Heading out for another awesome breakfast this morning. You know it’s an awesome breakfast day when you see a wicked ’69 Camero on Dale Mabry.

Today we’re revisiting one of the best breakfasts you can find in Tampa Bay, Skyway Jacks at 2795 34th St S, St Petersburg, FL. We’ve been here once or twice. Skyway Jacks was the 2009 Tampa Bay Breakfast of the Year.

We’re meeting some new friends today. Usually intrepid Ivo is being shy.

We found a fine booth, big enough for five.

Our new breakfast friend Todd. You may recognize him from his excellent work at http://toddbatescreative.com/logo.html.

And our other new breakfast friend Arielle. You may recognize her from her excellent work at Creative Loafing.

Arielle and Todd, they’re in for a treat. The boys are all wound up and pingy, extra-chaotic. I dosed them with sugar and caffeine on the way in.

Studying the menu. Like we don’t already know what it’s going to be. Bacon, eggs, pancakes, coffee. Natch.

I think this is where the taunting started. The morning ended up with Marek and Ivo taking turns taunting Todd that he was a baby and a poopy-head. This shot is of Todd saying, “I am not!”

We all had a fine coffee this morning. Had to keep our strength up for the taunting.

Marek pointed out to Todd that his professional rig was nice and all, but it was no comparison to Marek’s 10-year-old hand-me-down Kodak happy-snapper. Todd gave it a try.

Arielle and Todd asked that we get breakfast all lined up for a good picture. That’s Ivo’s headless torso you see in the “good picture,” because there’s no “good” like “good enough” with us.

Followed up by a very nice self-portrait of me, with Marek and Ivo tickling and punching in the background.

Todd is part of our Ninja Attack on breakfast this morning. There are actually throwing stars and karate chops.

See? In 30 seconds, Todd’s plate is clean as the day it was made.

The bill came. $33ish dollars. Arielle tried to take the check, but Ivo did his signature hiiyah! flip through the air, followed by a “yoink!”

The boys have special jobs now. Ivo carries the cash and Marek navigates the terrain.

Arielle, not accustomed to the independent nature of these fine breakfast boys, is a bit shocked that I never once looked over my shoulder to see if they were OK. From the look on her face, they were probably getting into trouble, eating other people’s food, getting girls’ phone numbers.

With 3-year-olds, it’s always smart to hit the facilities at every opportunity.

How did you know breakfast was good? The giant chicken will tell you!

This breakfast was pretty standard for Skyway Jacks: Awesome from start to finish, made even better by the company of Arielle and Todd. Great price, wonderful food, cool atmosphere, and new friends. As good a breakfast as you can get in Tampa Bay. We’re pleased to validate Skyway Jacks with a Tampa Bay Breakfasts Five Pancake Rating.

Blasting down the highway this morning, looking for some chow. Came across this hot little number.

That’s one sweet ride, through and through. I wished we weren’t running 70 miles an hour or I’d have been able to get a closer look.

This morning we visited Lil Bit Kuntry at 4999 71st Ave N, Pinellas Park. This was a recommendation by Tampa Bay Breakfasts fan Justin.

Kung Fu Pose from the Breakfast Boys.

In our second awesome car sighting today, we got next-to-parked by a 1962 MG. This was one nice ride. Makes the FR-S look large.

Full assault on the dining room, like a Breakfast SWAT team.

The menu is full of delightful misspellings. I’ll be honest, it took me a couple looks to realize that they were deliberate. “Wow, these are some terrible spellers.” Followed by, “oh, everything’s misspelled, it’s funny that way.”

Hot chocolate for The Marek, which is his thing now.

Sweet and Low in his coffee for Ivo, which apparently is his thing now.

How we handle head-butting children in our family.

One of the rare moments where being a father of two doesn’t seem like it was a bad idea.

Here’s breakfast, pancakes first.

Bacon, eggs, and the “Kuntry Skillet” for me. What you’re seeing here is a “two, two, and two” split down the middle.

Ivo started cutting up his pancake. He probably brought that knife from home, as the waitress didn’t give the boys knives.

