Our Easter Weekend is flying by. So far the weather has been lousy with rain/cold on Friday and Saturday morning and then the rest of Saturday turned into just cloudy and cold, but at least dry.
I had the day off on Friday and Nicole had to work so we made maintenance appointments for both vehicles. It was the 1st oil change for the truck and that was for 8:00 a.m. and then 8:30 for the car. Nicole and I met at the Land Rover dealer at 7:45, dropped the truck off and then I drove her back to the office for her first appointment. I then went back to the Saab dealer and sat and waited for that to finish. While there I got a call from the Land Rover place about a tire sensor. We had a tire sensor (which I guess is on every tire), never had that before and the light came on when Nicole was driving on Thursday. So I figured while getting the oil changed they would check it out. Well, I guess it was broke so they needed to replace it and it is covered by warranty so warranty says when you replace one you replace all 4. So, they needed to keep the vehicle over the weekend. Well, Nicole told them (I was too scared) that she needed the truck for the weekend so they gave us a loaner. I figured it would be some old car that they just give you to knock around in, but NO, it was a 2011 Land Rover LR4. Neither of us had ever driven one, we have seen them at the car show and sat in them, but to drive one is pretty nice. I would never buy one, especially not new, but it has a lot of bells and whistles that our truck does not have. It has a heated steering wheel, you would never think you would need that, but I turned it on yesterday and it was pretty nice. It gets about as bad of gas mileage as our truck does, high teens, nothing more. It is white which we don't like, but overall a heck of a loaner to use for free for 3 days.
Friday night we went to dinner in Stillwater and went to an Irish place called Charlies. We had fish and chips (last Friday for Lent) and drank Guinness (I did) and they had an Irish band that was pretty good. We went to bed early.
Today went way too fast. We got up and Nicole started cleaning. I helped a little, but when she is going you just get out of her way (she's like the Tazmanian Devil). I went and got her coffee at Starbucks which only keeps her going 100 mph. I tinkered around in the garage for a while and acted like I was busy or at least helping (which I really wasn't). I took some crap to Goodwill and took the propane tank to get refilled. I brought the planters out of the garage and moved them to the front step so I actually did a little work today. I wanted to golf today, but who can get excited about anything outside with this weather. It is a little depressing I have to admit.
At about 2:00 we headed to St. Paul, a quick stop at Caffe Latte for some dessert for Easter Sunday and then to my brother Chad's to celebrate Easter with my side of the family. Food was great, company was great and we had a great time.
Now we are home and waiting for George and Michelle to arrive. We are going to church early tomorrow and then home to grill and watch the Twins. Hopefully we hit 60 degrees and sunshine like the forecast says.
Happy Easter to everyone.
The Wards
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Birthday Weekend
It was a great weekend (besides the 4 inches of snow that we got on Friday night). We went to Manny's for drinks after work on Friday (we cut out of work at 3:00 p.m.). We went to Room and Board to get some new outdoor furniture for Nicole's birthday and then dinner at Muffaletta's, which is one of our favorite restaurants. We had such a great meal there on Valentines Day that Nicole picked it again for her birthday. Their menu changes often so you never know exactly what you are going to get and it wasn't quite as good as Valentines, but we still had a great meal. We were home and in bed pretty early as we usually are on Friday's (just can't go very late on Friday's after working). We got up on Saturday and cleaned around the house and then we headed to St. Paul. Nicole had some clothes to return at JCrew so we went to Grand. We then went to lunch at Cafe Latte, still just love that place from our college days. That used to be a great spot for a date in college and we still love going there. We had a champagne lunch along with some great food. We came home and took a little afternoon rest because we knew we had a late night ahead of us.
Our neighborhood friends (the gang) as we call it had a big night planned. It was the River Falls Youth Hockey Association Fundraiser and it is held at a golf club in River Falls. It is dinner, silent auction, and a band. Our friends Brian and Shelly Thompson have 3 boys and 2 of them are old enough to play hockey and I'm sure their youngest son will soon start playing as well. We had a limo pick everyone in the neighborhood up so we didn't have to worry about drinking and driving. It was Brian and Shelly Thompson (Shelly is the on the board for the hockey association) and she is also on the fundraising committee. They have raised $30,000 so far for the hockey program and last night they were able to raise around $8,000. The Gagnes' (Brian and Dina), The Quinn's (Matt and Lindsay), the Nelson's (Scott and Jeri), the Wilson's (Jeb and Kaylan), and then of course the Ward's. It was good to see everyone again after a long winter. It was good to get the Wilson's out as they don't get out much with the new baby (he's 8 months old already) but has definitely slowed their social agenda. I think it is safe to say we "let er rip" last night, especially the guys, but it looked liked the girls were having their share of fun.
