From Mike:
Overall it’s been a whirlwind holiday season for us. It seems like Thanksgiving was only a couple of weeks ago! Well, here we are…on the brink of ringing in the New Year. I hope, for you all, 2009 has been full of God’s blessing. I know Kelly and I have definitely felt God’s hand working in each of us, and am so thankful for the lives he has so graciously and abundantly blessed us with. Anyway, here’s the skinny on the past month or so at our house.
A week or so before Thanksgiving, we bought a new car. Although we didn’t really need a new one, all the quirks of my base model Honda Civic were starting to get to me; and since I spend so much time sitting in traffic during my commute to work everyday, well, it was time for an upgrade. Anyway, it’s a 2005 Acura TL (silver with black interior) and it is awesome. It’s got all the bells and whistles one might need to make for a smooth, comfy ride all the way to work and back.
We spent Thanksgiving with my family at my parents’ house just hanging out, watching football, enjoying each other’s company, and doting on Carolyn’s new son—Mason. The day after, when most people do their Christmas shopping, we took Zora to the vet for a checkup, which both of us had feared for awhile. As most of you know, Zora is not the friendliest cat, and we didn’t know how she would react to a stranger poking and prodding her. However, to our pleasant surprise, she was very well behaved and only hissed once despite having to get two shots! The vet also told us that her weight is no longer a major issue and she could only stand to lose another pound or so…great news!
The following week, Kelly was fortunate enough to get jury duty. Despite faithfully fulfilling her civic duty by driving all the way up to Greeley in the snow, she was promptly turned away and sent back home. That same week, we started reading a book called Sacred Marriage with our good friends Heather and Daniel and they came over to discuss the first chapter. That Friday, we drove to downtown Denver to have dinner with friends and watch the Parade of Lights. We finished our dinner a little late, but still got to see several floats, a few balloons, and of course, Santa Claus. Kelly also ran into her friend Rachel, who was in the parade with her show dog. The next evening we made an appearance at a Christmas cocktail party put on by our friends Chad and Kelli.
On December 10th, we drove to south Denver to help celebrate the birthday of our friend Alex, who decided to partake of the all-you-can-eat crab feast at Landry’s Seafood House. He managed to get through an eye-popping 13 plates of crab legs before declaring that he was about to explode. (And that his hands were too raw to crack open any more shells) The following Saturday night we drove back down to Denver for Kelly’s company Christmas party held at the Hyatt Regency downtown. The highlight of the evening was when they started giving away door prizes. Kelly managed to win another bright blue MWH fleece-lined jacket; a duplicated of the one hanging, unused, in our closet at home.
The next day, we got to see our good friend, Carter, get baptized by Alex! It has been such a blessing and an answer to prayer to see Carter growing in his faith. To watch him make an open and outward declaration of his faith in Christ was indescribable and stirred up such overwhelming joy that it brought tears to my eyes. Kelly had been praying for Carter for years and was so excited that she couldn’t wait for him to dry off before giving him a big, wet hug. Afterward, Carter, Beth, Alex, his wife Katey, Kelly and I had brunch at Racine’s and toasted Carter with a celebratory mimosa. That evening, Kelly met up with some girls for happy hour at Hotel Teatro and went to see the play Spring Awakening at the Denver Performing Arts Center. Friday, my office had their Christmas party at Dave & Buster’s, and that evening I hosted a poker night at my house. I managed to win and take away a $35 pot…not something to sniff at if you ask me! On Saturday we went to Heather and Daniel’s for the 11th annual Christmas Movie Marathon. It’s hard to believe that we’ve been doing that for 11 years! Things have changed a bit (we no longer stay up all night), but it’s still a great time and despite Kelly’s inability to sit in front of the TV for extended periods of time, she managed to go four whole hours without a distraction before pulling out her computer and her cross-stitching!
Christmas started on the 22nd for us when Kelly’s dad and step mom drove down from Wyoming to close on their house in Louisville (Kelly would like it noted how sad she is that her childhood home is now officially sold). We went to a local restaurant for dinner and came back to our house afterward to open gifts. Kelly’s dad recently bought a Playstation 3, so we bought them Guitar Hero 5. We showed them how to play on our Wii; and think, with practice, they’ll be shredding the frets in no time. We spent the next day preparing the house for our Third Annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Party. Unfortunately for us, it snowed several inches that night and we only had about half the people that we expected, but it was still a blast and we had some really ugly sweaters! Beth managed to win the title this year with her bright red, half-mohair cardigan. Second place went to Ben Vinson, who was dressed as a Christmas superhero in Grinch footie pajamas and red dinosaur cape. Justin Zuiker came in third wearing a fuzzy red and green tree-skirt, complete with a huge silver poinsettia pinned on the front.
On Christmas Eve, we met up with my family and the Murphys for brunch at the Huckleberry in Louisville. Sadly, on the way there we witnessed a car accident and had to wait for the police to show up to give them our account. Afterwards, we went to see A Christmas Carol, which was actually quite frightening. A mom and her two kids actually left during the movie! That evening, we were supposed to have dinner with Kelly’s mom, but she came down with a sudden illness, so we spent a quiet evening alone at home. We attended our church’s Christmas eve candlelight service at 11pm and managed to make it home and into bed by 1am.
Christmas day started at 9am with breakfast at my parent’s house. We ate; opened stockings and gifts; played with our niece and nephew; and were at Sharon’s house by 3:00. There, we snacked on leftovers from our party, opened gifts, and by then I was thoroughly spent. I had to take a quick nap before we set out in the new car to view the neighborhood Christmas lights. We drove around ooo-ing and ahh-ing at some of the light displays; scoffing at the ugly inflatable Santas and snowmen. After awhile we came home, had a light dinner, and spent the rest of the night enjoying our new gifts.
Last Saturday, we met up with a few friends in Denver for dinner at the Wazee Supper Club. After enjoying some of the best pizza in town, we went and saw Up In The Air at the Pavilions. After church on Sunday, I watched my fantasy football team lose terribly in the championship game, and the Broncos’ chances of making the playoffs slip even further away.
Well, that about wraps it up for 2009. We’ll see you again in 2010. God bless and Happy New Year!!
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Christmas Letter
Merry Christmas!!
From our family to yours, we hope this holiday season is fun, memorable (in a good way), and full of reminders of how blessed we truly are. For us, 2009 was marked by a whirlwind of activity and, as always, a ridiculous amount of travelling!
We started off the year by participating in the historical inauguration of Barack Obama as our 44th president! Well, Mike didn’t actually participate in the inauguration, but he was there to enjoy a bunch of the inauguration festivities, including a great concert held at the Lincoln memorial, before leaving for home on the big day. Kelly toughed out the freezing cold with Tony (from San Francisco) and, after we fought our way through the biggest crowd we had ever seen, we had a pretty good spot to see Mr. Obama take the presidency. That night, Tony and Kelly went to the NJ inaugural ball and saw a few celebrities throughout the day.
In February, we spent the weekend at the Garden of the Gods to celebrate Valentine’s Day and our first anniversary. We also played in a dodgeball league and celebrated Mike’s 27th birthday in March with a party at the Rio in Boulder.
We were fortunate enough to attend a bunch of fun wedding celebrations throughout the year, which is one of our favorite things to do! We celebrated with Katey (Weaver) and Alex Johnson (Denver) in January, Misty (Rogers) and Greg Giunto (Denver)/Susan (Trieu) and Kris Norenberg (Wichita) in April, Monica (Kremer) and Stephen Milburn (Lafayette) in June, Nicole (Biondi) and Ben Vinson (San Jose) in July, and Lindsay (Parrish) and Boris Krupa (Denver) in August.
At the beginning of June, we took a trip with Beth to see Simon and Hannah in England, then on to see Kacy and Tara in Belgium, and finished up with some sightseeing in Amsterdam. The trip was great except that right before we left, Kelly got sick with bronchitis and was pretty ill for the first part of the journey. Despite the coughing, though, it was great to see everyone and Mike enjoyed his first trip to Europe (at least the first that wasn’t just a layover). One of our favorite things that we did was go punting down the Thames River in Oxford, England. We also enjoyed sampling chocolate and beer in Belgium. While in the Netherlands, we took a nice scenic bus ride and got to see windmills, a cheese farm, and a wooden shoe maker. It was also fun to see how our friends live overseas and spend time together.
For the Fourth of July, we went to my dad’s house in Wyoming. We floated down the river, went fishing at a nearby lake, and watched fireworks from a nice overlook on the edge of town. Dad and Crystal have since sold their house in Louisville and retired full-time to their house in Wyoming, where they are enjoying their free time.
We took a bunch of camping trips this summer and the highlight of those trips was one on which we had a visit from a bear! In the middle of the night Matt, a friend of ours in another tent, heard footsteps and then looked up to see the outline of a bear just as it took a swipe at his tent. Matt shouted as loud as he could and the bear ran away. Luckily we hadn’t left any food out, but it did take some bites at our water jug.
This summer we also captained a kickball team—Just for Kicks—and while we did not have a winning season, it was a fun to get outside and play.
We celebrated my 27th birthday in August with a trip to Vegas and had a great time checking out all the flashy sights and fancy hotels. Kelly also took a business trip to DC and got to spend some time with friends there during my visit.
In September, we started what will be a yearly tradition for us—to visit every US state (in alphabetical order). Of course, the first state is Alabama, so we headed down to Gulf Shores for a wonderful beach weekend. While we were there, we went on a sunset cruise where we saw several dolphins swimming alongside, and jumping around in, the wake of the boat. We also relaxed on the beach and did some shopping.
We rounded out the year with some more business trips (to Orlando, DC and Tulsa for Kelly; Ohio, DC, Alabama and San Diego for Mike). We also had some friends from DC in town and Kelly went with them to the CSU homecoming game. We volunteered with the March of Dimes for their annual Chef’s event and celebrated Halloween in Denver dressed as hippies.
The end of the year has also brought the joy of new babies! In November, Thomas and Kristen Milburn had baby Katin, Brian and Brandy Moody had baby Bree, Stephanie and Lloyd Rochester had baby Rylan, and, closest to our hearts, Mike’s sister Carolyn and her husband Adam had baby Mason.
Overall, it’s been a wonderful, busy year in which we’ve seen God working in many ways and which was guided all along the way by love. We are grateful that both of us still have jobs (Mike is still with the Department of Defense and Kelly is still working with MWH Constructors) and we are grateful to be living in Erie, which has grown into quite a nice little community. We hope that you are doing well also and that you are taking the time to see God’s hand in your life.
God bless and Merry Christmas!
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Ghouls, Ghosts, Goblins and Snow?
From Mike:
Well, it's been a typical Colorado fall lately. At first I was worried that we would go straight from warm summer days to frigid cold winter ones, but the mild weather that I love so much finally decided to show up.
Kelly was in beautiful, sunny Orlando for a conference last week, but she got a cold, snowy blast of wintery horribleness when she returned last Tuesday night from a wicked storm blowing through the state and blanketing everything in that powdery white substance we know so well. (and no, I don't mean drugs, you weirdos!) When all was said and done, Erie got about 16 inches of snow! Luckily Kelly made it home before we got the worst of it, and had the next day off. We spent the rest of the week staying warm and working from home. Well, Kelly worked anyway. My office was closed, so I basically got two days off! The snow days were nice, until we realized we had no food. The sun came out that Friday and melted most of the snow so Kelly went back to the office and I finally changed out of my sweat pants, shaved my "snow day beard," showered and miraculously transformed back into a fully functioning member of society.
On Saturday, we celebrated Halloween in the typical fashion-- driving all over creation to various gatherings and parties donning our latest costumes. This year, we were dressed as a couple of hippies. I wore a bright yellow CU t-shirt, so some (mainly CSU fans) lovingly referred to me as a "dirty hippie." That afternoon, our church was hosting a HarvestFest celebration where kids could come and play games, get sugared up on candy, jump around in a giant inflatable bouncy castle, throw up the aforementioned candy, and have a "sugar crash" before dinnertime. It was fantastic. Kelly and I ran one of the games where you swung a tennis ball at a stack of blocks and tried to get the letters W-I-N to face upwards after knocking the blocks down. As you can imagine, it was riotous fun and we basically handed out an entire crate full of candy by the time our shift was over. Adam and Carolyn brought Brianna, who was adorably dressed in a 1950's sock hop costume, complete with a little pink poodle skirt, polka-dot ascot, wing-tipped mary janes, and horn-rimmed glasses. I realize that I'm a little biased, but she was by far the cutest kid there!
After HarvestFest, we came home and got ready for our big kid parties. We drove to Denver, met up with Anna and Beth, and carpooled to our friends Paige and Micah's house downtown. We greeted Paige and Micah, then spent the rest of our time talking amongst ourselves while devouring the delicious food they had set out. After a while, we returned to the car and drove to the Argyll in Cherry Creek for party #2. This was the annual Halloween party thrown by our friends Greg and Misty and, as usual, it did not disappoint. We danced the night away with our friends Carter (dressed as Nuggets player Chris "Birdman" Andersen), Justin and his girlfriend Bridget (all in green, connected at the hip, and going as two peas in a pod), Beth (the Guitar Hero, sporting a custom-made cape and a familiar guitar-shaped Wii controller), Anna, (in a flowing white gown and gold headband, dressed as Athena the goddess of war) and Amy (mysteriously dressed as a fortune teller; complete with a sparkly crystal ball). Overall, it was a fun, eventful day and we're looking forward to next year!
I spent Sunday watching football and monitoring my fantasy football team as they secured their 7th win of the season. (I happen to be first place in my league at the moment with a 7-1 record) Kelly spent that time taking down the Halloween decorations and packing for her trip the next day. That afternoon Beth came over and took pictures of us for our Christmas card, which I'm sure you'll all see soon.
As previously mentioned, Kelly is out of town on business this week. She spent Monday-Wednesday in Tulsa and is now in DC until Sunday. Meanwhile, I have reverted back to bachelorhood and consequently, have not eaten well or taken care of myself since Kelly left. Suffice it to say, I'm looking forward to her return.
That's it for now. I hope you all are well. Until next time!
Well, it's been a typical Colorado fall lately. At first I was worried that we would go straight from warm summer days to frigid cold winter ones, but the mild weather that I love so much finally decided to show up.
Kelly was in beautiful, sunny Orlando for a conference last week, but she got a cold, snowy blast of wintery horribleness when she returned last Tuesday night from a wicked storm blowing through the state and blanketing everything in that powdery white substance we know so well. (and no, I don't mean drugs, you weirdos!) When all was said and done, Erie got about 16 inches of snow! Luckily Kelly made it home before we got the worst of it, and had the next day off. We spent the rest of the week staying warm and working from home. Well, Kelly worked anyway. My office was closed, so I basically got two days off! The snow days were nice, until we realized we had no food. The sun came out that Friday and melted most of the snow so Kelly went back to the office and I finally changed out of my sweat pants, shaved my "snow day beard," showered and miraculously transformed back into a fully functioning member of society.
