Tree Trimming

Two weeks ago Ben and I made the trek to Home Depot to pick out the perfect Christmas tree. We happened to choose to get our tree on one of the coldest days of the year so far. Burr! We literally took all of 3 minutes to select our tree. $38 and 5 minutes later we were headed home with the tree strapped to the roof. We got the tree in and set up but waiting until last Tuesday night to decorate it. The theme for the tree is the same as last year. Simple!

Maybe next year I will bite the bullet and get new ornaments. A few pictures of the holiday decorations are below.

Animal!

So Lucy's hair was so long that every time she scratched or got her hair wet from being outside, it matted. It got so bad that Ben and I ended up shaving her body. We wanted to do her face too but it she was too squirmy so we left her face alone. As a result she looks like Animal from the Muppet's. Can you see the resemblance?

Happy Birthday!

A big shout out to Ben on his 35th birthday. Hope you have a great day!

Long Time No Post

Well I guess you can say that things have been status quo here, hence no posts. We have just been moving along with nothing out of the ordinary to report. Over the last couple of weeks we picked up the new car, celebrated Bob's birthday, worked and hung with Lucy. Over the next couple of weeks we will be celebrating Lindsay's birthday, Thanksgiving and eventually Christmas. We still haven't figured out our plans for Thanksgiving or Christmas but we will have to soon.

Halloween came and went with little fanfare. No pumpkins, no costumes, no candy and no trick or treaters. I'm not going to lie...I really don't like Halloween so I didn't mind much. :)

It has been baby mania the last few weeks. Wade and Kristin welcomed twins, Henry and Millie. Brent and Maria welcomed their second baby, a boy named Harrison and Aimee and Tom welcomed a girl, Rosie. Congrats to all!

Other than that, I've still been doing yoga 3 times a week and I'm going to try and stick with it. It is hard but fun and I can tell I'm getting stronger. I am working to hold Crow longer - see pic below.

And maybe eventually I will be able to do this variation, Side Crow.

New Car - Kind of

The lease on our car is up in a month so Ben and I headed to the dealership last night to discuss getting a new car. In about an hour we were able to agree on a deal where we are paying basically what we have been paying for the past 3 years, but we got a 3 year newer car.

What car did we get you ask? The same car we had of course - all the way down to the color inside and out. We should get the new car in 3 - 4 weeks.

Old car -

New car -

Just imagine they are both black.

Around the World and Back - Part 2 Acapulco to Detroit to The UP to Chicago

After the wedding on Saturday we relaxed and hung by the pool on Sunday and then everyone headed home on Monday morning. Ben and I were Detroit bound through Houston again. Our flights were uneventful and we arrived in DTW on time. Tuesday through Thursday I worked in our Detroit office. I was able to get to know some of the members of my new group who are based in Detroit while getting through some work that had piled up while we were in Mexico. Ben worked from my parents house trying to get through files and emails from us being away.

Lucky for us the Cubs were in town playing the Tigers that week and Mom, Ben and I were able to get tickets to Tuesday nights game. It was a great game with the Cubs in the lead until a walk off home run in the 9th that allowed the Tigers to win. Needless to say Mom was happy and Ben was not. This was my first trip to the new Tigers Stadium and it was really nice. The stadium is huge, they have great things for kids and from what I could tell there wasn't a bad seat in the house.

Thursday morning Ben headed for Boyne for 5 days of golfing with his Dad and some buddies. This is one of several annual golf trips that Ben takes. This year there were 8 "old guys" and 8 "young guys" as Ben called it. They play two rounds of golf every day except for the first and last (travel days) where they only play one round. I know I couldn't play that much golf but the guys enjoy it and it is a great opportunity for Ben to hang out with some of his friends from back home.

I spent Friday preparing for our trip to the UP. Mom and I had to do some last minute shopping, I had to repack and also make meatballs for one of our two group dinners. I found a great Bobby Flay Italian Meatball recipe on the Food Network website and got to work. Saturday we packed up JW's new truck with all our stuff and Mom, JW, Lucy and I were off. We made it to Manistique in good time even with a stop for lunch and a stop to pick up pasties for dinner.

Saturday night through Friday night were spent at fish camp. We had the same cabins as last year and the same pontoon boat. Sunday was a great first day, sunny and warm. No one else had arrived yet so JW, Mom, Lucy and I headed out on the boat so JW could do a little fishing and Mom and I could read. Monday through Thursday were cold and cloudy and very windy. So much so that we spent most of our time inside reading, napping and even working on 2 1000 piece puzzles we bought in town to help us pass the time. Ben arrived on Monday afternoon as his last round of golf was rained out. Max, Nora and Karl arrived late Monday night and Donnie followed on Tuesday. Fred, Heather, Abby and Ethan arrived on Wednesday. We had two great group dinners, one with steaks and the other spaghetti and meatballs. Everyone pitched in and helped prepare and clean up so it made for a relatively easy event.

The sun finally returned on Friday mid-day and we were able to get out in the sun again. The boys were able to get some fishing in finally. Ethan won the trophy this year with a 10 Walleye caught on the last day. Saturday was a perfect day, warm and sunny but of course we had to jump in the car for the 7 hour drive back home. Ugh! Another great year at fish camp with lots of food, beverages and relaxing.

We are back in Chicago for the first time since June 17th and are trying to mentally prepare for the work week ahead. Hope everyone had a great 4th of July!

Wedding Day

Saturday was wedding day. During the day the girls headed to Casa Gina while the boys convened at Casa Mona. Both groups feasted on a great brunch including french toast, chiliquilies, fresh fruit, bacon, toast and mimosas. After brunch the girls had several ladies come buy to do manicures, pedicures and massages. It was perfect - they came to us and the price was right. $10 for a mani, $15 for a pedi and $35 for a 40 minute massage. With those prices most of us did all 3. :) After our services we hung by the pool, chatted, listened to music and read. It was a perfect way to start the wedding day and a great way for Lindsay to relax.

As far as what the boys did during the day...my guess is there was a lot of gambling and drinking given the several photos of boys wearing sombreros that were emailed to the girls throughout the day.

Around 4 pm we headed back to our respective villas to get ready for the wedding. Judy, Britt, Sandy, Audra and I worked through some last minute details for the wedding while Lindsay went to get ready. After we were sure everything was in the right place we followed Lindsay's lead and got ready for the big event.

The wedding ceremony was held in the garden on the grounds. Beautiful! We almost made it through the ceremony before the rain started. It is rainy season in Mexico so the rain wasn't totally unexpected, although we were all hoping we wouldn't have any.

The tables for the reception were set out around the pool, overlooking the bay. It was a beautiful setting, but due to the rain the tables had to be moved up to the main house. While the location was changed the group enjoyed appetizers and drinks. Dinner and dancing followed and everyone enjoyed themselves. I know Ben and I headed to bed around 1:30 am and the party was still rockin' when we left. The sign of a great event!

Congrats to Lindsay and Nate - we are so happy we could be there to celebrate with you.