Marek ‘ll tell ya, everything’s better with a little high fructose corn syrup!

Eating fork and knife European style.

This is what a breakfast looks like when it’s having to deal with The Breakfast Boys. The look on Ivo’s face? That’s him looking at someone else’s breakfast, wondering if he could get a bite of that, too.

Sixteen smackers for the bill. Not terrible. Not fabulously cheap, but not terrible.

Ivo says, I’ll pay the bill, give me your money. I say no way, man. He jumped me from behind and took the money. As you look at this picture, give appropriate sound effects: Grunt, grunt, ouch, ooof.

Me handing over a Jackson after having had wall-to-wall counseling, Ivo-style.

Ivo earned a quarter for paying the bill. Here’s the funny bit. Both him and Marek now get a coin for paying the bill. Both get very excited, very proud. And by the time we get home, both manage to lose their coins.

The FR-S is a family car. Here’s Ivo doing a less than graceful ingress into the vehicle.

It kept getting worse. By which I mean funnier. A better father would have helped him rather than just taking pictures of him struggling.

Marek picked up a business card on our way out, just in case we needed to call for take-out bacon.

Afterwards, we went up the road to the Wagon Wheel flea market. I remember going there when I was Marek’s age. When you pay to park they give you coupons for drinks and hotdogs. So those were the boys’ “tickets” to the flea market. I’m finding that there’s a lot of fun and magic to things like this.

Marek, negotiating for a big car. He settled on a 1/32nd Nissan Skyline. Really good taste this boy has.

Ivo and Marek, comparing purchases. (They both got two dollars, and spend it well.)

Good breakfast at Lil Bit Kuntry. The Kuntry Skillet wasn’t really to my liking. It was fine, but full of sausage gravy, which is something I don’t really like too much of at one time. Pancakes were nicely done, bacon good, eggs hit the mark. Clientele were friendly. Not a bad breakfast, worth a stop if you’re in the area. We’re pleased to give Lil Bit Kuntry a Tampa Bay Breakfasts four pancake rating.

In a surprising twist, Favorite Guest Reviewer Mom and Ivo went on a breakfast by themselves, while Marek and I were off working. They asked that we publish a proper review anyway, which I think is going to work out just fine. They visited Doe Doe’s Diner at 9395 Bay Pines Blvd N, St Petersburg, FL 33708. Doe Doe’s was a recommendation from Tampa Bay Breakfasts fan Kathy R. a while back.

Check out the marquee sign. “Be kind.” That’s a positive sentiment.

Remember, Favorite Guest Reviewer Mom took our photographs for this review and handed them to me to write it up for her. So I’m going to just make stuff up.

I imagine she took this picture to give us a chance to comment on how odd it is that they close half an hour earlier on the weekend. Half an hour seems almost silly, why not just close at the same time and have a smaller sign?

The menu has scrapple on it. Grandpa would be pleased to see that. It’s surprising to me just how many places in the Tampa Bay Area serve scrapple. I can think of half a dozen.

Ivo is wearing the Stuttgart VfB shirt our friends from Stuttgart gave Marek a few years ago. Marek could wear it for about four months before outgrowing it.

We met these nice Germans, by the way, a couple days after our first anniversary, back in the mid-1990s. There’s a friendship that’s stuck through the decades.

Daily specials. Now, if the grammar police were here, which they are because Andy’s writing this, we’d feel compelled to point out that this menu appears to be serving “Atkins” as a menu item rather than a description of a specific item. Given that the Atkins Diet was created by Dr. Robert Atkins, who died a few years ago, we can certainly hope that he’s not actually … on the menu.

The dining room appears clean and welcoming. We like to see the counter to sit at. I’m seeing this for the first time, just like you are, dear reader.

It’s always a good experience when they give kids crayons and allow them to mark up the place. Ivo surely is adorable. He got lucky he looks like his mom.

Favorite Guest Reviewer Mom always likes the French Toast. A little scrambled eggs and bacon here, too, because she was out on the wild side without her husband this morning.

Pancakes for Ivo. Obviously NOT mommed-up by mom in this photograph.

