"Hangin' with the Hansens" 5.30.09

We decided, since the weather was finally warming up, our schedules were opening up, and our new place has a decent sized deck, it was time for a little grill out.

Well, not so little, but we had a good group of co-workers old & new plus friends & significant others. About 25 - 30 people showed up for some beer boiled brots, chicken & plenty of sides & deserts (cookies, cupcakes, chocolate peanutbutter balls & orangies - yum). Even Harvey got to have a couple new friends over.

Jill concocted a "Summer Brew" her co-worker had told her about -- cheap beer, lemonade mix, lemons, & vodka; sounds gross but was great -- others brought plenty of beer and stuff for mojitoes.

Stu had worked quite a bit over a couple weeks before the get together constructing some bean-bag toss ("Corn-hole") boards (Jill helped paint them). Of course he didn't mind the work as it was an excuse to pick up a few new tools and now it's just one more fun thing to do at the Hansens'. They turned out great; Stu was happy to see they didn't wobble or sit crooked.

We were very happy with the turn out and our Dollar Store purchases of small & large tiki torches paid off because it provided plenty of lights for the bean bag toss & smoke to keep bugs away. The weather held out for us, everyone appeared to have a good time, there was plenty to drink for everyone (the hosts included) and everyone made it home safe so we think we pulled of a great shindig.

Camping on Jeremy's Run 5.23.09

Memorial Day weekend we figured we could get out to the Shenandoah National Forest for a few days of camping. It turned out to be great weather, so lots of people had the same idea. Dozens of motorcyclists, bikers and other drivers came out to take in the sights along the valley. We got some advice from one of the rangers and headed down Jeremy's Run just south of Mathew's Arm.

It was a decent hike in, fairly easy because it was a gradual decline, which we did realize until hiking back up the steady slope. We had done about 8 or 9 stream crossings - imagine hopscotch on stones accross a creek, no giant river or anything - when we found a nice little campsite right by the stream where we could hook up the hamock and relax. Harvey loved it, he got to meet great and approve everyone passing by who wanted to cross the stream by us.

Everything went great until right after breakfast on our first morning when a park ranger stopped by and gave us a $50 ticket with a nice little $25 processing fee for camping in the park without a free reservation. We'd been here a number of times before and been fine without one. But it figures we'd see a ranger on a busy holiday weekend, so lesson learned.

As the day went on we realized our spot was actually kind of buggy. Jill had already been pulling tics off of Harvey and we found out that the only spot we could get any good sun was on an ant infested log in the middle of the stream.

We just weren't feeling it so we decided to break camp and call it a $75 one night stay. The rain that met us on our trek back up the stream confirmed our decision, so we got back to our car & headed for home.

Joseph Daniel McKenna! 5.21.09

Today our good friends Trish and Dan had "peanut".

Trish gave birth to very healthy baby boy this afternoon. Joseph Daniel McKenna

Happy Birthday Joey D!!!

We we're lucky enough to get the chance (and be invited!) to go to the hospital to visit with Trish & Dan and meet Joseph. Here is the little guy.

Radiance Yoga Classes!

After many years of saying that we are going to start practicing Yoga and inconsistently trying to master Wii Fit Yoga we finally committed to starting our Yoga practice, for real this time. We found a local Yoga Studio in Old Town, we currently are enrolled in an 8 weeks beginners series. Our instructors name is Jolene, so we figure the class must be good because we only know one other Jolene and she's a pretty good lady.

The studio's web page is www.radiance-yoga.net