Game Works

On Saturday Jon and I asked our friends Jerad and Amanda to join us downtown to play some games at GameWorks. I had some leftover cards from an event there a few weeks prior so the 4 of us played a multitude of fun games.



Many of the games at Gameworks are racing type games ~ street cars, race cars, motorcycles, snowmobiles, atvs, etc. One of my favorites is the Indy car race where you actual sit in an almost full sized Indy car and race against 5 other people. The car bounces up and down and the steering wheel shakes as if you were driving around a track. I almost won the Indy race, but Jerad came in and bumped me into the wall right before we hit the finish line. Turkey.

Once we were all gamed out, we stopped by the Hooters downtown for a early dinner. It is Amanda's favorite place and it was sure Hooterific.

Nice Meat

Also, on Friday night Jon and I were invited up to McMahon's to meet up with James, Quinn, Ryan, & Jessica for their typical Friday night shenanigans of the meat raffle & Bango. I have heard of this Friday night occurrence many times as this bar is conveniently located right between James & Ryan's house so it is a perfect meeting spot for Friday night Happy Hour....and you can't ever go wrong with a meat raffle and free Bango. (Like Bingo, but Bango).

Jon and I took the new Ford (name yet to be determined) for her first ride up to South Minneapolis and ended up being the first of our friends to arrive. Well, Jon had joined them on a previous Friday night so was quite aware and excited when as we sat down the lady came around with the 1st round of the meat raffle. I thought maybe we should wait, but he said "No Way....We'll take 2". Okay, let me back up for a minute for those of you whom are not familiar with meat raffles.....A lady walks around with a card that has 30 pull tabs on it....you pay $1 and pull a tab that has a number on it. Once she sells all 30 tabs...she pulls the mystery tab number from the corner...whomever matches that number wins the meat raffle.

Well being a first timer, I was not really sure what to expect....until #204 was called....yup my number. So I screamed YEAH! But then I was like okay "now what?!?" The lady waved me to come up to the stage and there was a fine assortment of different types & cuts of meat. She said "take your pick". There was probably 25 different items to choose from....8lbs of hamburger, 10 lbs of ribs, a roast, a multitude of steaks, steak & shrimp, etc. I chose the 3 nice sized New York Strip steaks.

Our friends arrived shortly after that were I was able to show off my winnings, however through the rest of the night our table won 3 other times. That is the most we have ever won in a night.

While the meat raffle was going on we were also playing Free Bingo...I mean Bango, same difference. With Bango each round had a different prize - 1 free drink, Free Fish Dinner, $25 Bar tab, etc. Our table was not so lucky on the Bango, but we sure had a good time.

NEW CAR!!!

What also happened this week was that Jon got the call that his car was ready at the dealership. We made an appointment for Friday night after work to go pick it up. Jon said that I could be the first one to drive it since I have never driven a new car or at least a new car that was ours. The "new car smell" was heavenly and I soaked it in all the way home. The other thing I kept thinking was Lord dont let me crash this beautful new car....and yes I did make it home smoothly. So far everytime we get in the car to go somewhere, I say "ah New car smell"....I wonder how long that is going to last.
The other interesting thing is now we have 5 vehicles for 2 people......yikes....2 Fords, 1 Chevy, 1 Jeep, and 1 Suzuki (motorcycle). Good thing we have a Big garage and a Big driveway.

A Clean Louie

The day we came back home from Seattle it was a beautiful day in Minneapolis. Since we had most of the afternoon free, Jon and I decided it was time to clean Louie up and get him ready to be sold. The funny thing is that Jon put an add up on Vehix (free for 30 days) and we did not have any calls for like 3 weeks.....that is until we were in Seattle. Last Thursday Jon received 2 calls within 30 minutes of people who wanted to come and give him a test drive. What are the odds. Well obviously we were not able to accommodate them last week and then when we called them both back today, they had both found other vehicles in the meantime.


Also, I knew that he was not in show & sell quality as it still had my things in there and had not been "cleaned" inside in at least a year or so. Therefore, given the nice weather I took care of taking out all the treasures from the inside of the car and cleaning the interior and Jon took care of the vacuuming and them washed the outside. All clean and shiny Louie looks pretty nice. :)

Last few days....

Our last day in Seattle consisted of making coffee cake, more packing, taking things to the dump, going on a few errands, a coffee run, going out for dinner, making fires, watching a movie and having fun. Jon and Melissa spent sometime working on Janelle's new bed frame and of course Emma wanted to help too. She made sure that the screws were good & shook up as well as helped Melissa hold the legs while uncle Jon tightened them down.
Also, Jon and I wanted to take the Gilmores out for dinner to thank them for letting us stay with them for the week. They chose this wonderful Italian restaurant not too far from their house. It has been awhile since we have had some good authentic Italian food, so this definitely hit the spot. Yummy.

Since our flight was leaving the next morning pretty early, we decided to spend the night chillin' at home. Mark created a warm & cozy fire and we all enjoyed an excellent movie.

Weekend.....

Saturday we took Emma to a place called Kids Quest, which reminded me of a small size childrens museum. There were lots of hands on activities for kids of all ages to try. It was super busy though.....probablly because it was a Saturday and probablly because it was raining outside. Emma liked the air blowing exhibit and the water exhibit. There was also a large tree house thing to climb through but was hard for an adult to fit through the somewhat small and cramped spaces to get up & down.