The whole bill weighed in at under 10 bucks, which doesn’t look too shabby.

Good food, nice folks, and a cheap bill. What’s not to love. Mom and Ivo give this one a Tampa Bay Breakfasts four pancake rating.

Today is Mother’s Day. Favorite Guest Reviewer Mom had a choice. Sleep late and have the morning to herself, or get up and come to breakfast with us. She made the right choice.

For Mother’s Day, Mom opted for The Hangar. She heard there were airplanes (so maybe she could make a run for it?). The Hangar is at Albert Witted Airport in St. Pete and was our Breakfast of the Year in 2010.

Our favorite table. This is the table where if you listen closely, you can hear the sound of Ivo endangering his life by trying to stand on his chair to look at stuff.

Marek is lecturing Mom on the finer points of ordering. “You see,” says he, “it’s very important to get extra butter for your eggs.”

This railing is the single most irresistible thing in Ivo’s life. He simply cannot not climb it.

Father-son pose. This was taken moments before Ivo managed to hurl a chair at an airplane.

He didn’t do that, but I keep expecting something violent out of him. He may look sweet, but don’t trust this boy.

We picked up a map on the way in. Ivo’s looking for good spots to visit and terrible-two-terrorize. Terrible two-er-ize. Terri-two-er-ize.

Favorite Guest Reviewer Mom is going to have the waffle. She was disappointed that there’s no French toast.

A round of coffee for everyone! From the look on Marek’s face, you’d think his tastes like pickles.

Ivo needs his jolt of caffeine to keep the energy up.

Poof! Here’s Ivo in Marek’s chair! Note the magician pose. With a smoke cloud around him, you’d think he was The Amazing Ivo instead of just Ivo.

We live in Tampa but we like playing like tourists. People from around the world pay a lot of money to visit this place we call home. Marek went to the tourist map rack downstairs and got us information on things to see.

A Mother’s Day Cheers!

Spiderman shoes! Fast. Stylish. Not in adult sizes.

And here comes breakfast! Ivo, always ready with the knife. He actually brought this one with him, strapped to his jackboot.

A lovely, yet somewhat plain-looking and unadorned, waffle for Mom.

A heap of bacon and a pancake for Marek. Odd, though, that we didn’t actually want two pancakes for the boys.

This pancake looks like it’s the victim of a brutal back-alley knife fight. It’s like Ivo stabbed that pancake so he could steal the pancake’s strawberry wallet.

And for me, the lovely spinach and brie omelet, which is just outstanding.

Marek has taken to calling us, “The Fabulous Breakfast Boys.” That’s because he learned to read this last month, I mean it all clicked with him and words started jumping out and he started reading our little blog for himself. His world just opened up and he’s thrilled.

So here we are, The Fabulous Breakfast Boys.

Extra butter for the eggs. Just like we said. I think that’s disgusting, but who am I to complain?

Airplanes!

The bill needed a forklift, weighing in at $45.

After we settled up we went downstairs to the lounge and sat in the comfy couches, like we were waiting to go on a flight to someplace exotic.

This is the Andy Method, by the way. Find fun and interesting public spaces and just hang out. Amazing how much fun you can have without paying heaps of cash for theme parks.

After The Hanger, we went to the Seminole Heights Market to walk around and enjoy the lovely Florida Springtime.

And we got to pet some birds. No, Ivo, we’re not getting a bird.

Isn’t Mom just lovely today?

This was our third visit to The Hangar. We love coming here for the high quality food, great ambiance, and the great views of the flight operations. The Hangar was the 2010 Tampa Bay Breakfast of the Year. But today we’re going to downgrade a half a point. While the food was excellent as usual, the whole experience was not what we’ve come to expect. Lipstick on the coffee cup and an order that showed up as what the waiter thought we wanted rather than what we said we wanted led to a feeling that The Hangar’s exceptionally-polished experience is becoming a little frayed. Still excellent, but less than we’ve come to expect from this great restaurant. For 2013 we give The Hangar a Tampa Bay Breakfasts four and a half pancake rating.

It’s our fourth anniversary for Tampa Bay Breakfasts! Here’s how we look today. (That’s a Marek and Ivo head-butting in progress you’re seeing here.)

