Our first Christmas!

Our first Christmas was a lot of fun. We each took turns opening our gifts and taking lots of pictures. Mahi got a Christmas  fishing pole with a fish on it and a large fish full of catnip. This was Mahi's first time with catnip so she had an adventure. This really helped us keep things going without Mahi attacking the wrapping paper while we tried to opened them. We got blessed with lots of gifts from all sides of the family.  Thank you very much! We hope you had a very Merry Christmas too!

2008 Merry Christmas!

Disney weekend!

So, what does Disney World look like 4 days before Christmas?? Well, this past weekend The Vander Sys family got to go and see! As, a wedding present from Jess, we were able to spend two magical days park hopping to and from Animal Kingdom, MGM, and Magic Kingdom! We were able to surprise Nick with an evening of musical city Christmas lights and SNOW!  It was a lot of fun!  Thanks Jess for such a unique/fun wedding gift!

Hosting Ryan!

This weekend we got to open our home to a very good friend of ours', Ryan Groth. Nick and I met him at the dorm bible study that Cortney and I started. Ryan is doing well,  He is living for the Lord and is heading down the right path. We got to enjoy a nice lunch and a holiday movie with Ryan.
We were glad to have had the opportunity to share our home with such a good friend.

Off shore fishing!

If you look to nick's right you can see our view of land...







Nick has been waiting for an opportunity to take me off shore fishing and the day finally came.We got a beautiful day where the sun was nice and bright and the seas were 2-3 feet. Apparently, it was the PERFECT day to fish because the dock was packed. We caught a couple of pin fish (for bait) and Jacks right from the start. We were hoping to catch some king fish, sail fish or Mahi Mahi but  I got sea sick and we had to head in after only 4 hours of fishing. On the way in Nick and I set out our lines and ended up catching 5 sharks. We didn't keep any of them because we were more concerned on getting me home than anything else but we had a great time and got some great pictures!

O, Christmas Tree...

 We wanted this year to be unique so we decided to have a true Florida Christmas and got  a Christmas Palm tree! We had fun picking out the perfect palm.We didn't really have any Christmas ornaments so we bought a few ornaments. We used the tree skirt that Aunt Gerry made for us and lights from our wedding. As a new tradition, we decided that every year we would pick out one ornament that represented something special that happened that year. This year we picked out an ornament that was a snowflake with 2008 printed on it.We are very proud of our first Christmas Palm and look forward to many more Christmas memories.

Thanksgiving day!

We had a lovely Thanksgiving! We decided to take the day to relax and enjoy each others company. We got to sleep in for the first time in weeks and took our time eating breakfast and getting ready for the day's activities. When grandma Johnson came to visit us, she blessed us with a cook book that we got to put to good use. We chose to do Roasted Chicken with Rosemary and Garlic Herb Potatoes and Roasted Asparagus. While the food was cooking we rearrange our furniture and began transforming our home to a Floridan Christmas home.  Dinner was delicious and the rest of the evening was spent calling our families and doing a load of laundry.  :)

Sea Food Feast!

We had a lovely visit from Grandma Johnson this week! We were able to show her our apartment and Mahi. We went to church and got to take her to our farmer's market! It was wonderful! For dinner we decided to treat Grandma Johnson to a fresh sea food dinner and homemade cookies. We had fresh Stone Crab, shrimp, and Shark. We took our time and made it a 3 course meal. The conversions were great and so was the food.

Silly Mahi!

Mahi is doing great she went to the Vet today for her check up and removal of stitches. She was a little angel. She now weighs 3.3 lbs and has her nights and days in the right order... well kinda :)

Mmmmm-mmmm Good!!!

Crab traps are in place and we are now crabbing! We went fishing on Monday since we both had the day off  and went to check out our crab traps. We were excited to find 3 stone crab waiting for us. According to Nick stone crab is really good crab so we had stone crab for dinner and it was delicious!

Mahi Mahi the fish.... no our new kitten!

We finally have a cat! She is 2 months old and weighs about 2.9 lbs. She is hyper as can be and she's adorable! It didn't take us long to figure out the name. We wanted to name her something unique but, fun. so we thought of  Mahi (like the fish). We got her last Saturday from the Vero Beach Humane Society. Mahi is one of a kind and has brought some new adventure into our home.  (and lack of sleep too!)

Crab Traps are Here!!!!!

God has blessed us by giving a chance to work some extra jobs for some extra fun (crab traps) money. We were able to get 3 crab traps. Everything is in place for some future Crab dinners. The sunset on the way home was GORGEOUS!! 

Snook Fishing

We got a chance to do some Sunday fishing. We were able to catch lots of Snook and  ended up catching about 10- 12!  I caught  the biggest Snook (23 1/2 inches)of the day, but it was about 6 inches to short to keep.

It's CIRCUS tyme!

Nick and I got to go on a very unique and interesting date. We went to the Circus! Nick got to try his first  funnel cakes because in Michigan they eat Elephant ears. We also enjoyed some cotton candy while we watch some pretty neat performances!

Night out with Erin and Chris

Nick and I don't really celebrate Halloween but, this year we decided to have a Halloween dinner with our friends Erin and Chris. We went to the Blue Water Grille and shared some funny stories and were able to catch up on our busy lives. We had a wonderful time and we were able to see some pretty cute costumes. We saw two little boys (probably ages 7-9) dressed up as the blue brothers with side burns and everything. It was really fun!

Eli the Spotted Moray

Nick brought home a new addition to our tank. Nick works with a man named Rob who catches bait for the Fishing Center.  Nick had been able to go fishing with him and every once in while he comes home with new things they find in their bait cages. Things like baby Flounders, little crabs, and quarter size pompano. Rob came in to the shop the other day with a Spotted Moray Eel and Nick brought it home. It's about 12 inches long and is harmless to us and the other fish in the tank. We decided to name it Eli the Eel.

Wendy's First Fishing Rod!

Nick got me a really cool present for our 2 month anniversary. My very first fishing rod! The best part is that it is my favorite color BLUE!  Nick doesn't have to share his fishing rod any more since he has his green rod and I have my blue one. We went fishing to try it out and apparently this is one "HOT" rod. Between the two of us I caught the biggest fish of the evening. I caught a 4-5lbs catfish, ladyfish, and even a 6lbs Jack. It was a pretty exciting evening!!! Nick also caught a couple of lady fish and he caught his first Snook of the year! It was about 3 inches to small so, we weren't able to keep it.