More Vacation Pics

Chicago/Detroit Baseball Trip

We left last Wed. morning (6/21), headed for Chicago to see the Cardinals play the White Sox that evening. We arrived at our hotel about 2, only to discover our reservation had been changed to another hotel without us knowing. We had planned on staying at the Palmer House Hilton which is over by the Sears Tower and more affordable than Michigan Ave. I was not very happy about this game of musical hotels, but it was out of my control. So we headed over to our new hotel which was right in the middle of the magnificent mile-- YIPPEE! I also told the guy at check in about our ordeal, so he ended up giving us a corner suite on Michigan Ave.-- it was great! Unfortunately, the Cardinals lost the game that evening 13-5 and the White Sox's ballpark was nothing to brag about.
The next day we went to the Field Museum and saw the King Tut exhibit as well as an exhibit on evolution and the history of the Earth, which was quite fascinating. Then we headed down to Navy Pier to shop and take a ride on the Ferris Wheel.
Friday, we were driving from Chicago to Detroit, a drive Yahoo said was suppose to take 4.5 hours, but Brian drives pretty fast, so we typically arrive sooner. We sat in so much construction traffic it took over 7 hours to get to our hotel, which was actually in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, which is right across the Detroit River from downtown Detroit. Our hotel was right on the river, we had a beautiful view of the skyline, the river, and a beautiful park that stretched the entire river bank (see pics).
That night we went out for a fancy steak and lobster dinner on the riverfront and then stayed out clubbing until after 3 am, it was a very late night, but definitely worth it.
The next day we went out to lunch, watched a tug boat race which was really cool and then went to a casino which was a few hotels down. I lost all my money in about 10 minutes, but Brian won about $100 playing video poker, so we left the Casino with our winnings and headed across the street to that park, which was having a Summerfest with a Carnival and entertainment. We rode three pretty intense rides and then boarded a bus, to take us across the border to downtown Detroit for the game. (I will blog about the uselessness of Customs on a different day.) The Cardinals lost again 7-6 in 11 innings, and the people of Detroit kinda lived up to their negative reputations, but their ballpark is beautiful. Their team is the Tigers, and there are Tiger statues and claw marks all over, there's a merry-go-round inside the stadium with tigers instead of horses and they even had a Ferris wheel with baseballs as the gondolas. We had great seats 18 rows behind our dugout and the food was excellent for a ballpark. Wish the people had been nicer, I think we were spoiled in Canada since everyone there was so friendly (which is also a blog for another day). After the game, we returned to Canada to drowned our sorrows and then headed home the next morning. We had a great time and have now gone to 10 out-of-town ballparks, we are already 1/3 of the way done!

Back from Vacation!

Just wanted to let everyone know that we got home safely on Sunday from our 5 day vacation to Chicago, Detroit, and Canada. We had a great time except the Cardinals got swept both series :( but we still managed to have lots of fun! The children also had a great time partying at the Lake of the Ozarks all weekend while we were gone. I will blog more about our trip once I get the pictures downloaded and edited. Talk to everyone again soon!

Prison Visit

Last Thursday, Bill and I went down to the Potosi Correctional Center to visit my uncle Richie for a food visit. Once per quarter, if an inmate is violation free during that time, his family can bring in outside food for the visit. We were bringing him steak, shrimp, fresh veggies, chicken wings, lasagne, and chocolate pie; I had taken the day off work and was very excited about the trip. So we arrive at the prison, the staff searches the food, we go through metal detectors and three different checkpoints before we got to the final checkpoint to get into the visiting area. At this final check they found a pill that had unknowingly ended up in Bill's pocket that morning as he was sorting his medications for the week. They made us go back out in the hallway, they had to call down the supervisors, luckily the pill was just an acid reflux pill and not a pain killer or something. We had joked on the way in that we were scared they were going to keep us there, but now all we wanted was for them not to throw us out! Thankfully, after quite the ordeal they did allow us to go ahead with our visit. Richie enjoyed the meal and we all enjoyed the visit, but next time we will definitely double check all our pockets before we go!