Here’s what we looked like four years ago this week. (Which was a year and a half before Ivo hired onto the team.)

Gloomy day here in Tampa Bay. It’ll clear up. We have faith in the weatherman. The lovely Don Cesar on the horizon there. Boys were all about the big castle, wonder who lives there.

We parked next to this loader. It’s seen better days. I’ve always loved derelict equipment like this. Isn’t that odd? Ivo loves it, too.

Ivo looking for his first tetanus shot, while Marek dismounts from Driftercoaster (our new name for the car) in a most inelegant fashion. Why just get out of the car when you can get out of the car butt-first?

Lovely boys. It’s a good thing they look like their mother.

They’re worth two portraits this morning. That’s how lovely they are.

This morning we were going to go to Gayle’s Diner, but I’m strongly thinking about going across the street instead. Anything called a “megacenter” has to be awesome.

Here we are at Gayles at 455 75th Ave St Pete Beach, FL. Already from the outside we can say, this is our kind of place.

Both boys insisted on sitting at the counter. Ivo’s first time, and it’s a bit perilous. He’s about a mile off the ground. I don’t usually get nervous about his safety, but in this case I sat close and was ready to yell at him if he fell off and got seriously injured.

Marek immediately placed his order. His new thing: Home fries and bacon. And also some eggs, please.

Coffee for everyone, please, ma’am.

An old, but apparently still in-use milkshake machine. An “I almost got away with it” book about a local guy (I went to school with a guy who ended up on that show, too. The key word for the show is “almost.”) I like a place where the staff keep emergency bottles of beer on the counter, just in case.

The menu: Short but just right, all the right parts in all the right places.

And breakfast came licketysplit fast. We were still goofin’, and here’s a forklift of chow. Ivo was already sawing on the pancakes before the plate stopped moving.

Notice the daughter of the proprietress, setting up coffee filters. Marek asked me how he could get a job like that.

Arial view of breakfast. This is what we’d look like if the U.S. Geological Survey were to do this blog.

Good breakfast, upon which the boys descended with vigor. Coffee making the rounds in the diner, which is small and cozy. This is an obvious family affair that has a warm vibe.

Family portrait. This is what we’d look like if I also had a 9 year old daughter.

Notice how Ivo can’t even see over the counter? He still was able to take care of business. He’s a pro.

Here’s a milestone for this year. Marek using a fork and knife. He’s like European aristocracy this morning. Which is an improvement from his usual fingers and belching.

This look on Ivo’s face? It’s because, very likely, out of camera range he’s squeezing syrup on the floor behind his back.

A bit pricey-feeling on the bill. A Jackson covers it, but barely.

Ivo raised his hand first so he got the job.

The folks behind us just laughed at this, when he ran off with the cash. But he showed everyone that he knows what he’s doing.

After we left Gayle’s, we headed straight to the beach. We played in the sand, in the water, we got sunburns, Marek picked up a 6yo girl but forgot to get her number, everything boys are supposed to do at the beach.

Apples for snacks on the way home. Notice how the Scion FR-S is a family car?

Great greasy-spoon diner with serious and sincere mom-n-pop chops. Price seemed a little high, but the chow was good and plenty of it. Everyone’s friendly and there seemed to be a lot of regulars. We all had a great time at Gayle’s and are pleased to give a Tampa Bay Breakfasts four and a half pancake rating.

Ivo’s hauling Roary with him this morning. I actually brought Roary home for Marek three years ago, before you could find Roary on Sprout and you’d have to go all the way to jolly old England to find Roary.

Here’s the funniest part about it. The Roary show in the U.K. is in English, with U.K. accents, of course. Except for the American stock car race car, “Tin Top,” who has a voice like Elvis Presley. The U.S. version, they’ve dubbed all the voices into American accents … including completely changing the already-American Tin Top to a non-Elvis voice.

Marek’s playing his harmonica. I’m not smiling, I’m gritting my teeth.

My sister, Tia Cindy, got me this shirt. I’m always sort of freaked out by depictions of animals celebrating that they’re being eaten, like this pig saying “mmmm, bacon” on my shirt. I had at least three people today compliment my shirt.

