Florida vs. Auburn

The Gators played Auburn at the Swamp Saturday. It was the night game (8pm) on ESPN. The weather was absolutely amazing; 70 degrees with a slight breeze. To start the game there was a fly over and the noise was so cool. ESPN had the camera that is hooked on cables and gets the cool view over the field. It was neat to watch it move. You could see the ESPN press box because it was lit up in lime green.

We tailgated at the Law School since Caleb and Emily have a parking pass for that lot. Matt was so excited to grill and he marinated brats all day in his homebrew beer. He grilled me an amazing burger. I love his enthusiasm! Bob joined us, but Lisa had a work commitment to go to. She was missed.

Here is Bob and Ben at the game.

If you look closely on the orange "F" you can see Mr. Two-Bits. He lead the crowd in the routine cheer; "2 bits, 4 bits, 6 bits, a dollar, all for the Gators stand up and holler." Who knows what in the world a "bit" is, but Mr. Two-Bits has been doing this same cheer forever. He doesn't even say anything, but the crowd knows what to say. He has worn the same yellow shirt and tie since the 70's.

To celebrate our 4 year anniversary, Matt and I went to a Red Sox game in Tampa Bay. We've been planning this excursion since July. We knew that baseball in the fall, right before playoffs would be awesome. As the baseball season continued along and the lead the Red Sox had over the Yankees went from 14 games to 1 1/2, our excitement for this game was huge.

Before the game we went to dinner at P.F.Chang's. Would you expect any other place? I ordered my favorite Chang's spicy shrimp (mild) and Matt got Kung pow chicken. We got lettuce wraps too. The food as usual was amazing. Hopefully this will satisfy our P.F.Chang's fix for a while.

After dinner we drove to the ball park, Tropicana Field. We left an hour before the game planning on seeing batting practice. We did not have tickets and were going to buy them at the gate. The traffic for the game was ridiculous. They did not have a good plan to get the stadium and we waited for 1 hour and 30 min. in traffic just to park. While we sat in the car we saw hundreds of Red Sox fans waiting as well. They seemed to out number the Devil Ray fans. Sweet!! We ended up parking far away in some sketchy lot with 1,000's of other cars. We felt a little better parking next to a Jaguar because if someone was to steal a car, ours was not the nicest.

Our seats were in the upper deck, but for $13 a piece who can complain. They were pretty good! Matsusaka was pitching which was neat. Plus the ballpark is unique as it is indoors. I was actually cold at times. The game was great, but the 9th inning was the best. The Red Sox came back from behind to win 8 - 6. Jason Varitek lead off with a home run and then Dustin Pedroia had a base hit single and then Lugo hit a 2 run homer. The place went wild. Everyone was cheering "Let's go Red Sox!" as well as "Yankee's Suck!" It was so neat to be there. The game got over at 11:30 pm and then Matt and I drove 2 hours home. We stopped for Dunkin Donuts iced coffee for the ride home. It was a great anniversary excursion!! Well worth the wait.

I took this picture of "Tek" earlier in the night, not knowing that he would lead off the comback hitting in the ninth inning.

When we got home from the game at 1:30 am we were greeted by this giant frog. I thought it was funny.

Dave and Joetta came to visit us a couple of weekends ago. They came Saturday night and we went out to dinner at Laredo (a Mexican restaurant in Starke, FL). After dinner we went to a debate on campus between a Christian and an atheist, "Is Christianity based on a lie?" It was very interesting. Sunday morning they went to church with us and then we went out to lunch.
It was a quick visit, but we had a great time.

Joetta has been knitting and made me a scarf. I love it! Aren't the colors beautiful?!

Gator football season has begun! We went to the first game of the season, against Western Kentucky. For all the home games this season, Matt and I decided that we are going to bike to campus instead of drive the 3 miles. Each game we get to sit with Bob and Lisa and Zach and Kristy (if they're not at a UCF game). This takes some getting used to considering last year there were like 15 of us at every game.

