Six Years

On Friday, November 2nd we packed the car up and headed to a very special place...Galena, IL.  Six years ago that very day it was the eve of our wedding!  We were married at Eagle Ridge in Galena in 2006!  It was an amazing weekend, one that I often go back to in my mind and wish we could replay it! 

Our friends, Brandon & Monica Hahn, who were married in the Galena area 5 years ago on November 10th, are our companion couple on these anniversary trips we take!  Little did we know that this trip back to Galena would be one for the memory books! 

Eagle Ridge Resort

 

There is always a fair amount of planning that goes into our anniversary weekend!  Whether we come back to Galena or when we went to the Dells and Kansas City we want to be sure we have a good amount of fun packed in, stuff that we can look forward to during the weeks leading up to our departure, including our accomodations.  As silly as this may sound, we have had a few doozies when it comes to condos when we have stayed at Eagle Ridge, so I credit Monica for getting online and handpicking our condo this year.  It looked pretty nice from the pictures online, but it was very nice when we actually got there!  We all agreed that we had to "kiss a few toads" before we landed on this and said we would actually request the same unit when we return. 

 



The (first) Hahn-Eddins Condo - H117!

Friday evening found us eating dinner at a sushi restaurant called Little Tokyo, it was good food!  The ambiance wasn't quite what any of us were expecting as it was kind of a hole in the wall, but we were willing to roll with it!  After dinner we headed out for a night on the town, we quickly learned that Friday night isn't a very busy night in Galena.  It was dead.  That was okay, we still had a few spots to choose from, including the brewery which had live music, so we made the evening fun!

Saturday morning found Monica and I headed to the Stonedrift Spa up at the main resort building for massages!  This is a treat I don't often allow myself, so I was a bit disappointed when my masseuse talked through the entire massage!  However, I still spent some time running through the events of our wedding day in my head, that very day, at that same time, I was sitting in the kitchen of the house we rented with my dearest girlfriends and Mom getting bridal ready!  After our treatments we got cleaned up and accompanied the guys to Gobbie's pizza, this is a pizza place that Mike and Brandon frequent each year we are in Galena to watch the Hawks play, so why mess with the tradition?!  After a delicious lunch the girls left the guys bellied up at the bar to walk the downtown area and do some shopping. 

After a few hours of shopping and several delays in the Hawkeye game we decided to head back to the condo to relax and watch the game.  As we were all relaxing on the large couch in the living room we hear a beep.  Not just any beep...the beep of a smoke detector that is on the verge of having dead batteries.  So, as you know, every 90 seconds this loud beep continues to alert you that the batteries are dying.  Mike goes on a search to find that the beeping is coming from the smoke detector in our room.  So, naturally I picked up the phone and called the maintenance line to request someone to come and switch out our batteries, there was NO way we were going to be able to sleep through the loud beeping (this was 3:30 pm) - you will want to remember this!

We had early dinner reservations at Fried Green Tomatoes because we had signed up for a Haunted Pub Crawl at 8:00 PM!!!  We were all excited about the pub crawl, but a bit curious about what to expect?!  We walked into Amelia's a little before 8:00 and were greeted by a married couple, Amelia and Andy, Amelia was dressed in all black with a tulle cloak, this looked like it was going to be fun!  Her business has only been open since July and she has had sold out tours almost every weekend.

We walked around downtown Galena, stopping every so often to look at a building, Ameila and Andy telling us the history of the building and the hauntings in between our pub stops!  On the tour we stopped at Vinny Vanucchi's, One Eleven Main and the Desoto House.  Each of the pubs had stories about ghosts, some even had video footage, but One Eleven Main was actually on an episode of Chicago Ghost Hunters...where it can be heard on the tapes from the night they were there, a voice, telling them to "GO AWAY!!!" 

 

Whether you believe in ghosts or not, it was a very fun night!  We had a fun group of people who were on the tour with us and we had a great tour guide!  We had so much fun with Amelia and Andy that we ended up going out with them the rest of the evening and shutting down the local bar, Embe.

So, it is 2:30 AM, we are back at our condo, thinking it was about time to get ready for bed and...BEEP!  There was that damn smoke alarm!  No one had come to change out the batteries!!!  So, Mike decided that it was way too late to make any calls at this point, he was going to just take the battery out and we would deal with it when we got up and checked out in the morning.  Harmless, right?! 