On Saturday, we celebrated Halloween in the typical fashion-- driving all over creation to various gatherings and parties donning our latest costumes. This year, we were dressed as a couple of hippies. I wore a bright yellow CU t-shirt, so some (mainly CSU fans) lovingly referred to me as a "dirty hippie." That afternoon, our church was hosting a HarvestFest celebration where kids could come and play games, get sugared up on candy, jump around in a giant inflatable bouncy castle, throw up the aforementioned candy, and have a "sugar crash" before dinnertime. It was fantastic. Kelly and I ran one of the games where you swung a tennis ball at a stack of blocks and tried to get the letters W-I-N to face upwards after knocking the blocks down. As you can imagine, it was riotous fun and we basically handed out an entire crate full of candy by the time our shift was over. Adam and Carolyn brought Brianna, who was adorably dressed in a 1950's sock hop costume, complete with a little pink poodle skirt, polka-dot ascot, wing-tipped mary janes, and horn-rimmed glasses. I realize that I'm a little biased, but she was by far the cutest kid there!
After HarvestFest, we came home and got ready for our big kid parties. We drove to Denver, met up with Anna and Beth, and carpooled to our friends Paige and Micah's house downtown. We greeted Paige and Micah, then spent the rest of our time talking amongst ourselves while devouring the delicious food they had set out. After a while, we returned to the car and drove to the Argyll in Cherry Creek for party #2. This was the annual Halloween party thrown by our friends Greg and Misty and, as usual, it did not disappoint. We danced the night away with our friends Carter (dressed as Nuggets player Chris "Birdman" Andersen), Justin and his girlfriend Bridget (all in green, connected at the hip, and going as two peas in a pod), Beth (the Guitar Hero, sporting a custom-made cape and a familiar guitar-shaped Wii controller), Anna, (in a flowing white gown and gold headband, dressed as Athena the goddess of war) and Amy (mysteriously dressed as a fortune teller; complete with a sparkly crystal ball). Overall, it was a fun, eventful day and we're looking forward to next year!
I spent Sunday watching football and monitoring my fantasy football team as they secured their 7th win of the season. (I happen to be first place in my league at the moment with a 7-1 record) Kelly spent that time taking down the Halloween decorations and packing for her trip the next day. That afternoon Beth came over and took pictures of us for our Christmas card, which I'm sure you'll all see soon.
As previously mentioned, Kelly is out of town on business this week. She spent Monday-Wednesday in Tulsa and is now in DC until Sunday. Meanwhile, I have reverted back to bachelorhood and consequently, have not eaten well or taken care of myself since Kelly left. Suffice it to say, I'm looking forward to her return.
That's it for now. I hope you all are well. Until next time!
Monday, October 19, 2009
Dolphins Rock!
From Kelly:
Wow, I am really awful about updating the blog. I'm sorry! I will just give you a brief overview of the highlights from the past month (yikes! has it been that long??)
At the end of September we took a trip to Alabama. This was the first of our 50-state tour (to be completed one a year, in order, for the next 50 years of marriage). The concept is that every state has some type of natural beauty or a fun thing to do or a cool thing to see. Alabama definitely lived up to this idea. We visited Orange Beach/Gulf Shores, AL and it was a great trip! We ate lots of southern cooking (fried okra, hush puppies, cornbread, green beans, black-eyed peas, etc.) at a variety of fun eateries. One of them was owned by Jimmy Buffet's sister, so it was quite a party. They had live music and it was indoor/outdoor with volleyball courts and an outdoor movie playing and all kinds of fun stuff. We also ate at a place that served Mike a full rack of ribs in a frying pan and the staff literally threw rolls at you. They also played practical jokes on me the whole time (fake mustard on my shirt, fake vermin in the stew, etc.) and I obliged by falling for it every time. On Saturday we heard it was supposed to rain (it didnt) so we spent the day seeing an old fort and doing some outlet shopping. The deals we found we amazing! I was having so much fun snatching up the super cheap clothes. On Monday, we layed on the beach that was out the back door of our hotel and swam a bit in the pool. Lounging and reading time was welcome and I even made it out pretty far into the ocean, though I was freaking out about jelly fish the whole time. The best thing we did, though, was a sunset cruise around the bay to see dolphins. I couldn't believe how close they were to the boat! They like to ride in the wake the boat creates (like body sufing), so they were flipping and jumping and doing all sorts of tricks for us. We even saw a mom and baby. So, all in all we had a wonderful time in the gulf and would highly recommend it for a cheap beach vacation!
Since we got back, we've been trying to slow down our hectic pace and have a more relaxed fall. A few of the highlights of the first couple weeks were: a celebration dinner with James and Jamila (newly engaged), baby showers for Stephanie and Brandy, a fall colors hike and dinner at Kacy and Tara's to meet their (adorable) new puppy, Stewie! Last weekend was pretty fun because Vince, Mike P and Nathan flew in from DC to go to the CSU homecoming game and also to participate in the Abby's Voice run/walk. Though it was great to have everyone together (Matt and Carter came to the game with us), it was also REALLY cold! The temperature for the game was around 17 degrees. After the game we met up with Amy and Lindsey M and I was very relieved to have some girls around after spending the day with five boys. It's amazing the grody stories they tell when they all get together. . .
Mike's grandmother (Bachan, his dad's mom) passed away on Friday, October 2nd. She was 92 years old and died at home, which really isn't a bad way to go. The services were held last Monday with a private ceremony and then we went to lunch afterward at her favorite restaurant. That afternoon we spent at Mike's aunt's house looking at old pictures and telling stories, which is always the best part of a funeral in my opinion. I enjoyed learning more about Mike's family and seeing pictures of his history, which is now mine as well. Bachan will be missed, but I think the services were just what she would have wanted--family getting together and reconnecting.
Last Thursday we volunteered for Chef's Event, which we love to do every year. It's an event where they invite all the top chef's from around Boulder (they also have a Denver one) and you get to sample all of their tasty treats. There was everything from ceviche to "sin bars" as well as beer and wine and chocolate bars and a silent auction. So much fun! Saturday we celebrated Anna's 30th birthday with a potluck party at her house of everyone's favorite dishes. Sunday we went to the Murphy's for pumpkin carving, which was a good time although I realized that I really just don't like carving pumpkins-- it's too much work! So maybe next year I'll let Mike carve mine for me :)
As far as travel goes, Mike was in Ohio last week, next week I'm in Orlando and the week after I'm in Tulsa and DC-- all work trips.
Whew! I think that about covers it! I hope you are all doing well-- send me an update of what's been going on with you when you get a chance!
Wow, I am really awful about updating the blog. I'm sorry! I will just give you a brief overview of the highlights from the past month (yikes! has it been that long??)
At the end of September we took a trip to Alabama. This was the first of our 50-state tour (to be completed one a year, in order, for the next 50 years of marriage). The concept is that every state has some type of natural beauty or a fun thing to do or a cool thing to see. Alabama definitely lived up to this idea. We visited Orange Beach/Gulf Shores, AL and it was a great trip! We ate lots of southern cooking (fried okra, hush puppies, cornbread, green beans, black-eyed peas, etc.) at a variety of fun eateries. One of them was owned by Jimmy Buffet's sister, so it was quite a party. They had live music and it was indoor/outdoor with volleyball courts and an outdoor movie playing and all kinds of fun stuff. We also ate at a place that served Mike a full rack of ribs in a frying pan and the staff literally threw rolls at you. They also played practical jokes on me the whole time (fake mustard on my shirt, fake vermin in the stew, etc.) and I obliged by falling for it every time. On Saturday we heard it was supposed to rain (it didnt) so we spent the day seeing an old fort and doing some outlet shopping. The deals we found we amazing! I was having so much fun snatching up the super cheap clothes. On Monday, we layed on the beach that was out the back door of our hotel and swam a bit in the pool. Lounging and reading time was welcome and I even made it out pretty far into the ocean, though I was freaking out about jelly fish the whole time. The best thing we did, though, was a sunset cruise around the bay to see dolphins. I couldn't believe how close they were to the boat! They like to ride in the wake the boat creates (like body sufing), so they were flipping and jumping and doing all sorts of tricks for us. We even saw a mom and baby. So, all in all we had a wonderful time in the gulf and would highly recommend it for a cheap beach vacation!
Since we got back, we've been trying to slow down our hectic pace and have a more relaxed fall. A few of the highlights of the first couple weeks were: a celebration dinner with James and Jamila (newly engaged), baby showers for Stephanie and Brandy, a fall colors hike and dinner at Kacy and Tara's to meet their (adorable) new puppy, Stewie! Last weekend was pretty fun because Vince, Mike P and Nathan flew in from DC to go to the CSU homecoming game and also to participate in the Abby's Voice run/walk. Though it was great to have everyone together (Matt and Carter came to the game with us), it was also REALLY cold! The temperature for the game was around 17 degrees. After the game we met up with Amy and Lindsey M and I was very relieved to have some girls around after spending the day with five boys. It's amazing the grody stories they tell when they all get together. . .
Mike's grandmother (Bachan, his dad's mom) passed away on Friday, October 2nd. She was 92 years old and died at home, which really isn't a bad way to go. The services were held last Monday with a private ceremony and then we went to lunch afterward at her favorite restaurant. That afternoon we spent at Mike's aunt's house looking at old pictures and telling stories, which is always the best part of a funeral in my opinion. I enjoyed learning more about Mike's family and seeing pictures of his history, which is now mine as well. Bachan will be missed, but I think the services were just what she would have wanted--family getting together and reconnecting.
Last Thursday we volunteered for Chef's Event, which we love to do every year. It's an event where they invite all the top chef's from around Boulder (they also have a Denver one) and you get to sample all of their tasty treats. There was everything from ceviche to "sin bars" as well as beer and wine and chocolate bars and a silent auction. So much fun! Saturday we celebrated Anna's 30th birthday with a potluck party at her house of everyone's favorite dishes. Sunday we went to the Murphy's for pumpkin carving, which was a good time although I realized that I really just don't like carving pumpkins-- it's too much work! So maybe next year I'll let Mike carve mine for me :)
As far as travel goes, Mike was in Ohio last week, next week I'm in Orlando and the week after I'm in Tulsa and DC-- all work trips.
Whew! I think that about covers it! I hope you are all doing well-- send me an update of what's been going on with you when you get a chance!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Birthday Tomfoolery
From Mike:
This past week or so has been full of birthday celebration! It all started with our trip to Las Vegas. We got to the airport on Friday afternoon and promptly ran into our travelling companions: Beth, Carter, Jamila and James. The fun had begun. We spent the time waiting for the plane to board chatting about our plans for lounging by the pool and winning the jackpot, and were soon on our way to see the bright lights of the Las Vegas Strip. We arrived around dusk, got a couple of taxis to our hotel, and met up with our fifth and final Vegas buddy, Mike, who had arrived earlier that day. Poor Mike was already a little bitter, having already handed over a large portion of his gambling budget to the various casinos around town. Despite that, we were all ready for a night on the town.
We checked into our (dated) hotel room at the Tropicana and promptly set out towards our first stop of the evening: the MGM Grand Casino. We made a quick stop by the bar for a drink, and roamed between the slot machines and card tables until we found a spot at one of the blackjack tables. Kelly spent a few minutes playing, while I eyed the roulette table across the way. After our luck ran out, we decided to tempt our fates in a different locale, so we headed to the Planet Hollywood. We spent some time playing the slot machines and many of us soon decided to give up gambling for the night and visit a nightclub. So we stopped at the Hawaiian Tropic Zone because it was Ladies’ Night and they got free drinks. It was a nice, warm evening, so we sat out on the patio soaking up the neon light, chatting, and listening to people attempt to sing karaoke. After awhile we were all getting tired and hungry, so we made our way back down the Strip, stopping by the Paris, Bellagio, and Monte Carlo hotels on the way, and eventually landed in the Tropicana’s all-night restaurant for a midnight snack of nachos and grilled cheese. We managed to make it to bed, exhausted and bleary-eyed, around 4am.
We began the next day relaxing by the hotel’s massive 5-acre pool. We soaked up the hot sun while reading, snacking, sipping pina coladas and daquiris, and taking quick dips in the water to cool off. We tried to take advantage of the swim-up blackjack tables, but they were full, so we were content to return to our lounge chairs. After spending a few hours outside, it was time to explore more of the Strip. We all got cleaned up, pressed, and dressed, and took a taxi to the Treasure Island Casino in search of the city’s best dinner buffet. The cabbie recommended the buffet at the Wynn Hotel, so that’s where we headed next. We entered the Wynn and wandered through a corridor full of high-end stores, through the lavish casino, to the buffet. We stood in line for about 45 minutes and by the time we got to the food, we were ravenous. We piled our plates high with, among other things, crab legs, prime rib, lamb, veal rib tips, shrimp, sushi, and ceviche, and devoured it until we were ready to burst. Did I mention that the buffet also had an entire room devoted to desserts? This glorious addition to the meal had pretty much every dessert you could dream of, including: strawberry shortcake, crème brulee, mint chocolate mousse, pudding, ice cream, a crepe station, and about 20 others that have names that I can’t pronounce. We all heaved our bellies away from the table, raving that we had never eaten so much amazing food in one sitting. It was definitely a major highlight of the trip.
After dinner we wandered around the casino, walked to the adjacent Encore hotel, and eventually made our way back to Treasure Island in time for their famed live outdoor pirate show, complete with dancing sirens, scurvy pirates, and lots of fire. It was great, but short-lived, and we were soon making our way through the dense crowd back into the casino. We visited three more hotels and casinos before returning to ours: the Venetian, the Palazzo, and finally New York New York. We later found out that Bruce Willis, Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher and a number of other celebs were at the Tao Nightclub in the Venetian to celebrate Rumer Willis’ 21st birthday. We didn’t see anyone famous, but I managed to win back a lot of the money I had lost the previous day; however the poor birthday girl wasn’t so lucky.
The next day Kelly, Carter and I woke up in time to take advantage of the breakfast buffet at our hotel. It couldn’t compare to the Wynn, but we left full and satisfied, and returned to our room to pack and check out. Our flight didn’t leave until 6 that evening, so we had time to explore. We walked across the Strip through the Excalibur to the Luxor hotel. After stopping in a couple of shops and winning a few rounds of roulette, we decided to brave the 100-degree heat and walk to the Bellagio to catch a glimpse of their famous fountain show. We entered the welcomed air conditioning in the hotel and had a few minutes to kill before the next fountain show, so we walked around the hotel’s atrium which was decorated with sculptures made from fresh flowers, jumping fountains, and even had a small aviary full of colorful birds. Afterwards, we grabbed a drink at the bar and sat and watched golf, played video poker, and headed outside in time for the show. After a delightful display of dancing streams of water, we returned to the hotel to pick up our bags and head to the airport, but not before making a quick stop by In-N-Out to grab dinner, which was deliciously artery-clogging.
The Tuesday night after we got back from Vegas, we drove up to Morrison to meet up with Carter and his friend Kerri for dinner. We initially intended to go to Film on the Rocks afterward, but the idea of getting home at 1am on a work night dissuaded us. We sat on the roof of the Morrison Inn and enjoyed Mexican food until our bellies were full, and then headed home. Wednesday night was our last regular-season kickball game. Despite playing against the worst team in the league, we only managed to tie them, 10-10. However, everyone makes it into at least one playoff game, so we’re not done yet!
