We had such a fantastic weekend. So great that I’m tired today. OK, maybe to be more accurate I should say that I’m partially tired from having to get up in the middle of the night to the let the dogs out. For some reason, and this is a rare event, they both had to go out. There’s the little girlie getting up for water and then not jumping back in the bed. Bad sign. I got up to find her and she was waiting in the hallway for me. She ran over to the doggie door and then I heard Weston coming along as well. I opened the door, they go out, and there I am peeking through the curtains over the sliders trying to see them out in the backyard at four in the morning. Too funny. So I could be tired from that. But, the weekend was so busy, so much fun, and tiring in a totally good way as well.
It started Friday night with a Gal Up (a group we’ve found and joined) event at a local bar, the Esquire Lounge in downtown Champaign. Drink, food, talk, pool playing, and good times had by all. A great night with cool women. Saturday we got up early to go watch Sebastian’s first swimming lesson here in the U.S. He’s somewhat of a swimming lesson expert as he’s been in them since he was like three months old or something in the U.K. But it’s been a little while since he’s been in the pool, so he was a tad cautious. He had a big hold on Mary most of the time. He didn’t cry, but he was unsure. By the end though he was a champ, showing that now famous smile all over the place. He’s going to be great and it was such a blast watching him, and watching Mary be such a fantastic Mom with him when he was unsure and scared and such. Makes a person tear up watching the kid be so good with her kid. Impressive. After the swim lesson we took a jaunt over to Einstein Bagels with the kids to have a little bagel breakfast and then went over to their house for a bit to visit with Ashley, one of Mary’s friends and bridesmaids, who was visiting for the weekend from Indianapolis, where she’s living now. It was really nice to see her. Ashley recently got married, the wedding the kids went to over the weekend we did our overnight babysitting for the first time. After we left the kid’s place we came home, picked up the pups, and headed out to Mahomet and a lovely new to us walking trail out there. A great spot to walk them. There are numerous trails to hit so it will be fun to go back out there and see what’s what with those. On Saturday we only walked for about a mile, one way, because it was really sunny, with no shade, and Weston doesn’t much like the heat. He was panting and kept trying to lay down in close to the tall grass. We couldn’t keep going so we turned around, but they got a nice walk in anyway. Afterward we came home and just enjoyed being here. Watched some of the World Series, ate dinner followed by caramel corn, relaxed. Nice.
Yesterday we had a nice mellow morning at home. Brewed and drank some coffee, we each looked at our fantasy football teams and adjusted (we played each other this week), drank more coffee, pet on the pups a lot, and lounged in our living room. Later we’d finally had enough of that lounging stuff and took the pups for a long walk. We discovered a great area on campus only about a 15 minute walk from our house. Fantastic. It’s near the Arboretum, which includes the Idea Garden, and Japan House. So great. There’s an actual hill over there. You can see out a ways. We plan on going back to the garden with a camera to get some ideas. It is the idea garden after all. We also plan on taking the pups back over there again. It’s so close to our house. It’s so cool that we keep finding all these great places to take the dogs for walks. We’re loving that. After the walk we met up with Ann, one of our new friends here in Illinois, and drove out to Hardy’s Reindeer Ranch where we met other peeps and then all did the corn maze. We ended up splitting into two groups and raced each other. Texting the other group with things like… Number 5! There were eight punch stations to get in the maze and we were racing to see which group could get them all first. We were ahead most of the time, until the end, when they managed to squeak by us for the win. Damn Dracula! Where were you?!?! We also looked at the reindeer, the pumpkins, and watched the pumpkin cannon shoot a pumpkin out into a field. The cannon was pretty impressive. A fun time with great ladies. After the Reindeer Ranch we headed home again, hung with the pups for a little bit, and then went over to the kid’s place for dinner. We played with the grandson, ate some food, and watched the beginning of World Series game four with the kids before heading home where we loved on the pups and finished watching the game.
Whew.
A lot of stuff…. a busy weekend. Fun. Illinois is growing on us. We love the adventure of discovering things in a new place. We are loving… and let me say… L-O-V-I-N-G… the fall weather here. Beautiful blue skies, gorgeous fall colors, and warmish (enough to be in t-shirts yesterday). We are loving being close to the kids and getting to see Sebastian all the time, go to his little classes, hang out and play. And we are finding some friends, getting to know some people, starting to make a life here. We still miss everyone in Oregon tremendously, but we are starting to really settle in, and excited about all the new things we’ve yet to discover and do. Everything is an adventure when you live in a new place. It’s kinda cool….
A Few photos from the ol’ iPhone…