He pulled the battery out of the smoke detector and another set of beeps went of, the alarm system!  At the same time he pulled the battery out, I was calling the front desk to see if someone could bring us a new battery and they already knew we had taken the battery out as it was alerting them and also the fire department!  A very long story short, but because they didn't come and replace the battery during the day, they sent over a little old man to try and fix it, but they didn't have the right battery.  At this point it is 3 AM and the front desk calls us only to tell us that we aren't able to stay in our room another night, they need to move us.  YES, move us at 3 AM!  You can about imagine how well that went over?!  Like a lead balloon!  We had to pack up all of our stuff and move!  In the middle of the night, we had no idea what the heck our condo even looked like, in the morning we were able to get a better look.  Needless to say, Eagle Ridge made it right and didn't charge us for our second night, which we were thankful for, moving at 3 AM after a night out isn't really a good deal for anyone involved!  Maybe we shouldn't have spoken too soon about liking the condo so much, the place they sent us to was another doozy!  Despite the snafu on the condo, it was a fantastic trip, and even that is part of what made it so memorable, it is definitely one of the things we will look back on and laugh someday!

The (second) Hahn-Eddins condo - W106

Here is a quick look back at The Smith-Eddins wedding weekend! 

Rehearsal on the Pointe Patio - 11.02.06

 

 

Rehearsal Dinner @ Spikes on the Eagle Ridge golf course

 

Our wedding party - surrounded by family & friends!  11.03.06

Reception in the Eagle Ridge ballroom

 

There are many moments where I can't believe that Mike and I have already been married for six years, yet I feel like we have been together forever.  I guess when you are married to your soul mate, it is like you knew each other long before you were even together!  I am an unbelievably lucky woman to have such a good husband by my side as we go through this crazy thing called life!  Six years ago I could have never predicted how blessed we are today. I love you, I love us!

 

 

 *Happy Anniversary to the Hahn's!  You are an amazing couple, we wish you a lifetime of love and happiness!
And more anniversary wishes for Jason and Jen who shared their special day with us 6 years ago, they celebrated 12 years of marriage this year!  We love you both very much and respect you so much as a couple!  We love you all!*

Halloween!

This Halloween was one in which I thought I would still have some control over what Lila's costume would be, boy was I wrong!!  I originally had her convinced that she would be Audrey Hepburn circa Breakfast at Tiffany's, it was the most darling costume with a big tulle skirt, pearls, a little tiara, and don't forget the oversized black sunglasses!  I was getting ready to order the costume on Etsy and Lila was in the living room with me and I said, "okay, Mom is going to order your costume!"  That statement was met with a pouty lip and what could have turned into tears.  I of course asked her what was wrong and she said, "Mom, I want to be Belle for Halloween."  I was officially disappointed!  I am not sure what disappointed me more, the fact that she didn't want to wear this darling costume or the fact that she had an opinion and she is growing up?!  After she claimed she wanted to be Belle, she then said, "I will be Audrey Hepburn next year!"  Once that statement came out of her mouth, I almost felt guilty...she had no idea who Audrey Hepburn is, I needed to concede!  So, the quest for a new costume began.  We spent some time looking into Belle costumes, but we weren't finding much of anything, she then changed it up on me again and asked to be a ballerina.  DONE!  It couldn't get much easier than that!

 

So, that is just what we had!  A beautiful ballerina who couldn't have been happier in her costume!  In fact, she loved it so much she wore it for basically a week straight!  Thank goodness we had so many opportunities to show off our costume!  Our festivities started the Friday before Halloween at TrueNorth.  We picked up Celia after school and took her with us to trick or treat in the building and experience each of the areas and their themes.  There was a Wizard of Oz theme, Vintage Halloween, Candyland, Super hero, it was quite the party!

 

 

At the entrance of the Emerald City!

 

Kindermusik is Monday nights, so the class was encouraged to wear their costumes that evening to class!  All of the kids looked so cute!  What is normally a rowdy group was a bit shy with all their costumes on, it was kind of cute!



