Architectural Artifacts

Last weekend we went to a wedding, the reception was at this place called Architectural Artifacts.  It's an old industrial building that is now being used as a huge Antique store.  The top 3 floors contain 'Artifacts' from old buildings from around the city.  The only way to explain is to show the pictures.  There were some very cool things there...

State Champs!

We snuck into town last weekend for a Soccer game, my cousin Bryan was playing in the State Finals for the sedond year in a row.  We missed the game last year but we weren't going to miss it again this year.  They won the game 7-0.

Derek & Addison Joined us, then came over after the game to play..

Happy Thanksgiving

Jess & I celebrated Thanksgiving with her family on Thursday. Jess made her corn casserole and I brought a very popular Tofurkey (maybe that's wishfull thinking).  Hope everyone had a great holiday!

Happy Halloween

Fall is officially here and I caught these fun pictures the other night right before sunset.

Jess' sister has an annual Halloween Party at her place that we attended last weekend.  Jess and Erin dressed as clowns, Kevin was Teen Wolf and I was Michael Sloan (Jess' Dad).

Do you see the resemblance?

Jess made these...

Unfortunately I was getting over a cold and I didn't quite get throught the entire nite...

More from Costa Rica

Here are a few more fun pictures from Costa Rica, There were monkey's everywhere....

Costa Rica Revisited

We never shared any pictures from Costa Rica. Unfortunately we lost a camera while we were there and lost a lot of the pictures from the first half of the trip. The trip was amazing and the country was beautiful. We spent about a week on the Westcoast near the water. We did a lot of outdoor excursions like White Water rafting, ziplining and kayaking. The weather was very nice and very predictable. The sun was up everyday at 5:30, around 3:30 the clouds rolled in and somedays it began to rain, and it was dark by 6:30. The resort was very nice and everyone was very friendly.

We left Manuel Antonio and went to Arenal where there is an active volcano. There we went repelling, hiking and swam in the hot springs. It was very warm but also very cloudy and foggy, they say it’s rare to see the cone of the volcano but we were fortunate enough to see it briefly. We got from place to place on very small planes, since Costa Rica is such a small country when you flew you could see quite a bit.  It was a great trip and we can't wait for our next adventure!

 

Always Running…

Last weekend was the Chicago Marathon, I’ve done it every year but 1 since I’ve been in Chicago (I didn’t do it the year I did Ironman). Sadly I didn’t sign up this year, but I did run a portion of the race with Jess’ cousin. He was shooting to break his best time and I was happy to keep him company for a while.

Jess & her sister were out watching and we had many friends & family doing the race. We made this sign with everyone’s face on it to help them along. It’s a little ridiculous but it’s always nice to see someone you know during a long race. They were giving away some cowbells and we took a few, Jess gave one to her 5 year old cousin, who was about to get on a plane to head back to Austin, I’m sure her parents appreciated that…

Welcome to the Dungeon...

This has been our home for the past 18 months. Our apartment is in Lincoln Park, about 4 miles north of downtown. We live in the Garden Apartment of a 3 story building. Living in the basement isn't all bad, it’s very mild in the summer, the washer and Dryer is right out the back door and the living room gets great light. Our landlord, Elisa lives on the 2nd floor, she is a very nice woman, who shares her tomatoes from her garden with us, she barely stands 4 foot tall and speaks in alternating words of English and Italian.

Our apartment is 1 bedroom with a small kitchen and Living room. The kitchen only had a couple small cabinets and a pantry, so we added to it with the best IKEA had to offer. It’s awfully tight at times but we’ve housed many guests who have had the good fortune of sleeping on our magic couch. That's my bike out front that I ride to work everyday and Jess added a few pumpkins to the windows last week. It’s not much and it’s definitely temporary but this is where Jess & I live for now (it would be a stretch to call it home).