LeBron and Friends

Thanks to Richard winning a lottery from the Cavs, we attended the first playoff game today. The Cavs played the Wizards and beat them quite soundly. Our seats were in the top row of the Q. It was really high, but we did have lots of leg room. The game was fun and getting our picture taken with LeBron made the day even more interesting.

Fun at the park with Lily

We spent some time with Lily at the park today. Spring has finally arrived in Ohio. Her favorite new word is "okay".

Virginia Hamilton Conference

Today was the 23rd Annual Virginia Hamilton Conference on Multicultural Literature for Youth. I have attended about 10 of them. Dr. Carolyn Brodie, one of my favorite professors from library school, was in charge of the event. Eloise Greenfield, Pam Munoz Ryan, and Javaka Steptoe were featured authors and illustrators. I spent the day with Kay Wise, a librarian friend from my days in Portage County. She introduced me to illustrator Will Hillenbrand during a break. As you can see, he signed my program.

California Visit

On Wednesday we flew to San Francisco. Then we took the BART, a very cool and easy to ride train. Matt picked us up at the end of the line - not far from Livermore. We very much enjoyed spending time with Maddie and Gracie. Among other things, we visited the park, the playground at the local school and the community East Egg Hunt. Of course, we watched more NCAA basketball.
At the Easter Egg Hunt we were next to a person who looked just like Vin Diesel. Well, it was California. After I arrived back home I checked out his website. It noted he has a twin brother. So who knows? Gracie and Maddie both picked up several eggs, so the event was a success.

California Visit

We went to California for my spring break. Part 1 describes our visit in Southern California. We attended the South Bay Christian Church on Sunday. We also went to a Bible Study on Tuesday evening. We hung out at our favorite coffee shop, walked down to the ocean and went to a wonderful children's bookstore called Storyopolis in Studio City. It is always fun to visit Ben and Katherine. Of course, we watched some NCAA basketball, too. Congratulations to Ben for being the big winner in the contest this year.