When in Rome

For some reason I have been venturing down memory lane a little bit these past few weeks.  As we were putting together our flower pots for the year, I was reminded of my days after college back in Wichita.  When my tiny chimnea was the ideal size for the patio of my duplex and the many barbecue gatherings we'd have before heading out for a night on the town.

Tonight, I was once again reminded of those good times and the long lasting friendships that were formed and the life experiences that were had.  How impressionable I was in college but even more so those few years directly following the day I wore the gown and motor board.  Once out of college the reality of the real world seemed to smack me straight in the face, and I am not sure if I would have really made it if I didn't have the support of one friend in particular. We met early on, on my return to Wichita and formed a life long friendship along the way.

Janelle and I braved those first couple of years as single girls on the town.  Yeah we each had dates here and there.  But, more than anything we each learned to grow as women in our respective careers, how to weather the changes of friendship from college to present, and more than anything how to take a few tequila shots or if our friend Grant was around a crown and peach shot and keep on dancing the night away.

In July of 2001, I had finally earned enough vacation time at my job to take a "real" grown-up vacation.  And with Janelle and her friend Mindy by my side...that is exactly what I did with a 10 day trip to Italy.  Oh what a whirl wind vacation with so many wonderful stories.  It is fun to look back and remember when.

Tonight, I had the sweet privilege to actually talk with Janelle and catch up.  Hear how motherhood is treating her, what her and her husband next travel adventures include, and just talk.  We both had a good laugh at how different our lives are today then when we first met, and how priorities seemed to have changed for the better.  We even commented tonight that neither of us take for granted one second any of those wild days and night and the growing we did together.  It is wonderful to know that the foundation we laid 12 years ago continues to grow.  And though our friendship could have easily have been one of those that was just for the moment, I am so truly blessed and honored to consider her friendship one that is meant to be for a lifetime.

After we hung up on the phone tonight and she was off to feed her sweet little baby boy, I just had to take a moment and walk down memory lane and remember some of the fun we really did have.  And these pictures are just of our days in Italy...there was 4 years of our days together in Wichita...and so much more.

Aftermath

Hosting parties is always a good time.  Cleaning up and the aftermath. Not so much.  Thankfully this year, the mess wasn't that bad and Chrystal was a true sweetheart and helped me tidy up the kitchen.  I had to have a little giggle when some of the neighborhood girls brought their treats over and headed for the dinning room in search of the big table of food...not so big of an event that this was required.  And though I toned down the amount of food available there is still a lot of left overs to be had.  Hope Nick wants salad and pasta for dinner tonight. Geesh.

The one thing I did learn in my cooking adventure yesterday, I absolutely hate cooking bacon!  Knowing that Chrystal favorite meal of the day is breakfast and as a way to say thanks this morning we headed into town for a delicious meal at First Watch my treat. Yummy!  It was good to relax, have time to visit, and start thinking of the next time we could get together as these last few months have been fun to be able to see one another.

Sadly with my upcoming work schedule it may be August before this happens and I probably ought to head back to Wichita instead of making Chrystal trek up here once again.  

Fry daddy

It's been two years since we last hosted our Fish Fry and Weird Beer party.  In the past this particular get together had between 50 to 70 people come and go through our yard and it just got to be too much and too big. When Nick and I mulled the idea around about bringing it back we both agreed that the size had to be much smaller or it just wasn't worth it.

With that in mind, we sent out the evite and Nick and a couple of his buddies saved a few more fillets from their fishing adventures so he would be ready to be the official Fry Daddy.

 The game night girls were thrilled at the announcement and were sweet enough to help bring a goody or two to share with the group.

 As for the Weird Beer contest we had 9 entries and 9 beautiful ladies to do the judging.  The blueberry beer won for overall, while the chili beer won as the weirdest. It was comical to see the reactions as the flavors of the different beers truly ran the gamete.

 Kim and Beth had a good time chatting while their girls had fun interacting.

Chrystal has heard so much about past Fish Fries that when she learned the date, she blocked it off on her calendar and made a special trip up to KC to join us.  It was fun to hang out with her prior to every one's arrival and she helped Nick and I immensely with some of the day of details, including being Nick's beer bitch for the Weird Beer contest.

It was fun to see some of the kiddos join us.  Mr Gavin is 10 months old already, and growing like a weed.  It was fun to watch him interact with Miss Avery.

Chris and Lindsay were able to join us...and though Chris always wants to run away while I have the camera out...he is slowly realizing to just get the picture over with and I won't bug him again.

I love the fact that I get to see the neighborhood girls on a regular basis.  Who we don't get to see as often is some of the hubby's.  Tonight only 2 of the husbands were missing in action.  And Mr. Shane was not a part of MIA group.  Good to see ya sir.

Chip, Skye and their friend Dave also joined in the festivities.  We thought for sure they'd just hop the fence between our yards but seems they thought better of it.

