Great Weekend and Weather !!

Hello everyone. I hope all of you enjoyed your weekend. Ours was a lot of fun. The weather was so nice that we headed over to Pass-a-Grille Beach on Saturday morning. We went mid-morning, and as you will see, didn't have much company other than some sea gulls and a few folks. The water was nice, even though we didn't really go in past our ankles. By noon it stared getting hot, and we were getting hungry, so we headed over to Panera Bread on 4th Street for some lunch. Got to love Panera's bread bowls -- YUM!




































































In the afternoon, we headed over to Tampa's Channelside(http://www.channelside.com/), where they have an IMAX movie theater. We brought Anthony to see OPEN SEASON. It was a pretty good animated movie, with the voices of Martin Lawrence and Ashton Kutcher, as the two main characters. The best part was that it was all in 3-D, which made it all that much better. There was a good crowd, but not sold out, so we had a really good time. After the movie, we took a little stroll around Channelside. The weather was perfect, and the downtown city lights of Tampa made for a very nice and enjoyable evening. If you haven't ever been to Channelside, or haven't been in a while, I strongly recommend it. They have a good assortment of restaurants, bars, shops, and the movies, and its only about 20 minutes from St. Pete if you take the Crosstown Expressway. We'll be heading back soon, especially since we bought Florida Aquarium annual passes.

CHANNELSIDE AT NIGHT






















FLORIDA AQUARIUM














CHANNELSIDE DRIVE/TROLLEY RAILS






















VIEW OF CHANNELSIDE FROM PARKING GARAGE


















Sunday was alot of fun too. We went to a party for Anthony's class which was held at Crisp Park (where we've had Anthony's last two birthday parties). He got to play with all of his classmates, and we got to meet the other parents. The weather and the playground made for a great morning for everyone. In the afternoon, we went to lunch with my brother Joe, his wife Jen, and their oldest son, Riley. We went to a place on Redington Beach called Conch Republic (formerly Ballyhoo's). It was pretty good. If you go, you've got to try their cocktail shrimp appetzier that are boiled in cajun flavoring -- they were very, very good!! By the way, go for the whole pound order -- don't waste your time with the 1/2 pound.

Whoops! I guess I forgot all about Friday night. We had Jeff & Candis over, and Jeff (who has become a great cook), put together one heck of a tasty pasta dish. That guy can cook!! He needs his own Food Network Show --- I'm thinking something like CHEF JEFF? The meal, along with some nice bottles of wine was a nice way to end the work week.

Now it's time to start up October. I can't believe it's already here! 2006 went by faster than any other year so far for me. Anthony is almost four, Donna and I will be married ten years this April, and I will have been in business for myself for two years. It's amazing how fast time flies. This month we have Donna's birthday, along with some other folks I know having birthdays too (yea, all you old timers reading this!), Halloween, and hopefully some other fun filled events to document and post to the blog. Before we know it, Thanksgiving and Christmas will be here. I think we'll need a change in the weather before I can get too excited about the holidays, and hopefully we'll start to feel the cooler air soon enough.

Here's hoping for a cold front..... have a great Monday, ~Frank