Insight.com Bowl - A Success!

At the game

I never got around to blogging about the remainder of our trip to Arizona. Given that we spent more time traveling to and from the state of Arizona then we were actually there, I didn't have much time to post on arrival. We were in Tempe for 2 days. It was amazing. Most of the time we spent doing Insight.com Bowl game events, which the Iowa State Alumni Association did a great job of organizing. In the

On Wednesday evening we drove out to Rawhide, which is a replica wild west town. They had a pep rally with the coach, team members, and other university officials. I wasn't expecting a huge crowd, but it was packed. There were 5,000 fans there for the rally. It was crazy - you couldn't go anywhere because the lines for food and drink were so long. We listened to most of the pep rally and then decided to eat at the steakhouse in this "town." It wasn't anything special, but the food was decent and they had a live band playing, which was kind of nice. After that, we headed back to the hotel.

On Thursday, we go up and got ready for the game. The game was at 4:00, but the pap rally was downtown Tempe at noon. We got something to eat at a local Irish bar, which was amazing. I would barely finish half of my corned beef sandwich, let alone the fries! After that we headed to the pep rally to get our bead, tattoos, and stickers. There were about 10,000 fans at the game-day rally. I can't believe how many people made the trip - many driving both ways to get there! We stayed for an hour or so and walked toward the game. We wanted to get in to check out the stadium and get to our seats.

The stadium was mostly full of Iowa State fans. Seriously, it was like 10:1 Cyclones:Golden Gophers, which definitely made for a better game atmosphere. The pregame was decent - parachuters came down on the field and they had fireworks. I won't say much about the game other than to note that Iowa State won 14-13. It was a close game at the end and could have gone either way, but a win is a win, no matter how ugly. I am just happy the Cyclones won. Otherwise, Todd would have been really upset. He gets so mad just watching the game at home when they lose. I did not want to deal losing after making the trip out.

After the game, we were hungry and found some food at a local bar. The servings were huge and it was super cheap food. We had no clue going there, but we could have split dinner it was so big! After that, we walked around Tempe's New Year's Eve block party. It was huge! We heard this is the biggest block party after Times Square. I am not sure if that is true or not, but it was definitely packed with people, food vendors, rides, activities, and 40 bands. It was $15 just to get in and we had to go through security, which was interesting. There were police in full riot gear, police on foot, on bikes, in cars, and on horse. It was crazy. Someone said that the was a big street fight a few years ago, so they are prepared I guess. We stayed long enough for the fireworks at 10pm (celebrated the New Year in the Eastern time zone). After that we were so exhausted due to the time change, our travel, and everything we squeezed into the trip, we headed back to the hotel. We heard the fireworks at midnight celebrating the Mountain time zone, but we were in bed already. Lame, I know, but we were so exhausted.

I was not excited to go home at all. I LOVED the weather in Tempe and didn't want to deal with work after being gone for a week (the emails were piling up even though lots of people were on vacation, too). But, I did want to get home to my dogs. I always miss them!

All in all, it was a good trip. I was surprised I did made it that far in the car. I don't mind traveling, but driving for 24 hours is not my idea of fun at all. But, I watched a ton of movies, read through my stack of magazines, and kept up my social networking (about the only time I was good about keeping up with that). :) I am hoping we can head back out there to catch some spring training games. I have always wanted to go to spring training, but have yet to make it. Maybe this year??

In the Arizona sun

Celebrations and Old Friends

I love when I get to go somewhere and see old friends and acquaintances I haven't seen in years. It is always fun to see what people are up to these days. Yesterday, I was in the Chicago suburbs for my friend Tracy's wedding shower. I got to see several friends from college and celebrate her upcoming wedding. It was a lot of fun!

There were a ton of people at the shower, so Tracy got a ton of great stuff. One of the gifts was a really cool creative gift. I am not good at coming up with stuff like that, so I'll have to steal it for future use. It used candy and little sayings for clever thoughts on marriage. Like the Almond Joy bar with the saying for the joys in life you will experience. Very cute. I had never seen that before and definitely want to use at some point! The room the shower was in was decorated so cute with flowers on every table and a brunch/lunch buffet. The favors were adorable, too! But, the best part of the shower (for me, anyway) was getting to see Tracy and catch-up with old friends from college. Granted the time was short, but it was fun to see everyone!

Tracy, me, Kendra, and Sarah

The Cell = The Worst

US Cellular Field is the worst baseball stadium I have ever been to. Period. Each year we try to see a new stadium or two. We have seen most of the ones in the Midwest and a few East Coast stadiums, too. Out of all he ones I have been to, The Cell is the worst by far. I am glad we went to check it off our list and to never go back!

