Sunday, March 2, 2008

We're Off To See The Millers!






...the wonderful Millers of Bloomington-Normal!

Knowing Jordan was safely in the hands of Grandma and Papa Jack, we headed off to visit our friends Emily and Derek Miller. Emily was one of our roommates in college. Her and Derek just got married last July. First, we drove to pick up our friends, April and Tom, and from there we all drove together down to Emily and Derek's. It was a nice, short road trip but we still felt like we were far away from home.

We headed straight to Emily and Derek's house where we were greeted by their dog Millie...who's picture I didn't take! Wait, I do think I have one picture of Millie. We got a tour of their new house (they moved in in December). My favorite room was the book nook. It was so cute and cozy. There was an oversized armchair and ottoman and two windows. Perfect for snuggling up to read.

For lunch we had chili and a yummy cake for dessert. After that the girls wanted to find some boutiques downtown. We wandered a little through the shops and then made earrings at a bead store. The boys hung out at a bar while we designed earrings for ourselves. It sounds easy, but it does actually take some time to come up with just the right beads. Next, we ate dinner at an Irish bar called Maggie Miley's, on the Victorian side, if you were wondering. Who knew leek and potato soup could be so good?

After a quick stop to relieve Millie, we were off to watch the Bloomington Prairie Thunder hockey game. We took our picture with the mascot, Chip, who April seemed to take a liking to. We saw the world's most flexible man wiggle his way through a tennis racket. We got our weeble wobbles signed by random-hockey-player, Parsons, although Emily doesn't quite remember. We tried to throw our pucks into the sunroof of a car to win it...but we didn't make it. We tried to win the 50-50 raffle...and Tom really did!!! That was highlight of the night. He went home $119 richer!

Sounds like a busy day, but the night was still young. Back at Emily and Derek's we played Kemps, a card game. We played 3 games to 5 and each couple one one game. I really do think luck is a huge part of the game, but there is a strategic side as well. We had fun trying to signal our partners when we collected four of a kind.

Finally, it was time for bed, we all retired to our respective sleeping areas. For some reason I was up at 7:30. What to do when you are the only one awake at 7:30 in the morning? Read in the book nook, of course!

When everyone else woke up we made a killer breakfast of waffles, bacon, eggs, and toast. In honor of the book I am currently reading, Everything on a Waffle, by Polly Horvath, April and I piled our breakfast onto our waffles. It was very tasty.

Before we left, we played one more card game: Mow. I learned Mow in high school at camp. It is such a wild but fun game. Basically, you can't know the rules when you start. The Mow starts by saying, "Play goes to the left of the dealer. John, Paul, George, Ringo. The game is Mow, it's starting now." And then everyone has to play and figure out the rules as you go along. There are tons of variations to the game, but that is how I know to start it. We just played with basic rules but it was fun.

Then we were off. Back on the road we played "Name That Tune" with Chad's iPod. Overall, it was a great weekend. We took lots of pictures so I could post them on my blog. I chose the most blog-worthy pictures for this post, but I am going to hopefully figure out how to make a slideshow. I can't seem to figure it out...check back later!

1 comment:

JAMIE said...

Hi,
I was seaching different blogs for some ideas and came across yours. Sounds like a fun trip.
I just recently figured out how to make a slideshow myself.
Go on to photobucket.com and download your pics to it. It give you a few different backgrounds to pick from. For our five year old son I did a spiderman background and for my man and I, I did hearts.
Best of luck :)
Jamie