Nick ‘n’ Heather

So we got in ok as you’ve read. We had a good time in Chicago and are back in Minneapolis now.  After the landing and supper Wednesday we didn’t do a whole heck of a lot.

Thursday Heather hung out with her dad and step-mom while I got locked in a room with a bunch of the other geeks for the whole day to discuss upcoming technologies and the future of Magenic.  It was pretty interesting to hear what’s coming in the future of technology but I won’t bore you with a lot of the details.  Thursday night the company went all out to eat at a place called Zed 451 which was pretty good if a little bit fancy for my tastes.  It’s basically a neverending meat buffet where they bring cut after cut of steak, pork, lamb, ribs and you just keep eating trying to keep up.

Friday was the conference and again Heather headed off on her own while I hung out at the Microsoft building, a lot of schmoozing and presentations going on until it finally all wrapped up around 6:30.  I got back and relaxed for a few minutes until Heather’s dad and Sue picked us up for some supper.  We ate at a seafood place that was really good and even got some dessert.  After that, Heather and I relaxed in the hot tub for a little bit which was a lot of fun.

Saturday was all free.  We slept in, which was wonderful and then walked across the street to a cool outdoor mall by our hotel.  We walked around there for a while until Heather’s dad and Sue picked us up again and we headed into downtown Chicago.  We drove around a bit looking at the sites and that was pretty neat.

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After seeing the sites we headed to Lake Michigan where Heather was immediately impressed by the soft sand.  She took her shoes off and was running through it until I made her put them back on because of all the broken glass.  There was just tons of it lying around.  We walked quite aways along the beach and you can see the skyline from there.  It was pretty neat.

After the lake we headed downtown again to get some food but the place we wanted to go was closed.  We wandered around for a while and decided to go to the Sears Tower.  We were at the top for quite a while and even got to see the sun set on the longest day of the year from the top of the Sears tower, pretty cool.  (It was also my mom’s birthday.  Happy Birthday again!)  After that we made our way back down and went to some fountain Heather wanted to see.  It was a gaint fountain/light show followed by fireworks as a great way to close out the day.

We flew back in early, early Sunday morning and slept for quite a while before making our way to the beach and just unwinding.  It’s been back to the grind since.

This weekend my parents and aunt Heidi might be coming down, and it’s also Brouse and Marisa’s going away party so it should be a lot of fun.

You’ll have to click around in this album to get a view of all our photos from the trip, there’s quite a bit!

You are now witnessing the long-awaited and triumphed return of Heather the Great back to the blogging arena. It has been busy and slow all at the same time around here. So, let’s re-cap in a nice, easy to follow format.

Wedding
On the wedding front, the two dashing suburban warriors have picked out a date. Mark your calendars for August 1st, 2009. This will be a day for the record books. The ceremony will be held at Trinity Lutheran Church in Moorhead and the reception will follow directly after at the Holiday Inn in Fargo. Nick is excited for the cake and pirate ship. In other news, my mom and I went out wedding dress shopping last Friday. It was our first trip out and we were only going for ideas but I ended up trying on a bunch of dresses and Marisa came and helped with the commenting. Well, I found my dress! Kind of funny how it happens the first trip out. We found it at a small dress shop in St. Paul. My dress was right off the rack so I got a deal. They store it for me and I will need to go in for alterations closer to the actual wedding date. Check that whole dress finding and buying off the list!

The Great Job Search
This has been slow going but recently I have stumbled across some good fortune and will hopefully have good news to post about this task!

Nicks’ Fam
We recently visited Nicks’ family over Labor Day weekend and then again two weeks later after a grad party in Moorhead. Nick got off work early for the long vacation weekend and we made our way straight to Ada to watch Aaron’s last baseball game of the season. The game was over quickly, and not to the liking of Aaron so we got back to Moorhead at a decent time. Sunday morning we headed out to the VFW campground to spend the day with the Olson clan and help build a new deck for their new camper. I really like the new camper and there is a lot of room! The deck building went well and it looks really nice. We ate some good food, made some s’mores and spent our first night in the camper. We also gave Aaron his birthday present so hopefully he liked it. Labor Day brought rainy weather so we decided to hit the road early and beat traffic back to the cities. Two weeks later we came for the day and then left later that evening after having another good meal.

Heathers’ Fam
We saw my parents Labor Day weekend Friday night and Saturday. Must not have been all that exciting because I cannot remember that much other than Texas Roadhouse Saturday evening. My mom has been hounding me about getter her and Curt a Wii for awhile now and we were finally able to secure her one and also buy Wii Fit. The weekend of June 7th, Aaron’s graduation party, we came home bearing Nintendo gifts. Fun was had by all watching my mom and Curt trying to hoola-hoop and do the rest of the activities. I have it on good regards that later, Curt got so excited doing the ski jump that he actually jumped off the board instead of standing up. Nice. My parents also made a trip up here this last weekend. They came early because Curt had to work in St. Paul on Friday so they pulled in late Thursday night. The stayed at the N&H bed and breakfast and subsequently went out and got us a coffee maker after complaining that there was not adequate refreshment in the morning. Saturday we all got dolled up and made our way to Apple Valley for Addison’s first birthday party. That will be covered in its own little section so we will skip over it for now. On Sunday we all met at Champs in Burnsville for a Fathers Day brunch. The buffet was really good and afterwards we headed over to Bryan’s to hang out before it was time to leave. Addison came along and was a little fussy because she had not slept well the night before, must have been all the sugar we ate from her cupcake. We left around 2:30 and headed back the GV but first we stopped to get a new taillight for my car. My mom also got us a new bed sheet thingy and some nice towels. It was nice to have them around.

Addison’s Birthday
Addison made the trip from North Carolina this last weekend to celebrate her first birthday with the family in Apple Valley. She was absolutely adorable and got some good gifts too. Nick and I got her a wooden puzzle that has her name in it. I hope she likes it. Addison got a cupcake for her birthday treat and it was a lot of fun to watch her eat it. She did not use her hands but instead just stuck her face in the frosting. She also has this cute habit of laughing when people around her laugh so she was pretty smiley and fun. We have pictures so I will have to get them up here soon. That afternoon we also went to Marisa’s brothers graduation party in Cottage Grove. It was fun to congratulate him on his new accomplishment and hear about his plans for this fall. Nick also got to see his buddy Brouse and shoot the bull with him. Marisa, was a bit tipsy and therefore quite entertaining! After we left we made our way back to the birthday party. I got to hold Addison again and put her to sleep. We then headed down to the bonfire for a little bit before braving the weather back home.

Chicago
Tomorrow Nick and I leave for Chicago on Nicks very first business trip. I will leave the details of that up to Nick. I am going along because my dad and Sue live in Chicago so it will be nice to visit them. While Nick is doing business things, I will be out with the ‘rents exploring and having fun. I believe we are going to bike along the lake, go to the top of the Sears Tower, see the Shedd aquarium, Navy Pier, Cirque Shanghai (it is like Cirque du Soleil), see the zoo and Buckingham Fountain. I am sure we will do other things and I will have to blog on the whole experience when we get home on Sunday.

Well, I think I about covered everything. In other, unrelated news, Nick is DYING to see the Star Wars exhibit at the Science Museum so we will be going next week I am sure. He can tell you more about that…