1000 miles is a long way to drive in one weekend!

The weekend after we got back from Florida I made the long trek to Minnesota. My Grandpa Biggy has been fighting Parkinson's for a long time and it has become clear, in the last few weeks, that he will be moving on soon. On Friday afternoon I drove to Rochester, MN to my cousin Allison's house, a 5 hour drive. Friday night we had a great dinner with her neighbors and then then next morning I woke-up bright and early to drive to Stillwater, MN., 1.5 hours away. My dad had been there for a week, he was supposed to leave on Friday but, he extended his trip by one day to see me, thank you dad! We spent the day talking and playing tile rummy. My Grandma won hands down.

The high point of the trip, besides seeing my dad of course, was Allison's birthday dinner...back in Rochester. It was so nice to sit down with the Suhler and Hart clan. Here are a few pictures from dinner:

Above: Elizabeth (the best pre-teen I know), Me, and Allison (the best cousin a girl could ask for)

Above: Frederick Stolp Suhler III

Sunday it was was back to Stillwater. My dad had left the previous evening so, I taught Grandma a new game, Phase 10. At 1 I left for home, a 6.5 hour drive. No joke it was over 1000 miles in total that I drove. Needless to say, I am still tired and have had my fill of driving.

I am very glad I went though. It was important that I said goodbye to Biggy. He is, was, and will always be a great man who has had the most wonderful life. He will me missed by many and be thought of often.

While I was away Jim was busy finishing up the Family Room. When I got home the room was done and it looked fabulous!!! Thank you Jim for working so hard this weekend. Here is the fished product...

Next weekend...I am VERY EXCITED...Corinne is coming for her first visit!!!!

Disney World where EVERYONE is a kid again...

Jim and I have been looking forward to going to Disney World for a long time not only was Mickey there but so was Andy, Tracy, Emma, Charlie, Grace, Ethan AND Elin...how could we ask for more? We went to 4 parks. The first stop was Magic Kingdom.

In Magic Kingdom our first ride was Pirates of the Caribbean which was Ethan's first Disney ride ever.

Also at Magic Kingdom we went to the other GREAT classic rides like the Haunted Mansion, Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, and Space Mountain. They were all almost as fun as I remember them as a kid.

The next day we went to Jim's favorite park, Beers around the World or better known as the World Showcase at Epcot. The rides were not as good at Epcot but beers around the world was a lot of fun and the light show at the end was the best we saw the entire trip. Now beers around the world...

Champagne and pomegranate in France

Guinness in The United Kingdom

Cervesa in Mexico

Norwegian Beer in Norway wait...who are those confused vikings?

Germany

Wine and Limoncello in Italy

Back to France

United Kingdom one more time...why not!

Tuesday we relaxed and then on Wednesday it was off to Hollywood Studios where we experienced the Tower of Terror. This ride is AWESOME!! This ride rises you up and then drops you 5 stories but it never drops you the same way twice..it is always a surprise.

Thursday we went to the 2 Universal parks, Universal Studios and Adventure Island. These parks where much more adult. Literally, on some of the rides, there were warning signs reminding you to make sure that your prosthetic limb was securely fastened. Our brains were a jumbled mess after this day so we all needed an adult beverage... Hurricanes and spiked lemonaide at Pat O'Briens.


Even though 2 of the days had only a high of 58 we had a GREAT time with all of our friends. Thank you to all of you for making this such a memorable trip.

Emma...

Charlie...

Shhhhh....he does not liked to be kissed.

Grace...

Pop's Birthday

Jim and I had a GREAT time in Florida...even though it had a rocky start. Our flight was supposed to leave for Florida on Monday the 18th at 5:55 but we didn't actually get to leave Chicago until 9:30 the next morning. Our flight kept on being delayed due to weather issues. Then finally at 9:30, when we thought we were going to take off our flight was canceled because the flight crew had timed out. We ended up getting a hotel by the airport and guess which room we stayed in...

When we finally got to Florida we were SO EXCITED because it was Pop's birthday.

Pop's birthday was amazing!! We stayed at a wonderful beach inn on Amelia Island.

Amelia Island is near Jacksonville and it is a great place. All pf Pop's siblings came to celebrate with their significant others plus, Jim's cousin Joe was there and Gwen's brother Tom. Here are some pictures from the event.

After we left Amerlia Island we headed to Gainesville. We had a very nice rest of the week...taking walks looking through old picture albums and catching-up. Unfortunately, Pop was sick while we where there but we still has a very nice time. Next...off the Disney World!!

More Florida pictures and stories coming soon...

Jim and I had a GREAT time in Florida celebrating Pop’s 70th birthday and playing with our friends in Disney World! I will be posting some pictures and stories soon.

This weekend I am heading to Minnesota to spend some time with my grandfather, Biggy. When I get back I will take some time out to get you all up-to-date on our travels.

V-Day Cancelled: Several Wounded in Northern Illinois University Shooting

Jim and I where lucky enough to get a last minute reservation at a little Italian resturant called Angeli's. We had not been there yet and we are always up for trying out a new Italian resturant. Jim and I had just sat down to dinner, opened a bottle of wine, and started looking at the delicious looking v-day specials when Jim's phone rang....

MSNBC: Several Wounded in Northern Illinois University Shooting

DEKALB, Ill. - A man armed with two handguns and a shotgun opened fire Thursday in a packed lecture hall on the campus of Northern Illinois University, killing four people and wounding at least 14 others before killing himself, authorities said.

Jim and I had to leave the the returant immediately becuase Jim was off to Dekalb...over an hour away. The resturant was very understanding and they didn't charge us for our bottle of wine. We will definitely go back some time soon and actually eat a meal =)

I am very proud of my husband for the work that he does and we will have many many many more valentines days together.

Another weekend...more painting but, we also fit in some tile work and a game night!

Ok well...I thought we had decided on the paint colors for the family room but, we changed our minds again. Picking greens is MUCH harder than I thought. Our final choice, for the moment, Tate Olive and Wilderness.

On Saturday Jim did a GREAT job re-tiling the hearth.

Saturday night was our second game night. This month it was our month to host, good thing that we had the living room and dining room done!

We played one of our favorite card games, Phase 10. Last month Manuela and Frank were the big winners of the night but this month Jim and I came in one and two!! We always have a great time with Frank and Manuela, here are the pictures to prove it!!

Next month...Texas Holdum...I am going to start practicing now!!

This week we hope to finish-up the Family Room and then on Monday we head to Florida for 2 great weeks away from work and the Chicago Winter.

More Painting and the Super Bowl

In an effort to complete our goal of finishing repainting the downstairs by summer we have now completed the living room, dining room (minus a few touch-ups), and we have now moved into the family room. The living room and dining room we kept the same colors but the family room is going through a complete color transformation. The family room is currently two shades of blue but soon, it will be two shades of green. This might sound easy but there are almost as many shades of green as there are of white...it is VERY hard to decide!!! Also, in the family room Jim has chipped out all of the tile in front of the fireplace and he is replacing them with brand new, different, tiles. Many of the old tiles where chipped or broken...this has become more work than expected.

Here are the greens that we decided to go with...what do you think?

We did take a break from home improvements for Super Bowl XLII, New England Patriots (16-0) vs. New York Giants (10-6) and to EVERYONES amazement the Giants won. Well, everyone was amazed except me. My father has a great knack for accurately selecting the winner of the super bowl...whoever he says will win is bound to lose. I called my father on Sunday morning and he told me that there was no way that he could see the Patriots losing so, there you go; I know the Giants were a shoe in. We watched the Super Bowl at our friends Ed and Stella's and in the middle of the game there was an unexpected snow storm...here are the pictures.