 

 

Tuesday had us packing her costume up to go to preschool with her!  She couldn't wait to show her teachers and classmates her dance moves!  And finally, it was the BIG day!  She had been so patient waiting for Halloween to roll around.  She kept telling her Daddy that he was the one going with her because he would hold her hand and accompany her as she goes to each door, of course Mike eats that up!

 

We got our little ballerina all ready and after a few pictures on the porch it was time to head out.  I was planning on staying back to hand out candy, but Mike and Lila convinced me to put the candy out on the porch, honor system style, and tag along.  So, off we went!

 



 

 

 

We made a quick stop at the Pfeiler house to trick-or-treat, but to also get a quick peek of Sloan in her darling outfit and get a picture of the two girls together!

 

Tu-tu Cute!

We were about 10 houses into our trick or treating when our neighbor told us that the power was completely out on our street.  What?!  Yes, out!  Which meant we were locked out of our house!!!  When we left the doors were all locked and we put the garage door down, we weren't getting in!  So, we spent some time hanging out on the front porch handing out candy to the kids who were willing to wander down the dark street! 

We're not afraid of the dark!

 

Our little girl was starting to get cold, so back to the Pfeiler's we went!  They welcomed us in so we could get warmed up, but it wasn't long before the kids were ready to go door to door again!  Quel had Sloan all bundled up in a wagon and Lila was thrilled she was willing to share her wheels! 

 



 

Racquel's cousins, Lexi & Tori, were along, too.  They are both such sweet girls and do so well with the little ones!  We all stopped by the Eddins house (the power was back on) to snap a picture on the front porch of all the girls together!

 

 

Even though our night didn't go quite as planned, we had a great time spending it with good friends!  Sometimes the impromptu get togethers are the ones that bring along the best memories!



The Fresh Beats

For those of you that have kids, most of you know who the Fresh Beat Band is!  Miss Lila is a huge fan! So, this Friday found us heading to Davenport to see the band live!  We have two other fans in the family, Celia and Ruby, so Jason, Jen and the girls came along, as well!

The Fresh Beat Band

We got to Davenport early so we could enjoy dinner at Woodfire Grill and then head to the show!  The girls were SO excited and decked out in their best "rockstar" gear! 

Two girls anxious to get to the show!

After we finished eating we walked a few blocks to the Adler Theater!  We were met with a lot of other kids just like our girls who were so excited to see the show!  As you can imagine, there were plenty of opportunities to buy Fresh Beat merchandise!  Uncle Jason & Aunt Jen treated all the girls to a few souveniers!  Lila chose a headband, just like her favorite Fresh Beat, Kiki, a bracelet, and a flashing necklace!  Woah!  Lot's of fun stuff!  PS - she hasn't taken the headband off other than to go to bed since she got it!

Decked out in all her Fresh Beat gear!

Waiting so patiently!

A girl band in the making?!

For those of you who don't know who the Fresh Beat Band is, as a parent, they really aren't that bad.  They have fun, upbeat songs that aren't done in cartoon style voices, they are literally just a rock band for kids.  I have to admit, I have found myself bobbing my head more than once to one of their songs in the car while Lila is rocking out!

It was time for the band to take stage and the kids went wild!  It was so cute!  Lots of screaming and cheering and once the band started there wasn't a little kid that wasn't dancing!  There were even kids out in the aisles dancing together since for some there wasn't quite enough room in the rows!

"Here We Go!"

They played for a little over an hour before leaving the stage and allowing the kids to cheer for an encore!  They came back out and played another two songs and ended the show by kicking huge beach balls into the audience and popping confetti into the crowd, a perfect ending to the show!

Three very happy little girls!

The concert was a success!  The girls had so much fun!  Saturday morning Lila woke up and requested that she wear the exact same outfit that she wore to the concert, so we obliged and let her!  I sent Jen a message telling her that the night must have been a success since she wanted to wear the same clothes!  Jen replied back, "Ruby said it was the best night of her life!"  Too darn cute!!!!  It is always so fun to get them together and it is great that they are relatively close in age so they can experience these fun things together while they are young!  I can't wait to see what adventure is next for these three!

