Today, Liz and I joined Julie, Bob, Katie, and Tim in Merrillville to celebrate thanksgiving. We got there around 1:30PM, and had a pretty lazy afternoon just hanging out in the kitchen, drinking wine, and snacking prior to the big meal.
This event has happened a few times in the past (see the links below), but this would be the first time the pie making has happened in Julie and Bob’s new house (and on their new countertop to boot).
On Saturday, Liz and I went out to Valparaiso to celebrate Julie’s birthday (it really was a weekend of birthday parties). We had dinner plans at a downtown restaurant, but arrived a little early to just visit briefly.
While near their house in Valparaiso, we were going down a small road when Liz yelled “Look out for that animal!”
As we got a bit closer, she yelled out “It’s a chicken!”
On Sunday, Bob and I spent a good part of the day working in the basement – adding in studs to the support beam, and prepping for the wall that would enclose both the stairs and the bathroom.
While I’ve had the good fortune to participate in a lot of 20×2 Chicago events, this week saw a pretty interesting varation. The original folks behind 20×2 (Kevin, Mark, and Jeff) decided to take the show “on tour” and did two back to back events at a new venue: the Virgin hotel in Chicago.
Once in through the front doors, visitors walked down a long, blue-lit corridor. Playing on a loop in the background was “Pure Imagination,” as sung by Gene Wilder (as if there is any other version of this song).
Liz and I met up with Julie and Bob for Mother’s Day a while back, and spent a leisurely day hanging out in Chinatown, Northerly Island, and then later in Hyde Park.
A parliament of Peeps.
Some hot dogs (and peeps) were roasted on the fire. An incredibly relaxing end to an incredibly relaxing day.
Liz and I trekked over to Valpo late in the afternoon today. We were slated to help move some furniture, to get the home TV/Internet wired up again, and to exchange Christmas gifts. Wtih everyone’s holiday travel plans, coupled with the fact that Julie and Bob were getting new floors – the timing just hadn’t been good for us to get together, until this weekend.
Working in the basement felt really good tonight, and I walked away from the evening feeling really proud of myself and Liz. While we had Bob on hand to help advise/guide us, Liz and I fell back into our familiar cement mixing routine.
Each seat had its own name card. This year, Savannah realized they didn’t have cards for me and Liz… so she made ours.
Julie ended up taking the wheel while Dan was pushing and I was at the back of the truck. For a little while, I was trying to jump up/down on the truck, to see if that would help get it to catch the plywood. But we ended up rocking it enough to where Julie was able to get the truck up a small hill and back on solid ground again.
I later realized that everyone else had gone inside Holy Grail Winery (where they had some of the most amazing wine decanters I had ever seen).