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Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Deferred! :-<

#81 - Donate blood at least 3x’s a year (8/9)

Deferred for a year! Dang!  And I was only one donation away from reaching my goal (my 101 expires in Aug this year).  Malek and I both tried to donate blood over lunch, and we were doing fine until we hit the question "Have you gone outside the US in the past 3 years?"  I had been deferred once before when I went to Costa Rica, but we had checked on Mazatlan before we left for our honeymoon and thought we were OK.  Well, we were only OK if we didn't leave the resort/coast.  During our honeymoon we went on a tequila tour located about an hour outside of Mazatlan (away from the coast)...AND which apparently happened to be in a malaria-risk area!  We won't be able to donate again until April 2011.  :-( 

Even though we couldn't donate, we did try, I think we should get points for that.  +1!!!! (9/9)

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Great Father's Day Weekend

Malek had a wonderful Father's Day weekend. 

Saturday we rented a ski boat and heading out on Lake Travis from 10am-4pm, Amanda and Gwen also joined us.  The weather was perfect and the water felt great!  Evan even tried his hand at wakeboarding and managed to get up on the 2nd try.  We had a lovely time at Little Devil's Cove swimming and feeding the fishies.  After we dropped Amanda and Gwen off, we drove around the lake for a while before arriving at Carlos'n Charlies for an early dinner.  We were all exhausted (and sunburnt) when we finally made it home.  To conclude our evening we all plopped down on the couch to watch Labyrinth before heading off to bed.
Evan wakeboarding, Lake Travis 6/19/2010   Push! Lake Travis 6/19/2010  
fishies - Lake Travis 6/19/2010   Malek family - Lake Travis 6/19/2010
Sunday morning the kids and I made Malek breakfast - he had requested waffles and bacon.  We also surprised him with a forerunner watch and a couple of cards.  The rest of the day we relaxed and nursed our red skin.  For dinner Malek grilled us some awesome pork tenderloin kabobs, veggie kabobs and yellow corn on the cob.  I put together the jalapeno poppers...but apparently they didn't survive the grease fire on the grill.  hmmmmm  Other than that casuality, the food was delish!

Happy Father's Day!
Happy Fathers day brunch 6/20/2010   Happy Fathers day brunch 6/20/2010Happy Fathers day dinner 6/20/2010

Monday, June 21, 2010

Another one bites the dust

#113 - Have a cookie from Austin Cookie Lounge (replaces #90 - Crescent City Beignets) - CLOSED

Another one bites the dust.  Crescent City Beignets closed in 2008, so I replaced this item on my 101 with Austin Cookie Lounge.  I was looking it up today, hoping to try it out this weekend...and guest what?  It's CLOSED!...as of 2009 apparently.  pfft

Friday, June 18, 2010

#12 revisited - buy a new lawn mower

We finally broke down and bought a new mower this past Sunday.  The one I owned was used (bought it off a co-worker 2 years ago) and even though it was supposed to be self-propelled it really wasn't.  Goes to show you that everything runs down with old age... :-P  So lo and behold we buy a brand spanking new mower and Malek can't wait to try it out.  I have never enjoyed watching someone mow the lawn more than when Malek tested out our new purchase.  The lawn mower was practically dragging him across the yard!  I couldn't stop laughing.  It was super fast and so much more powerful and he was able to finish the lawn in 1 hour (compared to the 2 hours it took with the old mower).  Now I'm actually motivated to start mowing the lawn again, aint technology wonderful!

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Family road trip to Pokagon and MI

#15 – Home cooked meals (camping meals count!) (95/143) #23 – Camping at least once a year (2/3) #40 – Read more books #52 – Take a road trip
#88 – Horseback riding
We had an absolutely fabulous vacation!  I'm so glad we had the Routan, it made the LONG 22-23 hour road trip so much more comfortable and enjoyable.  The kids played Wii and watched movies the entire time, Malek drove the majority of the time and I read 4 books!  :-D  That's right, 4 of them; 2 by Chelsea Handler - "Are you there Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea" and "My Horizontal Life" and 2 by Emily Giffin - "Something Borrowed" and "Something Blue".

Pokagon was an awesome camping state park.  During our stay we went on several hikes, Evan went fly fishing, Emma and I went horseback riding (#88), spent some time on the beach/lake and we even explored an Amish town/flea market in Shipshewana.  There was only one evening that it rained on us, during that time we all piled into my parents camper and watched Tremors (LUV this movie), The Princess Bride and Ice Age.  AND finally we were able to experience dutch oven cooking, my parents have been bragging about it for years.  We sampled a variety of recipes, including desserts - Dutch oven cooking is amazing!  We even made Evan a chocolate cake in the dutch oven for his birthday.  Happy Birthday Evan!

After camping we drove the remaining 2.5 hours to my parents house in Lake Orion.  We enjoyed a mouth watering steak dinner that night (great grillin' Dad!), then Malek and I met up with a HS friend of mine at BW3's for drinks.  The next day we enjoyed ricotta cheese pancakes with lemon curd for breakfast.  The kids even loved it and there was nothing leftover.  For lunch Malek & I and the kids went back to BW3's to catch up with some more HS friends.  Afterwards we relaxed at home, the kids just loved the basement and were down there constantly playing Wii and various other games.  For dinner we went to my parents favorite pub at Canterbury Village (on Thursdays they have an awesome pizza special), wandered around the village for a bit and even managed to take some nice family pictures at the gazebo.  Then it was back to the house where the kids made banana parfait with my mom for dessert and then we packed up the car for our early morning departure.  OMG I'm sooooo full from all the food!

