October Visit to OP!

Well, it's Sunday and I'm back in Texas sitting on the couch with Mike.  We both got back yesterday, went through wedding responses, ate pizza, and went to bed! Most of you have probably already heard all about it, but Mike was successful at SF selection and will be spending the next couple years learning Russian and training for SF.  After that we move to Ft. Carson, Colorado! This post is supposed to be about my visit to Orland Park while Mike was away, so I 'll quit talking about him!

First order of business when I got home was to hang out with my favorite 4-legged creatures:

Rosie is getting so big and she hasn't lost any of her energy, but she is getting slightly better-trained.  I spent a lot of time over the 10 days I was home trying to teach her to "drop" whatever toy she had so we could throw it.  She loves fetch but just has a hard time giving up the ball!  Jesse continues to be terrorized by the dog but apparently he doesn't mind because he could get away from her if he wanted. It will be sad when January comes and Mike and I take Jesse to Oklahoma with us. I think the two animals will definitely miss each other.

I got in to town on Tuesday, October 11th.  The next day I made plans to see some friends: Erin, Jacq, and Meg.  We met at Granite City for some food and drinks and then headed to our alma mater, Sandburg High School to watch the faculty basketball games being played between the 3 schools in the district.  It's always very strange to go back to your high school as an adult and see all the changes that have taken place since you've been gone.  It kind of feels like nothing SHOULD change but what can you do.  After the games we headed to McDivots for a few beers which was nice.  Our old basketball coach, Coach Bochnak, even bought us a beer! Here is a pic taken at dinner:

Thursday night I made a trip to good old Barracos with my parents to have some wine and pizza. Friday I went to visit some friends at Shepard H.S. where I used to work, it was great catching up with everyone.  That night I hung out around home in preparation for a trip to Champaign the next day for the Illinois-Ohio St. football game!

The game did not go very well but we had fun tailgating:

My Dad and I went into the game for 3 quarters with the Shannons.  Staying 3 quarters was a pretty big deal for us, we are normally out of there by half time.  The stadium looked pretty cool with orange and blue stripes:

Later that night I headed to Illini Inn with Melissa, Zack, and Melissa's aunt and uncle.  While there we played a pretty intense game of chandelier (sort of like quarters).  Then Erin Casey stopped by with some friends which was very exciting since I hadn't seen her since August.

We ended the night at Joe's outside in the beer garden where it was surprisingly not too crowded! My dad and I went 2-0 in bean bags!

I won't go into too much detail about the rest of my week in town.  Basically I hung out at home with the animals and my parents.  On Tuesday I went to meet Maureen and Pete Casey to catch up over lunch. Tuesday night I met Melissa and Erin Jelinek for dinner at Rockwelz.   Got some yummy El Cortez with the parents on Wednesday night.  Thursday was my birthday which was a great day.  I started it out with a shellac manicure.  I finally got a call from Mike during which he let me know the exciting news that he made Special Forces!  That afternoon I had my final dress fitting which I went to with my fabulous Matron of Honor Margaret (I don't think I'll post any pics from this...)  and later that night we went out for a birthday dinner at Rocco's with the whole fam.  I even got a piece of tiramisu at the end of it:

After my birthday I was excited to get back to Texas and finally see Mike again.  I'm so proud of his accomplishment! I'm also excited to be moving to Colorado...even if it is 2 years a way and I have to go to Oklahoma first!!

Thanks to my friends and family for making my visit back home a great and relaxing time! You all made it much easier to be away from Mike!