Port Austin

Beach
Originally uploaded by hak123

This weekend a group of us went up to Port Austin, Michigan to Terri's family lake house to celebrate her birthday. We left on Friday afternoon to make the 7 hour drive up there (it's on the tip of the thumb of the mitten for all of you Michigan-ites out there).

The drive was pretty easy and we got up there in time to have a few drinks before bed. (side note--it was light until at least 9:30pm up there. Awesome.)

On Saturday we mostly just lazed around (beers and 4 hour naps) and enjoyed hanging out on Lake Huron. That night we "celebrated" her birthday with a cake and she broke open her birthday pinata (Fred) that we brought up with us. (There are a variety of Fred pictures on Flickr. He was included in the majority of our weekend, even if he didn't make it down to the beach.)

On Sunday we made the drive back arriving around 5:30 in time to watch the Cubs sweep the White Sox in the cross-town classic that night. It was a great weekend!

And now I need another day to recover.

Birthday Weekend

Wow. Quite a full weekend! I got home from work on Friday and Bob was waiting with flowers (!!), brownies (I don't like cake that much), and a present. He got me Lego Indiana Jones (YAYAY!) and had planned a weekend in Milwaukee! It was really cute--he wrapped up a die and a Monopoly hotel together so show that were were staying in a hotel and going gambling. Such a creative fellow!

But first we were meeting friends at Happy Village, a bar just a few block away from home. It was a fun night--pizza, cupcakes, beers, and ping pong! There were lots of pictures taken, but I'll just post this one as an example of my evening:

The next morning, Bob and dropped Sadie off at my mom's house and headed up to Milwaukee. The drive was pretty easy but about 15 minutes after we got to the hotel (after missing the HUGE Hilton sign on the way in (Where's the Hilton??)) a tornado warning went off and the hotel made a building-wide annoucement to stay away from windows since there was a tornado spotted near the zoo. Luckily it all blew over and we headed out to dinner.

Mader's, a typical German restaurant in Milwaukee, was FABULOUS. It was charming inside with the traditionally dressed wait staff, and the food was amazing. Yes, I took a picture of our food--the flickr picture actually notes what everything is if you want to take a peek over there. :)

After dinner, we jumped in another cab (with the craziest cab driver EVER. Seriously. I can't even repeat here what he said to us) and headed over the the Potawatomi Casino. We spent some time playing slots and video poker in the new section of the casino (losing money) and had a couple drinks at the bar, which was really pretty.

The next morning, we drove around Milwaukee and bit before heading home. The minute we got on the highway, the skies opened up and there was the biggest rainstorm I've EVER ridden in. Bob was an amazing driver through some crazy rain. I took a video. :) It's on Flickr too. (there's a way to post photos and video from Flickr. I need to figure that out).

By the time we got to my mom's house to pick up Sadie it was sunny again. Crazy weather.

We got home around 5pm and spent the rest of the evening watching TV and doing a bunch of nothing.

It was a great birthday weekend. I have the best boyfriend ever. Lucky girl, I am.

Cubs vs. Diamondbacks

The cubs won again today! Hurrah! 4-1.

We got to the field early today and were able to watch a bit of batting practice out by the parking lot before going into the stadium. Jack and Ben both got balls from the players, which was neat. After the game, they also got to run the bases--Lucky boys.

And...Soriano is back!!

Cubs vs. Mariners

Today we went to go see the Cubs play the Seattle Mariners at HoHoKam field in Mesa. And they won, 6-4! Yay!

The neatest thing happened is that we realized that we were sitting really close to Ron Santo, an old cubbie and current announcer for WGN radio. Jack and Matt got to get his autograph and Dad mentioned that remembered seeing Santo play when he was little. Pretty cool!

Goldfield Ghost Town

Our first baseball game isn't until tomorrow (Friday) so we had a "free" day today. After getting up super-early today (6:30am...what?), we lazed around a bit before heading over to the lobby of the hotel to see what we can do. After a bit of discussion, we decided to head out to Goldfield Ghost Town.

Goldfield is a cute little town that was rehabbed from an old mining town from the late 1800s. We took a mine tour, rode the train, and panned for gold while just enjoying the beautiful area. It's about 70 degrees here, which is awesome compared to the freezing weather in Chicago!

Vacation Tomorrow!

I'm off to Cub's Spring Training tomorrow! Woohoo!

I have to admit I don't know much about the Cubs right now, but I plan to be well-versed by the time I get back to Chicago.

And a little tan. Yay Phoenix! Yay warm weather! Yay NO SNOW!

I'll be bringing my camera (of course) and my computer so I hope to post things while I'm there ala Spain. If not, there will be lots of pics on Flickr on Monday.

Quick Photo Blog

I'm going to try to do a day-by-day of our trip over the next few days or so, but I wanted to post some pics for now. :)

Neus-Rathaus & The Glockenspeil:
Where we had dinner on the first night: Zum-Franziskaner


Jandy and Mom at the WeinachtsMarkt in Ulm, Germany

The Muenster in Ulm
The view from the Muenster in Ulm.
Flat Stanley at the Hofbrauhaus

Jandy, Mom and I at...a building I can't find the name of right now.

Germany

So I'm leaving for Germany one week from today. And I've done close to nothing to prepare--other than buying a guide book, I haven't done anything and have nothing ready. I haven't even checked to make sure I didn't lose my passport since May. (I'm sure I haven't)

You'd think that I'd be more worried or stressed about what I have to do before next week, but...eh. :) It'll be fine.

I'm more stressed about what to buy people for Christmas.

This year, everyone gets leiderhosen.


edit: BAH! TYPOS! What's my job?

Camping!!

Last weekend a group of us went camping up in Wisconsin for two nights. After some struggles packing the car (camping requires more supplies than you'd think), we made it on the road and were up to the campsite by 5:30 or so. The place was great and the area was beautiful--lots of orange and yellow leaves.

Saturday a few of us went to New Glarus to the New Glarus Brewing Company. Had some Spotted Cow, Fat Squirrel, and a cherry beer that tasted like cherry pie filling.

Most of the weekend consisted of sitting around the campfire and just chilling out. It was a great weekend. Now I have to do laundry because all of my clothes smell like campfire. As does Sadie, I'm sure. (she got to go with and was very well behaved. Pretty much.)

Oh, and I shotgunned a beer for the first time. Good for me. (it was awesome)

Road Trip

Liz and I drove down to Jefferson City, Missouri last weekend to visit her family and see her new baby nephew. The drive was only 7 hours, which was really pretty easy. I forgot how much I like road trips--it makes me want to rent a car and just GO somewhere soon. Maybe out to see the big trees in California, by way of Montana and Wyoming? Hmmm...
The trip was pretty fun--for all the grief that we all give Liz for being from "the country", it's not really that rural. And it's really pretty! We visited the Capital and I got a driving tour of her hometown.

And we visited Target! That will always make me happy.

Sadie went with as well and had a fabulous time chasing frogs and turtles (well, sniffing the turtles) and running around in the backyard with Missy.