It's a whole lot warmer down there...

In a random turn of events, Jeff found himself on the wackiest surreal business day trip of a lifetime today. After flying into New Orleans Wednesday night (for reasons we shan't try to cover here) I woke at 4:15am, and was on the road to the airport by 5:00am. Our little band of seven boarded the Hawker jet that our hosts had brought us on and sailed through the air south across the Gulf of Mexico towards the sunny land of Belize.

Quick Belize info: Belize is a tiny little blip on your maps just south of the Mexican Yucatan peninsula. It's a tropical country of 280,000 people, and was once upon a time a colony of the motherland, Great Brittain. It also is home to more native Belizeans than any other country in the world.

We spent the bulk of our day on a little island off the coast of Belize City, called Chapel Cay. Chapel Caye (or Key) is effectively what one would refer to as a "millionaire's playground". It was developed years ago as a private golf-island resort and was in recent years opened to the public for bookings. While my little pictures can't do it justice, I highly encourage you to check it out on the google maps satellite views.

In any event, after a wonderful tour on the island, we returned home, via Huntsville West Virginia, ultimately back to the 20 degree windy weather we love.

Oh, and the bugs in Belize aren't normal size:

Hello!

Hello Blake, Kelly, and Laura. Thanks for visiting, and making Jeff...err, us, cookies.

30th Birthdays, Sushi, and Pumpkin Spice Martinis

Black Friday, a day normally known for mad shopping sprees, bad traffic, and that bloated hungover feeling from eating too much turkey and drinking too much champagne the night before.

But this Black Friday, we got to spend our evening having a lot more fun. Joel and Katrena Card collectively celebrated their 30th birthdays together with a small group of friends and family. We went to an old faithful hole-in-the-wall restaurant, The House of Sushi and Noodles, better known as $13.99 Sushi Buffet.

After stuffing our pie holes, we wandered a couple doors down to The Bungalow Lounge, a quaint little watering hole with a history of intoxicated women doing silly things when guys weren't around. We had a great time lounging, talking about lip stick & fantasy football, and drinking pumpkin spice martinis. And Terry apparently REALLY liked those pumpkin spice martinis...

A very happy 30th to both Katrena and Joel. To many more ahead!

Trotting Like Turkeys

Despite bitter cold and a light dusting of snow, we made our way down to Elmhurst early on Thanksgiving morning for the 24th annual Dan Gibbons Turkey Trot. It had been seven years since our last appearance at this event, and what was once a tiny little turkey trot has become a huge event, replete with corporate sponsors, 5000 runners, and a precision stunt flying team overhead (as opposed to those non-precision stunt flying teams).

While we are hardly running buffs, we had a good time and worked hard for our tryptophan-laced dinner later that night.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Flying Purple Again!

Its Official… and I get to announce it now… but a few weeks back, Jeff got word that he was accepted into Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. He will start the 28 month process of working for his MBA this January.

This is a return to Northwestern for Jeff, and is a much prayed-for achievement. We have put our purple flag back up now, and are flying it with pride.
Go Cats! & Congratulations to Jeff!

Happy 30th, Keli

Happy three decades Keli Swierczek! Tonight we partied like it's 1999, only it's 2007, and instead of a new year it's Keli's 30th birthday. Her beloved husband, Derek, pulled off a fantastic event for his wife Keli, a wonderful surprise birthday party. Here's to many more!

P.S. - Really big pizzas are cool.

Bug eyes!

Boston Terrier, or giant wingless bug-eyed fruit bat? You be the judge.

Southern Wedding

Sing it with me folks, "Sweet home Carolina. Doo deh deh doo deh deh doo deh deh doo deh deh. Where the skies are so blue. Sweet home Carolina. Lord I'm coming home to you."

So they butcher that Lynnard Skynnard classic a little bit in North Carolina, but a southern wedding is still a lot of fun. This weekend we flew down to Charlotte, NC to party with the extended family for Steve and Erica (now Stawick)'s wedding. We shacked up with the Dumas family for a couple of nights and had a grand old time enjoying the South once again.

Due to popular demand, we bring back an old friend, the bullet-pointed highlight list!

• The Dumas' cat, Jet, is a dog stuck in a cat's body. A wonderfully amusing and sweet creature.
• Fred, David, and Jeff averaged a score of 87 in their round of golf Friday (through 14 holes)
• Kathy's watusi dance was spotted several times on the dance floor at the wedding reception. The crowd swooned.
• Flying US Air is great, if you like cancelled flights, poor service, and a lack of flight choices out of O'Hare. Glad we saved that $60 to fly with them!
• Heated bathroom floors rule (thanks Daniel).
• Remember kiddies, if you answer your cell phone, and then steadfastly deny to the caller that you brought your cell phone with you, you're probably wrong.

Thanks again so much to Fred, Katy, and Frud for hosting and hanging with us all weekend!

Purdue Weekend

Central Indiana isn't known for many great things:

• Bobby Knight
• Corn
• Casinos
• Corn
• Little towns with silly names

However, it is known for a great institution, not to be confused with the chicken company, Purdue University. Last weekend we caravaned our way down to West Lafayette along with Jeff's parents, David and Kathy, to visit our young scholar / brother / son / skydiver, Blake. We spent the morning tailgating amongst the endless rows of black and gold, a lone beacon of purpleness shining brightly. Well, most of us were a purple beacon, as David and Kathy were "confused" donning both purple and gold and puzzling the heck out of everyone, including themselves.

So around noon we followed the huddled masses through the mud and the gray over to the football stadium to watch the Northwestern Wildcats pummel and humiliate the Purdue Boilermakers on their homecoming weekend. Oh, wait, that was two years ago, nevermind.

After a short nap on Blake's couch we wandered out for dinner at a mexican restaurant whose name escapes me, and enjoyed beer and burritos with Blake and a very INTENSE waiter who seemed on the edge of a mental breakdown. After that, off we went, back to the homeland and two little black and white dogs waiting for us.

Thanks Blake for letting us invade your home turf for a day!