2nd Annual Bonfire

So the 2nd annual Bonfire started off well, the kids were playing, guests were arriving, the sun was shining, it was a beautiful Saturday evening. All week long the weather forecast had predicted mild temperatures with a chance of a quick, spot thunderstorm at night. I was all for a quick storm to cool things off and keep the fire under control (which always ends up bigger than it should be). Anyway about 7 it started getting pretty dark and we could tell the storm was coming, they quickly lit the fire which was easily 30 ft tall and blowing in the now gusty prestorm winds (it was a little scary, but I'm paranoid of fire--thanks Missy!). Anyway, I put Bill in charge of grilling the burgers and dogs. We have a pretty small grill and were expecting about 40 people, so he had not yet finished by the time the storm came. Poor Bill was out grilling with an umbrella in a torrential downpour for half the evening-- THANKS BILL! Oh and that quick, spot storm lasted all evening and dumped about 4 inches of rain on all of us. Everyone still had a good time and at least now we know the party can still go on, even in the rain. Thanks to everyone who braved the storm and joined the fun. It was great to see everybody, hopefully next year we will have better weather!

It's Party Time!

As most of you know the 2nd annual Lenk Family Bonfire/Picnic is this Saturday. Since we didn't have a blog last year at this time, I thought I post a few pics from last summer's party. Everyone seemed to have a great time, the kids played, many rode the four wheeler (which Brian just fixed so it should be ready to go), others went frog gigging in the pond. Mainly we just ate, drank, and socialized. It's always great to get together with friends and family, especially the ones we don't get to see as often as we would like. Hope to see everyone Saturday night!

Memorial Day at the Lake

We spent our Memorial Day the same way we do every year--at the lake house! It was a great weekend, kinda hot, but nice! We left Saturday morning and stayed until Monday evening. Brenda and Ron went with us, which was great, especially since they have a big, new pontoon boat, which beats the old Bass Tracker any day. We rode around, went to the beach and everyone went tubing (except Alena), even Brenda & Ron took a turn. Alena did not like the water at all, so she just hung out on the boat most of the time. We BBQed, played games, and just enjoyed the time away.

My Favorite Quote

Our lives begin to end, the day we become silent about things that matter.

--Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I've had this quote posted on my desk for years, so I thought I might as well put it on the blog, since it is kinda the thing that keeps me going (politically at least). In these days of corruption, incompetence, and general dissatisfaction with government at every level and with both parties, it is easy for people to give up on the whole political system. However complacency just makes the situation worse, so if everyone followed Dr. King's advice and stood up for whatever it is that truly matters to you, we too could make the world a better place.

Happy Mother's Day

Hope everyone had a great mother's day-- mine was. My mom was out-of-town on Mother's Day, so we are planning on visiting her on Thursday. So on Sunday, we had Brenda and Ron over for lunch and to watch the baseball game. The boys each made me a card and Brady gave me a wonderful Mother's Day poem. Then Brian and all the kids got me a heart-shaped pink sapphire ring with two little diamonds on each side. I just love it! The rest of the evening we just lounged around and watched TV. Thank god for TiVo, because the Survivor Finale, Sopranos and Big Love were all on Sunday night. I'm so happy Survivor is over, I enjoyed the first few years, but now it's kinda old. Brian won't let me quit watching it though, since he has seen every season he doesn't want to break his viewing streak. I'm glad all the reality show are winding down now, I will have so much more free time!

Seven Long Years!

Yesterday (5/1) was our 7th wedding anniversary! So on Sunday afternoon we went to the Cardinal baseball game. We sat in the Bank of America Club, which included unlimited soda and beer, as well as a two-hour buffet. I ate too much, Brian drank too much, but we both had a wonderful time, especially since the Cards won 9-2. I was the designated driver, but every time the guy behind jumped up to celebrate or "do the wave," he spilled beer all over me. He was extremely sorry and it was pretty funny, but I smelled way worse than Brian and I hadn't had anything to drink! Luckily, we didn't get pulled over on the way home or I have no doubt I would've been walking a straight line on the side of the road.
Then yesterday, Brian took the afternoon off and we went out to lunch and ran some errands. Nothing too exciting, but at least we got to spend some time together before I had to leave for school that evening.
Seven years is a long time anyway, but to me it seems like so much longer since we have actually been together for 11 years. Its definitely been crazy, but I wouldn't want it any other way. I love you, Honey!

