| Here is what is going on with the Florida Remberts |
| December 1, 2006
We welcomed another Friday night with gymnastics and then home to watch TV and relax. December 2, 2006 The day started off with the Merritt Island Holiday Parade. Coral and the rest of the GEMS Showstoppers were in the parade, so she arrived on-site early and the rest of the Florida Remberts got our spots near the judge�s stand at the end of the route to see the performances. After we made a quick stop home for lunch, we trekked over to the mall were the Showstoppers and many other elementary schools from the area gave concerts during the afternoon. We then accomplished some quick shopping and dinned at Beef O�Brady�s before getting home just in time to turn on the lights and get ready for bedtime. December 3, 2006 Today was Amy and Krista�s annual �let�s spend the day at the malls for a Christmas spending spree�. While Amy was out, Dan took the kids to CCD, completed the grocery shopping, and returned home in time for football to start. The rest of the day everyone played games and watched games�hey, even the Steelers finally won. December 4, 2006 After school and work, it was a night of Fine Arts for the Florida Remberts. We went to the GEMS Winter Concert where Coral and the Showstoppers once again performed along with the band, string group, and chorus. It was a very entertaining evening for the entire family. December 5, 2006 Not much to report, just some returning of gifts from the Sunday shopping spree after dinner. December 6, 2006 Coral�s class had a field trip to the Brevard Zoo to see all the animals too�it was fun trip and a nice day to get out of the class room. December 7, 2006 Happy 37th Birthday to Amy!!! After work and school, the entire family went to Carrabba�s for dinner. Everyone was well-behaved and that is the best present any mom could ask for from a child (and a husband). After the nice dinner, we came home fully expecting a huge birthday candle for Amy, but the launch was scrubbed due to the sub-par weather. Don�t feel too bad because Amy got a nice treat from the Steelers with their Thursday night win over the Brownies, 27-7, in frosty Pittsburgh. December 8, 2006 After gymnastics, Dan joined another group of poker players, which is a side-group of the group that went defunct�and that was the way Dan�s game went too. While Dan was off losing his money, Amy was hard at work at home cleaning. December 9, 2006 We had another fun-filled Saturday on tap for the day, which started with another parade. The Showstoppers participated in the Cocoa-Rockledge Parade, so we took Coral and Jessica, a classmate and daughter of Denise who works with Dan, to the starting point and once again found a good spot near the judge�s stand at the end of the route. After the morning parade and lunch, we ran around all afternoon with the holiday crazies. We did some gift shopping, some food shopping, and even got our annual picture with Santa! At the end of the day, we watched as STS-116 lifted off with the first night launch in over 4-years. December 10, 2006 Amy went with the kids and volunteered in Ian�s CCD class while Dan did the weekly food shopping during the morning hours. Later, we went to the Shaffer�s for a little get-together along with a new co-worker, Erika and her family. December 11, 2006 The only drama of this Monday was watching as Dan's fantasy football team went down in flames in the first round of the playoffs with the second lowest score of the year for his team...boo hoo! Looks like no extra spending money for Dan's Birthday/Christmas season again. December 12, 2006 Not much to write home about� December 13, 2006 During the day, Coral and her class did their Christmas shopping at what we used to call �Santa�s Secret Workshop�, but they call it something else now�not sure what though? Also, Dan interviewed for a new position and new company, but don�t get too excited�it is in the same office he works in now (KSC�s Environmental Program Office) and still a contractor position not NASA, just with a different contractor, CHS (Comprehensive Health Services, Inc.). We will be waiting to see what happens there. December 14, 2006 We finally got the gifts wrapped, boxed, and on their ways to loved ones via the US Postal Service with a visit to our local Post Office today�Amy dropped the box of goodies off in the insured hands of our community civil servant after she had her successful dental check-up and picked up the kids from school. Speaking of Christmas gifts, Jordan had her turn today and completed her Christmas shopping at school. December 15, 2006 Both Dan and Amy left work and attended Ian�s Christmas pageant at Alpha Academy. That was just the beginning of the excitement and gymnastics for Jordan and Coral was just about where the excitement ended. December 16, 2006 Aside from Amy running some miscellaneous errands which included Zoey�s much needed grooming, the day was mostly about recovery from many busy weekend travels of the past months. Later, Amy attended a chick-flick night, which also combo�ed as a Christmas party. She returned with a down comforter�one more reason she may no longer need Dan. December 17, 2006 Happy Birthday to Dan!!! Yes, we finally made it back to church and we also all engaged in CCD classes. Dan joined Jordan�s class and Amy joined Ian�s class for little Christmas parties (we felt Coral was old enough to rather not have her parents in her class). After we returned home from CCD, we checked the lotto numbers that the gang from Rehab Works received from 2 patients as a compensation for a job well done�well as it turns out this compensation was above and beyond what is custom as one row of numbers hit 5 out of 6 numbers (one away from the $3 million jackpot)! We jumped, danced, and screamed for a while and then called the co-owners of the winning numbers. After this excitement, Coral attended a friend�s birthday party at the movie theater and the rest of the family stayed home watched the Steelers win their game against the Panthers or played around the house or walked the streets of our subdivision�basically what ever we wanted to do. In the evening, it was time to get out and celebrate the birthday boy�s 38th year of existence. Dan thought it would be fun to try something new so we picked up Coral and headed to Tokyo Steakhouse for some sushi and tableside hibachi-style cooking. The kids enjoyed