Natalie and Matt were also in attendance.  I believe a little shop talk on running and boats with others may or may not have been had.

 Here is the girls from the neighborhood for the required group photo shoot. Thanks Jeffrey for being our photographer for the moment.

As the night winded down, Chaseman was having so much fun, he didn't want to leave.   Eventually, the party thinned to just a few of us sitting around the fire and telling stories.  And when the wind picked up and the clock struck 12 it was time to call the party over.

Not as wild as past Fish Fry parties but, still a good night I do believe was had by all.

Mother's day

We spent the day celebrating mother's day with my mom and Kim.  It was fun to spend time with the with family and especially the two little kiddos. And what better way to tell the story of our adventure than in pictures....

We met over at Josh and Kim's house for a nice Mother's Day brunch of egg casserole and cinnamon rolls.  Mom added to the meal by cooking blueberry muffins in her cake pop pan. A big hit with Chase.

Mom brought presents for the kiddos, as any grandmother will do in spoiling her grand babies...for Avery a cute stuffed white doggie and for Chase a authentic Australian boomerang...the boys tried their best at the thing but never did master getting it to return.

Little Miss Avery is going to be running circles around all of us very soon.  She has the walking while holding someone's hand down pack.  And she was more than excited to venture out back with me...though she wasn't exactly sure of the grass, she soon was up and dragging me all over the place.

 After brunch, Mom got down on the floor to play wit the two little munchkins.

And before we knew it, it was time to venture out to watch Chase in his second baseball game of the season.  Kim and Avery helped cheer on Chase and assistant coach Josh during the game, all the while looking ever so adorable.

 Mom was definitely in cheerleading mode out cheering everyone else in the stands.

 Nick was a good sport and enjoyed watching from behind home base with us girls, too.

 Great hit Chase!

  Here is Chase running for home, while Coach Josh helps direct the next runner to follow suite.

 Playing infield...waiting for the ball...

 So close just missed catching the in field pop up.

Great game!  Thanks for letting us join in the fun.

Hope everyone had a great mother's day!

Jersey

It's been on the calendar since late last year.  And somehow we managed to pull a group of 10 together to get the group discount for tickets to the Broadway musical Jersey Boys being held at the Music Hall this month here in Kansas City.  The group consisted of a interesting mix, with three of us bringing our own mom's as dates, and others just making it a fun "girls" night out.

When we planned this outing, none of us knew that we'd also be hitting prom weekend and Rock Fest making the downtown area very popular and very busy.  Making eating out prior to the performance even a little trickier.  Luckily, we found a newer restaurant in the River Market area that had availability and enough variety that the entire group was up for joining in the fun.  We met at Hickok's bar and grill where all the lovely ladies got to know each other a little better, dined on decent food and shared many stories and laughs.

Next up was time to settle in at the theater for the show and the life story of the Four Seasons.  I think all of us throughly enjoyed the show, with many singing along if not dancing in their chairs to the different acts.  As the story played out it was amazing to hear all the hits that each of us know and realize that they were all Four Season songs.  

The different song seemed to evoke different memories for each of us. And after tonight, I have a feeling that some will now remind us of this particular evening and the fun we all had.

Thanks ladies for making it a memorable evening!  And special thanks to my own Mom for insisting we go to this show the moment she heard it was coming to town and joining us.  

Moo

Not sure if you can fully appreciate the magnitude of cars lined up on this country road or not. The line of cars backed up onto the 69 Hwy where I heard they were literally standing still for awhile.

It's a new month which means another 5k on my calendar.  I opted to forgo the Warrior Dash this year and instead opted to try the 3rd annual Running with the Cows event out here in the Kansas City countryside.

The one problem with having a race out in the middle of "no where" is where do you actually park all the cars?  Thankfully it did not rain this morning so we were able to park in the farmers field but as I noted above the traffic was snarled and many of the runners were still parking when the first heat was suppose to start.  The organization decided to delay the start of the half marathon by 15 minutes which meant that 5k didn't start until 30 minutes later.  Not the most desirable situation but, I really couldn't fault them.  

Overall the race went well, I set my best time so far this year and felt pretty good for the majority of the run.  I had feared this run was going to have some significant hills like there are near my neighborhood, but for the most part the rolling hills were just that and not unbearable. 

I may consider running this race again next year. Heck any run that offers cow bells as participation prize you gotta get a kick out of.

Team work

Nick and I both agreed that this evening we'd stay close to home.  After working on putting the deck back together, since the majority of the staining is done...we headed into our local community bar and grill BB's for a quick bite to eat and relax and take in a few innings of the Royals game on TV. It was nice to be out for a few, as when we returned home we spent another couple of hours cleaning before we final threw our hands up and agreed to finish more tomorrow.  Not the most exciting Friday night we've ever had but it was good to get a few things check off our to-do list and work as a team.