Easter 2006

On Easter, we went to my mom's for brunch, which was absolutely delicious! We hung out there all afternoon and watched the baseball game (Pujols hit 3 homeruns, GO CARDINALS), and the children got to play with all their cousins on Bill's side of the family. Alena played with Job (Andrea's youngest, who's 18 months old) and the boys played with Logan (Andrea's oldest) and Hunter (Denny's son).
After mom's we headed to Brenda's for Easter dinner, which was also good. The children hunted eggs, over and over again. We tried to get Alena to hunt eggs, but all she really wanted to do was chew on them.
The Easter Bunny was good to all of them, as were all the grandparents, so if anyone has a craving for Easter candy, come to our house! Hope everyone had as good of a holiday as we did!

Love you all and Happy Easter!

Spring Fling!

On Friday, the children and I went up to the high school for the annual spring fling fundraiser. It has an egg hunt, games, and of course the Easter bunny. Alena loves people, but 6ft tall bunnies are apparently another story. She didn't want anything to do with him, so I had to settle for a picture of her next to the bunny, oh well it was still cute! The boys got their faces painted, played in a bounce house, had a potato sack race and much, much more. It was a great day and all of us had a good time!

Busy Weekend

We had a really busy weekend last week. On Saturday, Brian, the boys, and I went to the open house of the new Busch Stadium. We got to check out the new stadium and find the brick we bought. It's very nice, much nicer than the old venue. The Cardinals were out-of-town playing the Cubs while we were there, so we got to watch part of the game on the jumbotron while sitting in the third row next to the dug out. We all had a great time!
Then Saturday night, Brian & I, Brenda (Brian's mom), her boyfriend Ron, Brian's Aunt and Uncle Sandy & Tom, and our friends Jeff and Kim all went to a trivia night. We didn't win, but we didn't come in last either, so I guess it was a good night. I think we got 65 out of 100 questions correct, which isn't too bad I suppose.
On Sunday, we bowled in a tournament with our friends Amy and Seth. We didn't win that either, but never really expected to, it was just for fun. Then we went and bowled on our league Sunday night. Unfortunately, we started the night in second with the potential of ending in first, but actually ended in third for the year. Oh well, we tried! Maybe we will do better next year.
I start my next class tonight (Mon. 4/10), this quarter I'm taking Group Communications and two Public Relations classes. My professor is really interesting, so it should be a good group of classes and hopefully a little easier than the classes I took last quarter which were World Literature, philosophy, and Classical Art.
Next weekend is Easter, so it will be another busy one. The boys are off school on Friday, so it will be a short week. Hope everyone has a good week, we will blog again soon!

Spring Break at the Lenk House

The boys finally went back to school today after having the longest spring break ever. They have been off school since March 22 and we all actually had a lot of fun, but I'm really glad they went back, the house is so much more quiet.
Their spring break festivities started with Alena's party, which consumed most of the first weekend. Monday at our house is pizza night, and last Monday we went to Saullo's and the boys got to watch their favorite show- Deal or No Deal while we ate. They love that show because they are obsessed with numbers, but I'm finding they have an increasing infatuation with all the women on the show as well-- they are growing up fast!
On Tuesday and Thursday they went to the YMCA while I went to work. They got to swim, play basketball, play video games, etc. They really enjoyed it, although between the cost of the Y and Alena's babysitter I basically worked for nothing those days, but at least I didn't have to take off work again, plus by then we all needed a break from each other anyway, so it worked out quite well. After the Y, they went to the pool hall with Brian on Tues. evening. Brian plays on a league there and they watched him and got to play video games all night. I met them there after court and we all went to Denny's (kids eat free on Tues.--it's great!)
Wednesday we just lounged around and watched movies, the best of which was probably Zathura, even it wasn't much to brag about, but apparently 8 year old boys like it. Alex had already read the book, so he knew what was going to happen, but he didn't spoil it for the rest of us. Thursday they went back to the YMCA and then hung out with Brian all evening while I bowled.
It was a nice day on Friday, windy but nice, so we went and picked up Wendy's and took it to the park for a picnic. The park was packed, so the boys got to play with some friends they saw there, Alena got to go down the slide, and then we all took a walk. Saturday was rather uneventful, but it was still nice so they played outside much of the day, while I did laundry and cleaned house. On Sunday, Brian, Jeff, and I split fire wood until the rain came, so the boys were in charge of watching Alena while they watched the Nascar race. Brian and the boys all love Nascar and their favorite driver is Tony Stewart, so everyone was extremely excited when Tony won the race. It was difficult to get the boys to go to bed last night since they got in the habit of staying up a little later during their break. It was even harder to get them up this morning, but now they back to school at least for the next two weeks and then they get the Friday before and Monday after Easter off as well. I don't remember getting this many days off when I was in school, but maybe we did.
Next year we may try to go to the Cardinals spring training during their break, but we will see how it goes. Speaking of, today is the Cardinals opening day,YIPPEE, we are all so excited that baseball is finally back.
GO CARDINALS!

