Thursday, June 26, 2008

weekend whirlwind

so yes. i was on the dance floor doing the electric slide. and yep, they played i knew the bride when she used to rock and roll, and i think i managed to get out there and shake it a little bit with lisa.
but i dont think any of the others on my list were played! dan and i did cut the rug big time. we spent most of the evening out of the dance floor. it was good time.

the wedding was good, and the reception even better. we dined with a table of blue-hairs and it was awesome. this one woman told dan he was dressed so professional. and it was cool to see these couples that have been married 50 years and still in love (and drinking a lot of straight-up booze). one woman told us the key to happiness was having "happy hour" each night with your spouse. i'm in.

the newlyweds looked happy, the groom got roasted over and over during the speeches, and it was a good evening.
except for the fact that i couldn't track any cheese pizza down afterwards. i bugged the bartender till he threw me a bag of chips to shut me up.

the g-man did beautifully with grandma lynne. the spent a bit of time in the water park at great wolf lodge, then walked around the outdoor mall and griffin enjoyed every ride they had there.































the next day we spent the morning at the waterpark.
My parents came up too to join us for a bit, then we had lunch.

We bid our farewells and made our way to somerset, wi, where we were headed to see mason jennings and jack johnson at the rivers edge ampitheater.
the concert was awesome. i have always been more of a mason fan, but jack was incredible. the sound there was incredible and griffin was incredible. he was so cute. he would sing along to songs and clap around and shake his booty (and of course point at butts and say poop)

oh, that reminds me...when we were in church for the wedding...griffin points at my boobs and kept saying, "mama, whats that? whats that? he got the whole row behind us chuckling. uhh. yeah.

anyway, the concert. it ruled. there were a lot of stoned dudes that would talk to us about the fact that we had a kid at the concert. one guy asked us "so, like, what will you do if you have to change his diaper"? ummm...we respond, "we'll change his diaper". his response..."fucking awesome man. do what you gotta do. he's at his first "jack" show..thats all that matters".
indeed.

another guy came up and said," dude likes him some jack, huh" then we stood awkwardly around in silence for about 2 minutes until he needed a beer or another joint.

anyway, it was awesome. we were worried griffin would be crabby just from all the whirlwind traveling we had done over the weekend, but he loved it.
he drank:

hung with his buddies:

rested between sets:

smiled at the drunkies:

and was just a cute and cool kid.

we have had a crazy week trying to get things done to get ready for our week-long vacation to wisconsin and chicago. we are leaving saturday and will return the following sunday, the 6th.
we are going to spend a couple of days with my parents, go to milwaukee for a couple of days (summerfest, zoo, art museum), and wind up in chicago to celebrate aidan, reese and dave's birthdays. griffin will get to see lots of family...we are all looking forward to that.

and it will be nice not looking at cereal for a week. as much as i'm liking my job...i need a break.
today i'm working on a package of "pirates treasures".

Friday, June 20, 2008

dells bound

we are heading out tomorrow bright and early to a wedding in wisconsin dells.
my friend (and former roomate) lisa walsh is getting married. (she's the 2nd from the right)
should be a good time. we are staying at the good ol' great wolf lodge
dan's mom will watch the little man while we go to the dinner and reception.

we prepped griffin last night for his weekend swimming adventure by taking him to a little kiddie pool. he enjoyed climbing in and out of the pool...over and over, and over.
i was lookin hot in my swimsuit (thus why there will be no pictures of this excursion).

this morning griffin got up entirely WAY too early. it seems he was having a little stomach ache, since he kept crying out "mommy, poopy, stuck, hurts" poor kid.
in addition to griffin waking up and crying, we also have about 5 different bird nests in various locations in our roof vents and other areas, and as pleasant as birds chirping can be...at 5 a.m....it's pretty damn annoying. we need to do something about the state of the roof (and the tropical rain forest that it's become)
so, this morning started off a bit rocky. I DID however manage to get myself over to Julie's and we ran around Lake Hiawatha. it's wasn't as great of a run as it was tuesday evening, but it's getting easier and i'm feeling better about completing this 5k and possibly running the entire thing.

