Take The Floor - Dublin

Last night Abby had her first Take The Floor performance at the Helix in Dublin, Ireland. They actually streamed the performance live over the Internet which was cool for those of us who couldn't make it all the way over to Ireland. Here are a few clips we video taped from the computer monitor as the performance was streaming live (hopefully they'll stream their next two performances as well in Limerick and Derry). The quality wasn't the greatest, and we missed a couple great segments where Abby danced, including one dance where she did the splits at the very end! I believe she appeared in about 8 dances, but it's hard to tell from this footage where she is at on the stage. Hopefully they'll post a replay on YouTube later. In the meantime, here is part of what we watched.

Happy Birthday Andrew!

Today our baby boy turns 14 and he enters High School this fall. My how time flies (and my how big he has grown). Not sure what we'll be doing for his birthday this evening, but here is a short video I created in 2008 that includes some of his baby/kid pictures growing up (click link below to go to video).

 Andrew Birthday 2009 Video

For his birthday, mom and dad took Andrew to Tres Portillos Mexican restaurant. We promised not tell them it was his birthday (but our fingers were crossed).

Summer Vacation

As is tradition, the Hollywood Four enjoyed a family summer vacation a week ago. As has been the theme the past few years, hiking in the mountains was the focal point of our vacation. This year we started off by spending two nights in Buffalo, NY where we visited Niagara Falls, Canada; and then went to a Buffalo Bisons baseball game. Then we traveled to Lake Placid, NY where we enjoyed a variety of activities over 5 days and four nights, including wine-tasting, dining, swimming, and hiking four Adirondack mountain trails: Baker Mt., Pitchoff Mt., Whiteface Mt., and Cascade Mt. We also hiked a nice waterfall trail called Stag Brook Falls. After that, we traveled to Lake George where we spent the day at Six Flags The Great Escape park;  as well as more swimming, wining and dining. Then we traveled to Skaneateles (part of Finger Lakes regions) where we stayed in a nice lodge-style hotel, and enjoyed some shopping, wining and dining. Our last evening was spent with the McEuen's in Painted Post, NY. Then on the way home we took in a Jamestown Jammers game. The five  videos below contain both still and moving picture highlights from this year's vacation.

Cuyahoga Falls Riverfront Irish Festival

This post is a little overdue, but here are some clips of Abby dancing at the Cuyahoga Falls Riverfront Irish Festival a couple weekends ago.

A Weekend in Louisville

This weekend we traveled to Louisville, KY so that Abby could dance in the 17th Annual Louisville Feis competition; and for some family "Father's Day" fun. On the way down on Friday, we stopped at the Tanger Outlet Mall in Jefferson, OH. After that, we proceeded to our hotel in downtown Louisville where we then walked to a cool restaurant located adjacent to the minor league baseball stadium for dinner. On the way back we enjoyed the tail-end (no pun intended) of the annual Gay Pride parade in Louisville. After that, dad enjoyed a quick shot of moonshine at Hillbilly Tea cafe. On Saturday, while Abby and mom waited for the dance competition to start, dad and Andrew went to the Barton 1792 bourbon distillery for a quick tour (and some samples for dad). We even made it back in time to watch Abby dance to a 2nd place finish in her competition. That evening we spent at the Churchill Downs race tracks (we didn't win much), but had a great time nonetheless. On the home on Sunday we stopped a crazy marketplace in Cincinnati called Jungle Jim's International Market - which is more than 200,000 square feet of shopping space and has over 150,000 food and beverage products from around the world. The highlight reel below contains some pictures and a video clips from our weekend.

TMSA Conference

As I wrote about on The PartnerShip Connection Blog last week, I again attended the Transportation Marketing & Sales Association (TMSA) Annual Conference & Expo. This year it was held in Ponte Verda Beach, FL. The weather was hot and the conference was insightful. However, one of the highlights was a networking event on the first day held at TPC Sawgrass - location of this year's PGA Championship. The short video clip below shows a few highlights from the event, including my tee shot -- which landed a couple feet from the hole -- on the notorious par-3, 17th hole, which features an island green.

Andrew Graduates 8th Grade

Today Andrew officially graduated from middle school and will be heading for high school as a freshman. He will also be joining his senior sister - meaning both Andrew and Abby will be attending the same school again for the first time since 2005. Here are a few pictures of Andrew and some of his fellow graduates; and a video clip of Andrew crossing over to high school.