The trip home felt much longer, probably due to our jam-packed week of activities.  We were all extremely happy to arrive back at the house Saturday afternoon so we could unpack and unwind.  On Sunday Malek and I actually went for a morning jog, then took the kids to Pluckers for lunch and then over to the pool for a couple of hours, followed by a volleyball game later that night.  Can you say EXHAUSTED!  I think Monday back at work was our actual recovery day.

Pokagon State park - our camp site 6/6/2010   Pokagon State park - my parents camper 6/6/2010
Dutch oven cooking - Pokagon 6/6/2010   Freunds - Pokagon 6/6/2010
Fishing at Pokagon 6/7/2010   Saddle Barn at Pokagon 6/7/2010
Beach at Pokagon 6/7/2010   Beach at Pokagon 6/7/2010
Dinner 6/7/2010   Amish Carousel 6/8/2010 Watching movies in the camper 6/8/2010   Dinner at my parents 6/9/2010Fun in the yard 6/10/2010   HS friends at BW3's 6/10/2010  
Emma's beard 6/10/2010   Emma's beard 6/10/2010    

Gazebo at Canterbury Village 6/10/2010   Gazebo at Canterbury Village 6/10/2010

Friday, June 4, 2010

Road trip & camping!

3 for the price of 1!  :-)  Our upcoming journey....

#23 - Camping at least once a year
#52 - Take a road trip
#88 - Horseback riding

Malek and I decided to take a vacation with the kids to MI (they've been wanting to go for a while) and camp with my parents.  We will be camping at Pokagon State Park in Indiana for 3 nights, then heading to MI for a couple of days before driving back to TX.  The drive takes about 23 hours one way, hence why we have a mini-van with DVD players!  We hear wonderful things about this State Park as it has many activities - horseback riding (#88), hiking & biking trails, fishing, swimming beach w/ volleyball nets and boating!  There's also an Amish community about an hour away we could check out, if we find the time to fit it in.  The kids are gonna love it, heck I'm super excited!  We also plan on breaking in our dutch oven, my parents have some great recipes for dutch oven cooking.  They also have a pop-up camper (while we are in tents) with AC, a stove, a shower..and all other modern conveniences!  That's their idea of 'roughing it'.  :-P

Also, for dinner one night in MI, I'm hoping we'll get the chance to dine and play at Palazzo di Bocce.  I think the kids will love it!

More updates will be posted once we return from this adventure!

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Memorial Day weekend fun

Thank you to the fallen veterans and those that continue to serve, so that we can enjoy our freedom!

We had a wonderful 3 day weekend with family and friends!
Friday - We spent the evening cleaning, hanging pictures and curtains in the house to prepare for the BBQ on Sunday.  It's exhausting cleaning a bigger home, for a brief moment I considered hiring a maid.  :-P
Saturday - We fixed a couple more things inside the house and then around noon headed off to Lake Austin.  We met the Cox's, Keith, Jones and Moni out by the 360 bridge and visited 2 of the coves nearby.  We had a great time on the lake and catching up with friends.  Afterwards we headed to Taco Cabana for some grub and then passed out at home.  Ah those are the days!

Lake Austin Memorial day weekend 5/29/2010   Lake Austin Memorial day weekend 5/29/2010
Sunday - We had our group of friends over to the house for a BBQ, which we co-hosted with the Sendelbachs.  The kids had a blast with the sprinkler and inflatable pool in the backyard (thx Renee & Jenn!).  The food was grilled to perfection - we had fajitas, hotdogs and jalapeno sausage...plus all the fixin's/sides that everyone contributed.  It was our first kid party, and it was a success!

Memorial weekend BBQ 5/30/2010   Memorial weekend BBQ 5/30/2010
Monday - We went to a couple of stores, browsing for computer desks, and then to the theater to see Iron Man 2.  It was a nice relaxing day.  I was even able to read some of my book (Chelsea Handler - My Horizontal Life)!

Aerial Static Trapeze Fun!

As a continuation of Monica's 30th b-day, we took an aerial static trapeze class on May 23rd.  A group of us bought a deal off of living social for the class and were able to book back to back classes so all of us could be together.  :-)  It was soooo much fun!  And a really good total body work out.  We learned some cool moves on the silks (think Cirque du Soleil) and poses on a giant hoop.  I was even was able to capture video of us performing 360 flips on the silks (super fast and kinda scary)!  To recover from our performing feats we headed to Hula Hut for much needed jalapeno ranch dip and margaritas.  It was a great day!

Moni's 30th continued with aerial static trapeze! 5/23/2010   Moni's 30th continued with aerial static trapeze! 5/23/2010

Moni's 30th continued with aerial static trapeze! 5/23/2010   Moni's 30th continued at Hula Hut 5/23/2010