Tampa, Florida - Nov 18-25, 2005
About an hour after our arrival, we headed over to Plant High School's first playoff football game. Ted, Susan, Billy, Drew and I met up with Chad, Sara, Gibson and Riley. Gib was chearleading. We were only down 12-6 at the half, but ended up losing 24-12, I think. Ted, Chad, Billy, Drew and I left for the Casino at the end of the 3rd Qtr. The Casino was about what I expected with tons of slot machines and an area for poker tournaments. I stood in line to put Chad & Drew's names on the tournament waiting list, but on Friday night at 10PM it was about an hour or more further wait to play. I played a slot machine twice and lost $0.97 and we're still trying to figure out how we lost 97 cents in only two plays on a 25 cent clot machine?!! We all walked around for a bit, then stopped for dinner at an attached restaurant called The Green Room where we ordered lots of sushi. I had an omelet and Chad had a burger. Those guys have tons of fun together. They are all so witty and have great sense of humor which kept us ;aughing all night.
The next morning we were up and out to watch Riley's soccer game at 11AM. They ended up winning 4-2. Apparently they had only scored one goal so far this season and typically endured losses in the realm of 20-0, so this was quite a success.
The next morning, Ted, Susan, Bobby, Drew and I all went to watch Billy in his soccer game with the Clearwater Chargers. They lost and didn't look very cohesive, but Billy did well. He had a goal and an impressive assist. That night, the six of us went to Joto's for a wonderful sushi dinner. One of my new all-time favorite dishes is Tuna Tataki, which I kept wanting to call Tuna Takiaki.
Monday, I think it was, Susan took Drew, Chad and me to Ted's office for lunch. They had a terrific cafeteria with an excellent chicken ceasar salad. We took a stroll around the mile-long wooden walkway behind the Aegon building where we saw the resident alligator in the tall grass basking in the sun. Ted introduced us to the actuarial and human resource side of the office and showed us around the building a bit including the workout facilities.
Tuesday night I went with Sara to Gibbey's Competitive Cheerleading practice over in Brandon. She twisted and turned to perfection while flying high. She had a party to get to immediately after practice so when we got back to her house, she changed from her cheerleading gear into evening party dress in a matter of minutes.
Wednesday, Drew and I went with Chad to his lab's Thanksgiving luncheon where we got to meet all his colleagues and fantasy football league members. Good food and nice people. After that, Chad dropped us and the kids off to meet up with Sara at the Westshore Theatre to see Harry Potter. Another successful movie, though still sorely lacking the depth of the books. I imagine it might be a bit confusing for those who hadn't read the books, but Drew and Sara seemed to follow pretty easily. Gib had a couple of questions after and I'm not srue Riley cared much. After a quick shopping round, we all went back to our respective homes and spruced up for our dinner reservations at Bern's at 8PM. Riley stayed with Nana and Pop. Chad, Sara, Gibbey, Drew and I enjoyed a splended meal with great atmosphere adn excellent compnay! After dinner we took the "tour" which no one should miss if they have the chance. The tour went through the kitchen, where they explained how everything was completely fresh and organic...even food that spoils gets sent to their farm and becomes compost. They had three large tanks of live fish, the first one had a huge grouper that swam right up to the tank window to look at us. The next and more impressive part of the tour is their wine cellar...possibly the largest selection in the nation and one of the best in the world. The air was chilled and the smell was old and musky, much exactly as you would expect an old wine cellar to smell like. All the walls throughout the entire building were brick and stone (with the exception of the dessert room) which stood with such an air of established grace. After the tour we adjourned upstairs to the dessert room. Yep, you literally change venues for dessert (if you are keen enough to ask to be put on the reservations list when you began dining earlier in the evening). The dessert room was unique with curved wooden paneled walls which seem to help privatize each individual seating area. And each seating area is it's own private booth with it's own speakers and choices of music. Dessert was great and Drew enjoyed a Turkish coffee with his Tiramisu. Obviously the entire dining expereince at Bern's is designed to be a 2-3 hour event and involve the appropriate bit of alcohol at every step of the way. It is therefore likely that some could say we did not experience the ultimate perfection one of their dinners might offer, but there certainly wasn't anything lacking in our experience from my perspective.
Thanksgiving Day arrived with all the family and food that was expected. Susan had spent all day Wednesday preparing most of the food. I offered to make the mashed potatoes so I got up and started peeling about 9:45AM. Finished them about 11AM. Susan's Dad, sister, and brother-in-law came bearing food about noon and Chad, Sara and the kids arrived shortly after that. It was a fun lazy day of food, family, and football. Dallas had another tough loss. Very similar Thanksgiving to ours here in Texas with the notable exception of emphasis on the main meal (Turkey, Ham, Veggies, fruit, etc) rather than desserts. Where they had a couple of pumpkin pies and a sweet potatoe dessert, I reflected on the desserts like Dad's fudge, Little Mom's Divinity, Bread pudding, Cinnamon swirl cake, chocolate cake, and the four or five pies on top of that, ultimately declaring a dessert victory over the main course every time..
Friday, much to probably everyone's surprise, we all got up, got dressed in our khaki pants and white shirts and arrived on location at the University of Tampa's Plant Hall for a Boswell Family Photo Shoot at 9:30AM as scheduled. An impressive feat to say the least. I think there is probably at least one great photo of us all so kudos to Susan for pulling this one off.
After photos, Ted took his four boys for 9 holes of golf, in which Chad finished first, Drew finished last, Bobby broke a putter, and a everyone apparently had a good time. Sara went home not feeling well. Susan rested, watched tv, did her own thing for a while, as Chad let Gibbey and Riley saty with me. Gib and I played double solitaire a bit while Riley played FIFA's 2005 MLS soccer game on PS2 (in which Bobby appears for DC United). Later Riley took Gib and me for all our chips at poker, then Riley wanted to go play tennis so I asked Susan if she wanted to join us and she did. The four of us found a nearby court and ended up playing a couple of hours. Susan had skill and grace, the rest of us...not so much...it was embarrassing watching most of our balls end up on adjacent courts, but it was still a huge laugh and tons of fun. When we played at 1/2 power, we were able to play better and keep the ball on our court a bit more. After a while, Ted showed up with Chad and Drew who said they couldn't resist coming down to watch "this." Bobby left late in the evening for Gainesville, where he had tickets to the Florida v.FSU game on Saturday. Chad, Gib and Riley stayed late that evening and Sara came over after a while. We ordered pizza and wings for dinner. Drew, Chad, Gib and Riley played a bit of poker, and this time Gib finally ended Riley's winning streak and took her Dad and uncle Drew for all their chips too, earning herself $5 for the win. The evening winded down, we said our goodbyes, I packed up our things, Drew watched tv with his Dad and both fell asleep in their comfy chairs. I brought Drew back to bed when I finished packing.
The next day Ted drove us to the airport. Drew, out of Xanax, borrowed a sleeping pill. It had him kind of sleepy to begin with, but not too drowsy by the time we got back home. It was another good flight, despite a mild bit of turbulence in our approach to Dallas, and Drew said these were two of his best flights yet. Hopefully he might be conquering his fear. Anyway, we made it safely back home with some great new holiday memories with family and I hope it won't be too long until we all get together again.