we are looking forward to the weekend. As much as these whirlwind trips can be tiring, it'll be fun. we haven't had a wedding for quite awhile, and we always enjoy some good fun. i just hope they don't play "paradise by the dashboard light".
that song is always played at weddings and its lame. in typical wisconsin fashion, how it usually goes is: all the girls line up on one side of the dance floor, and the dudes on the other. the girls yell over "will you love me forever?" and the guys yell back, "let me sleep on it, blah, blah".
now i'm SURE i have partaken in this at some point, and probably did all the hand gestures and acted all pissy and serious about loving me forever. but, i couldn't have been sober.

the other funny songs that are usually played are:
• mony mony (and of course people add in the "get laid, get fucked part" - it seems to me they actually even add "twice" to the end of the lyrics...cause you really do want to get fucked more than once during that song.

• electric slide (and yes...i'm usually out there with all of the 8 year olds doing this and really getting into it.) i think this is an adult only wedding...so maybe it'll just be ME doing it?

• shout (and people all dance down low to the ground when they are doing the "little bit softer now" part.) I KNOW that i've done this...and once i can't go any lower, i'll drop to my knees and kinda shimmy my shoulders all the way back to the ground. I'm sure people are thanking jesus when "a little bit louder now" comes on, because they don't have to watch me shake my stuff any lower.

• piano man (and everyone stands around in a big circle trying to outdo the next guy by proving they know all the lyrics. I certainly have gawhoffed at the person next to me that said that john was the real estate novelist that never had time for a wife. umm..its paul, dummy. john is the bartender. listen to ME sing and you'd get it right.

its funny how i diss, but yet im probably joining in on all of these antics. probably even yelling out to the dj "hey, when you gonna play i knew the bride when she used to rock and roll?" cause you KNOW I need to show everyone how I can still do the splits during my 10 seconds when i get to dance with the bride solo in the middle of the circle, while everyone stands around in amazement.

weddings. good stuff. maybe it's me that needs to class it up, and not our little g-man.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

class it up

so, i don't think its any secret that dan and i share the same dirty humor.
we find talking about boobs, poop, burps and farts quite humorous. we all laugh when dan lets out a big burp. we point out the good cleavage shot at the woman pushing the stroller during baby einsteins "on the go", we all make a big "stink" when griffin farts. (of course I don't do any of these things....hehe)

i think its time we may have to start classing it up. griffin is turning into us.

he will proudly exclaim: "i burped", or "i fart" "that's nasty"
we all laugh and high five him.
we have been teaching him to at LEAST say "excuse me" so...don't banish us to the trailer court just yet!

he points at butts and says "poop". we all laugh. our friends have encouraged this and so have we. he now will point at his stuffed animals back side and say "poop", and falls to the floor and laughs. he will point at the butt area of some old woman bent over and say "poop".
he has now started saying "boobs" and pointing to none other than boobs. mine, people on TV, stuffed animals, woman in my "women's health" magazines, etc. i'm sure next up is random folks. (or god forbid...miss yvonne's)

i guess i finally realize why gregg and dawn were so annoyed with us when jake was around 2-3 and we would sub in the word "poop" for everything. jake was fascinated with this word then too. and we just egged him on.
"hey jake, do you want to go the poopground and go down the slides?" (giggles from all of us..glares from gregg/dawn.)
"hey jake, should we make some poopcorn to eat while watching this movie?" (me being quite impressed with myself for my latest poop drop, gregg/dawn escorting us out of the house)
Our favorite one....jake was really into saying aerodynamic to describe airplanes. of COURSE we changed that right away to "aerodypoopie" (dan, jake and i dying of laughter on this one..., gregg and dawn taking away our godparent rights)

anyway....now what do we do! we started this...and i guess we have to end this. while i will always think its funny...it's high time we class it up and teach our kid some manners.

