Yes, We Take Our Cats On Walks!

And we're not ashamed of it either!

Eric carried Mystic, and attempted to hide her from passing cars.

And I wrapped Addy up in a blanket and stuffed her in my sling, bwahaha!

Day 361: No Tech Night!

We are getting our carpets professionally cleaned tomorrow, so we have moved ALL of the furniture out of the dining room, living room, and hallway.  This means that our kitchen has shelves and couches in it, and the office is completely packed with the rest of the stuff...including...dun dun DUN!!!!!!!...the TV!

This prompted our first official "Tech Free Night"!  We started by laying on the floor for awhile trying to figure out just what to do without TV.  We started off with one of our combo roller blading/bike walks - it was super hot out, so we spent more time laying on the floor cooling off after we got home.  Then we had dinner at Subway and tried the new Turkey Bacon Avocadooohhhh sandwich, yum!  Finally we went to bed early and read for over an hour.  I finished a book, and got 50 pages into my next book!

My first ride with my new wrist guards and my helmet.

Day 356: A Day at the Zoo

I have got family passes to the zoo, so Jack and I went for the first time of the summer today.  The pass allows up to 4 people, so I called to see if Alison and Zach wanted to join us.  Zach was going to spend the day with his dad, but Alison was happy to come along!  We had great timing today - showing up for the zookeeper chats, and seeing all of the animals very active!

Nikita is a 4 year old male who weighs in at over 900lbs!  He spends a lot of time in his pool!

This year the zoo has 2 baby girl sea lions, joining their adult male.

This boa reminds me of Harry Potter!

Llama, llama!

Alison was hogging the birds!

I had to hold Jack's right hand so he wouldn't pull away, and his left hand because he tried to grab the bird (pretty successfully, haha!)

This rhino had a well worn figure 8 path.

Jack and an alligator. 


We went on a walk tonight, and I brought Mystic in the baby sling, haha!  She actually liked it.

Day 307: Buffalo Wild Wings Date Night

We had some extra money left at the end of our food budget for April, so we decided to go out for dinner.  We were set on going somewhere on Mass St, and wanted to go to Jefferson's because we hadn't eaten there before.  However, Jefferson's is closed for remodeling or something right now!  Lame!  So then we went to Bob's BBQ, which was just about to close for the night!  Finally we ended up walking from the north end of Mass to the south end and finally settled into our Mass St. favorite, Buffalo Wild Wings!

Though, it wasn't a Tuesday or Thursday wing night, so we had to branch out and order off the rest of the menu!  We had a great server - the cooks forgot the sides on our wraps, so we ended up getting an extra (FREE) side of potato wedges, our favorite!  Wahoo!

Then we went home and I got started on my Easter preparations... Orange Jello Wedges!  I found them online a few weeks ago and thought it would be really cool to do.  It ended up taking a lot more work to scoop the oranges out of their peels, but worth it in the end!

Yea!  Buffalo Wild Wings date night!

Delicious teriyaki wraps, fries, potato wedges, chips and crazy hot salsa!

Scooping out orange peels!

 We ended up with a ton of orange pulp and two tall glasses of orange juice...and a slice of orange for my Blue Moon!

Jello oranges!

Day 296: Naps

Phew, I came straight home from work today for a nap.  Then when I woke up at 7:30pm, I found that Eric had done the same and I didn't even wake up when he got home.  It was a little scary when I first woke up because I felt well rested and the light was dim outside - so I didn't know whether it was night or morning!  My allergies have been crazy bad over the past few days, and a nap helped me ignore the itchy ears, nose, and throat for a few hours.  Eric was just exhausted from waking up early for a morning shift.

After we woke up, we went on a walk to the grocery store to pick up a few things for dinner and then came home and watched "Hot Tub Time Machine" on Netflix.  It was a pretty good movie, we both enjoyed it. 

It's nice living in a town where we can walk to get everything we want!