Thursday was Kelly’s birthday, so she took the day off and celebrated by sleeping in, getting a 90-minute massage, having lunch with her mom, and going out for dinner at Sushi Zan Mai with me, my parents, and Beth. Unfortunately, I had to work that day, but I did manage to put together a delicious home-made ice cream cake before heading to the restaurant. After stuffing our faces full of delicious sushi we all came back to the house to meet up with Beth’s parents, open gifts, and enjoy the cake. Friday after work we met up with a group of friends for happy hour at the Downtown Tavern and then went to the Rockies game afterwards. Even though they lost to the Giants, we all had a great time.
Saturday was spent preparing for Kelly’s birthday party that evening. We decided it would be fun to have a picnic in the park, complete with food, games, and beer. So we packed the coolers, grabbed the lawn games, and headed to Washington Park in Denver. When we arrived, we found a nice shady spot under a large tree and set up camp. After people started arriving, we ate and played several rousing games of bocce ball, badminton, volleyball, and ladderball, and before we knew it, the sun was setting. We scrambled to get everything packed up and put into the car before we couldn’t see anymore, then we all drove to the Wash Park Tavern for a few drinks, some lively conversation, and to catch the end of the Broncos’ and Rockies’ games. Overall, it was a fun end to a busy week, and the birthday girl said it was one of the best birthdays she had ever had!
Sunday morning we decided to try a new church that Kelly’s co-worker attends. It’s called Northern Hills and it’s only 15 minutes away from our house! The church holds two services simultaneously; one being more edgy than the other. We decided to try the edgy one this week, so we ventured into what is appropriately referred to as “the garage,” and found a couple of open seats. The worship service was definitely edgy and seemed more like a rock concert than anything, but the band had a lot of talent and we were both impressed. The speaker was articulate and genuine, and his sermon was peppered with bible passages and sound theological teachings, and Kelly and I left with every intention of returning soon. That afternoon Kelly had a hair appointment with my sister, so I went with her to my parent’s house, hung out, and watched as Kelly went from being a blonde to a brunette in a matter of hours. Afterwards we drove to the Murphy’s to celebrate Cindy’s birthday. Yesterday was Kelly’s mom’s birthday, so we celebrated by first going to Sharon’s house to open gifts, then going to dinner at Rock Bottom Brewery.
Whew, that’s it! Until next time!
This past week or so has been full of birthday celebration! It all started with our trip to Las Vegas. We got to the airport on Friday afternoon and promptly ran into our travelling companions: Beth, Carter, Jamila and James. The fun had begun. We spent the time waiting for the plane to board chatting about our plans for lounging by the pool and winning the jackpot, and were soon on our way to see the bright lights of the Las Vegas Strip. We arrived around dusk, got a couple of taxis to our hotel, and met up with our fifth and final Vegas buddy, Mike, who had arrived earlier that day. Poor Mike was already a little bitter, having already handed over a large portion of his gambling budget to the various casinos around town. Despite that, we were all ready for a night on the town.
We checked into our (dated) hotel room at the Tropicana and promptly set out towards our first stop of the evening: the MGM Grand Casino. We made a quick stop by the bar for a drink, and roamed between the slot machines and card tables until we found a spot at one of the blackjack tables. Kelly spent a few minutes playing, while I eyed the roulette table across the way. After our luck ran out, we decided to tempt our fates in a different locale, so we headed to the Planet Hollywood. We spent some time playing the slot machines and many of us soon decided to give up gambling for the night and visit a nightclub. So we stopped at the Hawaiian Tropic Zone because it was Ladies’ Night and they got free drinks. It was a nice, warm evening, so we sat out on the patio soaking up the neon light, chatting, and listening to people attempt to sing karaoke. After awhile we were all getting tired and hungry, so we made our way back down the Strip, stopping by the Paris, Bellagio, and Monte Carlo hotels on the way, and eventually landed in the Tropicana’s all-night restaurant for a midnight snack of nachos and grilled cheese. We managed to make it to bed, exhausted and bleary-eyed, around 4am.
We began the next day relaxing by the hotel’s massive 5-acre pool. We soaked up the hot sun while reading, snacking, sipping pina coladas and daquiris, and taking quick dips in the water to cool off. We tried to take advantage of the swim-up blackjack tables, but they were full, so we were content to return to our lounge chairs. After spending a few hours outside, it was time to explore more of the Strip. We all got cleaned up, pressed, and dressed, and took a taxi to the Treasure Island Casino in search of the city’s best dinner buffet. The cabbie recommended the buffet at the Wynn Hotel, so that’s where we headed next. We entered the Wynn and wandered through a corridor full of high-end stores, through the lavish casino, to the buffet. We stood in line for about 45 minutes and by the time we got to the food, we were ravenous. We piled our plates high with, among other things, crab legs, prime rib, lamb, veal rib tips, shrimp, sushi, and ceviche, and devoured it until we were ready to burst. Did I mention that the buffet also had an entire room devoted to desserts? This glorious addition to the meal had pretty much every dessert you could dream of, including: strawberry shortcake, crème brulee, mint chocolate mousse, pudding, ice cream, a crepe station, and about 20 others that have names that I can’t pronounce. We all heaved our bellies away from the table, raving that we had never eaten so much amazing food in one sitting. It was definitely a major highlight of the trip.
After dinner we wandered around the casino, walked to the adjacent Encore hotel, and eventually made our way back to Treasure Island in time for their famed live outdoor pirate show, complete with dancing sirens, scurvy pirates, and lots of fire. It was great, but short-lived, and we were soon making our way through the dense crowd back into the casino. We visited three more hotels and casinos before returning to ours: the Venetian, the Palazzo, and finally New York New York. We later found out that Bruce Willis, Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher and a number of other celebs were at the Tao Nightclub in the Venetian to celebrate Rumer Willis’ 21st birthday. We didn’t see anyone famous, but I managed to win back a lot of the money I had lost the previous day; however the poor birthday girl wasn’t so lucky.
The next day Kelly, Carter and I woke up in time to take advantage of the breakfast buffet at our hotel. It couldn’t compare to the Wynn, but we left full and satisfied, and returned to our room to pack and check out. Our flight didn’t leave until 6 that evening, so we had time to explore. We walked across the Strip through the Excalibur to the Luxor hotel. After stopping in a couple of shops and winning a few rounds of roulette, we decided to brave the 100-degree heat and walk to the Bellagio to catch a glimpse of their famous fountain show. We entered the welcomed air conditioning in the hotel and had a few minutes to kill before the next fountain show, so we walked around the hotel’s atrium which was decorated with sculptures made from fresh flowers, jumping fountains, and even had a small aviary full of colorful birds. Afterwards, we grabbed a drink at the bar and sat and watched golf, played video poker, and headed outside in time for the show. After a delightful display of dancing streams of water, we returned to the hotel to pick up our bags and head to the airport, but not before making a quick stop by In-N-Out to grab dinner, which was deliciously artery-clogging.
The Tuesday night after we got back from Vegas, we drove up to Morrison to meet up with Carter and his friend Kerri for dinner. We initially intended to go to Film on the Rocks afterward, but the idea of getting home at 1am on a work night dissuaded us. We sat on the roof of the Morrison Inn and enjoyed Mexican food until our bellies were full, and then headed home. Wednesday night was our last regular-season kickball game. Despite playing against the worst team in the league, we only managed to tie them, 10-10. However, everyone makes it into at least one playoff game, so we’re not done yet!
Thursday was Kelly’s birthday, so she took the day off and celebrated by sleeping in, getting a 90-minute massage, having lunch with her mom, and going out for dinner at Sushi Zan Mai with me, my parents, and Beth. Unfortunately, I had to work that day, but I did manage to put together a delicious home-made ice cream cake before heading to the restaurant. After stuffing our faces full of delicious sushi we all came back to the house to meet up with Beth’s parents, open gifts, and enjoy the cake. Friday after work we met up with a group of friends for happy hour at the Downtown Tavern and then went to the Rockies game afterwards. Even though they lost to the Giants, we all had a great time.
Saturday was spent preparing for Kelly’s birthday party that evening. We decided it would be fun to have a picnic in the park, complete with food, games, and beer. So we packed the coolers, grabbed the lawn games, and headed to Washington Park in Denver. When we arrived, we found a nice shady spot under a large tree and set up camp. After people started arriving, we ate and played several rousing games of bocce ball, badminton, volleyball, and ladderball, and before we knew it, the sun was setting. We scrambled to get everything packed up and put into the car before we couldn’t see anymore, then we all drove to the Wash Park Tavern for a few drinks, some lively conversation, and to catch the end of the Broncos’ and Rockies’ games. Overall, it was a fun end to a busy week, and the birthday girl said it was one of the best birthdays she had ever had!
Sunday morning we decided to try a new church that Kelly’s co-worker attends. It’s called Northern Hills and it’s only 15 minutes away from our house! The church holds two services simultaneously; one being more edgy than the other. We decided to try the edgy one this week, so we ventured into what is appropriately referred to as “the garage,” and found a couple of open seats. The worship service was definitely edgy and seemed more like a rock concert than anything, but the band had a lot of talent and we were both impressed. The speaker was articulate and genuine, and his sermon was peppered with bible passages and sound theological teachings, and Kelly and I left with every intention of returning soon. That afternoon Kelly had a hair appointment with my sister, so I went with her to my parent’s house, hung out, and watched as Kelly went from being a blonde to a brunette in a matter of hours. Afterwards we drove to the Murphy’s to celebrate Cindy’s birthday. Yesterday was Kelly’s mom’s birthday, so we celebrated by first going to Sharon’s house to open gifts, then going to dinner at Rock Bottom Brewery.
Whew, that’s it! Until next time!
Friday, August 14, 2009
DC to Vegas
From Kelly:
Well, as Mike mentioned I was in the DC area last week for a proposal writing and managing class. The class itself was good and I actually did learn alot. I thought it was pretty funny though that since I didn't talk much everyone in the class thought of me as "so quiet and soft spoken"-- I wouldn't say that's true at all! But, it was fun to play the part for awhile. One of the guys in my class was Clinton's helicopter pilot while he was in office, so that was pretty cool. He couldn't tell us much but he a few stories to share, including landing in Fenway Park and how the fuel for all the jets is super special and highly protected and can only come from one specific top secret place.
The main fun while I was there was hanging out the DC-ers, namely Emily, Nathan, Mike and Vince. On Tuesday night Nathan cooked us a yummy tilapia dinner, Wednesday we went out to a place called Cantina Marina that was right on the Potomac River, and Thursday I had dinner at Mexicali Blues with Mike and Emma. Friday night we participated in my favorite DC activity-- Jazz in the Garden! This is where you set up a blanket in the sculpture garden and they have a jazz band and serve sangria and it's just a generally wonderful time of socializing and enjoying the summertime. That was awesome! On Saturday we headed out to brunch and checked out the Eastern Market, which was a wonderful outdoor shopping area where I got a necklace, which I am quite fond of. I headed home that afternoon and was happy to spend the rest of the evening relaxing with Mike.
This week has been pretty standard. We are having our annual manager's meetings at work and so our marketing group has been doing a lot of work to get things set up for those. Monday night Matt and I reinstated our Monday sushi tradition. Tuesday night was Bryan's birthday party for the family at Cinzetti's. Tony was in town from SF, so was able to join us, which was great since everyone hadn't seen him in awhile. Wednesday night we had a kickball game that we lost miserably. It's really hard because so many people from our team are gone every week that I feel we are always "short staffed", which is annoying. Yesterday I had to work super late because of an internal tradeshow we put on, but it went well so it was worth it. And tonight we leave for Vegas!!!! We are going with a few other friends and it's my first time to Vegas since I turned 21, so I'm really excited to check it out.
I think you are all caught up, now it's your turn to let us know what's been going on with you!
Well, as Mike mentioned I was in the DC area last week for a proposal writing and managing class. The class itself was good and I actually did learn alot. I thought it was pretty funny though that since I didn't talk much everyone in the class thought of me as "so quiet and soft spoken"-- I wouldn't say that's true at all! But, it was fun to play the part for awhile. One of the guys in my class was Clinton's helicopter pilot while he was in office, so that was pretty cool. He couldn't tell us much but he a few stories to share, including landing in Fenway Park and how the fuel for all the jets is super special and highly protected and can only come from one specific top secret place.
The main fun while I was there was hanging out the DC-ers, namely Emily, Nathan, Mike and Vince. On Tuesday night Nathan cooked us a yummy tilapia dinner, Wednesday we went out to a place called Cantina Marina that was right on the Potomac River, and Thursday I had dinner at Mexicali Blues with Mike and Emma. Friday night we participated in my favorite DC activity-- Jazz in the Garden! This is where you set up a blanket in the sculpture garden and they have a jazz band and serve sangria and it's just a generally wonderful time of socializing and enjoying the summertime. That was awesome! On Saturday we headed out to brunch and checked out the Eastern Market, which was a wonderful outdoor shopping area where I got a necklace, which I am quite fond of. I headed home that afternoon and was happy to spend the rest of the evening relaxing with Mike.
This week has been pretty standard. We are having our annual manager's meetings at work and so our marketing group has been doing a lot of work to get things set up for those. Monday night Matt and I reinstated our Monday sushi tradition. Tuesday night was Bryan's birthday party for the family at Cinzetti's. Tony was in town from SF, so was able to join us, which was great since everyone hadn't seen him in awhile. Wednesday night we had a kickball game that we lost miserably. It's really hard because so many people from our team are gone every week that I feel we are always "short staffed", which is annoying. Yesterday I had to work super late because of an internal tradeshow we put on, but it went well so it was worth it. And tonight we leave for Vegas!!!! We are going with a few other friends and it's my first time to Vegas since I turned 21, so I'm really excited to check it out.
I think you are all caught up, now it's your turn to let us know what's been going on with you!
Friday, August 7, 2009
Slacking in the Summer
From Mike:
Well, it’s been a month since our last blog. I should have updated this thing two weeks ago, but for some reason I just haven’t gotten around to it. So you’re in for a long one…lucky you! Where do I start? Ah yes, July…
The weekend after I arrived back from DC, we drove up to Rocky Mountain National Park with a group of friends and went camping. It was a great time of fun and relaxation as Kelly, Beth, Carter, Amy, Jamila, James, James’ brother Tyler, and I sat around the campfire drinking beer, roasting marshmallows, telling scary stories, playing Catch Phrase, and trying not to laugh so loud as to draw attention from the campsite warden. The next morning we went for a short hike up to one of the many subalpine lakes in the park and made our way home afterward.
The following Wednesday was our third kickball game of the season. This is our second year being captains of our team, Just for Kicks. This year I got a bunch of co-workers to join and, despite our lack of skill, we have a great time getting outside and playing this underappreciated elementary school pastime. Thursday we drove up to Adam and Carolyn’s house to celebrate Brianna’s 2nd birthday. It’s amazing to realize she’s that old already! Kelly and I have loved watching her grow and develop her adorable personality. As Kelly constantly reminds me, she’s not a baby anymore…she’s a little girl!
