Rahmbo - Brady

Hey everybody! Check out our mayor!

At the Chicago Triathlon on Saturday. He placed 9th in his age group, by the way.

I challenge any other city's mayor to try and out-awesome ours.

Photo and article here.

Tour De La Porte - Kelly

This weekend I made a quick trip home to run a 10K (which was a part of this year's Tour de LaPorte) and I am SO glad I decided to do it. I'm not going to lie- I've been running so little I was a little nervous about actually getting out and running a race but it went well. My official time was 1.04 (a 10.24 pace) which is pretty good for me- it was actually probably quite a bit faster than that because during mile 6 I stopped to talk to my parents for a minute and ended up overshooting the last turn and running an extra .2 miles or so.

The rest of the trip home was pretty rocking, too. My mom and I went to Redamak's for veggie burgers and cheese fries followed by ice cream at Oink's on Friday night. After the race I got to eat some delicious shrimp tacos at Mucho Mas (I seriously love that place).

I know I say it all the time but I absolutely love living so close to my parents. Getting to leave the city for quick trips like this weekend make my life SO much better. And I have to just say again how amazing and fun and supportive my parents are- whether it's cheering me on during a race, talking about future job opportunities or making my mom laugh with my dating antics.. they're the absolute best. :)

My Own Mystery Trip - Brady

This afternoon I'm getting whisked away on my OWN mystery trip! I'm sure it's obvious by now that I love them - planning them and have them planned for me. Either way. For my birthday last year I asked Kevin to take me somewhere interesting, and he came up with Madison, Wisconsin. We had such a great time that I asked him to plan another mystery trip this year.

Because I'm a knucklehead and accidentally looked at our credit card bill a couple of weeks ago, I do know that we're headed up somewhere in Wisconsin again. Kevin also told me to prep for a 4-5 hour drive and to pack two pairs of running/hiking clothes and a nice outfit for dinner Saturday night. But that's it!

I'll let you know where we go! Until then, here are some pictures from our fabulous trip last year:

Car packed!

Pretty city on the lakes.

Beer and cheese curds at The Old Fashioned - my favorite Madison restaurant.

Sunset during our picnic in Spring Green.

The outdoor play Kevin took me to see.

I have really been loving the midwest recently. You all know how I feel about Chicago, but I've also been into the more rural parts of this area. I've been to Michigan a bunch this summer, and Kevin and I have been way better about exploring Wisconsin and Minnesota the last couple of years. I think a lot of people from around here take the Great Lakes for granted. We live in a pretty sweet area of the country, if you ask me.

Loving my life - Kelly

Hey blog world! Sorry it's been awhile. :) Brady and Amy have done a great job updating what's been going on in our world but I thought I would just take a minute to write about how much I'm enjoying my life these days.

I wrapped institute up a few weeks ago and am smack dab in the middle of starting the school year with my teachers. This is year three for me in this job but there are a few differences this year. First of all, I have about half the amount of teachers I've had in the past and will actually be two of my colleagues manager this year. This is an exciting change for a few reasons- it's more money and responsibility (which is always great!) and it just means I get to push myself a little harder at work. Also different about this year is I've left the world of elementary and I'm supporting high school and middle school social studies.... which ROCKS. Seriously- I was at a coffee shop for three hours with two of my teachers last night and you had to pull me away. I love this content, my teachers love this content, and that makes all of us really really happy.

Another reason my life is so awesome these days is the fun stuff I've been doing with my family. Our Michigan trip was AWESOME (see Brady's post for all the details!) and Tuesday night the Jones/Rasp/Jackson clan headed to a Sox game together. The siblings all have an anniversary adventure for Amy and Roger coming up soon, too. I know I've said this before but it's pretty darn amazing living in the same neighborhood as your sisters and a short train ride away from your parents (and grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles, etc).

I could go on and on and on... I've found a yoga studio I love, I had a great weekend with a good friend who was here visiting last weekend, I love my friends that live in the city, I love my neighborhood and my little house, Lucy has been behaving herself recently... everything is just really, really good and I thought that was worth updating here. :)

Michigan! - All of us

Long story short, last year was Mom and Dad's 30th wedding anniversary. They'd been planning a trip to celebrate it, but it never worked out. Plus, my sisters and I kind of dropped the ball and didn't do anything really special.

So this year, for #31, we told them to name a weekend when they were free and we would plan a mystery trip. We successfully kept the secret from their anniversary (May 3) to the dates we chose (August 6-7).

The morning of the 6th, we gave Dad and Mom "puzzles" to put together that would reveal the location:


When they finished they saw a map of the west coast of Michigan with circles around Saugatuck (for exploring on Saturday), Holland (for dinner Saturday night), and South Haven (for Sunday brunch).

We packed everything up into two cars and made our way north. Once we arrived in Saugatuck, several of us need a bathroom break and, more importantly, a caffeine fix. We found a little coffee shop - Uncommon Grounds - that was totally cute but also totally packed. Once I tried a drink there (the "Café Miel" - a latte with cinnamon and honey), I understood why it was so popular. If I lived in Saugatuck, I'd be a regular for sure. We hung out in the courtyard for a bit despite some light rain.