Day 218: Mexico, Day Two

Today is our first full day in Mexico!  We went to sleep around 9:00, so we set our alarm for 7am.  The alarm was incredibly quiet, and we didn't actually wake up until 7:40 - but we were still the first ones up!  Eric looked out toward the ocean and said "those clouds look like mountains" and I explained "those mountains ARE mountains!"  I expected to find some family at breakfast, but Eric and I ate alone for about 20 minutes before Mom and Alan joined us.  I went up to get some more food off of the buffet, and when I came back I found that a bird had stolen my donut! The dining area is sort of like a pavillion - roof with open sides.  

We eventually met up with my parents and Eric's parents on the beach and decided to walk to Bucerias, a nearby town that has a big flea market area.  It took us more than 2 hours to walk there - and in the process we found a baby turtle and a giant, dead, moray eel.  In Bucerias, we stopped at a hotel that was selling fresh smoothies.  I also exchanged some dollars for pesos - the exchange rate is about 110 pesos per 10 US dollars.  I bought some decorated marshmallows for my students, and we looked at the other wares - jewelry, vanilla, shirts, bags, and beaded art.  Then we walked back and it only took us about an hour and a half because we didn't stop as often to admire the fact that we're walking on the beach in Mexico, in January!

When we got back, Eric sat on a lounge chair and instantly got stung by a bee.  It remained swollen really huge for the rest of the day, but that was the extent of his allergic reaction.

We had lunch with the entire crowd and Eric coined the phrase of the vacation, talking about my Jello... "I tapped it, I flicked it, and it tumbled off the plate!"  Ally just about died giggling about this.  Then we took a dirt spray shower and a nap, because we had just spent over 5 hours in the sun on our first day.  It was tough to rouse from the nap, but we headed out to the beach and bought a dress that just screamed "Shannon!"  We met up with most of the family in the First Club and took Ally down to the snack bar because I didn't want to wait for dinner.  The food wasn't anywhere near as good as yesterday - the fries were terrible.  But I shared a cheeseburger with Eric and that held me over.

We also found that my towel had been stolen off of my chair during our nap - so I stole a towel that was laid across a bush after dark.  It costs $30 to replace lost towels, so this was my best option.  In the evening, we played Farkle with Paul & Deb, which brought on hilarity.  Eric stated that most shark attacks occur within 3 feet of water - and meant to say 3 feet deep water, but I couldn't stop laughing and said that probably 99% of all shark attacks occur within 3 feet of water!  At one point Eric rolled and said "I got 1000", to which I replied "that's 2 ones and a two...", and Eric said "reroll!"  It was a good day - and we went to bed right after 10pm.

 A lovely breakfast to start each day!

We nicknamed this bird Addy

A family picture!  Alan is standing on my head! 

Eric found a baby turtle and I got to hold it! 

 Paul and Deb taking a break on the driftwood.

Enjoying fresh smoothies after our long walk!

You can see the swelling on his left arm where the bee stung him.

Day 124: Small Adventures

My Thursday night class is usually online, but we meet at the Edwards Campus about once each month.  Tonight, Eric and I drove out to Overland Park for both of our classes.  Mine got out early, so I walked to JCCC to meet up with Eric.  It was only a mile walk, but it was nice.

When he got out of class we picked up some materials to make my Halloween costume, got our monthly cash from the ATM, and stopped by PetSmart to get some new food for our newly sick and pick cat, Mystic.  On our way home, police were blocking the highway for a rollover accident.  Luckily there were only minor injuries.  We got to take an interesting detour on roads that we hadn't driven before, and then we walked to the side of the highway in time to see the tow truck pull the SUV back onto it's (three) wheels.

I took a short little nap on Addy, she makes a great pillow!

Day 123: Four Months

Can you believe it?  We've been married for 4 months!  Tonight, after Eric got home from work, we grabbed the laptop and went on a walk - we brought the laptop with us so we could listen to a chapter of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!  It is almost here!

All pictures of us look the same, but at least they are good looking photos that look the same!