Captiva - Update 1

Our Nightly Routine: Watching the sunset on Captiva

Friday--Travel day. Got to Ft. Myers without incident, nailed BassPro for some last minute NEEDS for fishing. Had a nice dinner at Outback Steakhouse (one of the few chain restaturants that still care about quality) and checked into Sanibel Harbor Resort & Spa. http://www.sanibel-resort.com/ I would recommend this resort. Built in the early 90's, still very nice.

Saturday - Took delivery of the rental boat while Stacey & the kids ate bkfast and waited to hear from Grandma & Grandpa who picked up Mary & Derek Prosser at 10am from D.C. We ate lunch at The Lighthouse Restaurant and shopped at Publix----racking up the ususal $1,100+++ on groceries. Our drive to Captiva and checkin to our house was easy and we were at the beach by 5pm. Mom made KILLER enchiladas and we swam in the pool.

Sunday-Dad & Derek golfed early at The Dunes seeing 3 alligators and a water moccasin---one gator was 10++ ft!!!!! I was ready to go try the 29' Wellcraft center console I rented so I loaded up and bought bait and headed thru Redfish pass trying a few casts for snook. After was comfortable running the boat, I ran out to a few spots I know. BAM!!!! First cast, red grouper, BOOM! Another and another and another......none were 20" legal but I was having fun. All of the sudden one of my rods started screaming so I dropped my grouper rod and after a brief fight I saw I had a nice kingfish who I lost right at the boat. I moved a few miles and repeated the grouper routine then headed to the beach at noon where we anchored and swam with the kids.

Monday---Derek, Dad & I met Capt. Larry Iacofano and his 1st mate and fished the ARC reef catching a MONSTER 30lb kingfish (Dad), 2 snappers and an amberjack (Derek), and I caught my first permit......helluva a fight. Dad's king was HUGE! A great day fishing and we smoked the kingfish----it was a great dinner

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Tuesday-Derek, Dad & I bought bait, caught bait and headed offshore. After searching a few spots, we headed to the place I fished Sunday. As we were leaving to head back, I started reeling in our last rod and felt a small hit then a huge hit from this nice kingfish which we also smoked Tuesday night. We also loaded up the boat with everyone and headed to Cabbage Key for a great cheeseburger. http://www.cabbagekey.com/

Wednesday---Dad and I fished with guide Capt. Nelso Diaz and broke off a dozen or more snook, jumped a baby tarpon, landed a dozen ladyfish, and landed 2 huge snook.

More to come later!

Technology

Dateline: July 10, 2009, 10:45am CDT - 362 nautical miles east of Dallas (somewhere over Mississippi), 31,000 ft, travelling @ 464 knots.....IN THE SKY!!!!!!!

Yes, that's right. I'm on a flight 31,000 above land enroute to Atlanta then to Ft. Myers listening to my iPod & wirelessly connected to the Internet on my laptop. If you're on a flight soon, try it @ http://www.gogoinflight.com. Delta, Airtran, United, American and Virgin offer it or will offer it soon.

And for other nerds like me, checkout www.flightaware.com. You can track just about ANY flight in the US---public or private.

Updates on the Captiva vacation soon....stay tuned.

WHAT'S NEXT?????? I can't wait.

This Just In.......

It's d*mn hot....Africa hot......white hot molten, face of the sun hot.

Welcome to Dallas in summer.

But the heat should break eventually.......like Halloween.

Took this picture in my truck at 5:30pm today.

Father's Day Fishing Trip

I met my buddy Scott Cummings about 4:45am Saturday and we headed out to Lake Ray Roberts to bass fish. It was very windy and my flatbottom jon boat took a beating (and so did we) but we managed to scratch out 5 black bass and 3 sand bass (white bass) by noon. At about 10:50am in bright sun while drifting accross a flat, I cast a purple ghost Rapala X-Rap and this is what I got.......didnt put her on the scale but Scott estimated her between 5.5-6lbs. One of my better fish on that lake. Happy Father's Day to my Dad----see you in Florida soon!

Jonas Brothers World Tour 2009

Now that the ringing has stopped in my ears I can think clearly to write.

The Jonas Brothers kicked off their world tour in their new home town of Dallas. The brand new Dallas Cowboys Stadium was the scene of this girl-tween-teen infested event. The excitement started way too long ago back in April when my friend Jan and I decided to take our girls, and Jan's nieces, to the concert. Were we having margaritas at the time? Unfortunately I can't blame it on Tequila.

