Fourth of July weekend - 2011 edition

I had a great time with the family this past weekend. We spent a long weekend out at the Hyatt Clearwater Beach - great hotel by the way! The Cucchi's and Kristowski's joined us at the beach on Sunday afternoon, where we may very well have been the only people on the beach who were not tatted up (or some of us anyway! :) ). Note to self: traffic out to Clearwater Beach on a Sunday afternoon is ridiculous!

On Monday, we rented the "Freedom Cruiser" - a 4-person bike, and rode it to the top of the Memorial Bridge that connects downtown Clearwater to Clearwater Beach! That was a long, tough ride...but the girls were cheering Tammy and I on to the top! Our hotel patio gave us a great view of the fireworks all across Pinellas County - it was quite a sight!

On Tuesday, we checked out and headed over to Riverview to meet my newest Niece - Maci Benham. Check out her beautiful birth pics here.

One more thing...Surf Style opened a new building next to the Hyatt on Clearwater Beach. They brought in the Flowrider (indoor surfing wave) from the now-defunct Adrenalina from International Plaza. This is going to be a perfect fit - people are already in their swimsuits, why not go try the wave while you are out at Clearwater Beach!?!?

Vacation in the blue ridge (not the smokies)

We just got back from a fantastic North Carolina snow vacation during the 2nd week of January. We could not have possibly asked for a better location, better weather, or better company. The Norwood clan and the Cucchi clan made the 12 hr trek to Valle Crucis NC to spend a snow-filled week in the mountains. We did plenty of fun stuff, but none more fun than sledding down the driveway at the Black Bear Lodge until we were too cold or too tired to do it anymore. The smiles on Bekah and Nick's face in the pic below tell the story...

More vacation pics are at: https://picasaweb.google.com/tammy.r.norwood/VacationInTheSmokies#

I highly recommend the luxury cabin that we stayed in. it was beautiful inside and out - we will stay there again. http://blackbearlodgenc.com/