We decided to catch the Cubs at the White Sox, so at least we could see a game we would like. That was probably a bad idea in hindsight, but who knew at the time! Not me! I don't know the Southside very well, but there is nothing there. We tried to park, but had to use White Sox parking. They had us going around in cirlces through neighborhoods to a community college parking lot. We had no clue where we were, so had to follow the crowd to the stadium. Since there is nothing there, people just tailgaited at their cars. I seriously felt like I was at a football game and not a baseball game.

We finlly got to the stadium about an hour or so before game time hoping to get tickets. There were none because the police don't allow scalping around the stadium. Interesting since the same Chicago police department allows it on the Northside. We searched high and low, even coming up with a plan to catch one of the museums to make our trip worthwhile. We finally found someone who sold us the worst seats ever in the upper deck. But, at least he admitted before we bought them they would be crappy. Kudos for the honestly, but these seats were horrible. Upper deck near the top and also near the tunnel to the concessions. So, we never really saw the game since we were so high off the field and had a stream of people walking in front of us. I got hit in the head with peanut shells, had beer spilled all around me, and saw the police escort many people out for fighting in the stands. Literally throwing punches fighting. Oh, I felt bad for the guy next to us who brought his kid. Not only could they not see the game, but the people behind us were using inappropriate language the whole game. He finally left about half-way through. I probably would have, too. Actually, we did leave a few innings early. The Cubs played horrible the entire game and lost.

The thing I hate most about the stadium is all the advertising. Every place they could put a sign, sponsor, or flashing light, they did. You would never see this at Wrigley. You just watch and enjoy the game, not all the crazy advertising. Also, they played music all the time. Before every batter, between innings, during pitching changes. People we up doing the YMCA and dancing to other songs. Horrible. It is a baseball game, not a drunken party people!

I can promise, I will never be back to US Cellular Field again.

I'll take the ivy at Wrigley anyday for a REAL baseball game!

To Chicago via Iowa

This past weekend we went to Chicago for the day via a trip to Iowa. We left Friday night right after work to start the 6 hour drive. It was pretty uneventful until the last 45 miles. We drove through some serious thunderstorms. Not only was the rain so heavy it was hard to see, every lightening strike would illuminate the clouds. I looked like a tornado might drop down at any time, but we kept driving (of course) and finally got there around 11:30pm.

I was up around 6:15am the next morning to run the Bix 7. The Bix is 7-mile race in the Quad Cities during an annual jazz festival honoring musician Bix Beiderbecke. It is a fun race and I have done it for four years now, but I forgot how hilly the course was! Just over 15,000 people ran the race this year and while the weather was slightly cooler than normal this year, the course was still tough! But, I finished (after getting a cramp with only 0.25 miles left - ugh!) in 1:02:57. My time was a little slower than I hoped, but compared to my race times over the last several years, this time was great. After that, we spent the day by the pool and ate smoked ribs for dinner.

Sunday morning we were up early again to head into Chicago. Todd has been wanting to take his niece and nephews into Chicago, so we decided on a game at Wrigley! Todd had on some old sandals as we left and forgot his shoes to walk around in. So, we stopped to get shoes in Wrigleyville at 10:00am on Sunday morning. After that we parked and got tickets for the game. It was very important to get the tickets as we knew it would be hard to get 5 together and also because our nephew Max was concerned about going to the game without tickets. We promised him we had been many times and gotten tickets outside of the stadium, but we definitely needed tickets in hand to make everyone happy! We grabbed lunch, bought Sharpe #1 for possible autographs, lost Sharpe #1, and made it to our seats. Thankfully the Cubs won, so the kids got to sing the Go, Cubs, Go! song. I think they enjoyed the game and we definitely kept the cotton candy guy busy. After the game, we saw the bucket drummers, bought Sharpe #2, got Ben some Cubs baseball cards, and waited for Cubs players to get some autographs.

We waited near where the players park their cars. It is kind of crappy because they all leave and never sign anything. They should at least sign for a few kids. It only costs them a few minutes of time to gain fans for a lifetime. We waited and watched Lee, Dempster, Fontenot, Soriano, and other players leave. Rich Harden, the winning pitcher came out and was talking to others inside the gated parking lot. Finally, after about 10 minutes, he came over and started signing autographs for people. It was awesome of him and all the kids were excited. We were trying to get in for our autographs. Todd held Ben on his shoulders so he could reach over the top of other people to hand in his Harden baseball card for a signature. Max climbed up the side of the fence and hung over the game program open to the page on Harden. Both got signatures (of course, we didn't need the Sharpes #1 and #2 as he used the same pen for everyone).

