Father's Day Weekend

We had a wonderfully relaxing weekend with my parents + sister for Father's Day weekend.

Saturday morning I had a hair trim appointment, so Adam and dad went fishing. Mom and I took Chester for a walk. We narrowly escaped him getting attacked by a big dog (quick reaction on my part lifting him up by his leash and harness), so that had me freaked out all day.

In the afternoon, we took the pontoon out on the river. Unfortunately it was cool, windy and overcast, but we still had a nice time. 

That evening, we went out to The Freight House to celebrate Christine's belated birthday. Everyone else got the porterhouse, but I got crab legs. Delicious. It was fun. 

Christine even got a special birthday dessert!

At home, we watched Gravity which was laughably bad. Just wow. 

We had a low key Father's Day. For an early lunch, we all piled into mom's GTO convertible (I got to drive!) and headed down to the rootbeer stand. I hadn't been in years, and it was Adam's first time. 

We relaxed and dad opened his presents. 

Then we had an early dinner of dad's delicious grilled ribs. Adam the rib hater even liked them and wants to try to make them at home! I can hardly believe it. 

Before leaving, we had rhubarb crisp which I had made with fresh rhubarb from our garden. Yum. 

It was so special to be there with my dad on Father's Day - it doesn't happen very often!

WR: Grad Party + Blue Angels

I haven't posted in a while, and in that time we've done a lot at home AND gone on two big trips (DC and California). I have a lot to catch up on!

Just this past weekend we went down to my parent's house for my cousin Sam's graduation party. It was held at the new dealership, which was a great venue. It was a lot of fun. 

They even had a giant game of Jenga which was made with cut down 2x4s!

It was in constant use. Of course I lost and had the giant tower come crashing down on me!

Earlier on Saturday, we had a lovely afternoon out on the river enjoying the Blue Angels show. 

Fat Albert led off the show,

and then the Blue Angels took to the sky.

They haven't been in town for 7 years, but in the past we had always gone down to the airfest grounds to watch. This new perspective was great, and much less stressful. 

Sunday was a stormy day, but dad was determined to go out on the boat and see the Blue Angels again. During a break in the pouring rain, all of us and cousin Jesse headed out. It was pouring on the water, so we all clustered together under the canopy.

Up towards the airport, we could see clear skies. We made it just as the Blue Angels started. As you can imagine, there were much fewer boats out to watch than on sunny clear Saturday. 

Due to the weather, they did a "low show" which was actually much cooler as they got closer to us. Plus, this time there was 6 aircraft (only 5 on Saturday due to mechanical problems on one).

Our ride back got a little intense towards the end with torrential downpour and thunder. But we made it!

Back at home we had DQ ice cream cake with the K's to celebrate Christine's birthday and then we were off home with the fishing boat in tow.

It was exhausting to be out of town for the 4th weekend in a row, but worth it!

Walks + Chester's Girlfriend

It's finally been warm enough to be able to consistently take Chester for walks around the block. Adam has morning duty, and I take him on his evening stroll. 

One of the highlights for him is seeing his "girlfriend" in her yard on the other side of the block from us. If she's out in her yard, we always stop to say "Hello." 

If she's not outside, often he'll run up her front steps to look for her.

Sometimes she's dressed up. Today she was in an adorable blue dress. 

He loves her!

Florida Shutterfly Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Here's my recent photobook for our last trip - Florida in February. Wish I was there now!

WR: The Dells

Over the weekend, we met my fam in the Dells at Chula Vista for the annual WISCO Show. Thanks to Curt & Robin for watching Chester!

We had a nice weekend visiting with family, enjoying the outdoor hot tub Friday night, shopping on Saturday morning at the Tanger Outlet mall with my mom and sister, meeting up with Kasey & fam also in town for her birthday weekend, going to the waterpark Saturday afternoon, getting dressed up and cutting a rug at the Wisco Show dinner and dance Saturday night,

and then spending the day Sunday at the waterpark. It made for a long weekend, but it was great to get away!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day from Chester!

He was less than thrilled about his holiday headwear which resulted in some hilarious bulgy eye photos.

Once bribed with treats, he decided it wasn't so terrible afterall -

 

Such a cute little boy!

Clearwater Beach Part 3: Last day on the beach + flight home

Our last day in Clearwater, we packed up and then hit the beach around 10:30. We walked down the pier, and enjoyed the view of the coastline. 

 

 

Halfway down the pier is a little hut and you have to pay $1 to walk to the end (or $8 if you want to fish off it). We could have skipped this part as the end was full of bird poop and fishermen. Not glamorous at all.

After our walk down the pier, we strolled down the beach and found a quiet spot to lay out our towels for the afternoon. We enjoyed people watching and relaxing in the sun. Of course it clouded up and got foggy, but it was still nice and relaxing.

Around lunch time, Adam ran across the street and grabbed us a quick lunch from McD's. For dessert, we split some mocha crunch ice cream. Yum!

Then I did some shelling and frolicking in the waves while Adam napped.

 

We headed back to the condo at 3 for our 6:10 flight home.

Curt and Robin nicely gave us a ride to the airport, where we checked a bag so we could bring some fish back. My dad was bummed he hadn't brought any of his fish back from their trip the week before, so I had promised that if I brought any back for us I would bring his too. Poor Adam had to carry this huge cooler through the airport and got lots of weird looks. Going through security, they had a lot of questions and made him poke a hole in the styrofoam top to let out the dry ice.

We thought it would fit in the overhead, but oh no. And of course there was a rude lady behind us making a scene about it not fitting. I thought Adam was going to freak out. It didn't fit under the seats either, but he finally was able to wedge it between the seats and stick his coat over it so the flight attendants wouldn't notice that it wasn't properly stowed. I felt so bad for him and let him have some of my legroom on the flight. To add insult to injury, the lady in front of him reclined her seat. Oh, and the plane had been upgraded to a larger one so instead of having two seats and then the aisle (so me window, Adam aisle), it was 3 seats across and Adam was in the middle seat and a stranger on the aisle.Trapped! Let's just say it wasn't the most pleasant flight, but we made it!

Back at MSP, we landed at like the farthest away gate so had to walk forever just to get to the taxi stand. Our flight got in around 8:30, but we didn't get out of there until 9:15. It was almost 10 by the time we got home. We were exhausted!

Pupper had been staying with my parents (thanks mom and dad!), so they brought him back up on Thursday night when they came to get Christine for the weekend. It worked out great! Christine had a midterm that night, so mom and dad came over for dinner first. Dad cooked up some of his fish we had brought back. It was delicious!

Favorites:
Stef - Being on the beach in February!
Adam -  Napping on the beach