The next day we flew to California for Ben and Nicole’s wedding. We flew into San Francisco, rented a car, and drove south to our hotel in San Jose. Kelly, Nathan and I awoke the next day ready to do a little wine-tasting. So we mapped out a few vineyards and were off. Our first stop, J Lohr, wasn’t actually a vineyard but they had a tasting room full of their wines, and that’s all we really cared about. They suggested a few other vineyards so we forwent our itinerary and decided to wing it. Our next stop took us up a winding road to Ridge Vineyards. This scenic winery sits atop one of the many hills in area and had incredible views of the valley to the east. Our third stop was to Cooper-Garrod Vineyards. This tasting room was on a large estate among several horse stables. Among the fields of grape vines were tables of people picnicking and fenced yards for horseback riding. On our way back to the car, Kelly got a chance to pet one of the horses who happened to be getting a bath. Our fourth and final vineyard was the Chateau Masson Mountain Winery. We were actually struggling to find the Cinnabar Winery when we stumbled upon this one. This winery is equipped with an outdoor amphitheater and also had great views of the valley to the east. Unfortunately their wine tasting was not free, so we didn’t spend much time here. We drove back into town, grabbed a late lunch at In-n-Out, and went back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding.
The wedding was at a vineyard in San Martin called Clos LaChance, (pronounced Kloe Luh-Shawnce for all you non-French-speaking readers) and was the most picturesque wedding we had ever been to! The ceremony was held outside on the grass facing blue sky, rolling hills, and grapevines as far as the eye could see…gorgeous! There was a 90-minute cocktail hour immediately after the ceremony in the Mulberry grove adjacent to the lawn. We sipped sangria and sampled fancy hors d’ oeuvres while chatting with the other guests and waiting for the newlyweds to finish their picture-taking session. Afterwards we all moved up to the winery’s large, ornately-decorated, stone patio for a delicious lamb dinner. (Kelly had the halibut) Of course, no wedding is complete without a little dancing, and apparently no wedding I go to is complete without me doing the Thriller dance, so I graciously stepped up and performed my rendition of MJ’s classic at the behest of the bride. This time was a little different though, because the DJs brought a full Michael Jackson costume! Although after closer examination of the nappy wig, I only had the courage to wear the sequined jacket. Overall it was a great night and we had a great time celebrating with the bride and groom.
The following day we drove back up to San Francisco to visit Tony and his sister Jamie. We arrived in town and Kelly directed me to Lombard Street, aka the most crooked street in the world. We then drove to Tony’s apartment in The Haight, met his charming girlfriend, Linda, and then drove to a nearby park for a free concert put on by the San Francisco Orchestra. That evening we picked up Jamie and Linda and went to Nettie’s Crab Shack for dinner were I enjoyed my very first whole-crab dinner! At first I was a little creeped out when they brought my crab and in its claw was the hammer I would be using to crack its body into little pieces. But I got over it and before long was happily devouring his innards with butter and a side of corn. Tony had to work the next day so Kelly and I went to Pier 39, saw the sea lions, ate clam chowder at a seaside restaurant, took a boat tour under the Golden Gate Bridge and around Alcatraz, bought some chocolate at Ghirardelli Square, gaped at the crazy people swimming in the freezing bay waters, and laughed at all the tourists wearing sweatshirts that were obviously purchased at a local souvenir shop. For those of you who haven’t been yet, San Francisco is deceivingly cold so bundle up! That evening we went to one of Tony’s favorite restaurants for dinner called Magnolia and spent the rest of the evening playing guitar hero. The next morning we ate a delectable breakfast at Mama’s on Washington Square - one of the city’s most popular brunch restaurants. Then, we rushed to the airport and hopped on our plane back home.
We went camping with Beth, Tyler, James and Jamila the following Friday. This time we were in Peaceful Valley at Camp Dick. As usual, we enjoyed our time around the campfire eating gooey s’mores and answering get-to-know-you questions that Kelly had brought. The next morning we all went for a hike. After awhile Beth, Tyler, James and Jamila had to get home so Kelly and I went on ahead in search of an elusive reservoir that we saw on the trailhead map when we set out. After walking for two hours with no reservoir in sight, we turned around and came back to the campsite, utterly defeated. By that time it had started to sprinkle, so we ate a quick lunch and took a nap in the tent and waited for the rain to pass. Unfortunately the rain did not stop, so Kelly and I decided to come home a day early and went to a new BBQ place by our house. That Sunday we had dinner with Jeff and Renae Ramsey, one of the families we support through the Campus Crusade for Christ Ministry. We had never met them before, so it was great to meet them and get to know them better.
The following Wednesday Kelly, Beth, Carter and I went to the Counting Crows concert at Red Rocks. Although it was raining pretty much the entire time, it was a great show. They played with Augustana and instead of the usual format of having an opener and then the headliner, they played several songs together the whole time. Unfortunately, the ride home was not much fun. We ran out of gas on the exit ramp from eastbound I-70 onto southbound I-25 and were stuck in a precarious, and very dangerous spot in the road. After several calls to the police, the insurance company, and a tow company, we safely got the car to a gas station and all was well. However we didn’t get home that night until after 1am and were a bit tired the next day.
Last Saturday the non-profit organization I am involved with, Built on the Rock Education, had a meet-and-greet BBQ where we got a chance to introduce ourselves to the community, our friends, and our family and tell them about our vision for the organization. It was a great time of eating and playing games and although it wasn’t an official fundraiser, we got a lot of financial support to help us get going and brings us closer to our goal of building a school in Kenya. Praise God!
This week Kelly is in DC for a training class, so I have temporarily reverted to bachelorhood. She seems to be having a great time there visiting friends and getting pampered with a myriad of nice dinners and hotel amenities. Despite the amount of video-game playing I’m getting in, I’m excited for her to come home tomorrow.
Whew, you made it! It was a long journey, but it’s over now. Until next time!
Well, it’s been a month since our last blog. I should have updated this thing two weeks ago, but for some reason I just haven’t gotten around to it. So you’re in for a long one…lucky you! Where do I start? Ah yes, July…
The weekend after I arrived back from DC, we drove up to Rocky Mountain National Park with a group of friends and went camping. It was a great time of fun and relaxation as Kelly, Beth, Carter, Amy, Jamila, James, James’ brother Tyler, and I sat around the campfire drinking beer, roasting marshmallows, telling scary stories, playing Catch Phrase, and trying not to laugh so loud as to draw attention from the campsite warden. The next morning we went for a short hike up to one of the many subalpine lakes in the park and made our way home afterward.
The following Wednesday was our third kickball game of the season. This is our second year being captains of our team, Just for Kicks. This year I got a bunch of co-workers to join and, despite our lack of skill, we have a great time getting outside and playing this underappreciated elementary school pastime. Thursday we drove up to Adam and Carolyn’s house to celebrate Brianna’s 2nd birthday. It’s amazing to realize she’s that old already! Kelly and I have loved watching her grow and develop her adorable personality. As Kelly constantly reminds me, she’s not a baby anymore…she’s a little girl!
The next day we flew to California for Ben and Nicole’s wedding. We flew into San Francisco, rented a car, and drove south to our hotel in San Jose. Kelly, Nathan and I awoke the next day ready to do a little wine-tasting. So we mapped out a few vineyards and were off. Our first stop, J Lohr, wasn’t actually a vineyard but they had a tasting room full of their wines, and that’s all we really cared about. They suggested a few other vineyards so we forwent our itinerary and decided to wing it. Our next stop took us up a winding road to Ridge Vineyards. This scenic winery sits atop one of the many hills in area and had incredible views of the valley to the east. Our third stop was to Cooper-Garrod Vineyards. This tasting room was on a large estate among several horse stables. Among the fields of grape vines were tables of people picnicking and fenced yards for horseback riding. On our way back to the car, Kelly got a chance to pet one of the horses who happened to be getting a bath. Our fourth and final vineyard was the Chateau Masson Mountain Winery. We were actually struggling to find the Cinnabar Winery when we stumbled upon this one. This winery is equipped with an outdoor amphitheater and also had great views of the valley to the east. Unfortunately their wine tasting was not free, so we didn’t spend much time here. We drove back into town, grabbed a late lunch at In-n-Out, and went back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding.
The wedding was at a vineyard in San Martin called Clos LaChance, (pronounced Kloe Luh-Shawnce for all you non-French-speaking readers) and was the most picturesque wedding we had ever been to! The ceremony was held outside on the grass facing blue sky, rolling hills, and grapevines as far as the eye could see…gorgeous! There was a 90-minute cocktail hour immediately after the ceremony in the Mulberry grove adjacent to the lawn. We sipped sangria and sampled fancy hors d’ oeuvres while chatting with the other guests and waiting for the newlyweds to finish their picture-taking session. Afterwards we all moved up to the winery’s large, ornately-decorated, stone patio for a delicious lamb dinner. (Kelly had the halibut) Of course, no wedding is complete without a little dancing, and apparently no wedding I go to is complete without me doing the Thriller dance, so I graciously stepped up and performed my rendition of MJ’s classic at the behest of the bride. This time was a little different though, because the DJs brought a full Michael Jackson costume! Although after closer examination of the nappy wig, I only had the courage to wear the sequined jacket. Overall it was a great night and we had a great time celebrating with the bride and groom.
The following day we drove back up to San Francisco to visit Tony and his sister Jamie. We arrived in town and Kelly directed me to Lombard Street, aka the most crooked street in the world. We then drove to Tony’s apartment in The Haight, met his charming girlfriend, Linda, and then drove to a nearby park for a free concert put on by the San Francisco Orchestra. That evening we picked up Jamie and Linda and went to Nettie’s Crab Shack for dinner were I enjoyed my very first whole-crab dinner! At first I was a little creeped out when they brought my crab and in its claw was the hammer I would be using to crack its body into little pieces. But I got over it and before long was happily devouring his innards with butter and a side of corn. Tony had to work the next day so Kelly and I went to Pier 39, saw the sea lions, ate clam chowder at a seaside restaurant, took a boat tour under the Golden Gate Bridge and around Alcatraz, bought some chocolate at Ghirardelli Square, gaped at the crazy people swimming in the freezing bay waters, and laughed at all the tourists wearing sweatshirts that were obviously purchased at a local souvenir shop. For those of you who haven’t been yet, San Francisco is deceivingly cold so bundle up! That evening we went to one of Tony’s favorite restaurants for dinner called Magnolia and spent the rest of the evening playing guitar hero. The next morning we ate a delectable breakfast at Mama’s on Washington Square - one of the city’s most popular brunch restaurants. Then, we rushed to the airport and hopped on our plane back home.
We went camping with Beth, Tyler, James and Jamila the following Friday. This time we were in Peaceful Valley at Camp Dick. As usual, we enjoyed our time around the campfire eating gooey s’mores and answering get-to-know-you questions that Kelly had brought. The next morning we all went for a hike. After awhile Beth, Tyler, James and Jamila had to get home so Kelly and I went on ahead in search of an elusive reservoir that we saw on the trailhead map when we set out. After walking for two hours with no reservoir in sight, we turned around and came back to the campsite, utterly defeated. By that time it had started to sprinkle, so we ate a quick lunch and took a nap in the tent and waited for the rain to pass. Unfortunately the rain did not stop, so Kelly and I decided to come home a day early and went to a new BBQ place by our house. That Sunday we had dinner with Jeff and Renae Ramsey, one of the families we support through the Campus Crusade for Christ Ministry. We had never met them before, so it was great to meet them and get to know them better.
The following Wednesday Kelly, Beth, Carter and I went to the Counting Crows concert at Red Rocks. Although it was raining pretty much the entire time, it was a great show. They played with Augustana and instead of the usual format of having an opener and then the headliner, they played several songs together the whole time. Unfortunately, the ride home was not much fun. We ran out of gas on the exit ramp from eastbound I-70 onto southbound I-25 and were stuck in a precarious, and very dangerous spot in the road. After several calls to the police, the insurance company, and a tow company, we safely got the car to a gas station and all was well. However we didn’t get home that night until after 1am and were a bit tired the next day.
Last Saturday the non-profit organization I am involved with, Built on the Rock Education, had a meet-and-greet BBQ where we got a chance to introduce ourselves to the community, our friends, and our family and tell them about our vision for the organization. It was a great time of eating and playing games and although it wasn’t an official fundraiser, we got a lot of financial support to help us get going and brings us closer to our goal of building a school in Kenya. Praise God!
This week Kelly is in DC for a training class, so I have temporarily reverted to bachelorhood. She seems to be having a great time there visiting friends and getting pampered with a myriad of nice dinners and hotel amenities. Despite the amount of video-game playing I’m getting in, I’m excited for her to come home tomorrow.
Whew, you made it! It was a long journey, but it’s over now. Until next time!
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Fishing Fun
From Kelly:
I hope you are all enjoying your summers and the heat. I decided to try to make it without a/c the last couple of days and I succeeded for one night! It's been hot out. . . Well, here's some of what's been going on with us:
One of the biggest things we've done recently was take a trip up to Wyoming over the 4th of July weekend. My dad and stepmom have two houses there on a single lot and so we go up once a year to visit and relax in the slower pace of life in Saratoga. We headed up on Thursday night and arrived late so we went straight to bed in the "guest house". The next morning we woke up early only to find it was raining. Our plan had been to float the river and we decided that we were tough enough to handle it in the rain, so Mike, my dad and I headed on out. The river ride was great. We saw pelicans, bald eagles, deer, and lots of ducks. While I spent my time watching the wildlife and enjoying the scenery, Mike was busy reeling in the fish. He caught six fish, the largest of which was a 15.5" trout. We decided not to keep his fish, though, because none were really weighty enough, so we released everything he caught.
After the boat ride, we went to the lake to take the big(ger) fishing boat for a spin on Lake Saratoga. Our main goal was just to make sure it was going to be able to make the trip to the reservoir the next day, so when we got out to the lake we just made a few speedy circles and came back in to the dock. Mike got to drive the boat, which he really enjoyed and I just enjoyed going fast! That evening, we met up with some of dad and Crystal's friends for happy hour at the American Legion and then headed down the street for some prime rib/salmon at the best place to eat in town.
On Saturday, my dad managed to get me out of bed by 5:45am and into the car by 6am to go to Seminole Reservoir. I slept for most of the 60-mile drive and when I woke up, we plopped the boat out on the reservoir and drove around looking for a good spot to fish. This time I had decided to try fishing a little so I did the hard work of letting my dad set up my fishing line and then putting my pole in the holder for me and then I sat next to it and waited for my bite. I didnt have to wait long for a 16.5" trout to grab the hook. I reeled him in and was very proud of all my "sitting there watching the pole" efforts! We decided to keep him and so we strung him on a line behind the boat. He didn't end up making it there long, though, because we later sped away to another spot on the lake and forgot about him. He was long gone by the time we stopped to check. Oh well. . . Mike wasn't having much luck, so we decided to head near the shore and try a more practical way of fishing-- shooting Carp with a bow and arrow. Mike and dad had a great time taking shots at the unsuspecting carp and it was pretty entertaining to try to find them and then watch as the guys tried to get the perfect angle. My dad eventually hit one. It was a huge, 5-lb carp that thrashed like crazy when the arrow hit it right in the back. When dad pulled it into the boat, though, I had to spit my sandwich into the water because I was so grossed out by the fish that I thought I was going to throw up. It was a disgusting sight!
That afternoon we headed back into town and went downtown to participate in the 4th of July festivities. There was a band and car show at the American Legion so we checked all of that out and then went to a local bar for a drink when it started raining. After dinner, we drove up a hill just outside of town and had the perfect view of the fireworks show. Mike and I sat (freezing) on the tailgate and enjoyed ooing and ahhing at the spectacle.