After that, we headed downtown for a quick tour of tall buildings, a stop an Millennium Park, and some Chicago-style pizza. We didn't get home until late, but had a lot of fun! Next time we'll hit a few other attractions. I think all the kids are ready for the aquarium.

NYE Recap

I have been meaning to post about our New Year's Eve festivities for some time. I figured I better get to it before the month of January is over! We had grand intentions to spend a few days in Chicago over NYE and meet up with friends and family while catching a few of the tourist sites we have yet to see (mainly the Art Institute, which is one place I have never been but always wanted to go). Anyway, we got the dogs into the boarding place at the last minute and decided to head to Chicago Tuesday and stay until Friday or so. We were off work and didn't have specific plans, so it sounded like an adventure. And it was, until I was so sick I could only lay in the hotel bed and wish I were home. We got downtown much later than planned Tuesday, so we grabbed a late dinner at Murphy's Pub. Whatever I ate did not sit well with the stomach the next day, which was the first problem. The second problem was that my cold worsened to the point where my throat was throbbing and I could barely talk. But, we decided to head out in the freezing winter temps Wednesday morning to shop a little and go up in the Hancock tower. We also ate at Pizzeria Uno. Of all the pizza in Chicago, this is not at the top of my favorite list, but it was good. After that we headed back to the hotel. I kept feeling worse, so I decided to forego the Art Institute and take a nap. I was in bed almost the entire afternoon. We had already made dinner plans and purchased Blue Man Group tickets with my friend April. So, we met up with her for dinner. Our reservations didn't work out as planned, but we still had a good time out (rather April and Todd did as my stomach was still not feeling well so I only ate bread...lovely). Blue Man Group was awesome, as usual. This is my second time to see the show and I highly recommended for everyone. I don't really know how to describe it, but I definitely think the show is worth the price of admission. It is artsy, funny, and interesting all at the same ime. They even did a special NYE after-show thing with a champagne toast, hats, and noisemakers, which was fun. I felt bad because the whole time I was trying not to touch or breathe on April and Todd for fear I would make them sick.

I woke up Tuesday morning and didn't even shower. I packed up my suitcase and told Todd I needed to go home - I was sore and achy, I could barely talk, and all I wanted to do was sleep. We left our hotel by 9:30am. So, we did not get a chance to meet up with anyone else, which I was bummed about (sorry people - I really did want to call you up). Maybe next time as we hope to get to Chicago again soon. Regardless, we still had a fun NYE with April!

A Happy Thanksgiving

We had a good Thanksgiving! We went to Iowa to spend the holiday with Todd's family and pretty much ate the entire time we were there! The only disappointing part of the weekend was that Todd's brother Ryan could not come up from Texas as originally planned. We haven't seen them since last March, which is just crazy! When they lived in Iowa, we saw them all the time. But, we did set up a video chat and talked online which was way cool! We used Microsoft Live Messenger and it worked out well (minus the crappy built-in speakers on my laptop). We are hoping to video chat more often. As you can see from the picture above, Ben was really into chatting with his Texas cousins.

I did get in a little running while there, about 12 miles over 3 days. But, I still gained a few pounds. Like I said, we ate a lot!! On Thanksgiving Day, Todd's mom cooked a 26-lb turkey. She also made sweet potatoes (from the garden), mashed potatoes (from the garden), homemade rolls, corn (from a relative's farm), and gooseberry pie (homemade crust with fruit from a relative) among all the other traditional holiday dishes she prepared! It was a feast! Of course we had leftovers for days. I am done with turkey until next year. Seriously, I am okay with not seeing another turkey dish until next year. We also made our traditional trip to Geno's pizza.

I didn't really do any shopping, as there is no much close to his parent's house. But I did sleep a lot and look through hundreds of recipe books his mom has collected over the years. The problem is that we do not need to eat more, and I now have lots of new dessert recipes I would love to try out sooner than later! I definitely need to find a way to get to the gym sooner than later!

We did sme little white-knuckle driving on the way home, but made it safely. The roads were slick and the snow was coming down in Northern Illinois. We saw lots of cars off the road and at one point, a car in front of off fishtailed off the road, but was able to get out of a shallow ditch with no damage. There were tow trucks and police all along the way. Todd went slow and took his time. Once we got past Bloomington, IL the roads were clear and the snow was not a problem.

