Spring Break 2018 - Updates from Spring Training

The baseball team had multiple coaches/chaperones on the trip. The chaperone Canyon was assigned to was awesome in sending us updates and pictures of the boys. Some families that watched some of the scrimmages also sent us updates and pictures. The boys worked hard all day with early starts and training through the afternoon. The boys were fortunte to train at the Baltimore Orioles spring training area. Most of their evenings were spent on the beach or hanging with their team. Sounds like the boys had a great time. Here are some of the pictures we received....

Spring Break 2018 - 2nd Stop Pass-a-Grille/St. Pete's Beach

On Tuesday, we left Siesta Key and headed north to St. Pete's beach. Mom always likes a "must-see" attraction. So we started our adventure at the Sunken Gardens, one of the oldest roadside tourist attractions in the United States. We were pleasantly surprised with this botanical paradise in the midst of a bustling city. Our lodging was at the cute Coconut Inn in Pass-a-Grille, a super cute area just south of the busy St. Pete's beach area. Once again, we enjoyed the beautiful sunset.




On our 2nd day in St. Pete's Beach area, we headed to Fort De Soto State park, a beautiful park with miles of pristine beaches. We started our morning kayaking in the mangroves. We were fortunate to see beautiful birds, discover some friendly manatees that let us get up close and personal. In the afternoon, we played with the wave runner in the ocean ("goalie training"). As always, we ended with dinner and sunset on the beach.




Our 3rd day, we took a boat ride to Egmont Key, a unique wildlife refuge that also contains the history of Fort Dade -- built in the late 1890s as the US prepared for the Spanish-American War. It was a pretty windy day with pretty big waves. We spent most of our time on the island exploring the beaches, Ft. Dade ruins, and looking for turtles. We ended our day with a sunset dinner (and Survivor on the big screen in our room).

Spring Break 2018 - 1st Stop Siesta Key & Sarasota

This year was a big milestone spring break for the Pergande family. It was exactly one year after Dad completed cancer treatment (we had to skip spring break in 2017). And it was the first spring break that the 4 of us would not be traveling as a family. This year, Canyon had to travel with the high school baseball team for spring training in Sarasota, FL. Families are invited to watch training and can see their kids in the evenings (as long as it doesn't conflict with baseball activities). Since this was Canyon's first year, we decided to also spring break in Florida. We stayed in Siesta Key, which is about 15 minutes from the boys' hotel and was also named one of the top beaches in the country.

We all arrived on Friday. Mom, Dad, and Presley spent our first full day on Siesta Key, playing at the beach at our hotel, taking the trolley into town, enjoying the sunset and enjoying dinner at the Lobster Pot.





On Sunday, Easter, we picked up Canyon and 4 other boys and took them out for brunch. We then took them to Siesta Key public beach with our pals, the Englebrekts. While the boys mostly did their own thing at the beach, we did enticed them back every once in with cold Gatorades. While it was just a brief time with them, it was nice to see them enjoying their time as friends and and as a team.





After some gelato, we dropped them off at their hotel and headed back to the beach for a Siesta Key tradition -- a huge sunset drum circle! Ron brought his drums for this occasion. He didn't actually play the drums but he was happy to have them for the photo opportunity.

Domino, our foster kitty, is pregnant!

All fosters must be spayed or neutered before they can be adopted. Domino, our foster kitty, was scheduled to be spayed when we got an unexpected call they wanted to have her checked because they thought she might have cancer. When we took her in for a "precheck", we found out that she doesn't have cancer but actually may be pregnant. No way we were going to let them take and kill those little babies. Since we are heading out of town on spring break soon, our rescue organization has found another foster family to take Domino to see her through the birth of these little kitties. We are going to miss this sweet soul sooooo much!

AP US History Field Trip

Canyon's "APUSH" class was having a field trip to visit Stone Arch Bridge, James J. Hill House, the St. Paul Cathedral, the newly renovated Capitol and Grand Avenue in St. Paul for lunch. They needed parent chaperones for the trip. Much to Canyon's dismay, I signed up to chaperone with one my friends (another Mom) :). This was a super easy and fun field trip to chaperone because all of these kids are responsible and we just got to go along for the ride (they had us on separate buses from our kids). It was like our own personal tour that ended in a fun lunch. Here are a couple of pics from the day....

Standing underneath Stone Arch Bridge. Stone Arch Bridge, a former railroad bridge crossing the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in downtown Minneapolis. It was built by railroad tycoon James J. Hill for his Great Northern Railway. It is the only arched bridge made of stone on the entire length of the Mississippi River. Today it is a pedestrian and bicycle bridge.



Standing outside the James J. Hill house (see Canyon avoiding Mom)...



The 3 "APUSH" classes outside the St. Paul Cathedral, overlooking downtown St. Paul. The cathedral is the 3rd largest church in the US.

A new foster stops by the Pergande household!

When we started fostering, our goal was to save animals that would otherwise be killed. We "failed" with our 2nd foster Roxxy when we adopted her so we wanted to make sure we got back to fostering again in 2018. We also thought it might be fun for Roxxy to have a playmate in the house. Our first foster of 2018 is actually a beautiful young cat named Domino. We weren't sure how the dog/cat situation would work out so we decided to set up the cat in the office to give Roxxy and Domino some adjustment time to get to know each other. Here's a pic of Roxxy and Domino "meeting" each other.



But we forgot how agile cats are. Domino very quickly "broke out" of her room. She immediately told Roxxy who was boss and stated to explore all the features of our house. Roxxy kept her distance but let Domino that she wanted to be her friend.



Within 24 hours, Roxxy and Domino started to warm up to each other and Domino "settled in" quite nicely.



Within 48 hours, the two were becoming fast friends -- hanging out on the couch, helping me with our taxes, and even taking naps together. Such a great experience to see two different species get to know each other and respect each other. Wish humans could do the same....

Other March Happenings

Wanted to share a couple of highlights from our month of March! Ron has the opportunity to take customers to the Wild Game every year. This year, he took his buddy and colleague Michael (from St. Louis) to the Wild vs. Blues game. Wild win!!



For the last couple of years, Mom tries to see all the Academy nominated "best picture" movies. This year, I actually saw all of them and hosted an Oscar viewing party. These are the my movie watching buddies that do the annual tradition with me outside our last movie of the season!



Mom takes Roxxy for a walk in the trails by our house on most nice days. After our most recent snow, Mom talked Presley into joining us. Absolutely stunning!