9/3/09-9/7/09 Labor Day Weekend

For this Labor Day we had an extra fun and secretive schedule planned. In January 2009, Bill & Elaine, very close friends of Alan & Jolene's (Stu's parents), contacted us to present the idea of a surprise 35th Wedding Anniversary. After months of planning, secret phone conferences, and a few small lies, the plan finally came into action over Labor Day weekend. We flew to Minneapolis on Thursday and spent the night with Jimmy & Jen. As always we love catching up with them and feel right at home in their lovely place.

On Friday we nervously drove down to Rochester. We didn't take our eyes off the rear view mirror, as Alan was traveling home from CA for work and was on the road the same time as us. Luckily we had no encounters on 52S. We headed straight to Bill & Elaine's who are party-planning extraordinaries and did not miss a detail in pulling this celebration together. As an extra treat Alan & Jolene's British friends, (Caroline & Richard) who they met living in Germany in the early 1990's, flew to Minnesota to surprise them as well!! We had the joy of meeting up with them at Bill & Elaine's as we all frantically finished up all the last minute details. Seeing Caroline & Richard was extra special for Stuart as he had not seen them since the age of 12!!

Lindsey & Daryl (Lily & Lulu too) were in charge of getting Alan & Jolene to the Bill & Elaine's as they thought they were going for dinner.

The surprise went off with out a hitch, Alan & Jolene were more than surprised about the party in general, but also that we made the trip home, and even more so that Caroline & Richard were there (this was their 1st trip to the US).

Check out a video of the surprise here

The party was an excellent time! It was great catching up with family & friends as well as seeing Alan & Jolene enjoy the company of all those close to them.

The rest of the weekend was spent doing nothing but eating, drinking, having fun & just relaxing, something that always seems to come easy back in Rochester.

We ended up getting out for brunch in downtown Rochester's 'Peace Plaza.' Lily loved the fountain! It was another great chance to keep catching up & enjoy the great weather.

There was also time to show Caroline & Richard some of the Midwest's finest rescued animals at Oxbow Park. Another hay day for Lily, she loved watching all the critters & getting to pet a hee-hee (horsey).

A perfect last getaway for our summer!!!

Beach Weekend 8/21/09-8/23/09

This weekend our good friend's Trish and Dan invited us up to Trish's parent's beach house for a long weekend in Berlin, MD, just outside of Ocean City. Eight of us (Trish, Dan, Q, Jennifer, Betsy, Dusty and us) along with baby Joey and three dogs - Stone, Bear and Harvey - road tripped up to the perfect weekend get away. We had great weather all weekend so we made sure to get plenty of sand and surf in all 3 days. We went to the beach on Assateague Island which was a quick drive up the road, and offered a more quaint and relaxed atmosphere as compared to the close by Ocean City. It was fun to get back to Assateague as we had camped on bay side two times sine living in Virginia.

With Hurricane Bill moving up the east coast the waves were insane, which made playing in the ocean extra fun. Harvey even got to check out the ocean for his first time. He wasn't quite sure what to think... when the waves went out he tried to swim in the calm water, only to turn around and frantically run away from the waves when they rolled in. We got a bit over zealous and let him off leash, he went sprinting into the water just as a huge wave came. He came flying towards shore riding the wave, only to get flipped upside down and thrown all around. Needless to say he was a bit freaked after that, so we called it quits in the water time for Harvey and stuck to fetch in the sand.

Check out the huge waves rolling in behind.....

We also all took a trip into Ocean City which is more of a touristy beach (as compared to Assateague) with a board walk to boot. As expected it was packed, so we were glad we opted to just walk around and browse the endless boardwalk shopping.

- The whole crew, minus the three pups -

The remainder of our time was spent relaxing at the beach house, watching movies, cooking yummy food (fresh shrimp!), watching movies, and just some good relaxing. Overall it was the perfect weekend getaway! Thanks Trish & Dan for letting us enjoy the Navarro's little piece of paradise.

Steve Miller Band @ Wolftrap 8.20.09

We got tickets to catch the Steve Miller Band at Wolftrap, which is and amazing outdoor venue located minutes outside of DC. It was a balmy 90+ degree evening, but a beautiful one none the less. We packed a cooler full of yummy food & beer and set off. We got to the gate an hour prior to open just to ensure a good seat on the lawn. Once the doors opened we found the perfect spot on the lawn and enjoyed a great picnic dinner.

The show was nothing short of amazing, as they played all the classics and did an extra tribute to Les Paul.

Steve's closing words after the encore were inspirational and one of the greatest quotes we have heard/come across in our life time. We were lucky enough to get it on video, clarity isn't the greatest, but it's the words that count. ;o)

8/15/09 Harvey Dog Day

We have no idea when Harvey's Birthday is, so we decided that each year we will celebrate the day we rescued him- which is August 13th. We figured this was a good enough excuse to have some friends over for a cook out. We also made Harvey dog cupcakes and plenty of dog treats and ice cream for the four-legged friends. Everyone was so generous and brought Harvey plenty of tennis balls and bones. We had beautiful weather so spent the night outside grilling, hanging, and playing bean bag toss. Dog friends Jayda and Stone came for the party too. Overall a great 1st Harvey Dog Day celebration!