We headed home early on Sunday because Monday morning Mike headed out to DC. So, this week I've been a DC-widow. Because of our schedules, we weren't even really able to talk while he was gone, so that was upsetting, but I had a fun week regardless. Monday night I went to dinner with Beth and Lindsey, which was nice because Lindsey is living closer now, so it's easier to facilitate getting together than when she was in Ft. Collins. Tuesday I had Bible Study. We are doing a Beth Moore study on Daniel and I am REALLY liking it. It has already helped me handle some work situations. Last night we had a kickball game. Since Mike was out, I took over captain duties, which was kind of fun. We ended up coming back from a score of 0 to 5 to win the game 9 to 6. It was an awesome victory!
So, that's what's been going on with this branch of the Nishis. Tonight we are going to dinner with my cousin Andy and his grandma and aunt (my dad's aunt and cousin). I am really excited to see them since it's been so long since we've caught up with one another. We are also super excited to be expecting a new nephew this November! And are headed out to Ben and Nicole's wedding in Napa Valley next Thursday.
I hope your summer is going well and that you are keeping cool. Be sure to update us on what's been going on with you!
I hope you are all enjoying your summers and the heat. I decided to try to make it without a/c the last couple of days and I succeeded for one night! It's been hot out. . . Well, here's some of what's been going on with us:
One of the biggest things we've done recently was take a trip up to Wyoming over the 4th of July weekend. My dad and stepmom have two houses there on a single lot and so we go up once a year to visit and relax in the slower pace of life in Saratoga. We headed up on Thursday night and arrived late so we went straight to bed in the "guest house". The next morning we woke up early only to find it was raining. Our plan had been to float the river and we decided that we were tough enough to handle it in the rain, so Mike, my dad and I headed on out. The river ride was great. We saw pelicans, bald eagles, deer, and lots of ducks. While I spent my time watching the wildlife and enjoying the scenery, Mike was busy reeling in the fish. He caught six fish, the largest of which was a 15.5" trout. We decided not to keep his fish, though, because none were really weighty enough, so we released everything he caught.
After the boat ride, we went to the lake to take the big(ger) fishing boat for a spin on Lake Saratoga. Our main goal was just to make sure it was going to be able to make the trip to the reservoir the next day, so when we got out to the lake we just made a few speedy circles and came back in to the dock. Mike got to drive the boat, which he really enjoyed and I just enjoyed going fast! That evening, we met up with some of dad and Crystal's friends for happy hour at the American Legion and then headed down the street for some prime rib/salmon at the best place to eat in town.
On Saturday, my dad managed to get me out of bed by 5:45am and into the car by 6am to go to Seminole Reservoir. I slept for most of the 60-mile drive and when I woke up, we plopped the boat out on the reservoir and drove around looking for a good spot to fish. This time I had decided to try fishing a little so I did the hard work of letting my dad set up my fishing line and then putting my pole in the holder for me and then I sat next to it and waited for my bite. I didnt have to wait long for a 16.5" trout to grab the hook. I reeled him in and was very proud of all my "sitting there watching the pole" efforts! We decided to keep him and so we strung him on a line behind the boat. He didn't end up making it there long, though, because we later sped away to another spot on the lake and forgot about him. He was long gone by the time we stopped to check. Oh well. . . Mike wasn't having much luck, so we decided to head near the shore and try a more practical way of fishing-- shooting Carp with a bow and arrow. Mike and dad had a great time taking shots at the unsuspecting carp and it was pretty entertaining to try to find them and then watch as the guys tried to get the perfect angle. My dad eventually hit one. It was a huge, 5-lb carp that thrashed like crazy when the arrow hit it right in the back. When dad pulled it into the boat, though, I had to spit my sandwich into the water because I was so grossed out by the fish that I thought I was going to throw up. It was a disgusting sight!
That afternoon we headed back into town and went downtown to participate in the 4th of July festivities. There was a band and car show at the American Legion so we checked all of that out and then went to a local bar for a drink when it started raining. After dinner, we drove up a hill just outside of town and had the perfect view of the fireworks show. Mike and I sat (freezing) on the tailgate and enjoyed ooing and ahhing at the spectacle.
We headed home early on Sunday because Monday morning Mike headed out to DC. So, this week I've been a DC-widow. Because of our schedules, we weren't even really able to talk while he was gone, so that was upsetting, but I had a fun week regardless. Monday night I went to dinner with Beth and Lindsey, which was nice because Lindsey is living closer now, so it's easier to facilitate getting together than when she was in Ft. Collins. Tuesday I had Bible Study. We are doing a Beth Moore study on Daniel and I am REALLY liking it. It has already helped me handle some work situations. Last night we had a kickball game. Since Mike was out, I took over captain duties, which was kind of fun. We ended up coming back from a score of 0 to 5 to win the game 9 to 6. It was an awesome victory!
So, that's what's been going on with this branch of the Nishis. Tonight we are going to dinner with my cousin Andy and his grandma and aunt (my dad's aunt and cousin). I am really excited to see them since it's been so long since we've caught up with one another. We are also super excited to be expecting a new nephew this November! And are headed out to Ben and Nicole's wedding in Napa Valley next Thursday.
I hope your summer is going well and that you are keeping cool. Be sure to update us on what's been going on with you!
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Let the Crazy Colorado Summer Begin!
From Mike:
Now that we’ve had time to readjust to daily life and have sufficiently come down from our vacation high (I know we went to Amsterdam, but I’m not speaking literally) it’s time for a not-so-exciting blog update!
Shockingly, (or maybe not) the week we returned from our trip already had a full schedule. The day after we returned home I had the day off. Kelly, however, wasn’t so lucky. While I stayed home and recovered from jet lag, Kelly begrudgingly played the role of the bread winner and spent the day at the office. The next day we returned to Blake Street Tavern for another round of trivia with James and Jamila. Unfortunately, we didn’t do as well as we had hoped, and since it got started late because of technical difficulties, we cut our losses and left after the second round; still feeling the effects of jet lag.
Friday night we went on a double date to Adventure Golf with Katey and Alex where we enjoyed a fun round of mini golf. Alex and I were also brave enough to try their new drag race attraction. We were essentially strapped into two adjacent cars, pulled backwards, and released like Wile E. Coyote in an ACME slingshot. Feeling the effects of 3.6 G-forces, we went from 0-60 miles per hour in 1 second! It was exhilarating, but short-lived. After our round of mini golf, we all went to the Olive Garden and enjoyed some great Italian food and a little lively conversation. Saturday morning, I met up with Daniel and one of my favorite students from my middle school volunteer days, David Gaskins (who is now a Junior in high school!), for a matinee showing of Terminator: Salvation.
Sunday morning we met up with Carter for church at Pathways. After the service, our friend Kenny asked if we were interested in going to the Rockies game that afternoon. After our initial decline, and subsequent acceptance (after some coaxing by Carter), we took the tickets, ate some sushi, and went to the game. The weather was gorgeous and the seats were even better! We were sitting 6 rows from the field along the first base line. Unfortunately, our good fortune didn’t last. The clouds rolled in around the 6th inning, and when the tornado sirens started going off, we knew it was time to leave. We ran through the rain back to the car and made a quick getaway before the exodus of drenched Rockies fans could clog the streets. We found out later that there was a funnel cloud over the Pepsi Center that day and that the evacuation of Coors Field had been on the national news.
Last Tuesday we celebrated my parents’ birthdays by inviting them over for a home-cooked meal and some European fare we had brought back with us. I managed to cook Kelly’s famous Taco Soup for dinner, along with green chili cornbread muffins, and some home-made chocolate ice cream. We also served the Gouda cheese we bought in Holland, Belgian beer, and topped off the dessert portion with an assortment of Belgian chocolates. We concluded the evening with a slideshow of the pictures we took during the trip.
Thursday night we went to see The Hangover with Carter and Justin Zuiker at the Denver Pavillions. I can honestly say that I haven’t laughed that hard in a movie theater in several years. The movie, while having its moments of complete inappropriate-ness, was great and we all left the theater with a smile on our face, quoting our favorite lines.
Friday night we returned to Coors field for yet another Rockies game. Before the game we went to happy hour and met up with our good friends Mike and Vince, who were visiting from DC, as well as Justin, Carter, and Bobby. Vince also brought his girlfriend, Saranga, whom we hadn’t seen since the Inaguration in January, but were delighted to catch up with, and his brother Max. After the game we all went to the Ginn Mill and chatted until Kelly and I were sufficiently exhausted. On the way home we were among the lucky cars to pass through a DUI checkpoint, where Kelly got through without a hitch, but apparently I was being shady, so they made me get out of the car and do a few field sobriety tests and take a breathalyzer. After proving my worth as an upstanding (and sober) citizen, they let me continue on my way.
Last Saturday, while Kelly went to a housewarming party for our friends Stephanie and Lloyd, I went camping with some buddies for Stephen Milburn’s bachelor party. We drove up to Allenspark, through some 4x4 terrain, to an area full of large climbing rocks. Stephen loves to rock climb, so he brought all his gear and set up a short course for us newbies to try. Four of us got up and down, but soon the clouds rolled in and we were all huddled under a make-shift shelter (which was really just the rain fly from a 2-man tent), trying to stay dry and not get struck by lightning. It was under that cozy “shelter” that Thomas, Stephen’s brother, realized that we forgot the rest of the tents. Luckily our old youth pastor, Jack, owns a cabin nearby so we packed up the gear, hopped in the cars, and made our way there. Jack was nice enough to let a bunch of rowdy guys stay there for the night. He even let us use the grill, dirty the dishes, sleep in the beds, and smoke cigars on the porch! We spent the rest of the evening drinking beer, smoking cigars, and giving Stephen questionable advice on how to be the perfect husband. It turned out to be a great night.
After I returned on Sunday, Kelly and I rode our bikes to my parent’s pool and spent the day lounging poolside, reading, and enjoying the sunny, warm weather. After awhile it started to get cloudy, so we rode home, changed, and returned to my parent’s house to celebrate father’s day with some family time and a few delicious grilled steaks.
Tuesday night was Kelly’s first bible study of the summer. They’re studying the book of Daniel, but that’s pretty much all I know about it…except that Kelly also gave up red meat because of it. Yesterday we stopped by Kelly’s Dad’s house to drop off his father’s day gift and see the house before they sell it and move to Wyoming. The house was completely bare inside, and I laughed when Kelly told me that her dad and Crystal have been sleeping on the pull-out sofa in the garage. Apparently that’s where they’ll be sleeping for the next six weeks!
That’s pretty much it for now…it’s been a busy few weeks, and it’s looking like that’s how it’ll be for the rest of the summer! We’re excited for all the warm days ahead that we get to enjoy, and hope you’re enjoying them as well. Until next time! God Bless!
Now that we’ve had time to readjust to daily life and have sufficiently come down from our vacation high (I know we went to Amsterdam, but I’m not speaking literally) it’s time for a not-so-exciting blog update!
Shockingly, (or maybe not) the week we returned from our trip already had a full schedule. The day after we returned home I had the day off. Kelly, however, wasn’t so lucky. While I stayed home and recovered from jet lag, Kelly begrudgingly played the role of the bread winner and spent the day at the office. The next day we returned to Blake Street Tavern for another round of trivia with James and Jamila. Unfortunately, we didn’t do as well as we had hoped, and since it got started late because of technical difficulties, we cut our losses and left after the second round; still feeling the effects of jet lag.
Friday night we went on a double date to Adventure Golf with Katey and Alex where we enjoyed a fun round of mini golf. Alex and I were also brave enough to try their new drag race attraction. We were essentially strapped into two adjacent cars, pulled backwards, and released like Wile E. Coyote in an ACME slingshot. Feeling the effects of 3.6 G-forces, we went from 0-60 miles per hour in 1 second! It was exhilarating, but short-lived. After our round of mini golf, we all went to the Olive Garden and enjoyed some great Italian food and a little lively conversation. Saturday morning, I met up with Daniel and one of my favorite students from my middle school volunteer days, David Gaskins (who is now a Junior in high school!), for a matinee showing of Terminator: Salvation.
Sunday morning we met up with Carter for church at Pathways. After the service, our friend Kenny asked if we were interested in going to the Rockies game that afternoon. After our initial decline, and subsequent acceptance (after some coaxing by Carter), we took the tickets, ate some sushi, and went to the game. The weather was gorgeous and the seats were even better! We were sitting 6 rows from the field along the first base line. Unfortunately, our good fortune didn’t last. The clouds rolled in around the 6th inning, and when the tornado sirens started going off, we knew it was time to leave. We ran through the rain back to the car and made a quick getaway before the exodus of drenched Rockies fans could clog the streets. We found out later that there was a funnel cloud over the Pepsi Center that day and that the evacuation of Coors Field had been on the national news.
Last Tuesday we celebrated my parents’ birthdays by inviting them over for a home-cooked meal and some European fare we had brought back with us. I managed to cook Kelly’s famous Taco Soup for dinner, along with green chili cornbread muffins, and some home-made chocolate ice cream. We also served the Gouda cheese we bought in Holland, Belgian beer, and topped off the dessert portion with an assortment of Belgian chocolates. We concluded the evening with a slideshow of the pictures we took during the trip.
Thursday night we went to see The Hangover with Carter and Justin Zuiker at the Denver Pavillions. I can honestly say that I haven’t laughed that hard in a movie theater in several years. The movie, while having its moments of complete inappropriate-ness, was great and we all left the theater with a smile on our face, quoting our favorite lines.
Friday night we returned to Coors field for yet another Rockies game. Before the game we went to happy hour and met up with our good friends Mike and Vince, who were visiting from DC, as well as Justin, Carter, and Bobby. Vince also brought his girlfriend, Saranga, whom we hadn’t seen since the Inaguration in January, but were delighted to catch up with, and his brother Max. After the game we all went to the Ginn Mill and chatted until Kelly and I were sufficiently exhausted. On the way home we were among the lucky cars to pass through a DUI checkpoint, where Kelly got through without a hitch, but apparently I was being shady, so they made me get out of the car and do a few field sobriety tests and take a breathalyzer. After proving my worth as an upstanding (and sober) citizen, they let me continue on my way.
Last Saturday, while Kelly went to a housewarming party for our friends Stephanie and Lloyd, I went camping with some buddies for Stephen Milburn’s bachelor party. We drove up to Allenspark, through some 4x4 terrain, to an area full of large climbing rocks. Stephen loves to rock climb, so he brought all his gear and set up a short course for us newbies to try. Four of us got up and down, but soon the clouds rolled in and we were all huddled under a make-shift shelter (which was really just the rain fly from a 2-man tent), trying to stay dry and not get struck by lightning. It was under that cozy “shelter” that Thomas, Stephen’s brother, realized that we forgot the rest of the tents. Luckily our old youth pastor, Jack, owns a cabin nearby so we packed up the gear, hopped in the cars, and made our way there. Jack was nice enough to let a bunch of rowdy guys stay there for the night. He even let us use the grill, dirty the dishes, sleep in the beds, and smoke cigars on the porch! We spent the rest of the evening drinking beer, smoking cigars, and giving Stephen questionable advice on how to be the perfect husband. It turned out to be a great night.