Racing Experience

Talk about an experience in the making!!!  In December of 2011, a Groupon came out that had the Rusty Wallace Racing Experience as a deal.  Amber, Monica and I then promptly snagged up some race time for the guys.  We had all gotten our Christmas shopping done, so we decided to save it for Father's Day (remember this post?!) in June.  And finally, the day was here to actually cash in on the gift and go racing!

 

We left the Eddins household a little after 9:00.  Our first stop was Riley's Cafe for a little breakfast!  After breakfast we were on the road to Newton, where the Iowa Speedway is located.  It was fun to see the guys get anxious as we approached the check-in and tunnel that lead us right down to the infield.



Smiling with anticipation!



Our first stop was check-in and then it was time to pick a driving suit and a helmet.  The group was split up between drivers and riders.  Mike was a driver today, so he had to stay back and do a 'driver's meeting' so he could learn all there is to know about driving a race car.  

 



The racers!

 

While Mike went to his driver meeting the rest of us found our way to the track to watch Brandon and Brad do their ride-a-long.  First of all, it was cold, much colder than I think any of us even realized, and secondly, this was a tad bit unorganized.  The guys had specific instructions on when they should report to the speedway to keep things moving along on time, it didn't seem to matter!  Brandon and Brad were slated to drive around 1:00 - 1:30, they went down to the designated area only to find out they were about 15 people behind and only had one or two cars doing a ride-a-long.  

 

Welcome to the Iowa Speedway!

Brandon and Brad waited so patiently, in the freezing cold, and by the time they finally got to do their rides, Mike was out of class and was ready for his ride-a-long that he was taking before he actually drove the race car. 

Waiting for his ride-a-long

Mike and Brandon ended up going on their ride-a-longs at the same time.  Mike is getting into the National Guard/Mt. Dew car, while Brandon was in the M&M car right ahead of him!

Hopping in!

Brandon is ready to race!

Replacing the tire on Mike's car - you can see him in the window!

Off they go for the ride of a lifetime!



Hitting top speeds!

After the ride-a-long it was time for Mike to get assigned to his own race car.  He walked over to the race coordinators and they assigned him to the 51 car.  For those of you that have seen Days of Thunder...Mike's car had Rowdy Burns painted above the driver side door!



Looking like an official driver!

While Mike was getting ready to drive, it was finally Brad's turn for his ride!  It was truly amazing how fast these professional drivers go on the track!  They weren't really showing any mercy for the riders, which is obviously what these people wanted...I think they were all surprised at how fast it really is when you are hitting the straight aways and heading into the turns!

Brad zooming towards the finish line!

They spent some time getting Mike and the other drivers all ready to go!  I was particularly interested in them making sure that his seat belt was on properly!

A big thumbs up!  Ready to go!



Waiting to get the signal..."gentlemen, start your engines!"

 

And he is off!

A big thanks to Amber for recording Mike taking off in his car!  I didn't even think to get video!  You can watch it below...

 

 

They all got out on the track and did two slower laps with the pace car and a red flag was out.  So, the drivers had to stop the car and kill the engines and sit patiently on the track.  It was kind of a bummer for some of the drivers as it seemed that some of the cars weren't quite up for racing.  After what seemed like forever...they were finally taking their 12 laps!

 

Doing laps with the pace car - getting comfortable

Red flag - stopped on the track



Finally getting to experience the real drive!

Picking up speed!

Bringing it in!

 

After so much planning it was so much fun to finally see the gift put to use!  When we went back to the registration area for the guys to change their clothes, us girls could hear them talking from the bathroom in the hallway!  They were all sharing their experiences and talking about how much fun they had!  It made us all smile to think we were able to give them such a fun experience!

 

We loaded up the car and headed to a local restaurant in Newton to warm up with a few drinks and some appetizers!  Then it was off to Kalona to have dinner at Tuscan Moon.  Several of us had heard that the restaurant was delicious, so we were anxious to give it a try! 

 



We weren't disappointed!  The atmosphere was nice and cozy, the food was delicious, and the live music made for a really nice touch!  We would recommend it, if you are up for a bit of a drive!

 

I know I have said it before, but we have a great group of friends!  It is always fun to make new memories together!  It was even better that for this particular event we were celebrating three awesome Dad's!  We are lucky girls!

 

 

BUT...I would say the guys are pretty darn lucky to have wives that love them so much, too!!!