we watched a few boats go through, then we started our trip home. We drove home via Jupiter Island, which is where the money is--we heard Tiger Woods is building there. Very nice--ooh, aah!

Aah-nothing like a gelati on a hot summer day! Unfortunately, we don't have a Rita's close to us--this one is 45 minutes away :( But it was on our way home, so we stopped to enjoy some summer cool to end our day of adventure!