the show and Shirley Temples more than the fried rice and vegetables, but we all had a great time in spite of it all! Dan and Amy topped the night off with the 3-hour season finale of Survivor. December 18, 2006 Back to the grind, but with this the last week before Christmas, there will be many missing bodies at work and school, which eases the drive a tad. December 19, 2006 Coral�s class had their end of the semester show today and it was right up Dan�s alley�it was about the environment. Coral and Jordan also ended their semesters with great grades on their report cards and we a very proud of them! December 20, 2006 Jordan and Coral both had class parties which signaled the end of the quarter and the beginning of the Christmas break with a half day. After work, Dan and Amy went to a party for Krista and congratulated her on her new position at NASA�she will be working in the new constellation program to send the agency to the moon, Mars, and beyond. December 21, 2006 Coral and Jordan hung with more than a few of their school-mates at all-daycare for a day and played games and outside on the playground all day long. Later, Dan and Amy (mostly Amy) wrapped presents as they watched �It�s a Wonderful Life�. December 22, 2006 Finally, Christmas break arrived for everyone! But before we could all enjoy the vacation, we finished one final day of work�a full day for Dan, half day for Amy, Jordan joined Ian at Alpha for half a day, and Coral got the best deal by spending the morning at the Taffer�s with Lauren. Once Dan got home, Dan, Coral, and Ian got their hair cut while Amy and Jordan did the weekly grocery shopping. After we met up at exactly the same time, we got a roast for Christmas dinner. The last chore of the day was gymnastics, which Dan and Ian skipped and stayed home to play games. December 23, 2006 The only thing we had to do besides Dan�s ineffective last-minute Christmas shopping was to party. We spent the evening at the Shaffer�s for a jolly, ole Christmas Eve Eve party. December 24, 2006 Christmas Eve, the most wonderful night of the year! This was the first day we get to see what the rest of our Christmas vacation should be like�sitting around in our PJs doing nothing but laziness. The Steelers lost so they are officially out. We got motivated around 4 PM and headed to Christmas Eve Mass to celebrate the reason for the season. After mass, we did our traditional drive through neighborhoods and looked at the lights and picked up our pizza. More traditions followed before bedtime. December 25, 2006 Merry Christmas!!! The kids woke at about 7 AM and we unwrapped all of Santa�s and his helpers hard work in less than an hour and a half. The kids were very excited about all their presents and began playing with them right away. The playing part and watching part for all the DVDs Santa brought was the rest of the day or at least until it was time to eat the roast beast, which was awesome. December 26, 2006 Amy spent a half a day at work and did not miss a single interesting thing at home with Dan and the kids. Since her computer was not connected to the network, it was time to come home and do nothing. The weather cooperated for just long enough to let Ian try out his favorite Christmas present, his �Cars� skateboard. December 27, 2006 Dan took his turn at work, while Amy stayed home with the kids. While at work, Dan went by Amy�s office to find it raining in the hallway and flooding the floors in Amy�s office. It turned out that maintenance on some chillers on the 2nd floor went amiss and water drained through the ceiling. Other big news of the day was Shawn and Tom Cray traveled south for the winter and found themselves in our area. In the evening, they stopped by the house and we all went to Chili�s for dinner and caught up on the details of life. It was great to see the two of them and we were so happy that they took time to meet up with us. December 28, 2006 Amy went into work in the morning and salvaged the office from the flood. Not much was working, so she made it home by lunch. Dan was supposed to make it in half the day also, but once the laziness set in, it was hard to get motivated enough to go to work. But don�t fret, he didn�t sit on his laurels all day, he cut the grass and completed some other miscellaneous yard work duties. December 29, 2006 We used some of our Christmas funds from the grammas and the paps to take a day trip to Disney�s Animal Kingdom. On our first ride (our first attraction was actually a 3-D movie about the movie Bug�s Life), we were approached by the promotional staff of Disney and we were hand-picked to receive special �Fastpass� tickets, which allowed us to skip the lines in most of the rides and move right to the front on this very crowded day at the park. This saved us so much time we were able to see and do just about every thing at the park and some things more than once. We had a blast and capped the day off at the Rainforest Caf�. By the time we finally arrived home it was about 10 PM and everyone was beat. December 30, 2006 Today we spent most of the day outdoors because the weather was absolutely gorgeous. Coral was over at Lauren�s while Dan, Amy, Jordan, and Ian walked to Target to shop for a bike for Dan. Judy and Gene will be bringing Amy bike when they come to visit in February, so we thought it would be a good idea to get one for Dan so the entire family could ride together on days like today. After we got back, we waited for Coral to get home then we all went to Wal-mart to do some more shopping. The shopping was over once we found a nice bike for $60. We also found a few other needed things including a new 9-foot Christmas tree for 75% off. When we got to our parking space we found that both the tree and the bike would not fit in the van. The decision was pretty easy because Dan would not be able to ride the tree home, so Dan�s first trip on the bike would be a long one, but don�t worry he made it safely home before dusk. December 31, 2006 We spent most of New Year�s Eve relaxing. We watched the Steelers win their final game of this disappointing season against the hated Bengals to knock them out of the playoffs in overtime. We also played games and Amy rode Dan�s bike on a trip around the neighborhood with Ian. Later, Ian was the only one not to make it to midnight to welcome in the New Year. |
| The Florida Remberts Diary Archives December 2006 |
 |
 |
 |