Spring break is coming up very soon here in Pinellas County (and going on right now for some of the private schools and for Hillsborough County) and if you were wondering what to do with your restless kids all week, consider wearing them out at Airheads Trampoline Arena! Remember when I did a trampoline fitness class there with the Tampa Bay Bloggers? It was so much fun and I can attest that it will burn any excess energy the kids may have. A one day all-you-can-jump pass is $16.95, but they have just introduced a “Fun Pass” which is an all-you-can-jump package that offers seven days of non-stop activity for $29.95 per person.

And they’ve given me two fun passes to give away on the blog! Just leave a comment TELLING ME YOU’D LIKE TO WIN A FUN PASS and I’ll have Mack pick two winners this weekend (I promise). This contest is closed. Winners have been notified. Congratulations to Ali and Jessica!

So, this past weekend was so busy and I feel like I still haven’t had a chance to come up for air. I’m going to run it down as briefly as possible.

Friday night was the Brookwood Carnival, benefitting Brookwood Florida, a residential group home for teen girls.

My friend Kelly offered to drive, so I was ready for some fun.

A couple of my IRunMommies friends are on the board at Brookwood and helped organize the event, so my girls came out in force to support this great cause.

I guess I don’t need to mention that it was a Mardi Gras theme. The Lakewood High School Jazz Band was there playing live music and they also had a DJ. We danced the night away.

Val, Ali, and I teamed up and together we won the “best mask” competition.

My triathlon relay team from TriRock Clearwater Triathlon were all in attendance.

We had the best night and hopefully helped to raise a bunch of money for Brookwood.

I know I did my part with the raffles and my bar tab. One of the former residents of Brookwood gave a speech about her experience there and the difference it made in her life. It was so moving and made me even more happy that I decided to support this charity.

Thank you again for driving Kelly! I am totally blaming you for the raging hangover I had on Saturday. I intended to get up and run ten miles, but that didn’t happen. I was way too sick.

I did manage to rally just a bit in order to show up for the Southeastern Guide Dogs Walkathon Saturday morning.

It was a gorgeous morning and Chewie was so happy to be included in our plans!

I couldn’t let our fundraising team, Team Woofin’ It, down.

My friend Katie of A Full Plate organized our team and she did an amazing job getting sponsors and keeping us motivated to raise money for this fabulous organization. There were so many people out there and so many dogs! I think I heard that there were over a thousand people walking, and they also had walkathons in a few other nearby cities. All of the walkathons generated over half a million dollars for the organization!

Chewie couldn’t keep his eyes off of the hundreds of dogs all around him.

The walk was three kilometers around the waterfront and along Beach Drive downtown.

They had more water stops (for people AND dogs) than a half marathon!

Chewie is a great dog but he isn’t the most socialized beagle in the world just because we are so busy and don’t get him around other dogs often enough. He’s generally friendly at a dog park, but sometimes on a leash he will have a scuffle with another dog. He did pretty well at the walkathon and was friendly to 98% of the dogs he sniffed. He just had a couple of little growl-ups, but no real throw-downs. I was nervous about it, but he did really well and made it across the finish line without embarrassing me too much.

It was a fun morning and helped clear away a few of my hangover cobwebs.

But not all of them. I spent the rest of the day on the couch unable to do anything productive. My Friday night fun was worth it.

Sunday morning the boys and I went to the preview for the opening of the new Outspokin Bicycle store in Tampa.

Sunday afternoon we all went to an annual party thrown by some of our friends in honor of St. Joseph’s Day.

We have been lucky enough to be invited to this party for many years but this year it was almost like being at a new house because our friends recently did a huge renovation. Check out their new GORGEOUS kitchen!

When the priest walked into the house and saw the new kitchen he exclaimed, “Oh my God!” I thought that was pretty funny. This celebration, also known as “The feast of St.Joseph” is definitely a huge Italian feast at our friends’ annual party.

“Baby” was in charge of keeping the floors cleaned.

We are honored to be included in this tradition and have a great excuse to eat tons of delicious homemade pasta. So much for avoiding grains.

Well, that was it for the weekend. It was awesome. I don’t think I could have packed anymore awesomeness into it considering the hangover, and without the hangover it wouldn’t have been so awesome.

Cya.

Ah, it’s been one of those weekends. I’ve had four fabulous events within a 48 hour period. Throw in at least twelve hours of debilitating hangover and you are left with very little time to blog about all of the fabulousness. I want to record it all for posterity and for your edification, but I’m going to go out of order because I want everyone to know NOW about the opening of Outspokin Bicycles newest store in south Tampa!

You can stop by now as they are ready for business, but their Grand Opening celebration starts next weekend. As you can see above, they are going to have lots of great events and PRIZES, so stop by and check it out!

This morning a few of my blogger friends and I were treated to a little preview of the gorgeous new store in Tampa. The boys and I were up and at ‘em and somehow got three bikes loaded into the back of my micro mini-van.