It was great to hear from family and friends that also had a good holiday! Hopefully the spirit will continue on into December.

I want our car back!

We have had a rental car for over a week now and it is so annoying! I want our car back! Some idiot wasn't paying attention and rear-ended Todd on his way to work. Well, he was stopped in at a light and the force of the accident pushed him into the car in front of him and that car hit the car at the front of the line. So, it was a mini four car pile-up all because one person was not paying attention. Our car has about $6500 in damage and is not drivable. We were able to get it out to the Honda dealer to be fixed without a tow, but the front-end is smashed in and the rear is a mess, too. We hope to get it back at the end of this week (crossing fingers). It took some time to get all the parts in and to make all the repairs - there are three pages of parts they had to order. Great! Thankfully they are only using new Honda parts and not after-market parts to fix the car. From previous experience, I am not a fan of after-market parts. But, the accident cased a lot of hassle and readjustment in our lives. Among other things, we had to haul the dogs to Iowa in my car, which left little room to pack anything. Good thing we also had to haul a bunch of stuff for my grandma's 90th birthday party, too. It all worked out in the end, but the guy didn't even have his license or proof of insurance with him at the scene of the accident. I understand accidents happen and are caused for many reasons, but this guy clearly was going a little too fast and not paying attention. Now, we have to deal with the aftermath of his mistake. But, complaining aside, I have to say that no one was injured, so that is good news.

A little "slice" of heaven

This blog is dedicated to my friend April. Todd and I enjoyed a little slice of heaven on Monday night in honor of you! Yep. We had some Papa Dell's pizza. Oh, it is so good. I ate so much I couldn't move, but it is amazing and totally worth the calories! Papa Dell's sells half-baked frozen pizza's and we got it via Champaign two weeks ago. All we had to do was bake it for 1 hour to enjoy the best deep dish pizza ever! Not only is this this best pizza on earth, it is a reminder of the good old days! I miss C-U! Good friends, good times, and obviously good food. I'd take back the days in the palace anytime.

(April, you totally deserve some Papa Dell's! Next time you are in Illinois and are close to C-U, it is on us!!)

My Bachelorette Weekend

Long time, no post! It seems like some weeks I am great and posting and some weeks I am just behind. This is my busy time of year at work, so that doesn't help at all! The past weekend was a fun one! Todd decided to go hunting in Iowa with Lucy. So, I was left to take care of Murphy and make my own weekend plans. Everything was up in the air until the last minute, but it all came together in the end!

Friday night, I went with Lana and some others to IU Midnight Madness. It was definitely interesting. I had to constantly use the program they handed out to look up the players. There is only one returning player from last year, so most of the players are unknown to the fans. There are a couple of players that are really good, especially one freshman guy that I think will turn out to be really good in the next few years. Of course, the Illini are still my #1 team, but IU does pay the bills, so to speak, so I am a fan unless they are playing Illinois. Plus, I really like Coach Crean. I think he is going to do a lot for IU basketball. I hated Sampson and had bad vibes about him from day one (although I would never say I told you so)!

Saturday morning, I decided to run the Jill Behrman 5k, a local race that benefits Jill's House. I ran with my friend Mandy and we rocked the race! I finished in 25:17 and Mandy in 25:27. I think that is my fastest 5k ever! I was shocked to have finished in that time. I'd like to think I could improve up on that time, but who knows. I am running less and less these days, plus the weather was ideal that morning, which always helps.

I was working on some plans for Saturday afternoon, when my brother called to say they had an extra ticket for the Illini football game in Champaign. So, Murphy and I loaded up the car and headed to C-U. We tailgated and I say my old college roommate Jamie for a few minutes. The game was awesome. We creamed IU. It was my first time back in the stadium since all the renovations were completed. The place is amazing - it is huge and so much nicer than when I was a student. My ticket was with my parents, brother, and his friends. Murphy was a trooper, although after three hours of being on a leash he was getting a little grumpy. He stayed in the car during the game.

On Sunday, we headed home from Illinois, but stopped to see Jamie again and Murphy played with Daisy, her golden retriever. They had a blast. Murphy will wrestle with anyone who is willing and Daisy was happy to oblige.

Unfortunately, I have zero pictures from the weekend! I am so bummed! Todd took my camera when he left to go hunting Friday afternoon. But, I do have a picture of he and Lucy after getting some ducks. They had a good weekend and got lots of ducks (this is always a tough situation for me - I want them to be successful and have a good hunt, but I am not really into eating duck). Lucy ended up with limber tail again, but is back to normal today.

