Where did April go?

I can't believe how fast this past month has gone. Well kinda I guess.
Steph started back at work and jumped right into the swing of things again by spending most of her days in meetings. I think she secretly wants to stay home and schedule meetigs around yoga class and lunches with other stay-at-homes. Wait - that's no secret.
April began a tripling of work for me. My Customer Service group that used to have 5 people is down to 2. We had a little reorganizing of our group and the other 3 went to Service Delivery. So now I have 3 represent instead of just one. I now have my original Sales and have added Research and Develpment and the Medical/Regulatory departments. I would guess it's about 70% of the company. Needless to say I'm a bit busier.

Easter took us to Connecticut to spend time with the Opalka's and Shawvers (Karen's family). We had a great time and it went by very quickly as those visits often do. Addison did very well in the car so there weren't any extra stops. We did borrow a GPS for the trip this time so I wouldn't have to try and read directions going through NY traffic. It saved us a couple of times and if we did more of that travel I would invest in one. Right now it seems better to borrow one for the weekend.

Dylan figured out last night that he has about a month of school left. He was pretty excited about it and is ready for the summer to begin. I think we all are. We spent last weekend (or 2) cleaning up around the outside and getting the pool area ready for opening. I just got the call a few minutes ago that the pool is officially opened and should be ready for swimmers in a few days. That is if you can handle 65 degree water. I'll wait until about mid June personally.

For Dylan's birthday we hosted a family oriented cookout/Kentucky Derby party. Since the Derby is always the weekend of/after Dylans actual birthday we've had people over for at least the last 3. Next year we are making it mandatory to wear a hat. I'm debating on wether to wear a cowboy hat or the pig ear cap if I can find it. I'm leaning toward the pig ears. Speaking of pigs - I cooked about 5 slabs of ribs for the party. MMMmmmm ribs.... they came out pretty well. Drakeel came over and helped make a home-made sauce from the drippings. That was a first for both of us and it came out pretty well. The other first for the weekend was Kevin Conway and I figuring out how to make Mint Julep. We're getting there. It was tough because we both prefer to take our Makers Mark straight so we were happy not to have too much sugar or mint in it. I think I'll be working on those over the summer as they are pretty light and 'summery'.
This past weekend (9th) we had Dylan's birhtday party with his friends. We took them to play Laser Tag. We had 8 kids and 4 adults in there for our group - Russ joined Steph, Carrie and I - and I'm not sure who had more fun. It's dark in there and Dylan did get clocked across the eye with the butt of one of his friends gun. He's got a bit of a black eye and a scratch. He took it pretty much in stride. Since it was dark in there I didn't see how bad it was when it happened so I basically got him calmed down and asked if he wanted to leave. He said no and ran off. It wasn't until we were out of there 15 minutes later did I see the bruise forming around his eye. We got it iced down and it's not so bad now.
Chloe and Addison have been spending their days with Aunt Alice. It has been great. She comes to pick up the girls from our house in the mornings and I meet her at a park to get them back. Alice - who has 3 boys of her own (Jr. Hi, High School and College) is getting used to dealing with girls. I think she's enjoying it but I know she's tired at the end of the day. Aren't we all. Chloe really enjoyed hanging around Middle School play rehearsals a few weeks ago. Alice was helping with sound so Addie and Chloe got to go until I picked them up. Both girls had a little fan club of 12-13 year old girls showering them with attention. When we went to the play Chloe had a number of girls wave to her and call out to her. She was eating it up and felt very important.
Addison is doing well. She's growing quite a bit and is getting more and more interactive. She is starting to try and roll over. It's only a matter of time before we have to baby proof the house and move breakables up above the 3 foot level.
Major News - We are now a cat free house. I'm not going into a lot of detail but I'm sure they will find a good home and I now have my basement back.
Salt and Pepper Update. The website is active - www.saltandpepperchefs.com and video is posted. We've done 2 local news shows recently and have another on the 28th. We are in the beginning stages of talks with a local station to become regular guests. Nothing final yet but I did get the directiveto start writing those recipes down. Amazingly, that is pretty hard for me to do. Something I have to work on though.