Over the Gandy Bridge we went and we were at the South Dale Mabry location in about twenty minutes.

My friend Christie O. (of Average Moms Wear Capes) greeted us and took these family shots for us:

This store is HUGE and beautiful. The bright, welcoming colors invite you in and make you want to hang out for a while.

I was kind of mesmerized just by the beautifully stained concrete floors. Seriously, I had to comment on them to J.P., the head guru there just behind Cal’s head.

I met Val and Stan, the owners of Outspokin Bicycles, and they were so nice. This is Val:

She told us about how she really wanted the store to be especially welcoming and accessible to women.

The women’s section of the store did not disappoint with tons of fashionable and functional gear and apparel especially designed for us.

They also had a great kids’ section.

Can you see those adorable kids’ singlets hanging up there above? Here’s a closer view:

and one on my model:

Probably my favorite part of the shop was the kids’ hang-out area:

They have Netflix which kept my “big kids” happy, but they also have that little table and a bunch of toys to keep the little guys entertained. Genius. I also let Cal have a sample from the Keurig machine. Yes, I let my eleven year old have coffee occasionally. So sue me.

Of course the men are not left out. This store, a Giant retail partner, has it all.

I was blown away by their Compu-Trainer room. They have six bike trainers set up in there (and plan to add two more), so you can bring your own bike and set it up on the trainer for a spin class.

The trainers are all connected to a computer and you can train on any one of numerous famous courses.

The computer will automatically adjust the resistance on ALL of the bikes to match the course. For example, ever considered doing the Iron Man Lake Placid? Come to Outspokin Tampa and ride the course beforehand.

They also have this fabulous dynamic bike-fitting machine (sorry I don’t know the technical term), called a Retül Müve.

With the help of a certified specialist, you get on the machine and they figure out the perfect set up for you ON the machine. Then, based on all of the settings and measurements on the machine, they can recommend the best brand and style of bike for you OR they can get the bike you already own set up to match those ideal settings as closely as possible. I am definitely going to be bringing Specialized Snowflake in to get a proper bike fitting, as I never really did that and I know it’s not set up in the best way for me.

Even the “behind the scenes” areas of this store are beautiful. Even the restrooms. Yes, I’m going to show you pictures of the restrooms because I think they are very important separating an OK bike shop from a fabulous one. Check out the exposed brick:

Val hand-picked all of the fixtures.

And remember I mentioned that she stayed focused on what would make WOMEN feel comfortable? A well-appointed restroom is one of those things.

They also have two showers, one of which is wheelchair accessible.

Check out the “employees only” full-service kitchen!

Seriously guys, you know we’ve been looking at houses lately. These restrooms and this kitchen are much nicer than we’ve seen in many, many of the houses we’ve looked at. I think I could pretty happily live here. If we have to do any remodeling I may hire Val as my designer.

The bike techs seemed pretty happy in their workshop beyond the kitchen.

In addition to learning all about the shop, this preview event was a little Tampa Bay Blogger meet-up and I was psyched to get to hang out with my friends.

(On the far left is Denise, one of our ride guides for the day. Then the bloggers Jess of Cuban Running Crisis, me, Denise of RunDMT, and Christie of Average Moms Wear Capes)

You know that Jess and I have a special bond…

after we spent 4 1/2 hours together doing 56+ miles for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Cycle for Life.

The boys, us bloggers, and our guides Kelby and Denise set off for a fun ride through south Tampa.

We rode through some beautiful neighborhoods.

Pretty soon we arrived at the waterfront on Bayshore Boulevard.

It was a gorgeous morning with just a slight chill in the air but sunshine as far as the eye could see.

We passed tons of walkers, joggers, and other cyclists.

We stopped right at the end of Bayshore near the turn off to Davis Island.

Our guides Denise and Kelby:

The boys were getting tired and with their little BMX bikes, I wasn’t sure if they were up for tackling the bridges over to the island. So Kelby took the lady bloggers on for a spin around the island and Denise headed back to the store with the boys and me.

Once we were back we enjoyed a great lunch of flatbreads and salads provided by Sea Dog Brewing Company.

This barbecue and PICKLE pizza was the hit of the morning (photo courtesy of the lovely Christie O.):

Thanks to all the sponsors of our blogger preview event this morning at Outspokin.

And thank you so much to Outspokin Bicycles for having us! Mack thanked me multiple times for taking him this morning and Cal’s exact words were, “Mom, thanks for always taking us to such fun events.” We biked over seven miles and they had a blast. Thanks for including my kids!

Be sure to check out the grand opening of the new store this weekend. Also…

Like Outspokin Bicycles – Tampa on Facebook.
Follow Outspokin Bicycles on Twitter

Cya!

{Disclosure – Outspokin Bicycles provided us with welcoming smiles, a tour of the store, a great guided ride through south Tampa, and a goodie bag that I haven’t had a chance to look through yet. Sea Dogs Brewing Company provided us with lunch. All opinions are my own.}