Just getting to the stadium was made out to be such an event over the last few weeks by the media. There was even a website dedicated just to get driving directions to your respective parking lot. But in the end, it was very uneventful and at one point we thought maybe we were going the wrong way because we had yet to find the traffic!

Once we got there the Jonas Brothers tour bus was sitting outside for all the fans to sign. Oh the silly girls that thought putting their phone number on the bus was a good idea! Kate didn't quite know what she should write and settled with just "Kate".

Although they probably wouldn't admit it to their buddies, there were quite a few guys there with their daughters, I believe just to catch a glimpse of the awe inspiring jumbotron that pretty much covers the entire field. I actually offered Robert my ticket so he could see it all for himself, he declined, he was that desperate to see it. As soon as we walked in the stadium we heard screaming, but there was no one on stage. I quickly figured out what the screaming was about. Verizon had set up a text message link to the jumbotron where anyone could send a text to be seen on the screen. Of course the messages were silly like, "if you love the JoBros then scream," "if you're from Dallas then scream." I guarantee there were a lot of hoarse girls on Sunday morning.

We missed the first opening act by a band called Honor Society. None of us had heard of them so we didn't rush to get there by 7:00 to hear them. We did see the second act, which was Jordin Sparks from American Idol. We enjoyed her, but the girls were very antsy to see the Jonas Brothers.

Finally at 8:45 the Jonas Brothers came on, opening with their latest song Paranoid. The stage was round and rotating with a lift in the middle that brought them up to the stage. They used the lift many times throughout the night to bring up a piano, drums and even a trampoline at one point. The Jonas Brothers are still kids and love to goof around.

They played one song after another without stopping. At one point they got onto an arm that swung out across the crowd and shot water cannons at the fans on the floor. Boy am I glad we weren't on the floor! Although the girls could have used a shot of cold water, they were starting to get sleepy.

Jordin Sparks came out again late in the show to perform her new song Battlefield with the brothers. I didn't like this song on the radio, but the live performance was great with her in a white flowy dress and fog all around her.

Then, the lights came down to the stage blocking anyone's view from seeing what was going on. They slowly started to rise as did the lift in the middle of the stage. All of the sudden we heard very loud screams and Miley Cyrus with Nick Jonas were rising out of the middle of the stage. What a SURPRISE! They sang a song that they had been working on together. This was my favorite part of the show and it definitely woke Kate up for the last few songs. (She also loves Miley Cyrus.)

Although I wasn't really looking forward to the 50,000 screaming fans I actually enjoyed the concert, and I'm glad we went. Kate had a great time and now has a great story to tell her friends back at school.

Stacey

Go Go Speed Racer!!!!!

Stacey posted.....so most of you that know me, know I have to have the last word!

By my nature and as a small part of my profession, I am supposed to be a contrarian----going against the flow when it's appropriate.

So while we are only 22 days from summer Captiva vacation, I am already looking forward to what I hope will be an annual early spring ski trip to the mountains......and usually when I start planning, I start spending........right Stacey?

So through the miracle of Craigslist, I purchased what I think was a really nice pair of all-mountain skis. Stacey introduced my to Colorado skiing in 1992 and I've been hooked ever since. Last March we all skied Winter Park and I think we'll make this an annual trip as the kids had a great time. At Winter Park I took the time to demo 4 pairs of different skis based on my ability level (which is slightly above just average), and really really liked they speed, turn and performance of some 170 Salomon X-Wing Tornados. Remember, when most of us started skiing, the technology that exists today (shaped skis) didnt exists. And for those of you that don't know, buying the 2008 models in 2009 can get you a roughly 70% discount.

So I'll have to let you know how my new-used 170 Volkl AC30 skis perform next season!!!! Can't wait to let them loose at Breckenridge, Vail or Keystone!!!!

And as a side note-----if you are anywhere near Frisco, TX, check these guys out. The owners Gil & Rick are the best. http://www.skifriscosports.com/

I post because I can.

As I was cleaning out my email box this afternoon I ran across these pictures my mom took in Captiva last year and then doctored them in Photoshop. All we are thinking about right now is our upcoming Captiva trip, so I thought I would post the pictures for all to see. I'm not sure why Preston has such a pouty face in most pictures, but who knows why a 2 year old does anything?

Stacey