Mary, our USF intern, has informed us her school workload is interfering with her volunteer time here. We're very sorry to see her leave...but school's important. In any case. we're going forward and will be blogging...hopefully a couple of times a week.

Big event coming up this weekend: The Pier Aquarium's Spa Beach Splash and Kite Festival at Spa Beach and the Roy G. Harrell, Jr. Education Station on the beautiful St. Petersburg waterfront!

Date and time: 10am-1pm Saturday, March 14

The first 300 kids (under 12) who register on-site will receive a free kite.

It's our annual marine discovery day for families. Environmental partners who will help guide exploratory activities include: Southwest Florida Water Management District, Florida Yards and Neigborhoods, Keep Pinellas Beautiful, Nature's Academy, Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary. As usual, Pier Aquarium staff will offer seashore archaeology (kids dig for artifacts like shark's teeth and fossils), a craft activity (taking the new-found shark's tooth and turning it into a necklace), critter catching and learning about the animals that live in Tampa Bay.

There will be door prizes, a performance, "The Prince of Frogs," by the Stages theater group at 12:30pm and maybe the premier of a new dance. We'll see if we can talk our local choreographer (who happens to be on staff) into creating "the shark dance" commemorating our new baby coral catsharks.

For more info, check the Web site, www.pieraquarium.org. Oh, did we mention that Spa Beach Splash and Kite Festival is free? And that the stunt kite flyers Team Quad FX will be performing all day and teaching us the science of kite flying starting at 10:30? See you there.