Alena's B-Day Party!

Alena's first b-day party Saturday went well. It was kinda crazy, but everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, especially Alena. She got lots of wonderful things including a complete spring/summer wardrobe (which was great, because she didn't have any spring/summer clothes). All the outfits are absolutely adorable (stayed tuned to the blog to see pics of some of her new clothes as the weather gets warmer). I can't wait to play dress up, girls clothes are so much more fun! She also enjoyed her cake, although it was a little anticlimactic. It was white cake with white icing and although she was covered, it really didn't look that messy. Also, I forgot to give out pictures at the party so I will make sure everyone gets some. Anyway, thank you to everyone for making Alena's first birthday such a special day!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALENA!!

As most of you know, today (March 24), is Alena's first birthday. Her party is actually tomorrow, so today will be spent running around finishing up party preparations. I have to pick up her pictures and the cake, get new tires, go to the dry cleaners and pick up the dog from the groomers, just to name a few. The boys started spring break yesterday, so they have to go everywhere with me too, so this day is going to be nuts! When I get home I have to start making food, finish laundry, and clean the bathroom--lucky me! It will all be worth it when the party goes well tomorrow. I'm glad Alena doesn't know today is actually her b-day, because it is not going to be very fun one. Although she typically likes shopping (since she's such a people person) and we will probably go out to lunch, so it won't all be bad, just busy. The pictures are the day we brought her home from the hospital and then one I took just now-- big difference! HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY ALENA!!!

Alena's First Birthday Pictures

Alena got her first birthday pictures taken last Friday. She smiled okay this time, but it was very hard to get her to stay still and smile at the same time. Here are the four poses I purchased, although the one in the chair is cropped better now. I'm suppose to pick them up this Friday, so I will have them by the party this weekend.

What a Crazy Week!

Sorry, I haven't updated the blog in awhile, I was really sick all last week and then my big research paper was due this week, so things have been kinda hectic.

I'm feeling much better now, but all last week I was miserable! I was diagnosed with Erythema Multiforme Minor which is the mild form of Stevens-Johnson syndrome. Thankfully, I had the mild form, because the severe form is about 15% fatal. The mild form was bad enough, I couldn't eat, talk, or function for about five days straight. It was basically just a severe allergic reaction, but it took the doctors awhile to figure out what it actually was since it was so obscure. I'm still on about 20 pills a day, but I am definitely back to normal finally--YIPPEE!

Alena and I went shopping today and went out to lunch. She was such a good girl all day long. We bought a bunch of stuff for her 1st B-day party next week, and I got her a few presents even though she was with me (she promised she would act surprised!) I can't believe she is almost a year old! She gets her 1 year picture taken on Friday, hopefully she will cooperate. She's such a happy girl, but she is also a big wiggle worm which can make pictures rather difficult. We should have them back by the birthday party so everyone can see them!

We are keeping the Tooth Fairy busy!

Alex lost one of his front teeth last night and the other one is really loose, so before too long I think he may have a big hole in his mouth. They just started losing teeth last year, which is a little behind most of the other kids their age, but now that they've started, half the teeth in the mouths are lose. I'm afraid they are all going to start falling out at once, but so far that hasn't happened. Plus they are not like I was when I was younger, if I got a lose tooth I would sit there and mess with it constantly until it came out. They are completely opposite, they don't want to touch it nor do they want us anywhere near it. Their first few teeth they lost, it took them so long to get them out that the new tooth was nearly half way in. The one Alex lost last night wasn't already coming in that far so he has a pretty big hole this time, it's too cute!

Fun Birthday WebSite!

I received an email the other day with a link to a fun little website. You type your birthday into it and it tells you all kinds of fun little facts about how old you are. It also has links at the bottom that tells you about movies, tv and music. I'm sure the older you are the more fun it is, but it was fun anyway! Check it out!

http://www.frontiernet.net/~cdm/age1.html