Home

Well, we made it home safely. We left the Outer Banks around 11am on Friday and drove for about 11 hours before stopping to get a hotel room. We drove the rest of the way this morning and picked the dog up from the kennel on the way home. Todd gets extra points for driving the whole time.

I think Lucy had a good time. She is sleeping as a thunderstorm is raging outside. Usually she is pacing back and forth and jumping at the sound of thunder. But, she is laid out on the floor sound asleep tonight!

We forgot to mention one of the cool things about the trip. On Monday we saw a ton of dolphins! We were out on the beach and they were swimming very close to the shore! Todd was out swimming close to them and they didn't seem to mind at all. We watched them for a good half hour come as close as 30-yards to the shore. We saw more on Tuesday, but they were out much further. Unfortunately, we didn't see any others the rest of the week.

One of the bad things about the trips were the mosquitoes. Not only do I have mosquito bites on my legs, but they have swollen up to huge welts! They also itch and burn like crazy. If we go back next year, we'll take some stronger bug spray.

Reality sets back in on Monday. Unfortunately, I have not been able to taken as much time off this summer as I had originally planned for several different reasons. I am hoping to steal a few more days here and there before the semester starts again on Sept. 3rd.

Vaca: Day 5

Our final and last day here! :(

We spent most of the day on the beach. The morning was perfect - sunny and warm, minus a rainstorm midday. I went for a run on the beach first thing this morning. All of the other times I ran along the sidewalks and trail system here. Today, I decided to go on the beach barefoot. It was a lot of fun, but next time I will remember to put sunblock on the tops of my feet! I will say that after a disappointing few days of shell collecting, I hit the mother load this morning! While out running, I ran across a ton of cool shells including two sand dollars that are in near perfect condition. Todd was very jealous I found more cool stuff than him. Of course, I had to run back with my hands full of shells for 1.5 miles, but it was worth it!

Todd spent most of the day using the body board he bought yesterday. He had several great rides in on the waves. I was going to try, but the waves were huge and it was high tide, so I chickened out. Maybe before we leave tomorrow.

We ended up the night eating out at Aqua S and sitting outside to watch the sunset. It was great until the mosquitoes started eating away at my legs. We moved inside to have dessert after the sun went down. It was an awesome sunset.

Overall, it has been a great trip! I am definitely not looking forward to the drive home, which begins tomorrow.

Vaca: Day 4

Unlike yesterday, today was cloudy, cold, and rainy. I got in a run this morning only to get to the beach and feel the rain drops 5 mins later. Bummer! So, we decided to go into town for lunch and tour around the area. We ate at the Red Sky Cafe again for lunch (they have a really great lunch menu and much cheaper than dinner). Then, we tried to check out some different shopping areas and parts of the OBX. However, because of the rain, so was everyone else. The traffic and parking was a disaster. Traffic on the highway was literally moving at like 5mph and there was no where to park anywhere we tried to go. So, we gave up on that and came back to the hotel for Todd to take a nap and for me to check up on work email (yeah for me - less than 1 hour per day on work email!). Once the rain cleared out, we headed back to the beach and took a long walk. It was still very cold and cloudy, but more people were out since the rain had stopped. I definitely had on long sleeves due to the wind! We are hoping tomorrow will be nice again since it is our last day here!

Since we really didn't do much today, I don't have any fun pictures to post. In fact, I was telling Todd that we haven't taken many pictures at all and have yet to get one with both of us (minus any parasailing pics that turn out). So, we will try to work on that tomorrow. We ate dinner at Mike & Dianna's Grill Room tonight. I would say it is okay. Both of us have had better. So far, Red Sky Cafe is the clear winner. They did have some awesome artichoke dip with their bread. But, I am ready for some home-cooked food! I am definitely reaching the point of not wanting to eat out anymore!

Vaca: Day 3

Tuesday was hot! The sun was out and the temps were hot and humid. I tried to go for a longer run, but decided to cut it short and head back to the hotel. I could tell I was getting dehydrated. So, only 3.5 miles today, but still decent. (I am trying to say up on mileage for a 7-mile race I am doing with my brother-in-law when we visit them later this month.) We spent some time on the beach before heading out to try parasailing. Parasailing was a lot of fun! I must admit I was freaked out the entire time and screaming as we took off, but once we got up in the sky, it was pretty amazing. We did the 900-ft double option. So, Todd and I went up together and once we got to our height it was actually pretty quiet. The wind on the group was whipping around and the boat was very loud, but up in the air, you couldn't hear any of that. Todd and I had a normal conversation and looked around at the ocean and sound for miles. As we came back down to the boat, we got dipped in the water a few times before we were pulled back up in the air to land on the boat in a standing position. Overall, it was a lot of fun and I would probably do it again. We had some pictures taken, but they are on 35-mm film by the boat crew, so I have to have them developed. I'll post them when we get them back!

