It has been a fairly busy month since my last post. We had a birthday party for Shawn which was not originally planned but he decided against the idea of a party with his class and friends and chose a family party instead. Party was pretty much uneventful but Shawn was more than thrilled when he opened up his Nintendo DS. I had no idea that he wanted one or even knew how to play one; shows you what Dad knows! He has become a big fan of the Star Wars game he got from Nana and Papa.

We took our spring break in sunny Indian Springs, Florida. Indian Springs in located between St. Petersburg and Clearwater and is a mainly condominium community. Our condo was on the beach and was more than sufficient for the seven of us. The weather was somewhat on the cool side for the first part of the week but eventually warmed up into the low 80s toward the end of the trip. Unfortunately most of us passed around an intestinal flu throughout the week. We did plenty of site seeing, eating, drinking and hanging around the condo.

We didn't arrive until late Saturday evening and ended up at Walmart, the only grocery store open in the area, at 1am. Sunday, which was Easter, we hung out in the condo, did some swimming then Brad and I decided it was a good idea to drink nearly a half gallon of Jose. Needless to say, I slept through Easter dinner. Throughout the week, we took trips to Ybor city in Tampa, the pier in St. Petersburg (fed the pelicans), Tarpon Springs to see the shops surrounding the sponge industry as well as shopping in Clearwater and at John's Pass in Madeira. Lisa, Shawn and Bev also took a dolphin cruise while Ted, Brad, Katelyn and I threw down a couple pitchers of beer at a fine tourist trap bar.

Food was a major part of the trip as it should be. We had gigantic grouper sandwiches at Dockside Dave's, the absolutely best smoked fish at Ted Peters, a decent lunch that included conch fritters and gator bites from Conch Republic and more grouper and oysters from Frenchy's. All in all, the food was pretty good and we tried to eat at the smaller, non-chain local restaurants.

Vacation was a lot of fun but of course way too short. You can see pictures of our exploits here.

Two days after we returned home, I set out on my annual trip to opening day. The weather was actually the best it has ever been in what I think has been 12 years of going to Cleveland to experience the start of spring. This year we had a few additional faces show up and the beer was flowing as it has in years past. Pretty much the same places gone and the same things done so not too much to report on the year's festivities except we did get to order the best pie in downtown Cleveland before the Rascal House closed for the evening and squeezed in a sandwich at Panini's. The added bonus is that the Tribe won!

Work for me has been pretty busy lately for me. I am in the process of organizing three trade shows this year. One in June, one in September and now one in October. The process is a major pain in the rear end. Ordering electrical service, booking hotels, airfares, arranging for shipping, assembly, breakdown of a 20 foot by 20 foot 3000 pound trade show booth and dealing with all the other issues is a major process. I am 85% done with the footwork though and I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.....Friday!

Katelyn is starting to eat more and more regular food and is starting to take a few steps at at time without falling on her face so I figure that in the next two weeks or so we will have trouble keeping up with her. Shawn is studying the Jedi arts and hopes to become a sith apprentice before too long!

This weekend we have a birthday party to attend on Saturday that will more than likely turn into a beer pong party by the end of the night.