I wanted one of the silent auction items and kept bidding on it all night, but it went for more than I was willing to spend. It was 4 hours of fishing on the St. Croix with a guide and it was for 2 people so I was thinking for George. Well, the guys knew I wanted to get it for George and they kept pushing the price up because they knew I wanted it so I would go $75, then one of the guys would push it and I would go up and they would push it and this kept going on an on until I decided I could get it cheaper just hiring a guide and taking 4 people out so I let this other guy have it. I definitely want to try this so George if you are reading, hold me to this.
We had a great night with our friends and it was a fun event.
Sunday we got a new grill which we were really in need of. Our old one had seen better days so we got a new Weber and it is very nice. We went to Lowe's in Stillwater to pick it up this morning and then this afternoon we hosted the Troy Burne Annual Easter Egg Hunt. We had over 40 kids show up and Nicole and I stuffed 700 eggs with candy. Nicole and a high school volunteer hid the eggs in the park at Troy Burne and the adults had cookies/brownies and coffee from Starbucks. It was a great way to kick off the spring and get everyone together (not everyone), but a good turnout. The weather cooperated today with sunshine, it was cool, but not too bad. We are tired tonight, using the new grill for some hamburgers and then going to take it easy.
Looking forward to seeing everyone a week from today at Easter.
Our neighborhood friends (the gang) as we call it had a big night planned. It was the River Falls Youth Hockey Association Fundraiser and it is held at a golf club in River Falls. It is dinner, silent auction, and a band. Our friends Brian and Shelly Thompson have 3 boys and 2 of them are old enough to play hockey and I'm sure their youngest son will soon start playing as well. We had a limo pick everyone in the neighborhood up so we didn't have to worry about drinking and driving. It was Brian and Shelly Thompson (Shelly is the on the board for the hockey association) and she is also on the fundraising committee. They have raised $30,000 so far for the hockey program and last night they were able to raise around $8,000. The Gagnes' (Brian and Dina), The Quinn's (Matt and Lindsay), the Nelson's (Scott and Jeri), the Wilson's (Jeb and Kaylan), and then of course the Ward's. It was good to see everyone again after a long winter. It was good to get the Wilson's out as they don't get out much with the new baby (he's 8 months old already) but has definitely slowed their social agenda. I think it is safe to say we "let er rip" last night, especially the guys, but it looked liked the girls were having their share of fun.
I wanted one of the silent auction items and kept bidding on it all night, but it went for more than I was willing to spend. It was 4 hours of fishing on the St. Croix with a guide and it was for 2 people so I was thinking for George. Well, the guys knew I wanted to get it for George and they kept pushing the price up because they knew I wanted it so I would go $75, then one of the guys would push it and I would go up and they would push it and this kept going on an on until I decided I could get it cheaper just hiring a guide and taking 4 people out so I let this other guy have it. I definitely want to try this so George if you are reading, hold me to this.
We had a great night with our friends and it was a fun event.
Sunday we got a new grill which we were really in need of. Our old one had seen better days so we got a new Weber and it is very nice. We went to Lowe's in Stillwater to pick it up this morning and then this afternoon we hosted the Troy Burne Annual Easter Egg Hunt. We had over 40 kids show up and Nicole and I stuffed 700 eggs with candy. Nicole and a high school volunteer hid the eggs in the park at Troy Burne and the adults had cookies/brownies and coffee from Starbucks. It was a great way to kick off the spring and get everyone together (not everyone), but a good turnout. The weather cooperated today with sunshine, it was cool, but not too bad. We are tired tonight, using the new grill for some hamburgers and then going to take it easy.
Looking forward to seeing everyone a week from today at Easter.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Happy Birthday To My Favorite Gal
April 15th, 1979 was a great day for me. This was the day my wife was born and I was lucky enough to find her 15 years later. We have been together 17 years which is over half of our lives and I am thankful for every day (some days I don't show it), but I truly am thankful.
