02.21.08

Headin’ South and the moon blushes

Posted in friends, travel at 1:15 pm by heidihoho7

So for valentine’s day Bela and i decided to visit some friends of ours – and get away from the evil cold weather of chicago. So we headed south to visit Andy and Neely & Johanna and Mari down in Austin, TX. Bela went to school at NIU with Andy and Jo and it just so happened that the day we were leaving some kid goes on a shooting spree at their old school. A little unbelievable really.

Onto lighter topics! Our flight was pretty uneventful and we were greeted at the gates by our good friends. We opted for a light dinner at one of their favorite local cafes. This started a welcome trend of eaty extremely yummy food that wasn’t insanely expensive or terribly bad for us! (gotta find some of those around here….) We retired for the night as both of them had to work the next day.

Neely set up a visit for us to see Jo for a quick chiro alignment while they did their work things. We enjoyed driving around with the windows down and spent a leisurely day in and around the area. That afternoon we convinced Jo to come out for a bit of tennis and then the night was spent drinking fine wine, fonduing, playing games and catching up. Andy lost at Puerto Rico, write it down! (you’ll see a theme here – andy is never allowed to win if at all possible)

Saturday morning was a bit hazy for a few of us. Mother nature seemed to feel the same way and decided to finally let a little of that rain we’d been promised finally come down. None of the insane amounts that were promised but enough to limit our outdoor activity. We decided to join up with Jo and Mari and go bowling (among other things). At this point i started to realize i wasn’t just hung over anymore and was coming down with something. We had fun at the arcade while we waited for our lane. And even tho i was feeling weak and feeling yucky i was able to beat Andy at bowling by 1 pin! Must always go bowling when feeling ill! (nothing like spreading germs around…) I am pretty sure the night finished by ordering pizza and playing more games. I admit to passing out on the couch and only half paying attention at that point. Tho i am pretty sure i was fed really yummy chocolate fondued fruit. (Yes its never bad to be fed chocolate covered peaches and strawberries when ill- i highly recommend it!)

Sunday we decided to get outside considering just how beautiful it was out (sunny and 70), and i figured if all else fails i’ll just pass out on the grass and take a nap if needed We went downtown to walk along Lake Austin where the doggies had fun in the water and playing with other doggies. I saw little purple flowers all over which made me smile and wish for spring. I was still feeling ok so we headed over to a disc golf course right along a creek downtown. (which btw looks like it might rock for whitewater boating come a bit more rain). Bela and Neely were introduced to the sport (which has the crazies just like any other sport) and we were off. We were amazed at andy’s being able to lose his disc no matter what kind of whole we were on (creek multiple times, down a cliff – see pictures below). We lost a disc or two, and Jo and Andy were off into the creek to see if they could find them. Andy completely lost his but did find a few others to make up for it. I got a bit tired from all the walking and we cut the course to just 10 holes. I am pretty sure everyone had a wonderful time outdoors though, particularly the doggies!

Our last night was spent doing … guess what!? Playing games of course! We were originally going to do other fun stuff, but i was still feeling crappy so everyone was awesome once again and they ended up getting a fun new game: Wits and Wagers. So we tested it out and really liked it. I even got up to play 1 round after taking my 10th pill and it finally worked. We enjoyed homemade salmon, mashed potatoes and butternut squash along with great friends and conversation. What other way could you ask to finish a long weekend?

Now we’re back in good ole IL where its in the 20s with negative wind chills. But we did have a great view of the latest lunar eclipse even if it was only 8 degrees while i was hundling to get the pics!

Now we’re going to hunker down for a while and wait for spring!

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02.11.08

A weekend away

Posted in family, travel at 2:19 pm by heidihoho7

So this past weekend was pretty busy for both us, though in different ways and locations.
Bela headed up to Minneapolis-St. Paul to help out with a climbing competition. Unfortunately the timing wasn’t so great as he went through Madison, WI right as a huge storm was rolling through. I-90 was a mess and he ended up taking a nap right on the interstate while many accidents were getting cleaned up. He drove by the 3 semi accident that caused some people to be stranded on the road for over 11 hours. Luckily, he got through with only a few hours of slow moving and made it up north all in 1 piece. Many routes were set and he got to spend some good quality time with his bosses and fellow managers.

I headed home to do a multitude of things. Friday night was spent with Adam, Kendra and Brandon out at Chestnut skiing and snow boarding. It really was a perfect night for it, the temp was in the high 20s, the snow was packed but not icy and the slopes weren’t overrun with kids (at least at that point- 10 buses pulled up as we were leaving). Saturday was spent making jewelry, scanning old photos and working on my genealogy project. I visited Adam to see that he finally put up some prints that he got from me about 3 years ago (which they looked quite nice) and ended up playing this cool game called Portal. Its quite ingenious really, and i got sucked in and sort of got the hang of it.

Saturday night was spent at my Grandparents house as it was their 60th anniversary. We enjoyed chatting with the extended family and made a plan to visit my great Aunt (my grandpa’s sister) Marie to do some more family photo scanning and work for genealogy. I went to tiff’s to stay the night at their house and enjoy some time with my neice and nephew.

On Sunday we went to see the new office space Tiff and Robb are sharing, which also happens to now showcase about a dozen of my photos. It looks so nice and is still quite spacious and could accommodate many more coworkers, should they choose to expand.

After the visit I wanted to try to get some eagle shots so we went to Eagle Point Park where we spotted dozens of bald eagles off in the distance soaring above the Mississippi River and distant woods. We gave up as they weren’t fishing nearby and decided to get some lunch. As we were enjoying our Arby’s i noticed a bald eagle soaring around downtown Dubuque. Robb informed us that he sees them all the time and they hang out in a nearby tree next to the River Museum. So after lunch we headed over and were lucky enough to have a bald eagle come and land on the tree we were scoping out. As you can see it was a great view!

It was starting to get late and we still wanted to do some scanning so after a quick visit back to tiff’s house I said goodbye and was on my way back to Elizabeth. We got the ok from Aunt marie who is 90 years old, to come over. I’m not quite sure what she thought of my scanner and laptop but she took it all very well. We have another round to do and hopefully by then i can start to get more organized and show her some of what i’m planning.

I had a wonderful weekend, even with the cruel wind chill. We both made it home with no excitement and are glad to hunker down in the house these next few nights. We’re off to Texas to visit Andy and Neely on thursday and should have more fun pics and stories soon.

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