This morning we’re visiting Eggstyle in Oldsmar, at 3980 Tampa Rd. They also have a flashy web site at http://www.eggstyle.com/. Note on the web site that the very first thing they say is “fast-growing,” and you’ll see on the cover of the menu a statement that “franchises are available.” The web site says there’s a location in Oldsmar, one in Sarasota, and one opening soon in St. Pete. So that’s a local chain and in-bounds for the Tampa Bay Breakfasts mission.

Except that our waiter told us that the restaurant was “a Canadian chain.”

I am confused, and a bit nonplussed by the franchisy thing.

Nice interior, but a bit over-polished. The whole experience reminds me of our visit to J. Christopher’s. More on that later.

Ivo sets out the tools. Preparation for battle. Which reminds me …

We’re actually here at the recommendation of TBB fan Greg. I met Greg in Iraq three years ago and he let me stay in his CHU and use his Kindle while I was waiting for air transport for several days. Of all the people in the world to whom I acknowledge a debt, Greg’s on the top ten for that small act of mercy.

(A CHU is a containerized housing unit, which is like Da Ritz compared to the eerily-empty 100-man tent I was originally in.)

The “eggz” thing in the menu is OK, but if you’re going to run that all the way down, call the place “Eggzstyle.” The menu is very robust, lots of ways to tamp down a hunger here. I was impressed that when we asked about how the pancakes were made, we were told we could have them our way, even though it wasn’t on the menu like that.

We had an odd hot chocolate experience. Hot water and a packet for us to stir up. First time for everything, including this.

The good stuff for The Ivo.

We actually call him “The Ivo” sometimes. Not like he’s some inanimate object, more like he’s one of a kind.

If you don’t count Ivo D.

If The Ivo were a race car, he’d be as cute as Roary. If Roary were a boy, he’d be as cute as Ivo.

Also note, Marek is next to me and not in as easy camera range, so … lots more pictures of second-son for this breakfast.

Caption contest! I vote for “Gimme your wallet or I’ll cut you.”

And about this moment, Ivo’s saying, “I’m gettin’ daddy!” Note the proper katana hand grip on this one.

Odd hot chocolate moment part deux. A nice girl who was not our waiter brought us two actual, normal hot chocolates with whipped cream and everything. This was actually preferred by The Marek.

And Ivo was delighted, because he usually doesn’t get hot chocolate. More stuff to hurl around and stress out daddy, yay!

Breakfast came on a forklift. Pancakes large enough to call donk.

Bacon, eggs, home fries. All in sufficient quantities for hungry boys.

Marek approved of the bacon. I did too, I even got a bite for once, which just goes to show that there’s adequate quantities delivered here. Usually it’s “bacono disappearo” with Marek.

Ivo, oddly enough, didn’t eat much. He was too full of juice and coffee and hot chocolate and who knows what else he’s gotten into. Probably had some tamales hidden in the car that he ate on the ride over.

Though he did take a big handful of eggs. Not a forkful, a handful. There were actual animal feeding sounds.

The sweet things 2 year olds do. Ivo pulled a piece of toast and fed it to Roary. “You eat too, Roary,” said Ivo.

Everyone join me: “awwwww….”

Then he started trying to put Tabasco in his juice.

For all this chow, the bill isn’t bad. Twenty two clams for so much we couldn’t finish it all.

“I pay the bill, dad! Me!”

OK, kid. Here ya go.

Then he shied up and wouldn’t go. But while we were sorting that out we did meet the hostess, not pictured here, who was from Czechoslovakia. The Slovak side. My few words of the language didn’t pass muster (I studied for trips I took on the Czech side, so I reckon my accent was funky).

After breakfast we took The Driftercoaster (Marek’s name for the FR-S) to the car doctor for shots and a checkup.

In the showroom where we were waiting, Ivo inspected this display FR-S. He’s pointing at the tailpipe and talking about this is what makes it go fast.

Without a doubt, these are the good old days.