BWCA Trip- 8/5/09-8/9/09

Stu was fortunate enough to be able to stay in MN after Prendy & Victoria's wedding for a few extra days in Rochester, then a 4-day trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area with some high school & college buddies. (See the pics on Picasa)

Leaving mid-Wednesday Jimmy's suburban was loaded up with all eight guys, two dogs & a canoe as well as a trailer full of all of our stuff. It would be hard to imagine squeezing anything else onto our ride, but we would soon have to load up with even more gear & three more canoes. That night we made it to Paul's cabin in Ely, MN as a way point for getting a good start early Thursday morning. We spent the evening stuffing our faces with pizza & going between the hot sauna and cold lake. Knowing it was going to be an early morning (4am!!!) we all sacked out pretty early after a few rounds of cards -- Euchre & 31.

Arriving to the outfitters just as the sun was rising, we loaded our extra gear and the canoes, watched the "leave no trace" video on camping in the BWCA (a part of getting a camping permit) & were back on our way.

The trip to Big Moose Lake was beautiful & the weather was great! The "river" cleared a huge swath through the forest, but it was so full of tall floating grasses that only a narrow path was clear & open to our canoes. This continued until our first portage which was fairly hellish. The second stretch of canoeing was very similar, but had one major obstacle to clear... a beaver dam! This was quite a sight, just a pile of sticks creating a three foot water level difference. After finding the edge & pushing our canoes up the ramp of sticks we were on our way again, not far from the second portage that would bring us to our lake. Luckily none of the beavers were home to chew us out for disturbing their home.

Our campsite was straight across the lake & had plenty of space for all 3 tents & space for a kitchen/shelter. It was fairly windy the first few days which was great for keeping away bugs, but not so great for food prep or card playing. Our time was spent between fishing, 'site configuration' (setting up our rain/wind shelter or re-constructing fire-side seats), whittling, canoeing around the lake, relaxing in hammocks or gathering firewood. A large part of our days were also spent doing food prep, eating some of the awesome meals planned (including too many tortillas) or cleaning up after, but with such a great group of guys, no one was left doing more than their fair share.

It was so peaceful getting out of range of traffic noise, airplanes, cell phones & just spending time in nature (except a few hours catching Twins games on the radio). Time in the BWCA is something any nature lover should enjoy at least once in their life. We plan on going at least once a year & can't wait to bring Harvey on a real canoe trip!

BWCA Manventure '09

Wedding Trip 3/3- 8/1/09 Prendergast Wedding Wedding

Our third and final travel weekend consisted of us traveling back to Minneapolis and down to Rochester for a long weekend. This trip was extra exciting as we got to meet our new niece, Lulu. We also celebrated Grandma Yost's 75th Birthday with all of the family. Plenty of time was spent relaxing on the back deck and in the pool with Lily, who loves to swim.

We also had the joy of attending and celebrating Prendy & Victoria's wedding. After a beautiful ceremony their celebration was held at The Rochester Art Center. What an awesome venue! We had a blast drinking 'Prendini's' dancing and singing the night away to Incognito, a great Rochester cover band.

Congratulations Prendergasts!!

The remainder of our weekend was spent hanging by the pool, eating great food, drinking plenty of wine, and visiting with family. Jill headed back to DC Monday, however Stu stayed and spent the rest of the week in BWCA... see next post.

Happy Anniversary 7.29.09

3 years already!!

Wedding Trip 2/3- 7/25/09 Spranger Wedding

After a quick 2-day work week Jill headed back to the Midwest on Wednesday night to meet up with all her High School girls for Pre's wedding. Jill had the honor of standing up in Pre's wedding and enjoyed the days leading up to the big day wrapping up last minute to-do's and getting mani's and pedi's. Stu made it into Wausau a couple days later, it was great seeing all of the family, as we hadn't seen most since Christmas (except Mom who came out in April and Vonnie earlier in July). Eliahs had grown so much in 6 months and is now this cute little man.

Danielle and Kenny's wedding was held at a outdoor garden which was absolutely gorgeous!!

Congrats Sprangers!!

The after party was a wild time! It was so fun being back with the High School crew celebrating.

As always the weekend went way to fast but it was an unforgettable weekend of seeing family, catching up with old friends, meeting new babies, and celebrating a marriage of two wonderful people.

Wedding Trip 1/3- 7/17/09 Kerska Wedding

It's officially the beginning of our crazy summer of traveling back to the Midwest for weddings.

We had an action packed weekend filled with catching up with friends. Night one was spent in true Midwest summer fashion @ Jimmy and Jen's where a crew of us hung out in the back yard reminiscing around a bonfire. Saturday came a bit too fast and we quickly packed the Suburban with camp gear and wedding outfits and hit the road. Ourselves, Jimmy, Jen, and Bruns had 5+ fun-filled hours cruising to Green Lake, WI. We made it just in time for Carrie and Brian's wedding. They had a beautiful ceremony right on the lake and then an intimate reception filled with delicious food and a funky (and delicious) custom cake they designed themselves.

Congrats Kerska's!!

Because Green Lake is a summer destination hot spot all hotels/resorts have a 2 night minimum so we opted to camp. This posed an interesting twist in the night when we took on the task of setting up a huge 8+ person tent in the dark after having a few drinks.... We must have done an okay job because was still standing in the morning.

After road tripping back to Minneapolis on Sunday were lucky enough to still have a day to hang at Jimmy & Jen's. The weather was beautiful Monday so we spent plenty of time in their pool relaxing.

What a great weekend get away.

A New Niece is Born - Elouise Mae Scurlock! 7.7.09

Stu's sister Lindsey and brother-in-law Daryl have newly welcomed they're second adorable baby-girl Elouise, or Lulu for short, into the world!

Born around 10:00am, Lulu was 8lbs 3oz & 18.5" long. We can't wait till our trips back to the Midwest later this month bring us together. Now we are in full Aunt/Uncle balance with two nieces on Stu's side & two nephews on Jill's side.