March 2018

Nick tested for his purple belt this month, and sparring has begun on Saturdays. He's cautious in selecting an opponent, as it's quite an adjustment to have someone throwing punches and kicks at you for the first time (this, I know.)  I don't stay to watch, but he comes out from class having had quite the workout.


We saw the play Shrek at the Valentine Theater in downtown Toledo, as my friend's daughter was the star, and Nick loves her shows.  The picture here is Nick with Carly afterwards. My coworker Greg brought his boys down for the show as well.  It's not a secret Nick's attraction the shows is a stage full of high school senior girls... one look at his Google search history makes it obvious.  That said, he was also on stage for his own school play, which is the picture of him laying on the ground, hat pulled over his head, taking a siesta.  Brandi and I also had lunch this month downtown at the M Osteria, which was excellent.

This Spring has been his growth spurt... he's now taller than Brandi, and is passing his outgrown shoes down to Grandpa.

We've been somewhat active, like attending Aiden's birthday party at Dave and Busters, even with me travelling so much (NADA in Vegas), and Brandi feeding the contractors on our house.  There's just not many photos this month, so no extra link.

Jason

Spring Training 2018

Nick and I flew to Tampa at the last minute to watch some Spring baseball, catching two games over a weekend.  We stayed in Maderia Beach, and jutted between Lakeland, Clearwater and Dunedin.  While he's not a huge baseball fan, he can follow the game, and got in some activities that interest him: building on the beach at sunset, riding in the Mustang convertible, and of course lots of steamed crab at dinner.  The highlights:

Friday afternoon was Mets @ Tigers in Lakeland, where we ate a helmet full of cheese fries, and the Internet was clearly inaccurate about our seats being in the shade.  French Fries drowning in nacho cheese in a helmet was our snack, and the helmet came in handy for digging on the beach later in the day. Box Score

Friday night we walked along Madiera Beach, from digging in the sand for nearly two hours, then to dinner at SeaBreeze Grill where he had us both covered in butter, and ice cream after dark.

Saturday afternoon we tried a place called BurgerFi, organic hamburgers, which was excellent.  Then to Dunedin for the Tigers @ Blue Jays, which was cloudy but warm, and the small stadium really puts fans close to the field.  We had dinner at Crabby's in Clearwater Beach, at Nick's request, just before the rain moved in at sundown. Box Score

My best takeaway were the cozy confines of Dunedin Stadium, where we were so close to Miguel Cabrera, we could have patted him on the back as he walked by.  Nick was not impressed, more likely to remember our server from Crabby's, Taylor, who made the biggest impression on him. Getting up at 3 AM for the flight home gives him an idea of what his Dad does when traveling for work, but Nick was an easy travel partner for the entire weekend.

Pictures here from the trip.

Jason