Turtles on the Beach

The coolest thing happened tonight as we were enjoying Happy Hour on the beach--an eruption. What is an eruption you ask? It is when a turtle nest erupts with small turtles who have one objective--make it to the ocean before they get eaten. They rarely happen during daylight hours--so we were especially blessed to witness this mad dash of nature.

If you have seen a war movie about marines storming a beach--think of it in reverse--turtles storming the ocean and as you are standing there your only objective is to cheer them on and wish them Godspeed as they respond to nature's call to go to the ocean.


It really is amazing to watch 40 - 50 newly hatched turtles make their way to the ocean. And to interfere is a violation of nature's way. Although the small turtles are also known as the Cheerio's of the Sea--one can only cheer them on as they race for the ocean and ultimately safety in the Sargasso sea area of the Caribbean.

BTW-- these are little Loggerhead Turtles, born today, June 8, 2008 and are enroute to their futures. Last year, we were lucky enough to witness an eruption at night on the beach just as another loggerhead was finishing laying, and this year--in the light of of the evening.

Jupiter - Day 4

Well, the vacation is going well. We have settled into a nice routine and I have decompressed, as has Chris.

We are currently exploring the virtues of B's: biking, beach, basking, bed and beautiful sunsets.

We have been biking seven miles every morning before 8:30 and then doing a quick breakfast before hitting the beach until about 1 pm. Then back to the house for showers and maybe a nap. It's a tough life but someone has to live it.

Afternoons are lazy and relaxing. We did some shopping to replace my stolen laptop and Chris's stolen camera. I did get a new HP and Chris got a newer model of her camera. Both were upgrades to what was lost, but we decided that spending some additional money over our expected compensation was worth it.

The snorkeling has not been good, although I've snorkeled twice. The surf has been rough, and is expected to be really rough later this week. I almost definitely will not be diving this vacation due to visibility concerns.

I love Florida. I love the heat. And I love chilling.

Happy hour on Jupiter Island Beach

One of the things I love most about coming to Florida is decompressing by celebrating Happy Hour on the beach.

So on day 1 at 5:30 pm we trekked to the beach. Wine, cheese, crackers and good friends mixed with sun and surf. Do I need say more? Summer 2008-bring it on!

So the beach, the three mile stretch we were on had about a dozen other people on it. Wow. Any wonder why I want to become a permanent beach dweller?

Florida 2008, day 1

Well. Today we flew to Jupiter for our annual trek to Florida. Jeremy was kind enough to drop us off at the airport at 7am for our flight to West Palm Beach on Southwest Airlines.

The check in and flight was one of the smoothest I and Chris have taken in years. It was actually very pleasant. The way flying used to be. And the flight attendants sang some very funny songs which really made the flight special.

Here is the most fantastic part: within one-half hour of landing we had our bags and were on the road headed to Jupiter in our rental car. Try doing that at BWI.

And we were changed, out on the beach in the ocean within one and one-half hours of landing.

And so it begins. Awesome. And I still do not have a laptop so this post is via email from my blackberry.

Troy Graduates - 2008

What a weekend it was. The main event spanned two days---Thursday night was the actual graduation while Saturday was the party. As with any family event--it was a lot of fun and some work. Chris and Jodie spent most of Friday preparing the awesome Saturday party feast. On top of the graduation--Troy turned 18 as well, so there was a lot to party about.

It is just fantastic when the entire family gets together as we can celebrate success. And the day was a beautiful day. I even spent some time in Jodie and Matt's pool with Ethan--who was in rare form and loves playing with Trevar. He also is the ultimate party animal and always needs to blow out the candles. These were special candles--they continued to burn after they were extinguished. Unfortunately, one of them accidentally burned Ethan--he was not amused. It was good to see how everyone came together to celebrate these special events in Troy's life.

Gut Check--Take Care of Yourself!

On Sunday as we were driving home from NY, I had a real gut check--I received a call from work to inform me that one of my colleagues and friends had a heart attack earlier in the day. He was doing well and was in the hospital. He is younger than I am and in good health. It hit everyone I work with real hard on Monday. We are a pretty tight group.

Our jobs can be real high stress and are always fast paced. We often fail to take care of ourselves--and I'm not saying that he didn't, but in our business we really need to focus on stress relief and cardio conditioning to stay on top of the challenges we face every day. His experience is reinforcing that for everyone. I had one guy I used to paly racquetball with even get a court for the afternoon and we played for the first time in over a year.

I went and visited him in the hospital Monday evening and he is in good spirits. He said that he was real happy to be able to be talking to me. As it turned out--he was aware of the warning signs and didn't wait on getting to the hospital--good on him which is why he will have a quicker recovery. I, given the same circumstances would probably not have fared nearly so well, as my experience with my recently discovered shrimp allergy will attest.

Tim Russert's recent death has had a profound effect on many middle-aged men; hopefully for the better. His death and my friend's experience makes me face my own mortality, despite my best efforts to ignore it. I guess we each need to face our mortality, it is a humbling experience to know we don't control the number of days we are alloted. Live each day to the fullest and make sure you tell your loved ones how much they mean to you. It may be the words they need to get through the rest of their lives.