I also had my first ever pedicure in the afternoon, along with a manicure. I am not a fan of feet - my own or others. And it was a little weird to have some random person rubbing my feet and giving them a mask treatment, but it did feel pretty relaxing! I got an awesome color on my toes, too! Overall, I probably would not do it again, mainly because it takes more time and money than I am willing to spend on my feet and fingernails. But, here are my toes for now:

Other than those activities, the day included several trips to the beach. We didn't eat at any restaurants of note. In fact, we were disappointed in the restaurants we ate at today. At least they were not super expensive ones. Things around the Outer Banks are very overpriced (in my opinion). So, we have definitely been spending more on meals that I anticipated.

Vaca: Day 2

The great thing about being at a resort is that you get what you want when you need it - clean beach towels, sheets, and rooms, for instance. The bad thing is that you have to eat out every meal. I am already tired of that (although I don't think Todd is every upset about eating out). I started out the morning with a 5-mile run (needed to counteract the 5,000 calories I ate today). It was hot and there was no water along the way, but it was nice to jog along and check out the massive vacation homes. After that we hung out on the beach for a few hours and got totally sunburnt. We both had on tons of sunscreen, too! So, we decided to avoid direct sun in the afternoon. We toured the area a bit and checked out some of the shopping areas, beach shops and walked through a nature preserve area. We tried to go parasailing, but it was too windy. We'll try again tomorrow. I did schedule a manicure at the resort spa for tomorrow afternoon. I've never had one before! We went back to the beach in the early evening when the sun was going down and it was not as hot. I think we both agree this is the best time of the day.

When we were out and about, we stopped and got some breakfast items to eat in our room, thus avoiding at least one meal out and saving a little money. For lunch, we checked out a resaurant at the resort and for dinner we went to the Red Sky Cafe in Duck, NC. I thought it was just okay, but Todd raved about the crab cakes at Red Sky.

No pictures today! I took a few, but didn't haul my camera to the beach or shopping. I am worried about it getting covered with sand. Maybe tomorrow!

Vaca: Day 1

Well, we have arrived at the beach!! We spent Saturday driving 9.5 hours (about 9.5 hours too long for me) and stopped in Charlottesville, VA for dinner. The downtown area is so cool! It is a long brick road lined with different restaurants and shops. It is completely blocked off to traffic, which is so nice to just stroll around. One end also has a concert stage where they bring in some really big names. It is a lot like the Verizon Wireless Music Center in Indy, but this is right downtown. On Sunday morning we checked out the UVa campus (partially in search of good coffee for Todd) and decided to tour Thomas Jefferson's home at Monticello. He was an amazing architect and created a mountaintop home that was completely self-sustaining. It is really amazing to see the different things he designed that were advanced for the period in which he built the home. The mountain was foggy and it was a bit rainy, so we didn't see to see all the amazing views, but we toured the grounds and home. We also stopped to see the family cemetery on his property, as well as the vineyards, which exist at one end of the 5,000 acres he farmed. After that, we stopped for lunch at Mitche Tavern. It has been open and operating since the 1765. It was pretty cool. We ate with camping-like plates and cups to keep to the period.

After that, we drove the final 3.5 hours to our destination at the Outer Banks - The Sanderling Resort. We checked in and took our first walk on the beach. Then, we checked out the The Blue Point for dinner. Of course, we have already eaten way too much, but so far it has been fun. We are hoping that Tropical Storm Bertha stays away!

Todd found his Starbucks on the UVa campus! It is a very cool area of town like Green Street (Illinois) or Kirkwood (Indiana).

Me at Monticello. The grassy area actually used to be a goat farm (sticking with Jefferson's plan to have a self-sustaining plantation), so it actually wasn't as nice back then.

We saw so many crabs when we were walking the beach. Todd is looking forward to the fish this week (Swordfish tonight...Tuna tomorrow night).