After I returned on Sunday, Kelly and I rode our bikes to my parent’s pool and spent the day lounging poolside, reading, and enjoying the sunny, warm weather. After awhile it started to get cloudy, so we rode home, changed, and returned to my parent’s house to celebrate father’s day with some family time and a few delicious grilled steaks.
Tuesday night was Kelly’s first bible study of the summer. They’re studying the book of Daniel, but that’s pretty much all I know about it…except that Kelly also gave up red meat because of it. Yesterday we stopped by Kelly’s Dad’s house to drop off his father’s day gift and see the house before they sell it and move to Wyoming. The house was completely bare inside, and I laughed when Kelly told me that her dad and Crystal have been sleeping on the pull-out sofa in the garage. Apparently that’s where they’ll be sleeping for the next six weeks!
That’s pretty much it for now…it’s been a busy few weeks, and it’s looking like that’s how it’ll be for the rest of the summer! We’re excited for all the warm days ahead that we get to enjoy, and hope you’re enjoying them as well. Until next time! God Bless!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Part 3: Amsterdam's Beauty
I know you are all waiting on pins and needles for the last installment of our blog about our trip to Europe, so I will keep you in suspense no longer. . .
On Friday, we rode the train into Amsterdam not sure what to expect. We’d had many a poke and jest about us even going to the pot-ridden, sex-selling capital of Europe and I was a little worried that us suburbanite Christian kids from Boulder would be totally overwhelmed. Luckily, that was not the case!
When we arrived we carefully followed our directions to take the tram to our hostel. When we got there we were pleasantly surprised to find a very cute, clean, safe-feeling hostel. We had chosen to stay in a Christian hostel because they didn’t allow drugs or alcohol and I figured it would be easier to sleep there than the “party hostels” or “house boat hostels” that were advertized. We get a friendly introduction from a guy that looked a lot like Tony (Mike later had a long conversation with him and they ended up getting a picture together, so you can judge for yourself).
After checking in we headed to lunch and then went across the street to the Westerkerk (West Church), which is the site of Rembrandt’s unmarked grave. We then took a trip down the block to the Anne Frank house. I was very excited to see the house since I had been re-reading her diary in preparation for our trip. It was really cool to see where they lived and be able to picture it better when she was talking about things in the book. It was disappointing, though, that they didn’t have any furniture in the house at Otto Frank’s request.
It was pretty cold out, so we decided to head inside to a cafe to have a pancake treat (actually it was more like a crepe- with strawberries and ice cream- yum!). Afterward, we browsed through some shops and then went to the main square where we toured through the Nieuwe Kerk ("New Church"), which is a 15th-century church that is used for royal coronations. We then did a boat tour, which was good because the weather had cleared a bit and it was nice to see the city from the point of view of one of the many canals that run through Amsterdam. One interesting site was a Chinese restaurant that was modeled after the original in Hong Kong. It was floating on the river and seats 5,000 people! We heard the food was not very good, though, so we never ate there. After that, we walked around along the beautiful canals and went to dinner at a pub along one of the busy streets and then headed back to the hostel to get some sleep.
On Saturday, we got a bit of a late start (it was Saturday afterall!) and then went to see the Oude Kerk (“old church”—sensing a pattern here?), which is the oldest church in Amsterdam. They were having a World Press Photo exhibit there, though, so we didn’t want to pay the $12 or so to get in and see it. On the way to the church, however, we did see a bit of the red light district- Mike was navigating us there and didn’t even notice all the seedy shops/people/women in the underwear in the windows. Needless to say, Beth and I were anxious to hurry him along and get out of there quickly. Luckily it was Saturday morning, though, so there really weren’t that many people out on the streets.
That afternoon, we took a bus tour to see more of Holland. I love taking tours, so I really enjoyed this part. The bus drove us first to a tiny little fishing village called Marken that used to be an island. There are only about 2,000 people in the village and they all had their laundry hanging out and their houses were all perfect little Dutch houses all painted the same—it was a bit Stepford-esque actually now that I think about it. . .Then we took a boat across the lake to another village, Volendam, which was a bit bigger—20,000 people living in this one. While in the villages we did some shopping and had a snack at a pub. I ordered an ice cream treat and they accidently brought me the wrong one—a Smurf treat with blue sprinkles and blueberry sauce and Smurf gummies. The Smurfs are very popular there because Amsterdam is the “comic book capital of the world” and several comics were developed there, including the Smurfs.
After the break, the tour bus took us to a cheese maker where we saw the process they go through to make their cheeses. The cheese was absolutely delicious and we bought two wheels to bring home (which turned out to be a bit of a hassle coming back through customs, but not too bad.) Then, we went next door and saw a wooden shoemaker at work and browsed through the enormous collection of wooden shoes they had in the shop. Next stop was a great view of some windmills. It was really interesting to hear about all the different functions windmills have had there—including pumping the water out of their many lakes to make more dry ground for farming. When the tour was over we headed back toward the hostel and ate at a very yummy Indian food restaurant.
On Sunday, we had planned to do a day of museums. So, we headed out after breakfast for the Van Gogh museum. It was especially cool because they had a special exhibit going on called “The Colors of the Night” and it included a free audio tour. We walked around and saw a lot of Van Gogh’s most famous paintings, a lot of which are not always on display in that museum—including Starry Night, which was amazing to see in person. When we went upstairs to see the standard exhibition we also got to see his sunflowers painting, his bedroom painting, the potato eaters, and his many self-portraits. The museum was incredible and we enjoyed his art very much—it has so much movement and beauty, like Mike said “it’s like the paintings are dancing—they are so active and exciting” but his stuff is also very peaceful since he spent a great deal of time painting ordinary people in ordinary settings. After the museum we decided to defy the weather and eat lunch outside. It was a bit chilly, but nice to get some fresh air. After lunch we decided not to go to the other museum we had planned to see (admission was around $20) and instead went to see a free diamond exhibition, which I enjoyed quite a bit J After that we wandered around the streets and shopped until Beth had to part ways with us and head back to the hostel to collect her stuff and go meet her train.
After we bid Beth adieu, we browsed around the flower market, which was incredible. There were stalls and stalls of flowers in every color and variety—very pretty! And the stalls were all floating on the canals, which made it even cooler. We then went to the one place Mike had been wanting to visit the whole time—the Torture Museum. There they had every type of medieval torture device you could imagine. It was pretty crazy to see all those things and read about how they used them. I was pretty ashamed to realize that the majority of the most brutal ones were developed and used by Christians who were usually witch hunting.
As soon as we left the Torture Museum it started raining. Of course it did because this was the first day that I had decided to stop carrying around my rain coat with me everywhere. Luckily I had on a hooded sweatshirt, but I still got pretty wet on the 30-minute walk back to the hostel. When we arrived there, we took some time to warm up with hot chocolate in their café and then headed out to find our bus that was taking us to London.
That’s right—I said bus. From Amsterdam to London. A 10.5 hour bus ride. My initial plan was that we would sleep on the bus and save ourselves the (more expensive) plane ticket as well as another night’s hotel room. Well, we certainly did save money, but we did not necessarily sleep. What I didn’t factor in was that on this ride from 8pm to 6:30am that A. the driver would stop and make everyone get off of the bus for “breaks” and that B. the other people on the bus would have no desire whatsoever to sleep and would talk all night! Needless to say, we were pretty tired when we got to London. We went straight to the airport since we had our bags with us and waited for our plane for the next 5 hours while trying to stay awake (I did not succeed and took a nap for about two hours while my vigilant husband kept watch).
Overall, I really liked Amsterdam—the cobblestone streets and beautiful canals far outweigh the yuckiness of the rest of the stuff that goes on there. And all in all, it was a wonderful trip that we will not soon forget.
I am already excited to get back to London and explore more of the rest of Europe as well. Every time I’m there I discover something new and have a totally unique experience—I love that! Oh well, for now it’s back to work so I can save up enough to pay for the next adventure!
On Friday, we rode the train into Amsterdam not sure what to expect. We’d had many a poke and jest about us even going to the pot-ridden, sex-selling capital of Europe and I was a little worried that us suburbanite Christian kids from Boulder would be totally overwhelmed. Luckily, that was not the case!
When we arrived we carefully followed our directions to take the tram to our hostel. When we got there we were pleasantly surprised to find a very cute, clean, safe-feeling hostel. We had chosen to stay in a Christian hostel because they didn’t allow drugs or alcohol and I figured it would be easier to sleep there than the “party hostels” or “house boat hostels” that were advertized. We get a friendly introduction from a guy that looked a lot like Tony (Mike later had a long conversation with him and they ended up getting a picture together, so you can judge for yourself).
After checking in we headed to lunch and then went across the street to the Westerkerk (West Church), which is the site of Rembrandt’s unmarked grave. We then took a trip down the block to the Anne Frank house. I was very excited to see the house since I had been re-reading her diary in preparation for our trip. It was really cool to see where they lived and be able to picture it better when she was talking about things in the book. It was disappointing, though, that they didn’t have any furniture in the house at Otto Frank’s request.
It was pretty cold out, so we decided to head inside to a cafe to have a pancake treat (actually it was more like a crepe- with strawberries and ice cream- yum!). Afterward, we browsed through some shops and then went to the main square where we toured through the Nieuwe Kerk ("New Church"), which is a 15th-century church that is used for royal coronations. We then did a boat tour, which was good because the weather had cleared a bit and it was nice to see the city from the point of view of one of the many canals that run through Amsterdam. One interesting site was a Chinese restaurant that was modeled after the original in Hong Kong. It was floating on the river and seats 5,000 people! We heard the food was not very good, though, so we never ate there. After that, we walked around along the beautiful canals and went to dinner at a pub along one of the busy streets and then headed back to the hostel to get some sleep.
On Saturday, we got a bit of a late start (it was Saturday afterall!) and then went to see the Oude Kerk (“old church”—sensing a pattern here?), which is the oldest church in Amsterdam. They were having a World Press Photo exhibit there, though, so we didn’t want to pay the $12 or so to get in and see it. On the way to the church, however, we did see a bit of the red light district- Mike was navigating us there and didn’t even notice all the seedy shops/people/women in the underwear in the windows. Needless to say, Beth and I were anxious to hurry him along and get out of there quickly. Luckily it was Saturday morning, though, so there really weren’t that many people out on the streets.
That afternoon, we took a bus tour to see more of Holland. I love taking tours, so I really enjoyed this part. The bus drove us first to a tiny little fishing village called Marken that used to be an island. There are only about 2,000 people in the village and they all had their laundry hanging out and their houses were all perfect little Dutch houses all painted the same—it was a bit Stepford-esque actually now that I think about it. . .Then we took a boat across the lake to another village, Volendam, which was a bit bigger—20,000 people living in this one. While in the villages we did some shopping and had a snack at a pub. I ordered an ice cream treat and they accidently brought me the wrong one—a Smurf treat with blue sprinkles and blueberry sauce and Smurf gummies. The Smurfs are very popular there because Amsterdam is the “comic book capital of the world” and several comics were developed there, including the Smurfs.
After the break, the tour bus took us to a cheese maker where we saw the process they go through to make their cheeses. The cheese was absolutely delicious and we bought two wheels to bring home (which turned out to be a bit of a hassle coming back through customs, but not too bad.) Then, we went next door and saw a wooden shoemaker at work and browsed through the enormous collection of wooden shoes they had in the shop. Next stop was a great view of some windmills. It was really interesting to hear about all the different functions windmills have had there—including pumping the water out of their many lakes to make more dry ground for farming. When the tour was over we headed back toward the hostel and ate at a very yummy Indian food restaurant.
On Sunday, we had planned to do a day of museums. So, we headed out after breakfast for the Van Gogh museum. It was especially cool because they had a special exhibit going on called “The Colors of the Night” and it included a free audio tour. We walked around and saw a lot of Van Gogh’s most famous paintings, a lot of which are not always on display in that museum—including Starry Night, which was amazing to see in person. When we went upstairs to see the standard exhibition we also got to see his sunflowers painting, his bedroom painting, the potato eaters, and his many self-portraits. The museum was incredible and we enjoyed his art very much—it has so much movement and beauty, like Mike said “it’s like the paintings are dancing—they are so active and exciting” but his stuff is also very peaceful since he spent a great deal of time painting ordinary people in ordinary settings. After the museum we decided to defy the weather and eat lunch outside. It was a bit chilly, but nice to get some fresh air. After lunch we decided not to go to the other museum we had planned to see (admission was around $20) and instead went to see a free diamond exhibition, which I enjoyed quite a bit J After that we wandered around the streets and shopped until Beth had to part ways with us and head back to the hostel to collect her stuff and go meet her train.
After we bid Beth adieu, we browsed around the flower market, which was incredible. There were stalls and stalls of flowers in every color and variety—very pretty! And the stalls were all floating on the canals, which made it even cooler. We then went to the one place Mike had been wanting to visit the whole time—the Torture Museum. There they had every type of medieval torture device you could imagine. It was pretty crazy to see all those things and read about how they used them. I was pretty ashamed to realize that the majority of the most brutal ones were developed and used by Christians who were usually witch hunting.
As soon as we left the Torture Museum it started raining. Of course it did because this was the first day that I had decided to stop carrying around my rain coat with me everywhere. Luckily I had on a hooded sweatshirt, but I still got pretty wet on the 30-minute walk back to the hostel. When we arrived there, we took some time to warm up with hot chocolate in their café and then headed out to find our bus that was taking us to London.
That’s right—I said bus. From Amsterdam to London. A 10.5 hour bus ride. My initial plan was that we would sleep on the bus and save ourselves the (more expensive) plane ticket as well as another night’s hotel room. Well, we certainly did save money, but we did not necessarily sleep. What I didn’t factor in was that on this ride from 8pm to 6:30am that A. the driver would stop and make everyone get off of the bus for “breaks” and that B. the other people on the bus would have no desire whatsoever to sleep and would talk all night! Needless to say, we were pretty tired when we got to London. We went straight to the airport since we had our bags with us and waited for our plane for the next 5 hours while trying to stay awake (I did not succeed and took a nap for about two hours while my vigilant husband kept watch).
Overall, I really liked Amsterdam—the cobblestone streets and beautiful canals far outweigh the yuckiness of the rest of the stuff that goes on there. And all in all, it was a wonderful trip that we will not soon forget.
I am already excited to get back to London and explore more of the rest of Europe as well. Every time I’m there I discover something new and have a totally unique experience—I love that! Oh well, for now it’s back to work so I can save up enough to pay for the next adventure!
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Part Two: Belgium, Here We Come!
Belgium, Here We Come!
From Mike:
Well, since Kelly talked about London, it’s up to me to talk about the next phase of our European journey: Belgium!