dan and i have a lot of things we say we are going to really start doing when it comes to parenting.
we are going to make healthier meals and snacks for griffin
we are going to start cutting out his evening milk
we are going to start working on the potty training
we are going to start letting griffin play on his own a bit more...let him take more chances and us stop being too overprotective
we are going to start thinking about transitioning him out of his crib

all of these things are really important and we have talked about our strategy on how to start these things.
but what about teaching him manners? why are we still letting him slurp his milk right out of the cereal bowl? why do we let him gurgle his water (at the table no less)? why do i load up a squirt gun with milk and squirt it into his mouth as his lunch-time beverage? and why do we keep saying "poop" and pointing to butts?

ok, now that i got that all off my chest (err..boobs), i feel better (and slightly embarrassed).

Sunday, June 15, 2008

5 years







a great weekend.
started friday with friends chad and haugen coming over to grill out. the kids played and we caught up.
chad took a look at our roof which is in dire shape. he recommends us getting a new one. we had an estimate earlier in the day. the low, low price of 6K. cause we have that kind of money laying around waiting for us to get a roof. one more thing to add to the never-ending home project money sucking list. this one is probably a bit more of a priority though...so we'll see. few more estimates before we decide.
anyway, saturday i hit the gym in the a.m. while the boys ran errands. then we all met up and played outside and enjoyed the great weather. g man took an earlier nap and when he woke up...we packed up and headed over to gregg and dawns. griffin was having a sleep-over with his auntie, uncle and cousins.
dan and i were off to stillwater to celebrate 5 years. it was a hot, sunny day...just like it was 5 years ago. and it fell on a saturday too...just like 5 years ago.

we had a wonderful time. the b&b was everything we remembered it to be. we had a great deck with lounge chairs. we brought our fancy wine that we got in sonoma and we really relaxed, talked about our past, future and all that we are thankful for in our marriage.
we went to a good restaurant and sat outside. we left right when the band started playing "love potion number 9". it took us about 15 minutes to walk back to our b&b and when we were walking up the final hill, they were still playing "love potion number 9".
we were lulled to sleep by the thunderstorms and awoke to coffee, tea and the newspaper. we of course woke up at our usual time (6:30), and missed our little bird, but we reveled in the fact that we could lounge around, reading the paper, talking and not watching baby einstein immediately upon awaking.
the breakfast served was amazing. the gardens and decor were amazing and it was a nice little get-away.



we picked up griffin around 11:30 and gregg informed us that griffin was great. he was very mellow, had a good time with his cousins and he even made us some wonderful art projects. i'm so glad he did well and i'm glad he loves his auntie, uncle and cousins so much.

we arrived home and dan found his anniversary gift from me.
since the traditional 5-year gift was wood, i had bought a tree for our yard. pi and dina planted it for me (they rock) and when we got home it was planted and looking great. dan was super suprised and really liked it.

we spent the day outside. more great weather. griffin had fun with his friends and we had a great time looking at our tree and getting some sun.




a great weekend, a great anniversary celebration and a happy fathers day. I talked to my parents and i'm glad my dad had a good day. I am excited to see him in a couple of weeks and i'll have to do something nice to thank him for being a great dad.

dan got a few fathers day gifts from us. most importantly i want him to know that he is the best daddy. the love he has for griffin is amazing. he is an extremely active dad and he is a huge part of shaping griffin into the funny, caring, loving little guy he is.

we are really lucky to have such a great guy in our lives.
these past 5 years have been nothing short of amazing, i couldn't be more in love with dan and each day it gets better and better. and as much as we loved having a night to ourselves, being back together today as our complete family is the best gift there is.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

random ramblings

Another great weekend. Filled with relaxation, great weather, grilling, friends, parks and G being great.
He's really developing his little personality and is so much fun to be around. He still has his days...the clingyness and all that...but overall he seems to be coming more relaxed.


Wisconsin Dells got some REALLY bad weather over the weekend. So bad that it completely drained Lake Delton! This is a big tourist attraction, so it's super sad that the whole thing just washed away! Dave, Cindy and the kids were there just a couple days before watching the Tommy Bartlett show. Now this is all that is left:

Pretty sad.

