Weekend with the Nephews

After the nephews' basketball games last weekend, we decided to bring them back into the city for a slumber party. We invited over Uncle Bryan and Mary for a pajama party/make your own pizza party. We had a blast. We played games, watched UFC PPV, and the people old enough did an American beer tour. All in all it was a great time but my Sunday at noon, I realized why I do not have three kids. Wow was I tired!

Here are some pics from the weekend...

This is us talking to nana and papa on skype.



So Jackson and Jeremy like playing this game where I throw them into the corner of the couch. Michelle got a couple action photos.




Here are a couple pics of them making pizzas. Jeremy wanted to put fries on his pizza. The idea caught fire and four different pizzas had fries on them. I did not try it but I heard it was really good.



Who knew Bryan's pajamas were shorts???



Below is up finishing up chutes and ladders. Jeremy already won. Michelle won Sorry and Jack won the card game Garbage.



It was a great weekend and we loved having them in.

OTBs, Chick-fil-a, wedding and a Christmas Party

Lets just say that any weekend that I am able to eat Chick-fil-a for just one meal, there is about a 95% chance of that weekend being a good weekend. Well, this weekend was not part of the 5%.

Friday started off the weekend at Stretch Run. This is another sign that a good weekend is coming. Well, Smitty flew in Friday so a bunch of us decided to sit and gamble, drink a few beers and wait for Smitty to arrive. No one was winning. Even Smitty who had not walked in was down. He was real happy to hear that when he walked in. The night was uneventful and ended by midnight for half of us.

Saturday was Chris Phelan's wedding in South Bend. Samantha, Michelle and I all went to it. Samantha was really good overall. She didn't sit well during the ceremony but was a rock star for the reception (uh oh...did I just write that about me or her???). She was a in santa clause dress and gaining lots of attention from the crowd. We ended up leaving the reception about 9 our time and heading back home. It was a great time and it was so good to see the Phelans and the cottage crowd.

Of course on the way to South Bend, we stopped at Chick-fil-a for lunch. Samantha had a couple nuggets (chopped up of course) and some oranges from the fruit cup. As you can see below. She loved it! It is hard not too!

Sunday was a good day of resting. I am pretty sure Michelle and Samantha both took three naps. Sunday night was the Purple Otter holiday party. We went there around 6 and stayed for a couple hours. It was more socializing and Samantha was a trooper!

This Friday we head to Florida for 11 days. Consider me excited!

Great Sports Weekend!!!!!!!!

Ok, for myself and the random teams I follow it really does not get any better than this weekend.

1. The Dodgers quickly finished the series with the Cardinals. The Cardinals are a very dangerous team and giving them any momentum would have been scary.
2. The Broncos are 5-0. Who had that prediction???? Kyle Orton played great yesterday. A 98 yd drive in the 4th quarter to tie the game. Who is this guy? Again, I am shocked.
3. Iowa is now 6-0 with a big win over Michigan. Very awesome.
4. Florida won on the road by 10 pts over the #4 team in the nation. Wow. Florida is really really good.

So, it was a great weekend in general too.

1. I hung out with the fam for a little while on Saturday watching Jeremy's basketball game. He looked good out there and scored a basket.
2. Sam spent the day/night with Nana and Papa. Michelle and I hit up Frontera Grill with Team Knowles.
3. Our dinner and night after dinner was great. Frontera is very reasonably priced and delicious. I definitely want to go back.
4. Sunday was a lot of laying around. Sam and I took a 1.5 hour nap in the early afternoon.

Well, happy monday!

Weekend Wrap-up

So, last weekend I was camping and thank god I was. I am pretty sure I had one of the worst sports weekends ever. The Dodgers lost 2 out of 3 to Arizona. Kyle Orton looked like Kyle Orton on Friday. Tiger blew the PGA. Liverpool opened the season with a loss. Boooooo.

Here are some random thoughts from the weekend.