Our overall experience at Eggstyle was pretty good. Some oddities, but the staff were generally friendly, helpful, and prompt. The food and ambiance were very much in the spirit of J. Christopher’s in Carollwood. An added polish that takes it a step past homey and towards that almost sterile feeling you get when you’re in store # 4,230 of a national chain. My own mom-n-pop predilection is turned off by the “franchises available” on the cover of the menu. The chow was good. Big pancakes with fresh blueberries, really nice bacon, good eggs and home fries. Coffee was the way I like it: black and refilled. Read the Urban Spoon reviews and you’ll see a lot of unhappy customers at Eggstyle. The most frequent complaint was poor service, but we can’t say we had anything but a positive experience; everyone we talked to was really nice and attentive. We’re happy to give Eggstyle a Tampa Bay Breakfasts four pancake rating.

We’re starting out the day pretending like it’s summertime. This wad of bikes on the back of the mom-car is guaranteed to make motorists go “awwwwww……”

We’re taking a long ride to breakfast this morning. Everyone came prepared. Marek has his current favorite book. He loves books about nature but has decided that he really dislikes interacting with any actual nature.

Ivo has his new Buzz. You can see how the roles are falling out with the boys. Marek, nerdy smart kid. Ivo, ug-play-crash-go. Three stitches under that band-aide, if you were questioning the “crash” in “ug-play-crash-go.”

Lovely day here in Tampa Bay. All that blue sky makes us hungry.

We’re headed to Gulfport, a little town hidden on the edges of St. Pete. For all our years and miles, we’ve never been to Gulfport. Residential roads, as you can see here, just end at the bay. There’s something nice to be said about that.

Today we’re visiting Stella’s Deli at 3119 Beach Blvd South, Gulfport, FL 33707. They have a nice little web site at http://stellasingulfport.com/.

Menu is extensive, with all kinds of standard and non-standard stuff. Hangover burgers make me already appreciate the clientele at Stellas.

For Tampa Bay Breakfasts fans Jason and Jess, here’s yours.

We’re sitting outside. How nice is that? Table’s pretty dirty. I only mention it because I noticed, and if I noticed, what with two boys who make icky an every day pleasure, you know it’s noticeable. Just surprised with all the great press Stella’s gets that they don’t start out the day by wiping off the accretion of dirt, dust, pollen, and nighttime from the outdoor tabletops.

Marek appears very uncomfortable here. I appear very comfortable here.

These appearances are accurate.

Ivo repurposed the creamer bucket as a fez. Looks good on him. As will the creamer pod he will doubtless split open and dump on himself in a few minutes.

Note the little girl in the background. Staring at Ivo, thinking, “hey, nice hat!”

Hot chocolate for Marek. This is the first place where he didn’t really care for it. It was too hot at first, and when it cooled down he still didn’t care for it. I didn’t try it, myself. I don’t like to drink after these little monsters.

Ivo, on the other hand, mainlined his triple-shot of the good stuff.

I asked Ivo to go get me a newspaper. Parenting technique of distraction, as all the coffee was making everyone jittery. So Ivo executed this excellent dismount. Yes, he knows it’s easier to just get off the chair, but he’s going to do it his own way. Thank you very much.

Fetching the above-mentioned newspaper. Note that actually placing our order for chow had a significant lag time, leading to the need for an actual newspaper.

No breakfast merit here, just a sweet picture of little Ivo. Look deep into his eyes and enjoy the fact that for this tiny, quiet, personal moment between father and son …. he’s not actively breaking something.

I predict lots and lots of goofy looks from Marek in the coming decades. Here’s an early example. His biographers from the future will cite this as the first time his goofball genius was documented.

We’ve had a great half an hour here at Stella’s Deli. Read the newspaper. Had some coffee. And here’s our chance to get some chow to go along with it. We were digging the super-tech ordering system, first place in The Bay Area we’ve seen that.

Ivo’s going to do a magic trick. Notice the very nice folks from Pennsylvania behind him.

Step one: Bite the creamer pod.

Step two: Wear the creamer and be proud.

First time readers of Tampa Bay Breakfasts are probably thinking, wow, Andy acts like he knew that was going to happen and he didn’t stop it?