Dan and I are trying to decide if we should go to my cousins wedding in July. The whole family will be there (minus Dawn and the kids, and Michael). We would really like to be there, but money and vacation time is a factor. We are taking a week off at the end of June to do a Madison/Milwaukee/Chicago road trip. So, not sure about taking more time off.
In addition...I have signed up for a 5K run that falls on this weekend.
I am REALLY trying to set some goals, and train (so I can possibly run the entire 5K, rather than walk any). I would be bummed to miss it, as Dina, Jes and Pi are all doing it too..so great motivation.
I guess if we end up going I'll just sign up for one the following weekend...

We are going to Stillwater this Saturday, June 14 for our 5 year anniversary. G will sleep over at his cousins - Jake and Sam's house.

We are REALLY looking forward to the evening. We are staying at the elephant walk:
www.elephantwalkbb.com in the Cadiz Garden Suite. We stayed there when we first started dating. It's great.
We're hoping G does fine...i'm sure he will. Gregg will be on his own with the kids for awhile, as Dawn is working some during the weekend.
I think Dan and i will go to dinner, talk about life, goals, our wonderful 5 years together and all that we have left to look forward to.
i can't believe 5 years of marriage has gone by....it's flown. We've managed to get through Dan's graduate school (although if you ask him he is still bitter...), various jobs, 3 houses, loss of family, additions to our family, our most awesome little guy, various health scares for our family as well as some friends, some great trips and just wonderful memories that we will continue to build.

As much as we love our little guy and will miss him like crazy...having a little bit of time to ourselves is going to be great and much needed. We'll be better parents for it when we get to see him Sunday (fathers day!)

And I'm sure we'll spoil him that day!

Monday, June 2, 2008

weekend fun with Gramps

We had a great weekend. Dans dad was visiting from Thursday night until this morning, so it was a good time with gramps. Griffin liked saying "grampa" and he was pretty comfortable with him.

Dan spent the day with his dad, hanging out, walking around Minnehaha Falls and just catching up.


Friday night was Pi's birthday BBQ at Dina/Lyle's house (or just "dial" as we lovingly refer to them). I went once Griffin was hitting the hay. Good times as always and fun to catch up with friends.

Saturday we went to the park in the morning.


then went to the Riverview Theater for their monthly "choo-choo bobs" train movies. G liked eating the popcorn probably most out of the whole thing. After the movie we took Bruce by the 35W bridge area...he had wanted to see the site and see the new bridge construction. Interesting how quickly it seems to be going up!
Dan and his dad went to the Twins game this night and enjoyed all 11 innings of the game.


G and I hung out at home, and witnessed the hailstorm that we got! No damage to the house or car, but it sounds like my brother got car and house damage out in the "park".

Sunday I did the Grand Old Day 8K rollerblade. Hi. I'm out of shape. I just checked results today and I was 75th out of 76 people. Pretty sweet stats. I think I beat out a small child and thats it. WTF!? I guess I'm a bit more out of shape! If I'm even considering doing the inline marathon in August, I need to get to work. it was fun though and made me feel like I earned eating a giant sandwich and fries afterwards!
We watched the parade with Dan's dad and friends Beth, Jason and their son Jimmy. G liked getting all the candy thrown to him.
Jimmy

Eating Candy!

I LOVE the bookmobile!

this thing RULES! A bar you can pedal!


We grilled out at home this night and spent a great evening hanging outside with all the neighbor kids. Griffin is still pretty shy and timid around people, but we just keep getting him out there and he seems to be a bit more comfortable with other people more and more.
Next door neighbor Dawson



Back at work today. Normally that is kind of a bummer feeling on Mondays, but today I was very relieved to come to work...we seem to have a little carpenter ant problem. it's rather nasty to wake up to the disgusting things crawling across your body. good stuff. We are going to try to home remedy it the next few days and if we don't have any luck...i got a great recommendation for a dude called" Antrax". I wonder if he looks anything like Joey Belladonna? Or wait...didn't anthrax find some random as a replacement? It COULD be this guy....