"Up"

Gina, the kids and I met at Chick-fil-A for dinner and now the kids and I are getting ready to see the new Pixar movie "Up." Gina went to a girls' scrapbooking night.

Happy Birthday

It was quite the busy day today. First I went and played basketball from 5:30-8:00 this morning...and hurt my right index finger. It is quite swollen.

Then it was on to Ethan's Pre-K graduation program. Ms. Pat went with Gina and I. Ethan's school had a program for 7 of the classes yesterday and then 6 classes (2,3 and 4 year olds) including his performed today. They sang some songs and then the 2s and 3s left. Then each graduate received their diploma and a medal.

After taking Ms. Pat home we decided to have barbeque for lunch and went to Crackers which is changing its name to Dave's Brick Pit BBQ. This was the second time we have been there. It was good and the sweet tea is true bbq joint sweet. Oh yeah, we let Gina tag along even though she wasn't having a birthday and had not graduated today.

For dinner we made a barbeque chicken pizza. Then we had a family Wii night.

But the big news of the day was obtaining our first family pet. That's right. We now have a pet...a true live pet...name is Hershey Squirt...a hermit crab. It was Ethan's Pre-K class pet all year. His best buddy Zach had donated him for the class to care for this year. After graduation, Zach's mom was asking Gina if we wanted Hershey Squirt. It seems Zach has another hermit crab who doesn't get along with Hershey Squirt. I walked up while they were talking and agreed very quickly and easily to take Hershey Squirt. The kids have asked about a pet every now and then so I saw this as an opportunity to honor that request with what I assume is a low maintenance pet. Ethan was very excited...VERY EXCITED. And Ashlyn was surprised when she came home from school. Gina has already read up on hermit crabs some and everyone had a good time playing with him (I guess it's a him) tonight.

Florida Aquarium

We ate dinner last night at Lee Roy Selmon's restaurant at Tyrone Square Mall. He is a hall of fame d-lineman that played for the Buccaneers.

This morning we are at the Florida Aquarium and petting the stingrays. The kids along played in the water splash park and were up close and personal with a couple penguins at the penguin show.

Rays Win!

4-2 over the Indians. We should have went to Friday night's game as the Rays won 8-7 on B.J. Upton walk off homerun in the 9th after the Rays rallied to win after being down 7-0 for the biggest comeback in team history.

Today was Evan Longoria Rookie of the Year figure giveaway. We ended up with 6 after a couple people gave theirs to us.

Rays vs Indians

We went to Indian Rocks Beach this morning for a couple hours and then headed to the ballgame for the 4:10 start although we were 10 minutes late. We had to park in one of the outer lots since everything was full. Although I do like the Rays promotion that they had last year and again this year that with 4 or more in the car,parking is free instead of $10. Our seats are in left field almost directly behind the left fielder and 7 rows up from the fence. All fans received an Evan Longoria Rookie of the Year figure.

Fun day...

We had our McDonald's lunch at the picnic tables looking out over the beach and then followed that up with a pizza from Original Pizza in Treasure Island. It too was enjoyed on the picnic tables. Toward the end of the day the Gulf started getting choppy and some ominous clouds started rolling around. But other then some wind, nothing else happened as it seemed to go around us. After finishing off the pizza we went and had ice cream at Sweets 'n Treats. I had pralines and cream, Gina had Marti's Mix (some chocolate, peanut butter, brownie and pecan concoction), Ashlyn had black raspberry and Ethan had Superman...it was quite colorful. The store had lots of candy including some brands from yesteryear. Oh yeah they had cans of Tab. And then we went to the pool and got back to our room around 10:45 pm.

Family endorsed school skip day...

We ended up going to Ethan "robot parade" at preschool at 8:45 this morning and then we hit the road and made it here to St. Pete Beach around 12:30. Both kids are skipping school! We will probably go to the beach again tomorrow and then it's the Rays versus the Indians which I think is the Saturday game on Fox. And then on Sunday will be the educational trip to the Florida Aquarium.

Tree Cutting Day

I am at home today watching Southern Oaks Tree Service cut down 3 trees (2 oaks and 1 gum tree) and trim 5 others. Ethan enjoyed getting to watch them for about 40 minutes before he had to go to school.

Movies in the Park again this week

Over 4 weeks the city shows a movie on Friday night at Treaty Oak Park. This is 3 of 4. Tonight we are watching Finding Nemo. Hopefully they corrected their sound issues from last week.