June 2nd - We got on a Thalys train from King’s Cross Station in London to Brussels, Belgium for a quick two-hour ride through the Channel Tunnel (commonly referred to by locals as the Chunnel). Upon our arrival we were immediately greeted by signs in French and Dutch directing us to who knows where. Somehow we managed to buy Metro tickets and get on the correct train towards the Louisa stop where our friend Kacy greeted us with smiles and hugs. She directed us through town towards her apartment nearby and after a steep climb up several flights of stairs, we were settling cozily onto the couch in an adorable 1-bedroom apartment on the 3rd floor of a typical Belgian building. After a short breather and bathroom break, we made our way outside and Kacy led us to one of her favorite hangouts beside a small pond surrounded by trees. On the way we stopped in a grocery store to buy picnic food and munched on bread, salami, cheese, hummus, olives, and carrots as we soaked in the sun and enjoyed the scenery. After awhile we made our way to a nearby pub where I had my first authentic Belgian beer. We sipped beer and played Uno while we waited for Kacy’s partner, Tara, to get off work and join us.
Tara met up with us and we stopped by a frites stand (fries, to us Americans) and bought a large paper cone full of delicious potato goodness. We all (except Kelly, of course) enjoyed them as we walked back to the apartment and got ready for a quick tour of the town and some dinner. Kacy and Tara led us through the back streets of Brussels and we made our way towards the tourist center of town, Grand Place. On the way we passed by the Manneken Pis, a famous fountain of a small peeing boy. After our short tour, we stopped at Kacy and Tara’s favorite Greek restaurant and grabbed a table outside. After a delicious dinner of Gyros and Falafels, we lazily made our way back to the apartment to sleep off a long day.
June 3rd – We had this day to ourselves since Tara had to work and Kacy had to write a paper for school, so we took a train to Brugge, a small Belgian town east of Brussels. Upon our arrival, we took the advice of our travel book and ate lunch at the Hotel Erasmus, a quaint, quiet little restaurant beneath a hotel. We then took a boat tour through the canals to see the town without having to walk everywhere and to get ideas for some of the other sights we wanted to see. We wandered through town afterwards and stopped in random stores and churches, and museums. We even visited a church that has a phial of Christ’s blood! Unfortunately, the phial was behind a giant stone basilica, so we didn’t actually get to see it, but they had pictures of it, and the church itself was extremely cool. We had our first Belgian waffle, which was delightful, and we also got an exclusive VIP Belgian chocolate tasting! Okay, maybe not, but it’s a funny story. Kacy and Tara told us to visit this particular Chocolatier in Brugge called Dumon, so we were really excited to actually find it while walking around town, until we discovered that it was closed. We decided that they must be out for lunch or something, so we would come back later. Upon our subsequent visit, the doors remained locked. Fortunately, the shop owner, a small elderly Dutch woman, appeared out of nowhere and opened the doors for us, and allowed us five minutes to sample and buy her tasty confections! At the end of the day we took the train back to Brussels and stopped in an Italian restaurant for dinner and then made our way back to the apartment for a late-night card game and a good night’s sleep.
June 4th – We woke up this morning with the intention of taking a train to Antwerp (another small Belgian town), but Kacy decided to shirk her paper-writing duties and lead us on a more detailed tour through Brussels, which we eagerly accepted! We set off and stopped for a delicious brunch at this charming restaurant near the apartment. Afterwards, Kacy showed us important government buildings too numerous to list (and only half of which I remember the names of). We saw the King’s palace and the adjacent park. We strolled through the park and wound our way through bus-loads of children on a field trip, and enjoyed the shade of the tall trees. Then we walked through another tourist area near the Grand Place full of shops, pubs, and restaurants to see the female variant of the Manneken Pis, the Jeanneken Pis. This little lavatorial monument stands in an alleyway adjacent to a famous pub called the Delirium Café which boasts a selection of over 2000 beers! We walked through the Grand Place again and stopped at Kacy and Tara’s favorite pub, which is right next to the Manneken Pis, and sampled some of Belgium’s finest brews while watching the tourists gawk at the fountain, which had been dressed in a shimmery golden jacket with matching pants. Afterwards we treated ourselves to more Belgian waffles, which I managed to spill all over myself, leaving a giant messy trail of melted chocolate down the front of my shirt, onto my pants, and even managed to get a little on my shoe…it was quite a feat! We met up with Tara after she was done with work, and stopped by the grocery store so she and Kacy could make us a home-cooked meal! We relaxed in the apartment for the rest of the evening, and were treated to some delicious food, and a friendly card game, then we were off to bed a little early so we could get up in time to catch an early morning train to the Netherlands.
So that was our trip to Belgium in a nutshell. Next stop, Amsterdam!
From Mike:
Well, since Kelly talked about London, it’s up to me to talk about the next phase of our European journey: Belgium!
June 2nd - We got on a Thalys train from King’s Cross Station in London to Brussels, Belgium for a quick two-hour ride through the Channel Tunnel (commonly referred to by locals as the Chunnel). Upon our arrival we were immediately greeted by signs in French and Dutch directing us to who knows where. Somehow we managed to buy Metro tickets and get on the correct train towards the Louisa stop where our friend Kacy greeted us with smiles and hugs. She directed us through town towards her apartment nearby and after a steep climb up several flights of stairs, we were settling cozily onto the couch in an adorable 1-bedroom apartment on the 3rd floor of a typical Belgian building. After a short breather and bathroom break, we made our way outside and Kacy led us to one of her favorite hangouts beside a small pond surrounded by trees. On the way we stopped in a grocery store to buy picnic food and munched on bread, salami, cheese, hummus, olives, and carrots as we soaked in the sun and enjoyed the scenery. After awhile we made our way to a nearby pub where I had my first authentic Belgian beer. We sipped beer and played Uno while we waited for Kacy’s partner, Tara, to get off work and join us.
Tara met up with us and we stopped by a frites stand (fries, to us Americans) and bought a large paper cone full of delicious potato goodness. We all (except Kelly, of course) enjoyed them as we walked back to the apartment and got ready for a quick tour of the town and some dinner. Kacy and Tara led us through the back streets of Brussels and we made our way towards the tourist center of town, Grand Place. On the way we passed by the Manneken Pis, a famous fountain of a small peeing boy. After our short tour, we stopped at Kacy and Tara’s favorite Greek restaurant and grabbed a table outside. After a delicious dinner of Gyros and Falafels, we lazily made our way back to the apartment to sleep off a long day.
June 3rd – We had this day to ourselves since Tara had to work and Kacy had to write a paper for school, so we took a train to Brugge, a small Belgian town east of Brussels. Upon our arrival, we took the advice of our travel book and ate lunch at the Hotel Erasmus, a quaint, quiet little restaurant beneath a hotel. We then took a boat tour through the canals to see the town without having to walk everywhere and to get ideas for some of the other sights we wanted to see. We wandered through town afterwards and stopped in random stores and churches, and museums. We even visited a church that has a phial of Christ’s blood! Unfortunately, the phial was behind a giant stone basilica, so we didn’t actually get to see it, but they had pictures of it, and the church itself was extremely cool. We had our first Belgian waffle, which was delightful, and we also got an exclusive VIP Belgian chocolate tasting! Okay, maybe not, but it’s a funny story. Kacy and Tara told us to visit this particular Chocolatier in Brugge called Dumon, so we were really excited to actually find it while walking around town, until we discovered that it was closed. We decided that they must be out for lunch or something, so we would come back later. Upon our subsequent visit, the doors remained locked. Fortunately, the shop owner, a small elderly Dutch woman, appeared out of nowhere and opened the doors for us, and allowed us five minutes to sample and buy her tasty confections! At the end of the day we took the train back to Brussels and stopped in an Italian restaurant for dinner and then made our way back to the apartment for a late-night card game and a good night’s sleep.
June 4th – We woke up this morning with the intention of taking a train to Antwerp (another small Belgian town), but Kacy decided to shirk her paper-writing duties and lead us on a more detailed tour through Brussels, which we eagerly accepted! We set off and stopped for a delicious brunch at this charming restaurant near the apartment. Afterwards, Kacy showed us important government buildings too numerous to list (and only half of which I remember the names of). We saw the King’s palace and the adjacent park. We strolled through the park and wound our way through bus-loads of children on a field trip, and enjoyed the shade of the tall trees. Then we walked through another tourist area near the Grand Place full of shops, pubs, and restaurants to see the female variant of the Manneken Pis, the Jeanneken Pis. This little lavatorial monument stands in an alleyway adjacent to a famous pub called the Delirium Café which boasts a selection of over 2000 beers! We walked through the Grand Place again and stopped at Kacy and Tara’s favorite pub, which is right next to the Manneken Pis, and sampled some of Belgium’s finest brews while watching the tourists gawk at the fountain, which had been dressed in a shimmery golden jacket with matching pants. Afterwards we treated ourselves to more Belgian waffles, which I managed to spill all over myself, leaving a giant messy trail of melted chocolate down the front of my shirt, onto my pants, and even managed to get a little on my shoe…it was quite a feat! We met up with Tara after she was done with work, and stopped by the grocery store so she and Kacy could make us a home-cooked meal! We relaxed in the apartment for the rest of the evening, and were treated to some delicious food, and a friendly card game, then we were off to bed a little early so we could get up in time to catch an early morning train to the Netherlands.
So that was our trip to Belgium in a nutshell. Next stop, Amsterdam!
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Part One: England
Ok, I am totally cheating on this blog and using a lot of when Beth wrote in her blog (we did do the same things afterall), so thanks Beth!
A couple of days before we left I started getting really sick (bronchitis). I was so sick in fact that my boss made me take off of work the day we left so I could relax and get better. This was a great thing (even though I used an extra vacation day that I wasn't planning to use) because not only did I get to relax, but I was also able to prepare for the trip and get a lot of stuff done, which is always a good day as far as I'm concerned!
We left for London that night and had an easy flight. I slept most of the way (thanks to my friend "the sleeping pill"). When we arrived we found our hotel fairly easily, which was amazing since I had no clue where I was going. Staying in the hotel was SO amazing as compared to hostels. I was very glad we had decided to stay there instead of somewhere where we'd be in bunk beds and sharing bathrooms with strangers. . .While we were in London the weather was great the whole time. Hannah and Simon thought we were getting spoiled because it's not always so beautiful!
Friday, May 29th After checking into our hotel we headed to the Thames for a boat cruise. It was nice to see the city before we set out to explore it the next day. The driver was really funny and i twas nice to just sit and look at the sights. We walked around a bit and then headed to Piccadilly Circus to meet up with Hannah and Simon for dinner. We decided to get some authentic English food, so after following the 'blip' on Simon's iPhone we arrived at The Chippy, a fish and chips restaurant near Soho. The food was great and it was fun to begin to catch up with Hannah and Simon. We walked around a bit after dinner and then got some ice cream at Rendezvous, a really cute place we had ice cream at the last time we were in London. We were pretty tired after all of our travels that day, so we said our goodbyes to Hannah and Simon and went back to the hotel.
Saturday, May 30th: We started the morning at the Tower of London. We went on the audio tour, which was cool because it had accounts from prisoners and the Beefeaters. The tour was beautiful, but nothing was quite as impressive as the jewels! It's amazing to think of the history each crown and jewel holds. And it's so crazy to see diamonds as big as baseballs. Eventhough I had seen this stuff before, I was newly amazed. Our tour of the tower lasted about 3 hours, so by the time we were done we needed lunch. We walked the streets of London and stumbled upon a fun pub called the Walrus and the Carpenter. After lunch we walked to St. Paul's, which was my request because hte last time I was there it was undergoing restoration, so I was anxious to see it without the scaffolding. The the dome there is the second largest in the world. There is a balcony way up in the dome called the whisper room--you can whisper to the wall and a person across the dome can hear you. We of course, decided to make the climb, and I do mean climb, to the room. It was a GIANT spiral staircase that went on for what seemed like forever (since the dome is something like 800 feet, I am assuming around 6 floors). It was fun to try out the whisper, though you did feel a bit silly talking to a wall. :) No dome climb would be complete without a few more flights of even smaller, steeper, spiral stairs, so we went all the way to the top. Despite being completely out of breath by the time we reached the top, this was my favorite part. The top of the dome is outside and you can walk all the way around to see most of London. It was beautiful! From atop St. Paul's we were able to see our next destination: walking across Millennium Bridge to visit the Globe theater. Apparently our bird's eye view didn't help us too much though because we accidentally started walking parallel to the Thames instead of straight towards it...whoops. :) Our diverted journey did take us by some beautiful buildings though. Once we were back on track we walked over the bridge to the Globe Theater and then went to the Tate Museum of Modern Art. They had an interactive exhibit there that was pretty cool. There was all this unfinished wood and you were supposed to climb it or balance on it or do other things based on the instructions. It was neat. Our feet were beyond tired at that point, so we decided to call it a night and headed back to our hotel to eat dinner at the restaurant nearby and to play cards. It was a long, but fun second day.
Sunday, May 31st: Leave London, head to Benton (Hannah and Simon's house).
We left our hotel and took the tube to Paddington station to catch a train to Diddcot. Hannah picked us up from there and we set our exploring their cute village and surrounding areas. We had a mini 'pub crawl' (that's what I am choosing to call it) along the Thames, starting in Benton at a grill for lunch then heading to Henley-on-Thames, a cute little town on the river with shops and pubs. It was so nice out that we relaly couldnt think of much better to do but sit in pubs and drink cider. Well, everyone else had cider and I mostly stuck to bacardi breezes and sprite since I was worried that alcohol might mike my bronchitis even worse. We stopped at the Angel on the River and then headed to Wallingford where we had another cider at the Boat House. I liked this place best because it had a really nice patio right on the river. It was absolutely beautiful the whole time we were there, so sitting outside was awesome! After our cider we had excellent Indian food at another cute place across the street from the pub.
Monday, June 1st: Oxford
Beth, Mike, Hannah and I went to Oxford on Monday and it was so beautiful! Unfortunately simon woke up with the flu and couldn't join us :( But, we toured the area and did a little shopping. Highlights included going 'punting' on the Thames and getting a delicious milkshake. I was pretty sick this day, but I still really enjoyed it. Mike was our "driver for punting and he did a great job of navigating that little boat with such a big stick! There were a couple of detours through some low-hanging trees and a couple of minor collisions with other boats, but in general it went just fine. It happened to be graduation day for some of the Oxford-ites, so that was prety cool to see them in cap and gown. I bought a t-shirt and talked for the rest of our trip about "my time at Oxford". It was jolly good fun.
On Tuesday we left EARLY from Hannah's to go to Brussels, but I'll tell you about that later. Cheers!
A couple of days before we left I started getting really sick (bronchitis). I was so sick in fact that my boss made me take off of work the day we left so I could relax and get better. This was a great thing (even though I used an extra vacation day that I wasn't planning to use) because not only did I get to relax, but I was also able to prepare for the trip and get a lot of stuff done, which is always a good day as far as I'm concerned!
We left for London that night and had an easy flight. I slept most of the way (thanks to my friend "the sleeping pill"). When we arrived we found our hotel fairly easily, which was amazing since I had no clue where I was going. Staying in the hotel was SO amazing as compared to hostels. I was very glad we had decided to stay there instead of somewhere where we'd be in bunk beds and sharing bathrooms with strangers. . .While we were in London the weather was great the whole time. Hannah and Simon thought we were getting spoiled because it's not always so beautiful!