Ayyup.

Not to be out-done, Marek proposes doing the same thing with the jelly.

At first we thought the umbrellas were for the sun. Then we saw the birds in the trees.

Just in time to prevent us from breakfasting on creamer and marmalade, here’s breakfast! Ivo dives into the fray with fork and knife, shredding and mauling pancakes with gleeful abandon. I can only imagine him on a medieval battlefield, with a sword and axe.

I had the homemade corned beef hash. I’m a sucker for homemade corned beef. Having been a bachelor at one point, I have actually eaten canned corned beef for 27 straight meals.

I don’t know if that’s actually true, but it’s not entirely false either.

Breakfast boys at work. Tampa Bay’s only Pancake Professionals!

Took us long enough to mention, but we’re here with a Tampa Bay Breakfasts Guest Reviewer, Randy.

Marek says “syrup on eggs is the BEST!”

Even Ivo looks at him with that look of “huh? syrup on EGGS?” If you’re grossing out Ivo, you’re doing it right.

If you think for a moment that this syrup squeeze came straight out at Marek’s old man you’d be wrong. He did that earlier with the ketchup in the caddy and got in a bit of trouble that he hasn’t quite yet forgotten.

Ivo with Marek’s old t-shirt, a gift from dear friends in Stuttgart.

Randy’s reading that whole book on the table behind him.

It’s the owner’s manual for 2 and 5 year old kids.

Volume 1.

Of 2000.

And then, while we’re casually talking, suddenly eggs are flying through the air. My Breakfast Ninja Ways took over and I caught the eggs in mid-air. In one fluid motion, elegant in its efficiency, I caught the eggs and said, Ivo, eat this.

Ivo jumped like a cat. Pounced. Struck like a cobra. And the wayward eggs were gone. No one, to this day, knew where they came from.

Marek’s plate is suspiciously void of eggs. Hmmm.

And here we are, back with the jelly.

Because eating actual food is never as satisfying as just slurping condiments.

I’m just glad I’m a lot bigger than Ivo, that’s all I’m sayin’. ‘Cause this is scary. Like a professional pancake wrestler, Ivo’s about to fly off the top rope at me.

More with the painful, unnecessary dismounts.

And we’re off to pay the bill. Just over $20. Not terrible, but not a bargain either. About average these days.

Ivo’s got the cash. Marek’s the muscle. Good force protection posture.

Quote from folks around us, “did you just send your kids into the restaurant alone with the money?” Ayyup.

And within three hours, they came back with change.

They’re starting to get paid for their efforts. The funny thing is, the quarters just come out of their little pockets in the washing machine and I put them back in my own jar anyway. So here ya go, kid, take two!

Ivo ran off and got a quarter stuck in his eye. Does this happen to anyone else?

Here’s Marek in bouncer-mode. He’ll pick up work at Prana in Ybor when he’s older.

Stella’s is a quality breakfast and well worth the long haul from Tampa. Service was a bit chaotic and slow to get moving, but the coffee never failed and the chow was very nice. TBB Guest Reviewer Randy gives it a thumbs up as one of his favorites. We’re pleased to give Stella’s Deli a Tampa Bay Breakfasts four and a half pancake rating.

After breakfast we walked to the shore and chased birds.

And wouldn’t ya know it, the birds chased back!

And once in a while, I get a picture that makes me think I might be doing this right after all.

Gulfport had a mini-parade. Ivo climbed the fence by himself, looking for more stitches.

After the playground, we went to SE Mattis barber shop in Seminole Heights, near our place.

Marek negotiated with his barber.

Ivo’s not interested in a haircut today.

But when Marek paid the bill, he found out there were lollipops. Suddenly, Ivo appears by the chair.

Jump up and ready to go, no fuss at all. There’s a lollipop at the end of this ordeal.

Our barber has a good hand with these boys. He understands little-boy-hair-cuts and tickle spots.

That’s a sharp haircut!

Later that evening, we took a nighttime walk with our family hound. These are the little things the boys will remember when they’re my age and working until forever o’clock all the time.

Just a normal day.