We spent the day wandering around the streets and shops. I don't think anybody bought much of anything, but that town is so cute that it was still a really entertaining day. It rained on and off, so naturally we had to go drink beer at a (mostly) covered bar. The second photo here is of the bar from a distance. I'm posting it so you can see how misty it was that day.

After a great lunch at Butler's and some more Michigan beer, we wandered a bit more and then headed to our hotel.



Oh my goodness, people. This place was kid heaven. It looked like a castle. There was an awesome game room. A pool shaped like the state of Michigan. And, to take the cake, an indoor/outdoor hot tub. It was overrun with families, and I can completely understand why. BUT, those thoughtful, thoughtful individuals at the front desk didn't forget about those of us without kids. There was a strictly enforced "adults only" swim time from 10:30 - midnight every night. And we took full advantage.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. For dinner on Saturday we drove to Holland and hopped aboard a dinner cruise. This was the absolute best way to spend an evening in Michigan. It was so relaxed and friendly. The food and cocktails tasted great. There was a shockingly good blues band aboard. And the scenery was gorgeous. We took a series of family photos since we were all gussied up. Here's one of all of us, taken using the camera timer.

And here are some shots, courtesy of my favorite photographer - Kevin Rasp - from the boat.









Saturday night after dinner was awesome. Amy put together a "Name That Kid" game for my parents that was a big hit. And then...a little bit of hot tub, a little bit of swimming, partner stunts, cannonball competitions, more beer, fudge and cupcakes from Saugatuck...basically a perfect Saturday night. We didn't get moving until about 11 a.m. the next morning - that's how good of a time we had.

Sunday brought brunch at Clementine's, more wandering and shopping, and for some of us, Kilwin's ice cream and a walk down to the water in South Haven.

Awesome, awesome weekend. Can't wait to do it again.

Things I love about Roger -Amy

Ok. So I am probably the least sentimental/mushy person on the face of this planet. So this post is completely out of character, but I feel the need to give credit where credit is due. So, here goes.

Roger (my husband) has tons of great qualities that I love. However, (and not surprisingly) I can be a little hard on him sometimes about certain things. On nights like tonight, though, I am reminded of exactly what it is that I like the most about him.
Luckily, our everyday interests match up. I love that the two of us can sit and watch T.V. after work and make jokes about whatever is happening. We like the same types of food, we both enjoy a glass of wine or a beer, we have the same sense of humor, and we like to go out and have a good time. This is not what I love the most, though.

Tonight, we had a friend over and she brought her adorable little puppy. I was reminded of how sweet Roger was all night. Here are some examples:
-He moved a chair in our living room so it would be positioned at the precise angle it needed to be to allow for maximum window viewing for the puppy (without saying a word or even knowing that anyone noticed that he did this).
-He plays with puppies (and children, when they're around) for as long as they want (seriously, the commitment to the playing is insane).
-Whenever there is a child around, he is always 100% concerned with what they are doing and where they are. He will frequently stop what he is doing to ask where the kid is, what they are doing, and if they are safe.
-He does the same thing (that was written above) for animals.
-He is concerned for everyone. My friend was walking home from our place tonight around 11 pm and he insisted on walking with her for a little while to make sure everything was ok. There have been tons of news stories about things happening in her neighborhood, and even though he was probably ready for bed he wanted to make sure she got home. When Roger does something like this, it's because it's warranted, and because he's legitimately concerned for someone's safety.

All in all, Roger is a great guy. He makes sure everyone is taken care of, everyone has fun, and everything that we do is fun. I am a lucky lady, and I just thought I should give credit where it's due. Thanks, Rog!

Florida! -Amy

As promised, here is a post showcasing my fabulous trip to Florida earlier this summer.

Roger's family has a condo in Orlando that they go to every other year. Luckily, 2011 was an "on" year, so we got to spend a week sunning ourselves and swimming in the pool, thrill-seeking at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure, and stuffing our faces with yummy food and delicious drinks.

The condo was amazing, and we had to much fun with family. We had a TON of people there! The list included Roger and I, Roger's brother Ryan and his girlfriend Nikki, Roger's Mom, Mom's boyfriend, sister Kayte, Aunt Kay, Uncle Joe and Aunt Lyn, cousins Mikie, Lucas, and Kaylee, Grandma Kay, and the star of the show, our nephew Kayleb. It was a full house and a great time. We got tons of relaxing time in by the pool, and accomplished lots of overdue catching up.

We LOVED going to Universal and Islands of adventure. Roger has been a couple of times before, but this was my first time there. The rides were awesome and like nothing I had ever experienced before. We loved the twisty-turny roller coasters like the "Rip, Ride, Rockit" where we got to pick our own song to listen to while we looped-the-loop and "The Hulk" which is self explanatory. Most of all, we loved the movie themed rides that were less twisty-turny and more graphics and effects.

The highlight of my amusement park experience was Harry Potter World! We got to go on the "Hogworts: Forbidden Journey" (which was UNREAL... seriously no words...), "The Flight of the Hippogriff," and "The Harry Potter Dragon Challenge." All amazing. We also had lunch at "The Three Broomsticks" where we tried butterbeer, and browsed at "Honeydukes", the candy shop. Awesomeness.

Enjoy some pictures of our adventure and relaxation filled vacation. It was great!