Also, Saturday we stopped at our favorite Chinese place in West Seattle to have dinner. They took us to this place last year when we visited and that was one of the places I wanted to stop again. Sounds like we were all thinking the same thing because as soon as I mentioned it Mark was all excited and was thinking about wanting to go there and Jon had said the same thing. Janelle joined us for dinner at the resteraunt and then came over to their house for a game night. Justin & his buddy also came over to partake in some games. I think we played the fastest game of clue that night. I guess 2 of the 3 items on my first guess....therefore it was only elimnating that last item and then I won!!! Yee Haa!

Sunday we woke up to snow in Seattle....which Emma was checking out looking through the big windows with her purple chair pulled right up to the window. Sunday was a lazy day hanging around making Chili and cookies. Yum! Emma was facinated with the zipper on my top and kept zippping me up and down and up and down and up and down....okay you get it. She also really enjoys the Bib Overall swing given by uncle Jon....she was giggling up a storm. Just a nice day to hang around.

Friday in Seattle

Friday we spent the day hanging out and helping pack around the house. M&M have these awesome floor to ceiling windows on the front of the house they are living in. Windows that are just right size for Emma to peek out to watch the adventures going on outside. Here both Emma & uncle Jon were checking out the front yard.

Today we also went for a walk to the park since it was another nice day out. There were lots of kids (& parents) at the park as it seems sunny days in Seattle can be hard to come by. Emma played a little on the jungle jim and went down the slide, but seemed to be much more fascinated by the ducks along the stream. She knows that the ducks like bread, so when this nice lady & her daughter were throwing bread for the ducks, Emma walked up and grabbed some bread from the lady to "help them" with the feeding. What a stinker!

Friday night Melissa and I got out for a girls night with cousin Janelle and some of her friends. The first bar we went to was VERY unique and very cool. It was in an old building and each table was sectioned off into a small little space as to give privacy between tables. We actually had the table right up in the front window, which was like we were more or less sitting in a display case, but it was pretty cool. Very cozy. Melissa and I took a picture at another table that was basically within a bookcase....there was only enough room for 2 people to sit in this little cubby that was roughly about 5 feet tall. Also, the chairs we were sitting on were from a fishing boat....yup those padded seats where the back folds down and snaps to the seat. Very neat.

The next place we walked to was another awesome place that made all of their drinks from scratch.....meaning that they juiced their own fruit right in front of you to make the drinks. They were very yummy & very strong. They also did not have the typical drinks this Midwesterner is used to, but I was able to find some fabulous tasting items from the menu. Definitely getting out of the box!

Shopping & More Falls

In addition to our hike to Twin Falls, we did some shopping at the Outlet Mall and then stopped to see the Snoqualmie Falls. Miss Emma needed some new clothes from the outlet mall and auntie Kristine was more than willing to pick out some cute things. Then Miss Emma helped uncle Jon pick out some new shoes from the Nike outlet.

At Snoqualmie Falls we went to the lookout platform versus doing any hiking....this was one BIG falls versus a chain of smaller ones like at the Twin Falls. It was a day full of checking out natures beauty.

Seattle Trip

This week we headed to Seattle to visit Mark, Melissa, and Emma. This will be our last visit out to Seattle to see them as they are going to be moving to Kansas City at the end of the month. Today Melissa, Jon, Emma, and I went on a hike to Twin Falls Park, which was about an hour away. The trail and falls were located in an area that had received more snow and the snow had not quite melted yet so it made our hike an interesting one since it was quite slippery in spots.

Here is a few pictures from our hike...one was Emma all ready in her pack, a big hollowed out tree, taking a break on the bridge, and the Twin Falls.....

Weekend in Sun Prairie

This weekend Jon and I headed to Sun Prairie to visit Holly & Jason. Holly had Friday off so Jon and I both took Friday off as well so that we could spend the morning driving and be there early afternoon to hang out. We did some shopping, had dinner at BWWs, and then stopped for dessert at DQ. Yum! During our DQ stop we were all crying from laughing so hard, okay maybe it was just me that was crying. Anyway....at the pick up window it said "condiments upon request"....so I rolled down my window in the back and asked for some ketchup. (We only ordered ice cream). The guy looked and me funny, laughed and then handed us the ketchup....what a good sport.

Saturday was Holly's birthday and we just hung out most of the day....Saturday night they had a bunch of friends over to play cards and to celebrate Holly's birthday. We had 2 kinds of yummy birthday cake....chocolate with cream cheese frosting and Ice cream. Double Yum!

When we went to bed Saturday night I mentioned to Jon that it will be the last time it will be just the 4 of us together in their house....Holly is expecting in June, so the next time we go there, I am sure it will be to meet the new Grundahl addition. :)

The drive home on Sunday was not so much fun....leaving Sun Prairie it was freezing rain until WI Dells, then it was snowy blizzard like conditions until Black River Falls, and then oddly enough once we got to Eau Claire and headed west toward MN it was clear and almost sunny. The picture I took when we were at a dead stop on 90/94 due to accidents and vehicles in the ditch....I get very white knuckled driving/riding in these conditions.