We're Back!

Thanks to my sister-in-law, Diana for the great pics and my good friend , Nicole for helping me gain the courage to get these pics on this blog for you. Now that the "computer dinosaur of the year" (me) has started her own blog and posted pics on it, I am feeling pretty confident that you will have something to look at as you read my less than entertaining blog entries!

How is that you look forward to a vacation for weeks or even months and then you are home for a few days and it seems like a year since you were gone????? Well . . . that's how it seems after being home only 5 days from our trip to Chicago and Indianapolis.


We had fun! We landed in Chicago to find that it was in the high 50's and did I pack a jacket? NO! It wasn't down right freezing - but the evenings got pretty cold - way colder than I am used to - so I ended up borrowing my brother-in-laws jacket one evening. Thanks, Jack!

Highlights of our trip were:


Dinner at the Chicago Chop House - I enjoyed some nice broiled Orange Roughy while the more carniverous travelers in our group had steaks and prime rib. James kind of paid for his big steak with a little gastrointestinal disorder into the night. I'll stay with the fish - thank you very much!


We had after dinner drinks at the top of the John Hancock building. I am a real chicken when it comes to heights - so going up after dark worked well for me. I think it was the 96th floor - I get dizzy just thinking about being up so high - but the city was beautiful all lit up!


The next day we toured the city on one of those famous "Hop On - Hop Off" City tours. It really did give us a good feel for the city and allowed us to "Hop Off" to see Tyrannasaurus Sue at the Field Museum, see the Sears Tower up close and personal and have one of those famous Chicago Hot Dogs. Since I am not a real big hot dog fan I didn't really get what was so appealing about them - but I think James and Jack found them to be pretty delicious!


Diana and Jack arranged for us to have a tour of old Wrigley Field - for those of you who are not baseball fans - it is where the Chicago Cubs play. It was fantastic. I think they said it is the second oldest ballpark in the US - Yankee Stadium being the oldest. Anyway - it was really a great tour. We even got to tour the clubhouse and see the current players locker room.


On to Indianapolis - where we stayed at the Quality Inn - a rather old tired Quality Inn. We laughingly said it was where they put the Q in Quality. It worked out well for proximity to the Speedway and we had an enjoyable day at the race. This year the weather was quite nice and all 200 laps were completed.


We went back to the Indy Speedway the next day and took a 12 minute spin around the track in a small tour bus. We got to see the track from the drivers vantage point at about one tenth the speed. We also visited the Speedway Museum which is very interesting - especially if you like looking at old race cars!


As always the highlight of the Indy trip for me is spending time with my relatives. We all went over to Deb and Dave's for a dinner and generally just spent three hours "catching up" with family news. We missed Erin, Bret, and Grant this year -but really enjoyed meeting Bret's parents. Now I see where Bret gets his humerous side.


See you next year, Indy - hopefully with 2 or 3 kids in tow!

And There They Go

Many of you know that James and I have been making a yearly trek to the Indianapolis 500 for the past few years. I never really gave a hoot about that kind of sport at any time in my life, but my husband enjoys it and I have learned to like the event at a certain level.

First of all, I usually get to see my Indiana relatives - who used to be close-by California relatives. They moved to Indiana and then my cousin married a died in the wool hoosier! No chance of getting them back in California now - so I now I look forward to my once a year visit with them. This year we will miss Erin and Bret and most of all baby Grant - they'll be out of town - but we will see my mom's sister Deb and her husband Dave. It is always fun to see them and catch up!

Then we started adding a little more to the trip. Each year we start at another destination for a few days before going to Indianpolis. We've been to Kansas City, St. Louis, Cincinatti and this year we are flying into Chicago for a few days. We are looking forward to seeing Wrigley Field and Tyrannasauris Sue.

Last year for the first time we invited James' sister and her husband along. I'm not sure if we got them hooked on the race or not , but they agreed to come along again this year with us! Last year we suffered through a few hours of pretty steady rain to watch the race. James and I learned in one of the early years not to leave if it starts to rain or even if there is a tornado - so we stuck it out. The race is kind of like the US Postal service - they deliver no matter what the weather!

I constantly get the question - "You LIKE going to car races?" Well, the answer is this - if you've ever been to a big sporting event - World Series, Super Bowl, US Open, etc. - you know what I mean when I say there's just something about the atmosphere at that type of event. It's the guys that have been up all night in the same clothes, drinking beer sitting next to you, the really worn out, cushiony seats that you rent for $7 to keep your bottom from going to sleep on the hard bleachers, the smell of burning asphalt and tire rubber, the black residue on your clothes and skin, the deafening noise of the cars as they race at over 200 MPH -I use ear plugs, which I have to take out each time someone says something to me so that I can hear them, and then when the excitement of the race is over after a few hours we walk what seems like four miles to get back to your car in the rain or scorching heat - that great Indianapolis weather!
Yup, that's race day!

Ask me if I like and I'll tell you the truth - I LOVE IT! We really do have a blast. As the PA announcer, Tom Carnagie says as the drivers head out after the green flag is waved - AND THERE THEY GOOOOOOOOO! So here we come Indianapolis!

A New Appreciation . . .

It's funny how you develop a new appreciation for things as your life goes on!
Here's just a few of things I have noticed.

When you are a kid your mom tries to get you to eat certain foods that you are determined are yucky or gross and then as you mature you develop an appreciation for those foods. One that happened to me was AVOCADOS - did I have to learn to like a food that cost $2.99 for one little tiny organic avocado at Whole Foods????

Then when you get to be about 19 you begin to appreciate adults in your life that you thought were really stupid and really didn't understand or know a thing prior to that. I guess this a good thing since we will soon have children and maybe they'll learn to appreciate us before the memory loss sets in and we don't know they appreciate us!

Lately I realize how much I appreciate our good friends. There's a time in your life when you are so busy that you keep putting off time for friends. Well over a year ago we started a monthly game night with friends. This date each month has not been missed once and we truly have a great night each month!

I also realize how much work a blog is to keep up with. I used to get a little put out with my Indiana relatives if there wasn't a new entry everytime I checked their site - now I realize just how hard it is and what a great job they do keeping us up to date on their lives and their adorable, Grant. I wish I could do half as well - I really appreciate their blog!

Lastly, I appreciate my husband. He keeps me laughing and keeps us focused. We have fun just looking for office furniture, he is such an encourager to his new executive assistant (me) and what my job will be, and he is really "getting it" when it comes to what it will mean to have 2 kids in the house. He's gonna be a fun dad. It's his birthday this week and in fact we have his family birthday party at my mom's today!
Happy Birthday, James - I appreciate you most of all!