1. After listening to nothing but Brooks & Dunn both ways to and from the camp grounds, I am even more upset about the breakup.
2. Kix Brooks is easily my favorite of the two. His songs are the best.
3. In my opinion, the top three albums of B&D in order are Brand New Man, Steers and Stripes then Hard Working Man.
4. We had perfect weather camping (i.e. no rain).
5. The trails that I did at Turkey Run State Park were pretty good.
6. It has been a while since I slept in a tent but I had no problem. Thank you Tylenol PM.
7. Samantha did great. I think she was on sensory overload between the 5 dogs, the new environment and being outside all the time.
8. I think that was the first time Samantha had seen an open fire.
9. Driving down Rt 41 is so much better than I65. There is so much less traffic.
10. It was fun to enjoy the outside for a couple days but my bed sure did feel good last night!

Happy Monday!

Weekend Wrap-Up

So this weekend was another action packed weekend that I will wrap up in bullet form as usual.

1. My parents celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary this weekend. Just a little shout out to them. 45 years is a long time.
2. Samantha had her first church experience and since it felt like 100 degrees in there, it did not go too well. Thank goodness for baby rooms.
3. Michelle and I finally packed accordingly for our over night stay in the burbs and did not have to drive back into the city for anything.
4. Saturday night's dinner after mass was at the Red Ox. My soon to be nine year old nephew said that it was fitting that Samantha was going to the Red Ox since she was born in the year of the Ox. Where does he learn this stuff?
5. After dinner, Michelle and I met Bryan and Mary out at Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the UFC PPV. Half the place was watching the hockey game and half was watching UFC. The roof almost came off when the Blackhawks scored their third goal in the 2nd period.
6. Buffalo Wild Wings had 20 beers on tap. So we ripped up two pieces of paper and anytime someone needed a beer we just drew a new number. It was a fun game.
7. Sunday's drive home sucked. There was an accident that slowed us down.
8. I bowled horrible on Sunday. I crapped the bed and then rolled around in it. I broke 400 but barely.
9. I am really sick of 40 degrees and raining. This spring has been really cold. One of the colder springs that I can remember.
10. Have a good week and lets hope I bowl a little better tonight. Only two more weeks of bowling in both leagues!

Weekend Wrap-up

My oh my, what a great weekend!

First off, the weekend up in Michigan was just perfect. I will give a quick overview.

• The weather was perfect.
• The cottage we stayed in was AWESOME. You could easily put 30 people in that place. It is literally two different houses with a giant pool room in the middle.
• Pool volleyball Friday night was great. What a fun time!
• Saturday moring golf with Fedea and Murphey was a great way to start the day. I even came to terms with my driver! I am back baby!
• After the wedding, the party bus was a good time.
• A new first at a wedding...knowing the bartenders...never a good sign. Lets just say my night ended a little earlier than others. Fun times!
• Sunday - traffic was light getting home for the most part.
• Denver wins again. They are 3-0 when I go to the Purple Otter to watch the game. I am just saying!
• My wife is starting to turn the corner on not feeling well. This is VERY IMPORTANT!

As you can see, the weekend was jam packed! It was a great way to end the summer. I am looking forward to having the next few weekends free.

Tomorrow

So last night Phelan, a couple people from the cottage, his brother, the other team were all out at the fields. It was a lot of fun. We then went to the bar to celebrate the big wins. It felt good to have Phelan back in the city. The fun is just beginning though. Smitty flys in tonight. Neyer flys in tonight. Basically tomorrow is going to be maybe the last big reunion (minus any Steak Knights) of Loyola boys plus other friends. I was already looking forward to it but after last night's appetizer, I am really fired up. Tomorrow is going to be a great day. I can not wait.

Memorial Day Weekend

I am sure my wife is going to have some great pictures and a much better description of the weekend so I will keep my highlights in bullet form.

Friday
- A co-worked from Boston was staying with us that night. We played a bunch of nintendo Wii in the afternoon and saw Indiana Jones that night (more on that later).

