Whirlwind tour back to home base

Well, sorry for the long delay in posting here. The last 10 days have been crazy ones with sporadic internet access. We will be brief, because it is 2:00 am in the time zone we are accustomed to, and the more I write, the less sense I will make!

So we stayed in Slovakia, interviewing great new employees for Kids on Third Street and Home on Third Street as well as for a friend's coffee shop and other business endeavors in Lakeside. Then, Ryan was off to New York for the NY Toy Fair, Feb 11th through 14th. Unlike last year, there were no piles of snow to contend with, mercifully. I have to say, after the energy and excitement of Nuremberg, NY was a bit of a downer -- a much smaller fair, though still huge. That being said, however, there were many worthwhile things to see. We continue to add 'big-name' lines to our store, and this year those new brands will include Steiff, Playmobil and others, so we reviewed those lines with eager eyes.

After NY, we are reconvened in Vienna for three days in that most civilized city. We happened to be there over the night of the grand Ball at the Vienna Opera House, so we had the fun of watching all of the grand dames arriving in their ball gown finery accompanied by their men in white ties and tails. Paris Hilton was invited that night, too, but thankfully we had to leave before her arrival.

From Vienna, it was on to Munich, and then to Frankfurt for our return flight to Detroit. All told, it was a very worthwhile trip. We have several great leads on unique product lines, including a couple that are very promising for us to be the U.S. distributor. Look for them in the coming months (hopefully including the funny little fellow pictured above)!

So, if you are looking for tips on places to stay in Frankfurt, Munich, Salzburg, Vienna, Trnava, Nuremberg, or surrounding environs, let us know! And we can now confidently say that international travel can be done with small children! We had heard from friends that it would be no problem, but had to experience it for ourselves. Hopefully this was the first of many such trips. Thanks for your interest and for following our progress.