Dead Fridge

Our garage fridge bit the dust. It will be missed.

Mayan Riviera

Last year, we booked our third trip to the Valentin Imperial Maya. Then we waited for 261 long days. In years past, we went during the endless miserable spring. This time, we were waiting for KG to complete her courses at UNL. 

This is the view from the beachside restaurant where we dined each morning.

The N's from Woodstock joined us again.

The whole group. New this year are the G's daughter and her boyfriend.

KG celebrated her birthday while we were there. At lunch, our waiter, Gilberto, gave her a special birthday lunchtime treat - a round of tequila shots for the table and a special song.

Our other beachside waiter was Jorge. He made our meals fun every day.

Every day we went into the crystal clear water and swam with the fish.

Check out all our photos here: VIM Photo Album

Reunited

Nana came to watch the boys while we went to Mexico for a week. Her old buddy was so glad to see her. They were inseparable.

Reflections

While sitting in the garage (afternoon sun out of the wind) and working on my tan, I noticed that my reflection in the car door looked kinda cool. No digital trickery here.

Last Borderline Edward?

GP's band played at the Night Owl Pub last night. This may have been their last show - the practices have been few and far between.

Best Dog Ever

This week the best family dog that ever lived passed away a month shy of being 15 years old. 

She was a natural part of our family from the day we brought her home. She was one our kids. 

The boys grew up with her and cannot remember ever being without her. 

We will miss her.

New Dryer Parts

Last year the heater element went out in the dryer. This year, it's the drum support rollers. $25 to Amazon for new rollers (and a belt) and an hour of help from GP, and we have a nice quiet dryer again.

Winter Won't Go Away

Local Artist

While visiting one of our suppliers in Lincoln, I noticed this painting and recognized it immediately. It's the same one that one of the guys at work has hanging above his disk. His wife painted it for the state. Now the governors hand them out for special events.

Bowie in NYC

Last week my business travels took me to New York City and Connecticut to visit a supplier. There's no easy way to get there from here so we ended up with half a day to kill. We headed down to the Brooklyn Museum to see the David Bowie exhibit.

I had no idea how diverse Bowie was: music, fashion, videos, film. He released his first album at age 19 and went up from there.

Of course, you can't visit the east coast and not take in some of the local favorites!

Band Practice Date Nights

GP's band practice is half an hour away, and it usually only lasts for 90 minutes, so it's a waste of time for us to take him there, go home, and then go back. We were going to the mall and wandering around, but that got old. Our new thing is to try a new restaurant each week. It makes for a fun date night!

Easter 2018

We had our 9th annual Easter Saturday brunch yesterday. We had old neighbors, new neighbors, and a couple of friends, too. JP has been preparing all week for this. It's really fun being able to set up a table for 20.

Everyone brought something (organized by JP so we wouldn't get duplicate dishes). My favorite is always deviled eggs.

JP's favorite is her frittata. 

New Band

GP started playing with a new band a couple weeks ago. Friday night they performed at the Night Owl Pub in Lincoln and really killed it. The guitarist in the new band is amazing, and it's stretching GP's abilities to play with him (which is a good thing).

They played Your Decision by Alice in Chains, Plush by Stone Temple Pilots, an original one by the guitar player, and my favorite: The Trooper by Iron Maiden.

Wearing the Green

JP was out of town for St. Patrick's Day, so the G's took me with them to the big party downtown at Mc Kinney's. Last year it was scorching hot and sunny. This year it was in the 40s and cold, windy, and grey. Nonetheless, we had fun.

La Paloma

JP & I went to a fundraiser at La Paloma (84th & Holdredge) for our friends' brother's cancer treatment. The Mexican food was second to none. JP wouldn't let me take a photo with a sombrero, so I had to wait for an opportunity when she went to the restroom.

Oven Cellar

Saturday night, we went out with both our current and former neighbors to The Oven; it's an Indian restaurant down in the Haymarket. The food was amazing! I had something that was bright red and super spicy. Not sure what it was, but it was tasty. Afterwards, we discovered that they have a really cool wine cellar in the basement. The girls all enjoyed the wine vending machine.

C

This weekend we focused on CP's programming class. He's learning a programming language called "c". It's the same one I learned 30 years ago. We spent six hours Sunday afternoon working through his assignment. V helped hold papers down.

Cheap

The girls next door brought home a chick from school. JP LOVES it!

Rat's Nest

The cables in the music room finally got to an unmanageable knot. I spent the entire weekend rearranging everything and cleaning up the cable routing. 

Rockin' Duffy's

GP's band played again at Duffy's. They are getting pretty good.