Friday, May 29th After checking into our hotel we headed to the Thames for a boat cruise. It was nice to see the city before we set out to explore it the next day. The driver was really funny and i twas nice to just sit and look at the sights. We walked around a bit and then headed to Piccadilly Circus to meet up with Hannah and Simon for dinner. We decided to get some authentic English food, so after following the 'blip' on Simon's iPhone we arrived at The Chippy, a fish and chips restaurant near Soho. The food was great and it was fun to begin to catch up with Hannah and Simon. We walked around a bit after dinner and then got some ice cream at Rendezvous, a really cute place we had ice cream at the last time we were in London. We were pretty tired after all of our travels that day, so we said our goodbyes to Hannah and Simon and went back to the hotel.
Saturday, May 30th: We started the morning at the Tower of London. We went on the audio tour, which was cool because it had accounts from prisoners and the Beefeaters. The tour was beautiful, but nothing was quite as impressive as the jewels! It's amazing to think of the history each crown and jewel holds. And it's so crazy to see diamonds as big as baseballs. Eventhough I had seen this stuff before, I was newly amazed. Our tour of the tower lasted about 3 hours, so by the time we were done we needed lunch. We walked the streets of London and stumbled upon a fun pub called the Walrus and the Carpenter. After lunch we walked to St. Paul's, which was my request because hte last time I was there it was undergoing restoration, so I was anxious to see it without the scaffolding. The the dome there is the second largest in the world. There is a balcony way up in the dome called the whisper room--you can whisper to the wall and a person across the dome can hear you. We of course, decided to make the climb, and I do mean climb, to the room. It was a GIANT spiral staircase that went on for what seemed like forever (since the dome is something like 800 feet, I am assuming around 6 floors). It was fun to try out the whisper, though you did feel a bit silly talking to a wall. :) No dome climb would be complete without a few more flights of even smaller, steeper, spiral stairs, so we went all the way to the top. Despite being completely out of breath by the time we reached the top, this was my favorite part. The top of the dome is outside and you can walk all the way around to see most of London. It was beautiful! From atop St. Paul's we were able to see our next destination: walking across Millennium Bridge to visit the Globe theater. Apparently our bird's eye view didn't help us too much though because we accidentally started walking parallel to the Thames instead of straight towards it...whoops. :) Our diverted journey did take us by some beautiful buildings though. Once we were back on track we walked over the bridge to the Globe Theater and then went to the Tate Museum of Modern Art. They had an interactive exhibit there that was pretty cool. There was all this unfinished wood and you were supposed to climb it or balance on it or do other things based on the instructions. It was neat. Our feet were beyond tired at that point, so we decided to call it a night and headed back to our hotel to eat dinner at the restaurant nearby and to play cards. It was a long, but fun second day.
Sunday, May 31st: Leave London, head to Benton (Hannah and Simon's house).
We left our hotel and took the tube to Paddington station to catch a train to Diddcot. Hannah picked us up from there and we set our exploring their cute village and surrounding areas. We had a mini 'pub crawl' (that's what I am choosing to call it) along the Thames, starting in Benton at a grill for lunch then heading to Henley-on-Thames, a cute little town on the river with shops and pubs. It was so nice out that we relaly couldnt think of much better to do but sit in pubs and drink cider. Well, everyone else had cider and I mostly stuck to bacardi breezes and sprite since I was worried that alcohol might mike my bronchitis even worse. We stopped at the Angel on the River and then headed to Wallingford where we had another cider at the Boat House. I liked this place best because it had a really nice patio right on the river. It was absolutely beautiful the whole time we were there, so sitting outside was awesome! After our cider we had excellent Indian food at another cute place across the street from the pub.
Monday, June 1st: Oxford
Beth, Mike, Hannah and I went to Oxford on Monday and it was so beautiful! Unfortunately simon woke up with the flu and couldn't join us :( But, we toured the area and did a little shopping. Highlights included going 'punting' on the Thames and getting a delicious milkshake. I was pretty sick this day, but I still really enjoyed it. Mike was our "driver for punting and he did a great job of navigating that little boat with such a big stick! There were a couple of detours through some low-hanging trees and a couple of minor collisions with other boats, but in general it went just fine. It happened to be graduation day for some of the Oxford-ites, so that was prety cool to see them in cap and gown. I bought a t-shirt and talked for the rest of our trip about "my time at Oxford". It was jolly good fun.
On Tuesday we left EARLY from Hannah's to go to Brussels, but I'll tell you about that later. Cheers!
Saturday, May 23, 2009
A Week in the Life
From Kelly:
Well things around here have been good let's see if I can think of what's been going on. . .
Last weekend we had a great Saturday-- rode our bikes to the Erie town fair where we shopped at the booths and ate way too much bad-for-us food. Then, we went to a graduation party for our friend Alex that afternoon. He had just graduated from Seminary, so it was fun to celebrate with him and play some lasso golf in the park. After the graduation pary, I met up with Nicole and the girls downtown for Nicole's bachelorette party. The party was so much fun!! It was great to hang out with the girls and celebrate Nicole. Plus we had dinner at Zengo, which is a restaurant downtown I had been wanting to try. After dinner we went to Jet and ended up getting into their VIP area. What was funny was that there was a small wedding reception going on down there-- bride and all. They even did the garter and everything right there in the bar. I mean, it's a nice place and all, but not a wedding place!
Mike got back this morning from a business trip to San Diego. While he was there for work, it still sounded like a pretty great trip. He was attending a training class that was done around 4 everyday, which left him and his coworker plenty of time to get out and explore. They had some awesome dinners, saw Star Trek, and even spent yesterday afternoon at Mission Beach. Not bad for government work!
While Mike was gone, I spent time embracing my introvert side (well kinda). On Monday, I had my (almost) weekly sushi dinner with Matt, which was awesome as always. The waiter now knows me, which is kind of nice and kind of scary. There are now two members of the waitstaff there who know I always want "diet coke and a fancy spicy tuna roll". Maybe I go there too much. . .
The rest of the week I pretty much spent watching Jon and Kate Plus 8 and scrapbooking (I am finally making a dent in my mountain of wedding pictures). I am totally into Jon and Kate lately, but really would not recommend the show. It's a total guilty pleasure. She is really mean to him and he is completely beaten down and deflated. . . but the kids are adorable! And I love her organizational systems! Oh well, hopefully now that Mike is back I will be able to squelch the urge. Stupid Tivo just makes it so easy to watch and watch and watch. . .
Today was a prety standard Saturday. I ran some errands while I waited for Mike to get home and then we went to a graduation party for some kids who were in the middle school youth group when he was a helper. It was so crazy to be at a Centaurus graduation party and realize that it was nine years ago that I graduated! That is so crazy!! It was also really cool to hear so many kids come up to Mike and tell him how awesome he is and how influential he has been in their lives. They just LOVE him! It totally makes me want to get him back into youth ministry somehow. Especially for teenage guys to say stuff like that, you know it's genuine.
We are leaving for Europe on Thursday, so preparations are underway for that trip. It should be a ton of fun, I can't WAIT. We are going to London, Brussels, and Amsterdam.
Anyway, I guess that's about it for now. Tonight we are going to use the gift card that Mariko and Colin gave us as part of our wedding gift and head to the Melting Pot for dinner. YUUMMM!!!
'Til next time. . .
Well things around here have been good let's see if I can think of what's been going on. . .
Last weekend we had a great Saturday-- rode our bikes to the Erie town fair where we shopped at the booths and ate way too much bad-for-us food. Then, we went to a graduation party for our friend Alex that afternoon. He had just graduated from Seminary, so it was fun to celebrate with him and play some lasso golf in the park. After the graduation pary, I met up with Nicole and the girls downtown for Nicole's bachelorette party. The party was so much fun!! It was great to hang out with the girls and celebrate Nicole. Plus we had dinner at Zengo, which is a restaurant downtown I had been wanting to try. After dinner we went to Jet and ended up getting into their VIP area. What was funny was that there was a small wedding reception going on down there-- bride and all. They even did the garter and everything right there in the bar. I mean, it's a nice place and all, but not a wedding place!
Mike got back this morning from a business trip to San Diego. While he was there for work, it still sounded like a pretty great trip. He was attending a training class that was done around 4 everyday, which left him and his coworker plenty of time to get out and explore. They had some awesome dinners, saw Star Trek, and even spent yesterday afternoon at Mission Beach. Not bad for government work!
While Mike was gone, I spent time embracing my introvert side (well kinda). On Monday, I had my (almost) weekly sushi dinner with Matt, which was awesome as always. The waiter now knows me, which is kind of nice and kind of scary. There are now two members of the waitstaff there who know I always want "diet coke and a fancy spicy tuna roll". Maybe I go there too much. . .
The rest of the week I pretty much spent watching Jon and Kate Plus 8 and scrapbooking (I am finally making a dent in my mountain of wedding pictures). I am totally into Jon and Kate lately, but really would not recommend the show. It's a total guilty pleasure. She is really mean to him and he is completely beaten down and deflated. . . but the kids are adorable! And I love her organizational systems! Oh well, hopefully now that Mike is back I will be able to squelch the urge. Stupid Tivo just makes it so easy to watch and watch and watch. . .
Today was a prety standard Saturday. I ran some errands while I waited for Mike to get home and then we went to a graduation party for some kids who were in the middle school youth group when he was a helper. It was so crazy to be at a Centaurus graduation party and realize that it was nine years ago that I graduated! That is so crazy!! It was also really cool to hear so many kids come up to Mike and tell him how awesome he is and how influential he has been in their lives. They just LOVE him! It totally makes me want to get him back into youth ministry somehow. Especially for teenage guys to say stuff like that, you know it's genuine.
We are leaving for Europe on Thursday, so preparations are underway for that trip. It should be a ton of fun, I can't WAIT. We are going to London, Brussels, and Amsterdam.
Anyway, I guess that's about it for now. Tonight we are going to use the gift card that Mariko and Colin gave us as part of our wedding gift and head to the Melting Pot for dinner. YUUMMM!!!
'Til next time. . .
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Food, Friends and Moms
From Mike:
These past two weeks have been relatively quiet. Last Friday we met up with Kelly’s good friend Brian who was visiting from New Mexico. We went to Ajuua for some delicious Mexican food, margaritas, and great conversation marked by much story-telling and a whole lot of laughter; typical of most gatherings with Brian, who is one of the funniest guys I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.
Most of the day Saturday was spent apart from Kelly. That morning she and our mothers went to a fashion show fundraiser for Abby’s Voice…shockingly, I stayed home and played video games! That evening, I had a board meeting for Built on the Rock Education; the non-profit organization I am helping to get off the ground. Unfortunately, I had to miss out on our friend Jamila’s birthday party, but when Kelly came home she wasted no time telling me all about the fun I had missed. Apparently they went out for dinner and saw Star Trek afterwards, which I’ve wanted to see for quite some time. So if any of you haven’t seen it yet, I’d be happy to accompany you!
Sunday was a busy day for us. We drove to Denver to help with children’s ministry at Pathways in the morning, which wasn’t too stressful since my only job was to hold babies. After church we met up with Kelly’s mom and ate lunch at one of our favorite sandwich shops, Which Wich. Afterwards we took Sharon geocaching. For those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s basically treasure-hunting with a GPS. Earlier, I had looked up a geocache in Boulder that we would be easy for a group of beginners, and input the coordinates into my handheld GPS. We drove around boulder trying to get as close to the treasure as possible and ended up parking at Scott Carpenter Park. We walked for a couple of blocks, following the directions on the GPS, and eventually found ourselves in the parking lot of a Safeway. After some careful searching, Sharon found a film canister behind a rock and, sure enough, inside was the log sheet filled with the names of several other geocachers who had found it, along with a key chain. We took the key chain and left a gold bracelet for the next person to trade, and headed back to the car. On the way back to the car, we stopped at a bar for a drink and some delicious apple cobbler. Sunday evening was spent at my parent’s house where, despite our protests that they shouldn’t be doing so much work on mother’s day, my mom and sister had set up a full taco bar. We ate and chatted and had a great time enjoying each other’s company. At the end of the day, we were thankful to get an hour or so to relax at home before bedtime.
Yesterday we met up with Jamila and her boyfriend James at Blake Street Tavern for trivia night. This trivia night was WAY better than the one we went to a couple weeks ago, and although we were a little worried that we wouldn’t do very well since there were only four of us, we ended up coming in 4th place (there were prizes for 1st through 3rd, so this was first runner-up)! Overall, it was a great night: We ate great food, played trivia, and watched the Nuggets beat the Mavericks and advance to the Western Conference finals. Suffice it to say, we all decided that we would return in the future since it had been such a good time.
That’s pretty much it for now. I’m headed to San Diego next week for a training class, and then we’re off to Europe at the end of the month! Until next time, God bless!
These past two weeks have been relatively quiet. Last Friday we met up with Kelly’s good friend Brian who was visiting from New Mexico. We went to Ajuua for some delicious Mexican food, margaritas, and great conversation marked by much story-telling and a whole lot of laughter; typical of most gatherings with Brian, who is one of the funniest guys I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.
Most of the day Saturday was spent apart from Kelly. That morning she and our mothers went to a fashion show fundraiser for Abby’s Voice…shockingly, I stayed home and played video games! That evening, I had a board meeting for Built on the Rock Education; the non-profit organization I am helping to get off the ground. Unfortunately, I had to miss out on our friend Jamila’s birthday party, but when Kelly came home she wasted no time telling me all about the fun I had missed. Apparently they went out for dinner and saw Star Trek afterwards, which I’ve wanted to see for quite some time. So if any of you haven’t seen it yet, I’d be happy to accompany you!
Sunday was a busy day for us. We drove to Denver to help with children’s ministry at Pathways in the morning, which wasn’t too stressful since my only job was to hold babies. After church we met up with Kelly’s mom and ate lunch at one of our favorite sandwich shops, Which Wich. Afterwards we took Sharon geocaching. For those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s basically treasure-hunting with a GPS. Earlier, I had looked up a geocache in Boulder that we would be easy for a group of beginners, and input the coordinates into my handheld GPS. We drove around boulder trying to get as close to the treasure as possible and ended up parking at Scott Carpenter Park. We walked for a couple of blocks, following the directions on the GPS, and eventually found ourselves in the parking lot of a Safeway. After some careful searching, Sharon found a film canister behind a rock and, sure enough, inside was the log sheet filled with the names of several other geocachers who had found it, along with a key chain. We took the key chain and left a gold bracelet for the next person to trade, and headed back to the car. On the way back to the car, we stopped at a bar for a drink and some delicious apple cobbler. Sunday evening was spent at my parent’s house where, despite our protests that they shouldn’t be doing so much work on mother’s day, my mom and sister had set up a full taco bar. We ate and chatted and had a great time enjoying each other’s company. At the end of the day, we were thankful to get an hour or so to relax at home before bedtime.
Yesterday we met up with Jamila and her boyfriend James at Blake Street Tavern for trivia night. This trivia night was WAY better than the one we went to a couple weeks ago, and although we were a little worried that we wouldn’t do very well since there were only four of us, we ended up coming in 4th place (there were prizes for 1st through 3rd, so this was first runner-up)! Overall, it was a great night: We ate great food, played trivia, and watched the Nuggets beat the Mavericks and advance to the Western Conference finals. Suffice it to say, we all decided that we would return in the future since it had been such a good time.
That’s pretty much it for now. I’m headed to San Diego next week for a training class, and then we’re off to Europe at the end of the month! Until next time, God bless!
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