10 Year Ripon Reunion

I can't even believe that it has been 10 years since I graduated from Ripon College, seriously where does the time go? It seems like just yesterday that I was walking around campus with my girlfriends, or hanging out at the frat houses. Scary. But it is true, I graduated in 1999, so that does mean that this summer is my 10 year reunion, so the last weekend of June I headed up to good ol Wisconsin for alumni weekend. A lot of changes have been made to campus, all for the better of course, but it's not how I remember Ripon being so to me it was somewhat of a shock. The turn out for our class was, once again, poor, but at least we had a good turn out for our core group, although a lot didn't make it and were missed.
Here we are partying in the dorms before heading out to the bar--just like old times.

Me and Ami

Erin and Ryan

Amanda and I were fortunately preggers together, so we indulged in O'Douls throughout the night, while everyone else kicked back with the real stuff.

All in all, it was nice to get together with my girlfriends but I am not seeing myself in attendance for my 15yr reunion. So much has changed with the campus and barely anyone from our class even shows up to the reunion, so I am thinking that just an organized vacay with our core group of friends would be far more enjoyable, but we'll see.

Playdate with Morgan and Allison

About two weeks ago Josh and I headed to my girlfriend Trisha's house for a playdate with her daughter Morgan and this was also a very special occasion bc this was the first time that I was to meet her newest addition to the family, baby Allison. Well, we had a great time. Josh loved chasing around the house with Morgan and he fell in love with her chair and now I am going to have to suck it up and buy him the same one from good ol Pottery Barn. Anyhoo, a fun time was had by all, but I did forget one important thing...I did not take even one picture of new baby Allison (I am a bad Auntie). I am making a promise now that next time we get together Trisha I will photograph baby Alli.

Just my boys hamming around

Memorial Day Weekend in Colorado

This past Memorial Day weekend we took a family trip to Denver. As many of you know, I have a couple of girlfriends from college that live in the Denver area, so I have been many times, but Jeff had never been and that was something that he wanted to change (being the mountain climber that he is, how could he never go to CO?) So we made the trek out West and Josh did great on the flight. I came prepared with the portable DVD player and only needed it for take off bc Josh fell asleep right after both on the flight there and back. We stayed in a super nice Marriott (thanks to Jeff's Marriott Reward Points) in a very posh suburb of Denver. Our first day in CO we checked into our hotel then headed south to Colorado Springs--Garden of the Gods. At the Garden of the Gods
Was very gloomy and we could hear these large booms of thunder, but no lightning in sight.

Jeff using his bouldering skills.

Jeff keeping tabs on Josh who since learning to walk LOVES to be let loose, but we

are hesitant to let him run wild. Using my new photography skills with the new and awesome camera!

Josh loves to play in dirt and rocks, a boy thing I guess.

It was near 3pm while at the Garden of the Gods that our trip took a turn for the worst. Jeff started to feel really ill, something that he was attributing to his lunch of sushi and an undercooked burger at a very nice well known restaurant (not naming names but it rhymes with hona kill). He proceeded to become violently ill on our very long drive back to our hotel, making pit stops along the way and continued to get sick throughout the evening and night and then still in the AM. This was when I insisted that we go to the ER to get him some antiemetics and hydration. 2 bags of saline and some phenergan later, Jeff was taking uninterrupted snoozes in the ER while I had to keep a 16mo entertained in a very small and boring hospital. Needless to say all the plans that we had made for the weekend went out the window and new plans had to be made. Jeff spent the rest of Saturday in bed at the hotel and Josh and I headed up to Fort Collins to my girlfriend Ami's house for dinner. On Sunday Jeff was feeling a little more up for things so we met up for a nice dinner with my girlfriend Ami, her husband Chad and their two kids Noah and Ava and also my girlfriend Julie and her husband Marc. The following picture is kind of crappy cause the hotel guy didn't know how to work my camera, but it is the only pic I have for the rest of the vacation so so be it.

Even with Jeff's trip to the ER the trip wasn't a total bust bc we made the most of it and managed to have some decent moments. Note to self: Never eat sushi (not that I ever do).