lunch date

I'm always a little sad when we go to Illinois and don't make it to downtown Chicago, which happens fairly often. This trip we made it for a morning. We went with Joanne and Riley to Chef's restaurant. We couldn't have picked a more perfect day. We took the train and then walked to the river.
Across the street from the Tribune building we saw this guy. He was good, he looked like a statue until he jumped at Joanne and almost gave her a heart attack.

Riley and the scary guy(as Molly called him).

We ate outside. Everything tasted great, but Molly and Gabe were a lot distracted by the water and the boats.

It was neat being in Chicago the day after the Hawks won. They're blurry but those are Hawks flags mixed in with the American ones on the bridge.

North Dakota

Drew and I took a trip this past weekend to Bismarck North Dakota for our friends' wedding. My mom and Ben came to Lincoln to watch Molly and Gabe. It was strange leaving the kids. This is only the second time I've ever been away from Molly and Gabe. The first time was a couple weeks ago when I tagged along with Drew on his job interviews. This trip with Drew was a lot more relaxing, we weren't nervous and it was nice having company. Drew and I carpooled with some friends. There were 7 of us that came from Nebraska. I was the only one not from the UNL math department. I don't feel out of place when I'm with our math friends anymore, but there were several times when I thought to myself really how did this turn into a math text book conversation?

Here are some pictures of the rehearsal dinner that took place on Tanner's parents farm. Despite it being really cold Friday night it was really pretty. If farms weren't so much work I think I'd want one.

Some of their cows...

When we pulled into town our hotel was across the street form this place. Drew was super excited about it. I thought it was some kind of laser tag place and was a little confused about Drew's excitement. It turns out Space Aliens is a BBQ place that Tanner raves about (Tanner is a selective eater, if he likes it Drew has to try it). We had lunch here before the wedding. It was an experience. The food was good, but the decor inside was the BEST. There was one more place that Drew wanted to eat at, but we ran out of time. It was a little sad because I don't really see us going to North Dakota again.
After a couple fun nights and really early mornings we made it home safely. We also learned that their aren't many gas stations along the highway in North Dakota.

Hmmm

It's probably a good idea to check the weather of where you're going before you leave on a trip. It's 95 in Lincoln, but it isn't 95 in Bismark. We (Drew, friends and I) froze last night at the farm. At least today is sunny. Pictures to follow.

drumroll please

Drew had 3 job interviews in Kentucky last week 6/2-6/4. Wednesday was Louisville Thursday was Lexington and Friday was Elizabethtown. The following Tuesday 6/8 Drew was offered 2 of the jobs. I'm really proud, I think 2 out of 3 is really good. He accepted the one in Louisville. I don't think it's set in yet. In 2 months we'll be moving. I know the next few months are going to be a whirlwind, but I'm excited we have a job and we know where we're going. Drew will be working at JCTC Jefferson Community and Technical College. I'm not sure what I think about Louisville yet (we didn't get to explore much), but Kentucky as a whole is beautiful.

Memorial Day

The kids got to go on their first canoe ride. We found the Holmes Lake safari clue.
And Gabe tried to go swimming in the very dirty water.

sweet

Today Drew called one of the colleges he's interviewing at to finalize his interview time. While he was talking with the lady she told him that the college would be reimbursing him up to ___ for his travel expenses. Score. I think our trip will be free or pretty close to it. I've been a little worried about how we would finance interviews if he gets more than these two. (If you didn't know the two interviews are both in Kentucky. They're both about an hour away from Louisville. One is east and one is south.) I've never really thought about Kentucky, but it might be a nice compromise for me and Drew. Drew wants seasons and I want to be done with harsh winters. I guess we'll see what happens.

tall dark and handsome

Our new table arrived last week and it's beautiful. This is what our new dining area looks like. (If you've never been to our apartment before our table used to be in front of the breakfast bar. Under the pictures was the kids play area with their little toy kitchen and table). I was a little hesitant taking all the toys out of the general living area. I feel like the kids bedroom is so far away. But after having the apartment like this for a week I don't think the toys will ever be in our living room again. I love having the "mess" in their room. I'm also realizing that it's out of sight out of mind. Molly and Gabe will bring out various toys throughout the day, but I think I could get rid of most of their toys and they'd never know... I also love having chairs at the breakfast bar, this has become our new coloring/crafting area. Molly and Gabe also like perching there when Drew or I are doing dishes.

Maybe someday we'll have a place big enough to have all 8 chairs around the table, but for now I'm liking this set up.

There is one draw back to having a tall table. Yesterday I pulled out my sewing machine to fix one of Molly's skirts. It's a little hard to sew when your feet can't touch the floor...