For the Western Kentucky game Bob, Lisa and I tailgated with Matt's college HHP (Health and Human Performance). His building is right next to the stadium and Pita Pit sponsored the tailgate so there was free food. Plus there were clean restrooms and A.C.!! It was fun. Next week we'll tailgate with Emily and Caleb back at the Law School like last year.

Here are some of the pictures from the first game. We definately miss the Cunninghams, Tanis, Millers, and Dileys.

If you aren't a Gator than you're Gator Bait! It's great to be a Florida Gator.

Yum!!! Rootbeer floats, my favorite!

All summer long Matt has been working so hard to finish his qualifying papers so that he can be ABD (all but dissertation). Here is a pile of the articles that Matt is using to write his paper. As of now he has over 100 references. I am so proud of him and his hard work.

Sean and Laura came back to Gainesville for Sean's graduation. They now live in Lubbock, TX as he is a professor at Texas Tech. Congratulations Dr. Cunningham, we're so proud of you.
The weekend was filled with many activities; lunch at Tiajuana Flats, dinner at the Swamp and Newberry BBQ, church, Panera, playing Catch Phrase (way to go ladies, sweeping the gentlemen 2 games to none) and graduation.

We grilled out tonight after it rained all afternoon. The weather was perfect and so was the meal and the company.

After dinner we went out for ice cream to none other than Richardson's Ice cream. I got mint chocolate chip, my new favorite.

For my 28th birthday Mom and Dad sent me gorgeous flowers to my school. They waited until I came to Boston in July to pick out the other part of my birthday present. Mom and I went out shopping and I picked out this lime green Vera Bradley bag. I was given the brown and turquoise bag for an end-of-year teacher's gift (I was so excited to get it!!). I never thought that I'd get one Vera Bradley and now I have two! I guess I've got a collection going.

In the mornings I love to make my cappuccino and enjoy it on the porch while I read my Bible. This was part of my morning routine in Boston. It is great to be able to have 60 degree weather in the morning and be able to enjoy being outside.

Matt joined me as well. We both love being outside. Don't get scared that is not a real owl behind Matt. LOL. My Mom bought "Hoot" to try and keep away the birds from pooping on the porch and keep the squirrels away from eating the cotton lining of her grill cover.

Mom and Dad went to Italy for 15 days. I house sat for them while they were gone. I watered the flowers, got the mail, returned phone calls etc. It was weird at first, but I actually enjoyed my time here. Every night I was at someone else's house for dinner. I only had to grocery shop one time. Matt came out to Boston during the last few days of my parent's trip.

Here are the flowers that I managed to keep alive for the 15 days. I used to be so excited when it would rain so that I did not have to water them.

They had a great time and were tired when they returned. Mom took 1,400 pictures and was trying for 2,000. Oh well. Better luck next time. They brought back some souveniers, but one of their suitcases got lost. They are still in the process of getting it back.

Mom and Dad brought Katie and I back aprons. Patrick and Matt got beer glasses with the Italian brand of beer on them.

Here is one of the pieces of clothing that mom brought back from Italy for herself.

One of the few things that I wanted to do while we were in Boston was go to a Red Sox game. We were able to go with Jessica and Tim Griffin. Jessica was one of my former students and we have remained in contact over the years. Her dad had the tickets and so we went to a Sunday afternoon game against the White Sox. We saw Tim Wakefield pitch, Manny Ramirez hit a 2 run home run, Okejima and Paplebon close the game. We left right from church and drove into the city. We found a parking spot on the street!!! God was so good to us. We met Jess and her dad on Yawkey Way in front of the guy selling peanuts. While we were waiting I heard someone calling out my name. I turned around and Gennie Falcon was there! It was unbelievable to see her. I don't even live in Massachusetts anymore and she has been in Africa for the past year. It was total coincidence that we met. She was in Boston for 10 days only and this was the only home game she was able to go to.

Here is the famous Citgo sign.

Here is the famous Hood blimp that brings great pictures to NESN television station.