Happy Birthday Trip to Wrigley

Well, we finally made it to Wrigley for the first time of the 2008 season! In celebration of Todd's birthday on Sunday, we decided to head to Chicago for the day. Yes, just for the day. I know it is a little crazy, but it really isn't that bad of a trip. We go several times each year and have done the day trip a few other times, so we knew what we were getting into! Anyway, we left the house a 9:00am, got to Wrigley at noon (thanks to the time change), which left us enough time to get tickets and lunch before the game started at 1:20. After the game, we walked around a bit, grabbed dinner, and headed for home after the traffic died down. We made it home by 11:15pm! Of course, we have our special route and new secret parking spot, so that helps us get there despite the crazy traffic. Thankfully, Lucy is an awesome dog and just hung out in the backyard the whole time.

It was a great trip! We saw the Cubs win their 8th game in a row and saw a Soriano homerun. Also, Edmonds did well during the game (although it is hard to cheer for a former Cardinal). It was also Illini day, so we saw lots of fellow Illinois grads and saw Ron Zook sing the 7th Inning Stretch. I will say that we were not dressed for the weather. I checked the forecast before we left and adjusted a little for the cooler temps closer to the lake. The temp was listed as a high of 80, so I figured it wouldn't be much below 70 for the game. Todd and I both dressed in shorts and t-shirts and neither took long sleeves to the game. Yikes - it was freezing, especially with our seats in the shade! I know, we should have known better. We have been to Wrigley in May and June before and know it can be chilly. Maybe we were hoping for summer. Who knows, but I did have to invest in a $60 Wrigley sweatshirt that is two sizes to big for me. Oh well. So, we have seen the Cubs in DC, Cincy, and Chicago so far this year. I am hoping we can check out a few other parks this season. No specific plans yet, but we are not good at planning ahead (I have lightened up on this obsession over the years as I prefer to have detailed plans, as most of you know).

Iowa Visit

I am finally getting around to posting about our visit to Iowa a few weeks back. We went over the weekend of May 17th to visit family. The weekend was packed with activities, but we also got in some relaxation.

Even though we didn't get in until about midnight on Friday, I decided to run a local race Saturday morning. I did the local YMCA 4-mile run, which was a fun and low-key race. There were no race bibs or timing chips. Instead, I was given a popsicle stick with a number as I crossed the finish line. The number matched the time they recorded for you. I ran it in 34:22 - not too bad. I won my age group, but that isn't hard when only three people my age ran the race. Afterwards, we met up with Todd's parents and went to a local pancake breakfast where I ate back all the calories I burned while running! :) Before we left the downtown area where the race and breakfast were located, we walked around an outdoor craft fair and bought a few handmade things.

The rest of the weekend included a lot of baseball! Our two nephews (7 and 8) are both very into baseball and on the same little league team. So, we played baseball with two of our nephews Saturday night and had a cookout with family. The nephews also stayed overnight, so we got to play even more the next morning and talk more baseball. On Sunday, we had a quick lunch right after church before rushing off to see our niece play soccer and watch our nephews' baseball practice. Of course, when not watching the soccer game, the guys were playing baseball. (Like I said, there was a lot of catch going on throughout the weekend.) We ended up back at Todd's brother's house for another cookout.

We left Monday morning and stopped to see my grandma on the way home. We ended up staying with her for the whole day. We took her on several errands since she is not able to drive, took her to lunch at her favorite restaurant, and helped her with a few things around the house. In the next few weeks we will help her move into an "independent living" apartment at a local place called Parkway. We are very thankful for this since her health has been declining and she hasn't been able to keep up with her house. We arranged for her to have nursing care in her home, but it is very expensive and you never know who will be coming and going. Not all of the nurses provided the services they were supposed to, like helping her with meals, etc. So, the new apartment will be a relief to us. Plus, there are nurses on duty all the time, the staff is great, and if anything happens, she can be moved into the more assisted living part of the complex. We saw an apartment similar to the one she will be getting and even ran into some of her friends. Turns out a lady she has known for many, many years lives just three doors down. So, she was happy about that. I think the whole move is terrifying her. She is moving about three blocks away from her house to Parkway, but she has lived in her house for over 30 years. A change like this for someone who is turning 90 is major. I tried to tease her and make it sound like she was young and likened the situation to a college dorm. I think she thought it was a funny, at least for a few minutes. Anyway, it was a long weekend and we were exhausted when we got home, but it was good to see family. Below are just a few of the pics we took!

We ate lots of morrell mushrooms!!

Baseball in the orchard.

Cubbies at Cincy

We couldn't resist! The Cubs were so close and even though we have been so busy, we decided to take a short break and head over to Cincinnati to see the Cubs play on Tuesday night with our friends Lana and Tristen. It was a long night, but totally worth it! We cut out of work at 3:30 and headed to the game. We bought some great seats from a scalper, got some ballpark food, and settled in for the game. The weather was perfect - it never dropped below 60 and the rain stayed away! Plus, we got to watch Zambrano get another win! Although we didn't get home until 12:45, I would catch another night game anytime given the chance. We have been to Great American Ballpark several times, so we didn't get to check one off our list, but it is still a great place to catch a game!