Saturday
- Michelle ran the Soldier Field 10 miler. She did awesome! Bryan and I tailgated the run by drinking mimosas. It was awesome. We even walked right into soldier field with our drinks in hand. Also, they were serving beer and food in the stadium...great run to watch.
- Phelan's cottage in Michigan is always fun. Too bad Michelle slipped on some stairs and SEVERLY sprained her ankle. No good!
- Golf was fun. i did so much better on the front nine than the back....argh!

Sunday
-Big E's wedding was great. It was my first outdoor wedding. The place was beautiful. I can see why they chose it. The place was on McDonald University campus.
-At 11:45 pm, two McDonald employees walked into the reception with giant trays of cheeseburgers. GREATEST IDEA EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had three...
- Michelle was a trooper sticking through it all despite her ankle.
Monday
- Spent most of the day on the couch watching TV and relaxing. Great day to do that. It was also good for Michelle to get much needed rest and ice for the damn ankle.

Also, a special shout out goes to UT for letting us borrow the BMW M5 for the weekend. More on that later as well.

Weekend in Review

This weekend was actually quite action packed.

Friday

I had a pretty good workout and was heading into the first weekend in a long time where I would not be working out. Went to dinner at a fondue place. It was really good food...friday night was the boring night.

Saturday (two parts)

1. Woke up and went to the gym (forgot to do intervals on friday so did them sat morning). Got ready for the Sox game. Went to Iwanski house - he was playing wii bowling. We then went to Ploth's house - he was playing wii bowling. Soooo, all three of us played wii bowling and I fulfilled a long running dream - i drank warm tequila. The game was pretty miserable weather but the Sox were playing well. We met people down in the bar for innnings 4-9. After that, Ploth and I met Stacia and Michelle at 37th and Halsted

2. Michelle has the pleasure of driving down in the horrible conditions to DeMotte. We had a really good time down there. Although, Michelle maybe allergic to the whole state of Indiana...we are nto sure. The night consisted of cards, a few beers, karaoke, and a few more beers.

Sunday

Got home from Indiana in great time. Stopped at Steak and shake on the way home...so good! Watched the Masters for 4 hours on Sunday. It was awesome. Those greens were ridiculous. There may have been about 3 or 4 naps in there somewhere...I just do not rebound like I used to!

All in all, a very fun weekend. I am pretty pumped for next weekend! The Smiths are coming into town!

Weekend in review: Movies, Beer and Bad Bowling

So, this weekend entailed watching movies, drinking some beer and bowling...poorly. Kathryn was in town and Michelle, Kathryn and myself spent the weekend basically at home.

Movies:

We watched three movies this weekend. Two were at home and one was at the Theater.

Mr. Brooks - Watched this Friday night. I liked this movie. I thought Kevin Costner did a great job in this movie. I highly recommend it.

Charlie Wilson's War - We went to theater on Saturday. I liked this movie as well. Mr. Brooks was better to me though.

Feast of Love - Chick flick that we watched on Sunday. Shockingly, there was a lot of sex in this movie. About a scene every 10 minutes. I thought the movie was okay but a little strange.

Beer:

On Friday night, I had the last 5 beers from my beer around the world that I had as a gift from Michelle's parents. I will write up about that a little later.

On Saturday night, Ploth and Stacia came over and we watched the Duke/NC game and played some Wii. Well, we decided the theme would be "around the world in 8 beers". Michelle described the idea on her blog. It was a lot of fun. The Tazmanian beer was my favorite.

On Sunday, I decided to have a few before bowling and also drank during bowling.

Bowling:

I think I need to apologize to my Sunday night team. I am not sure why I am bowling so bad on Sunday. I have a 162 average on Tuesday and a 143 on Sunday (soon to be 140). I can not do anything right. It really is my fault we are losing so many games. I have a lot of work to do in the offseason. I think I bowled a 404 or something like that. Not good.