Father's Day Weekend

This was the first Father's Day in a long while, that I had one of my children with me.  Gina came to visit for a short weekend.  It was her break between graduation, unpacking, purchasing a new car and starting work again at Disney.

First, some nostalgia.  The first picture is of an electronic card I received from the Js and Rs.  I'm loving being a G-Pa now!  Several friends on Facebook posted pictures of their dads, so I decided to hunt a picture down.  The one picture is a picture on one of my birthdays, I'm thinking around my 43rd or 44th.  I like it because I'm both a son and a father in it.

I love the picture taken on this Father's Day, of Joe and Ruby and Red!  Ruby looks so much like both her Mama and Daddy, but in this expression she looks a lot like Joe when he was little.  That's a picture of Joe and me when he was about Ruby's age.

Gina arrived just after noon on Saturday and we had big plans for the short time she was visiting.  I love her new car!  Carrying on in the tradition of a VW and in the color red!

We first stopped at the Dairy Inn for lunch.  Always good, and the most delicious chocolate malts!  Then off to the beach.  It was a gorgeous day!  The water was perfect, comfortable, nice waves (for the Gulf!) and a nice breeze.  While we were there three separate areas were being set up for wedding ceremonies.

After spending three relaxing hours at the beach, we headed back to freshen up then went to dinner at Little Greek.

On Sunday morning we had reservations for brunch at Cassis Brasserie in the Ovation building.  This is the third year that Cassis has set up a "Beach Party" in the restaurant and bar.  I thought after trucking in all that beach sand the first year, that they would not be repeating it!  It was fun!  There was so much 'beach' there that you could hardly see the regular restaurant!  And the food was delicious!

We made a quick stop next door at the Cassis Bakery for some mini pastries.  Yes, they were as good as they look!

Next, we headed further downtown to the Coast Guard Station just south of the Albert Whitted Airport.  We waited just over an hour in line to get onboard.  It was a free, self guided tour, and was worth the wait.  I watched the ship as it came into Saint Petersburg (using motor power) on Friday morning.

After touring the ship we headed back to my apartment to rehydrate and have some ice cream (salty pretzel caramel and birthday cake flavors).  We went up to Coffee Pot Bayou for a photo shoot of the new Beetle before Gina headed back home.  It was a fun weekend; lots of activity packed into a short time!  And in between, we watched the Neverland two part miniseries on Netflix streaming.

See the pattern here:

Now . . . on to summer!  (Although we've already been having 90 degree weather!)