DC Visit

This post is a little overdue! It always takes me longer to get up the posts with pictures since it takes more effort to get the pictures off my camera. Anyway, the weekend before last (April 26th and 27th), we took a quick trip to Washington, DC. When I say, quick, I mean less than 48 hours! But, we got in a ton of stuff for such a short trip. We stayed with our friend April, who took us to the Eastern Market, the Library of Congress (twice), and the Cubs vs. Nationals baseball game -- all on Saturday. We were exhausted, so we slept in Sunday and grabbed lunch with another friend, Tracy, on Sunday before flying out.

Friday night
We had a bit of an issue getting boarding passes to fly out of Indy to DC on Friday night. Thankfully we got to the airport in time to get those issues worked out since it took them 30 minutes to print our boarding passes at the ticket counter (thanks to a guy with a name similar to Todd's being on the no-fly list). When we arrived in DC at 8:45pm, April picked us up and took us to a fish restaurant so Todd could get his fix of fresh fish being so close to the ocean.

Saturday
We stared the day of with April's special recipe buttermilk pancakes. They are so good! (Thanks to George for passing down the fabulous recipe, which I may have to try even though they are not low-fat.) After breakfast, we checked out the Eastern Market in DC in the morning. We have been there before, but it is always fun to explore and see what is at the market. We saw some interesting items and I had to keep Todd from buying a bead necklace (why he likes this stuff is beyond me). On the way back to April's apartment, Todd asked if we could go to the Library of Congress. We had never been, so we went in and checked out all the touristy things - Thomas Jefferson's library, several exhibits, the cool interior of the building, and general nosing around. But, Todd was on the hunt for a book on the Royer ancestry. We tried to go look at the book, but it required an actual library card. They sent us across the street to an annex building where Todd was able to get a card in a matter of minutes by just providing his Indiana Driver's License. By then it was around 1pm, so we decided to grab lunch before hunting down the book. When we went back to the Library of Congress (for the second time), we found the Genealogy Room and filled out all the paperwork to get the book on Todd's family. Unfortunately, it was going to take an hour or more to get the book from the stacks. Who knew - we would have gone back before going to lunch. So, we missed out on the book, but now that Todd has his card from the Library of Congress, we can always go back and look again!


Saturday night
Check Nationals Park off the list! One of the main reasons to visit DC, besides to see our awesome friends, was to go to the Cubs game Saturday night. In our journey to visit as many MLB stadiums as possible, we had to get to DC to see the National's new stadium and the Cubs being in town made the trip even more worth it. We got awesome seats and had a generally great time at the ballpark. The tickets we had included a $35 food/souvenir credit per ticket. So, we were running around the stadium buying food and trying to use up the money. I tried to buy some food at one point, but the cashier did something wrong and my ticket came up as invalid. I was so mad because they refused to try to scan the ticket again. Seriously!?! I told the guy there was money on there, but he refused to try to re-scan. So, we had to pay a little, but Todd spent the rest of the leftover credits on a Nationals t-shirt before leaving (my ticket credits scanned just fine at that point - ugh!). In the end, the Cubs won and Big Z had an awesome outing, which made it extra fun! The rain held off for the entire game, too. April and looked at each other because we felt drops starting to fall during the last out of the game. Of course, the downpour came as we ran through the streets of DC trying to get on the metro back to April's apartment in Arlington. We were soaked when we got home, but at least the game was dry.



Sunday
We slept in Sunday morning after running around all day Saturday. Around lunchtime, we met up with my friend Tracy from college and her boyfriend John. We went to Cheesecake Factory for lunch and helped John through his first experience there. It is amazing he lived in Chicago forever before moving to DC and had never been to the Cheesecake Factory. Of course, we ate too much and still managed to eat cheesecake for dessert. After that, April took us to the airport to catch our 3:30pm flight home. The flight home was just as eventful as the flight out. We arrived in Indy, but the electronic arm they swing out to the plane door was not working, so we could not de-board the plane. So, we sat for 45 minutes at the gate while that figured out a way to get us out.

Many thanks to April (and her roommate Adam) for hosting us and hauling us all over DC. It was a fun time to get to see friends, catch a game, and see some more of the DC landmarks. We'll definitely be back soon!