She is taking the afternoon off and we are going out for dinner tonight. We are going to a big party on Saturday night with a bunch of our neighbors so it should be a fun weekend.
Happy Birthday Nicole, I love ya!
She is taking the afternoon off and we are going out for dinner tonight. We are going to a big party on Saturday night with a bunch of our neighbors so it should be a fun weekend.
Happy Birthday Nicole, I love ya!
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Weekend Update
Nicole and I had a packed weekend that turned out to be a lot of fun. Friday night we celebrated our niece and goddaughter's 12th birthday. Miss Carlyn is growing up so fast. We went to a Japanese steakhouse (her choice) in Apple Valley. We ate sushi because it was Friday, but it was fun to watch the the Hibachi guy spin all the steak/shrimp on the grill in front of us. It was Ryan, Kari, my brother Andrew, Carlyn, Ethan, mom, Nicole and I. We went to Ryan's after for birthday cake and it was a great evening.
On Saturday Nicole and I ran in Goldy's Run which is a 5k run. We started at TCF Bank Stadium and ran through campus and finished at the 50-yard line with everyone crossing the finish line on the big scoreboard. It was a lot of fun running through campus and it is a great race. We started running in this race a few years ago and this year the money is going to the new Amplatz Hospital on campus, so it is a great cause. There were at least 3,000 runners and a lot of fun to be part of. I started the race out listening to Bob Dylan's song "Positively Fourth Street" a song he wrote while he attended the University of Minnesota living in Dinkytown. I thought it was a fitting start to the race. From there I pushed hard to finish the race as I just started running again early last week. Nicole was able to catch me near the end and went on to pass me and finish about 1 minute ahead of me. I ran out of gas at the end. We both finished in less than 10 minute miles (which by most runner's standards is pretty slow), but we are always happy to come in around or under that 30 minute mark. We are gearing up for the big race that our family runs at the end of May called Get Your Rear in Gear. It was 2 years ago on Friday April 8th that Hap passed away from Colon Cancer and we always want to run this race to remember him. We hope to add to our list of racers this year and we are getting a match of funds raised by Thrivent Financial, a great company that my brother Andrew works for.
Saturday afternoon we went to get some outside lawn furniture at Room and Board. Lunch at Loring Kitchen and Bar and then home to spend the evening with friends.
We went to Scott and Jeri Nelson's house to watch the Master's and then to dinner at Pier 500. It was fun to get back out with our friends again after hibernating all winter long.
Sunday we just took it easy and watched golf. It was a great weekend.
On Saturday Nicole and I ran in Goldy's Run which is a 5k run. We started at TCF Bank Stadium and ran through campus and finished at the 50-yard line with everyone crossing the finish line on the big scoreboard. It was a lot of fun running through campus and it is a great race. We started running in this race a few years ago and this year the money is going to the new Amplatz Hospital on campus, so it is a great cause. There were at least 3,000 runners and a lot of fun to be part of. I started the race out listening to Bob Dylan's song "Positively Fourth Street" a song he wrote while he attended the University of Minnesota living in Dinkytown. I thought it was a fitting start to the race. From there I pushed hard to finish the race as I just started running again early last week. Nicole was able to catch me near the end and went on to pass me and finish about 1 minute ahead of me. I ran out of gas at the end. We both finished in less than 10 minute miles (which by most runner's standards is pretty slow), but we are always happy to come in around or under that 30 minute mark. We are gearing up for the big race that our family runs at the end of May called Get Your Rear in Gear. It was 2 years ago on Friday April 8th that Hap passed away from Colon Cancer and we always want to run this race to remember him. We hope to add to our list of racers this year and we are getting a match of funds raised by Thrivent Financial, a great company that my brother Andrew works for.
Saturday afternoon we went to get some outside lawn furniture at Room and Board. Lunch at Loring Kitchen and Bar and then home to spend the evening with friends.
We went to Scott and Jeri Nelson's house to watch the Master's and then to dinner at Pier 500. It was fun to get back out with our friends again after hibernating all winter long.
Sunday we just took it easy and watched golf. It was a great weekend.
 |
| Nicole after Goldy's Run (a little gloating smile for beating me) |
 |
| Jason after the race (sporting AGR Letters) |
 |
| Nicole and Hattie at the Giggle Factory |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)