Dear Family and Friends-Happy Spring and Happy post Easter. Hope you all had a wonderful holiday. I guess we missed you and your family Laura at the BWI airport? Where were you headed? We left town on Holy Thursday, driving south to Florida. We had dropped our puppy off at friends on Weds night, and had a neighbor watching the house and cat and gerbils too. We stopped in Orlando on Friday and flew through Seaworld. On Saturday we drove down to Tom's parents in Venice. We stopped in at a manatee viewing area near Tampa, but the water was so warm, the manatee were headed out to sea. We had plenty of time to watch the sun set on Saturday night in Venice, and then woke up to hunt for baskets Easter Sunday. Mass was at the local church in Venice and was televised with the local Bishop saying mass. We even had the bells choir for the service. By the way, gorgeous weather. Sunday afternoon the kids swam in Gma and Gpa's (heated ) pool and then visited the beach. We went in search of sharks teeth and swam a lot. The ocean wasn't heated, but it sure was nice. We then enjoyed a wonderful Easter Sunday dinner courtesy of Mom Seitz. Monday was a bike ride down to Casperson beach. We love riding the bike path along the intercostal there in Venice as it winds through a nature area. We love to see the gopher tortoises that dig holes and live in the sandy woods along the intercostal and this year we spotted a very hungry baby. Scott loved feeding the little guy lots of clover and flowers. He also enjoyed taking on the big waves down at Casperson. After 2 full days in the sun and surf we were all a bit burned and needed a sun break. On Tuesday a T storm moved through the area so we headed south to Ft Meyers to visit the Thomas Edison and Henry Ford museum and summer homes. We all loved walking through the gardens on the river and viewing the homes and Edison labs. It looked like someone put Greenfield Village in Florida. We had a great do it yourself tour and missed the big rain during our visit. When we returned though we had a big rain so it was out to dinner that night(all you can eat shrimp, yum!). Weds we packed up and headed north to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. We have season passes, but the park is just not the same since they were bought out. No more free beer! How sad is that. We still managed to enjoy ourselves and Allison even tried her first upside roller coaster! And loved it at that! That night we traveled to Orlando so we would be up early to visit Disneyland on Thursday. It was packed at the Magic Kingdom but we still managed to get on all our favorite rides. And once again Allison surprised us with her first ride on Space Mountain. She loved it so much she went again! Good thing too since it will be closed for remodeling until Oct this year. We pretty much spent every last second enjoying Disney and left at midnight when the park closed. On Friday we spent a few hours at the water park owned by Seaworld-Aquatica. The kids and I were thankful for the heated water. Tom rested in the sun while we paddled around the lazy river. Then it was time to head back to Maryland. Too bad we got stuck in lousy traffic or the trip would have been a breeze. We arrived back in MD to pick up Cookie from our friends late Sat night. We arrived just in time for dinner. Sunday was time to unpack and wash clothes as well as complete school projects. Scott had a book report to complete along with a shoebox diarama. He did a marvelous job(according to his teacher) too! Of course we had to take it in to school on Monday in an absolute downpour. The teacher almost called us all to tell us to bring in the projects on Tuesday! It survived under the glad garbage bag though. And Sunday Allison and I took Cookie to her last puppy school-she is now a graduate. We'll give her(and us) a break and work on the basics until we sign her up for the next level. She also just got the last of her shots. Next project will probably be spading.
So it was back to school and work. Everyone was crazy busy. Scott had several tests, and then Allison had several tests. We also enjoyed the school tradition Weds night of having the 8th graders play the faculty in a game of basketball. I never yelled so much at Allison in my live. Didn't matter though. The students lost by one point. It was a lot of fun though. And most of the teachers made it in to school the next day.
On Friday I took my Girl Scouts horsebackriding. They are working on a badge and need to know safety in the ring and equipment as well as demonstrate some riding skills. They have another session and then will spend time volunteering for a Therapeutic Horsebackriding program. I met with them to discuss careers in Horses. I also had to run Allison over to her piano lesson. Tom and Scott ran off with John Dutton to Hershey PA to catch a Hershey Bears hockey finals game(which they all loved, and Hershey Bears won).
This weekend the weather actually feels warmer here in Baltimore than it was in Florida! I started Sat morning off with a community yard sale, then left Allison in charge while I went off to a doctor appt. When I got back the business had picked up a bit, but the neighborhood is very busy these days. We had to quit around noon to attend a First Communion party. Tom was just getting back from karate with Scott. And we have another First Communion party tomorrow. I had to make sure I picked up gifts for both boys on Friday.
And Tom finally got the lawn cut. He went out and bought a new mower since it looked like our old one was dead, but a neighbor got it running again. So now we have his and her mowers! Tom has had to cut the grass twice now, and is ordering the mulch for the flower beds. I put in a few grape tomato plants, but I am holding off a few weeks on the flowers. Most of our cherry blossoms and daffodils are done-now its the Dogwoods and tulips and azaleas. All so pretty(unless you have allergies!)
Next Weekend plan is to attend a Cub Scout Family camping trip. We plan on taking Cookie and our kayaks. Should be fun! Oh yeah! GO RED WINGS!