Back From Spring Training

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

The boys and I are back from Spring Training.  We left on Tuesday and returned mid-day today.  Zayde flew with us to Tampa, but returned back to Philadelphia today after his two-month Austin stay.

We didn't leave until late Tuesday afternoon and got in the evening in Tampa and then drove to Bradenton.  On Wednesday, the Pirates were playing about an hour and 45 minutes south of Bradenton in Ft. Myers against the Twins.  On the way, we stopped at a restaurant called Quarter A Cup Cafe.  Every time the filled your cup of coffee it was a quarter.  The food was very good.  Noah ate well there.  The Pirates won the game.  One of Evan's favorite players, Gerrit Cole, started the game so Evan was excited.  He got one autograph there.  After the game we went to a Steelers Bar and Restaurant called Nick and Stella's.

On Thursday, we again, had to drive south, but not as far, only about an hour, to Port Charlotte to see the Pirates vs the Rays.  Before we went, we went miniature golfing.  Evan did very well.  He had a string of a hole in one followed by 4 two shots.  From there, we went back to the Quarter A Cup Cafe for breakfast.  Unfortunately, the Pirates lost.  The game wasn't a very good game.  For dinner we went to the Longhorn Steakhouse.

On Friday, we drove to Pirate City to watch the Pirates minor leaguers.  Evan really seemed to enjoy it.  At one point I asked him if he was ready to go and he said he wanted to stay longer.  We then went to Popi's for lunch.  Then we went to the field to see the Pirates play the Phillies.  Our friends from Austin, Evan's coach from last year in baseball and his wife, and their sons who played baseball with Evan met us at the stadium.  Evan and Carter particularly had fun with each other.  My cousin, Aaron, also drove down for Tampa for the game.  It was nice seeing everyone. For dinner we went to the Anna Maria Oyster Bar with the Merrimans.  We enjoyed our time with the them.  The adults ate at one table while the four boys ate at another.  It started off well, but they got progressively louder as the meal wore on.  All in all, I think everyone had fun.

Today, we got up at 4:30am Eastern, and drove to Tampa.  The boys and I had to fly to Dallas first and then to Austin.  Our flight from Dallas to Austin ended up being delayed.  It was good to be home when we got here.  Lizzy was very excited to see me and Calvin was very excited to see the boys.  Rachel said that Calvin was clinging to her all week long.  I think he's now used to the attention he gets from the boys.

The boys are in the shower now and about to go to bed.

Until next time...