Give Up the Booty

Every year Tampa celebrates the pirate Gaspar (who terrorized the Tampa coast line) by having a Fest in his honor. There is a kiddie parade, an adult parade, and a Mardi Gras-like (or so they say) parade. Yesterday, we went to the adult parade with a group of folks from my office.

This is George and Linda. George is my boss' boss (and a USL grad) and Linda works in our front office. George is modelling our float...aka adult beverage conveyance.
This is George and Pam. Pam is my boss and this is her house.

George trying to instruct Pam on the proper technique for mounting the float

Deb (George's Wife), Pam and Linda showing off their hardcore Tats

Here I'm giving a shout out to the helicopter

Even the pooches got in the pirate spirit

A Couple of Salty Wenches (yes, L.A. had the camera)

The Southwest float

A Pirate Ship Float

Some more pirate wenches (yep, still L.A.)

A couple of pirates on a float (I think the dude on the left BELIEVED that he was Capt Jack Sparrow)

Rough Riders

A Super Cool Skull Float

This is the Bucs Float

Captain Morgan Float

Another Pirate

Check out that bling

Our Real Home in Tampa

These are pictures of our house from the day we moved in...once we get everything put away we'll take some more.

This is the dining room (that we're not using as a dining room but not sure what it will be yet) Not sure what this room is going to be either

Our bedroom

Our bathroom

The living room

Kitchen

Laundry room

Patio

Office

Guest Bedroom

Guest BathroomYou can see the cardinal that feels the need to wake us up every morning by knocking on the windows for a few hours...

Anna Maria Island Trip

We drove out to Anna Maria Island one day while we were still in the hotel. We just wanted to get away and enjoy the beach (that is a big reason we moved to Florida after all).

Driving across the Sunshine Bridge

Check out all of that water

The top of the bridge

The sign for Anna Maria Island...you know it's cool...it has a dolphin AND a manatee on the sign!

A natural bench to watch the tides (I tried it out but it was wet)

A very cool brown pelican

This brown pelican let you walk right up to it. This wasn't zoomed in

Trying out the water...it was a little nippy

You can see the sunshine bridge in the distance

The base of the Sunshine Bridge...heading home

A sail boat that just went under the bridge (maybe it was the one in the earlier pictures)

Our First Home in Tampa

This is where we spent our first three weeks in Tampa...the lovely Sheraton. It wasn't too bad. I just wish we had been able to get into our place quicker.

This is a view of the atrium from right outside our room.

Looking down into the atrium.

More atrium...and elevators.

And even more atrium...

This is a shot of our bedroom. We had a separate living area too but I don't have a picture of that.

Sorry It's Been So Long

We FINALLY closed on the house! We actually closed on Jan 21 so we've been in the house for over a week. I took pictures of the house the night we closed but can't find the cord to upload the pictures. We've (and by we I really mean L.A.) made some pretty good progress of unpacking. There's still a good bit to go but it's getting there. Since I can't update pictures of the house I decided to post a couple of Tampa's Finest for your viewing pleasure...I just couldn't pass them up.
This was a ridiculously jacked up truck parked at Best Buy

This was a ridiculously jacked up car (with Lamborghini doors) parked at a car wash.

Hope these hold you over...I'll try to get house pics posted soon.