Safari Ohio bus tour summer of 2007

In the summer of 2007 we visited mom and dad in Ohio and visited a safari ride. It was very special because Grampa and Gram made the safari ride with us.

We first toured through smaller animals like birds and goats and they offered small cups of food to feed the animals. Grayson had a ball and we all had fun watching Grayson learn how to feed the smaller animals.

Then we moved on to the safari ride which was a bus with open sides. We were able to purchase some buckets with feed and I think all of us went through 5-6 small buckets. Camels, bulls, lama, all types of safari like animals. Grayson had a blast feeding the animals. There were about 6 stops in all. Each time the driver stopped for about 10 minutes to allow the animals in the vicinity to get up to the bus for their personal feeding. The best part of all..... we got to see Grayson experience for the first time getting up and close with some pretty big animals. Grayson got up close and personal with a bull's very large tongue. "ouuuu, slimy," he said.

Click on any of the pictures to see a larger image.

Easter 2009 with the Chatt's

So, because the awesome Island Real Estate Vacation Rental team had everything under control at the office I was able to take Saturday and Sunday off on Easter Weekend. It was a great two days together as a family.

On Saturday we spent some time outside at the trampoline. Sat out on our swing and enjoyed the wonderful Florida Spring Day. We bowled on our Wii as well as all became rock stars and had our 15 minutes of fame. Yah, ok it was just on Rock Star on the Wii but it is great fun.

Easter day we got up at the crack of dawn and headed out to the Bradenton Yacht club for their Easter Egg hunt at 10 AM. It was a well organized event that was separated into two groups. Grayson was in the smaller children group and they smartly started the toddlers first then the bigger children. Below you will find the video I took of the Easter Egg hunt.

After the Easter Egg hunt Jennifer had made previous reservations for a 10:30 AM Easter Brunch at the yacht club. They had raw oysters, shrimp, make to order omelette's, plenty of other choices as well as lots of deserts. They also had $2 special cocktails.

After stuffing ourselves we headed over to Emerson Point to walk around a little. It is only a few minutes from the Bradenton Yacht club. We ran into a number of wonderful large family barbecue cookouts. The barbecue person of the family through a gas barbecue grill in their truck and brought it to the beach and by noon the entire family had arrived for what appeared to be a delicious barbecue even after we stuffed ourselves.

We watched a few kayakers head out from the point and enjoyed the views at Emerson point. We took our 25 minute drive to Anna Maria Island and we all crashed except for Grayson. Of course with his energy level he made it through the entire day without the normal "feast" nap.

We closed out the day with a three way bowling game on the Wii where Jennifer proceeded to beat the guys of the family. Grayson is just like his daddy, both of us don't like to lose. After our father and son tantrum, we calmed down and quickly turned off the game to be played another day. I knew I lost due to being well out of the "zone" and unsure Grayson's reason for losing but would guest that missing his nap could not have helped. I am sure we both will rethink a future bowling game in the future against Jennifer.

What a fantastic Easter. Wish you all could have been with us. Hope you had a wonderful Easter also!

Grayson in the local newspaper at Heritage Days

Grayson and Jennifer made Heritage days on Pine Avenue in early March, 2009. Grayson wearing his Harley Davidson shirt somehow peaked the photographers interest and they snapped a number of shots. Heritage Days had some great exhibits to help us all learn a little about Anna Maria history. Here is the link to the Herald Tribune where Grayson is shown in a photo. Click on the photo below to enlarge it and you can read most of the article. Thanks to Melissa, the principal of Steam Designs for sending the JPG article!



If you have never visited the Anna Maria Historical museum it is a must visit. Here is some information on Anna Maria history.

Grayson having fun on trampoline and Spring Break 2009

Grayson had a lot of fun on his Spring Break 2009. My schedule was a bit crazy this week so during the week I worked all week however Jennifer spent the entire week with Grayson. The weekend prior to Spring Break we pulled out the trampoline. The Trampoline has NOT been up since 2000 in Colorado. We have moved the trampoline several times and it is a pain with large pipes that become the stand for the trampoline...

So how many moves? (CORRECTION, This is what wives are for. I have just been reminded that the trampoline was purchased in Youngstown, Ohio back in 1997, so add one move to the series) Three locations in Boulder, Colorado where I recall putting the trampoline in storage, in the rafters of the garage which was about 14' up. I think that may have been the first back breaking initiation that pulled my back out and to this day still gives me problems. Then we moved to Newport, RI in a sea cost winter house, then on to our second location in RI where once again I stored most of the 5' long structure pipes to the rafters of the garage. On to Anna Maria Island Florida, where I moved it from side to side in the garage and finally to across the street to our second garage. Finally to Key Royale where last weekend we pulled it out and put it up in our back yard. Good as new even though it has seen some serious travel time and has not been opened in 9 years!...scary. Longer than Grayson is old.

The below videos are two fold. One of our back yard on Key Royale that features Grayson having fun on his new toy...the trampoline.

The second video is Grayson and Jennifer at the Tampa Zoo where he was waiting to go on a roller coaster named the Tiger...