Happy Birthday to you...

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear ELAINE! Happy Birthday to you!!!!!

Florida, here we come, again!

My mother went with her friend, Syl, to visit Syl's mom in Kentucky. Seems that Syl's mom won 2 tickets to the Daytona 500 in a church raffle! Guess who is lucky enough to be on the receiving end of the tickets?! That is correct....BRIAN AND I! So, we immediately made airline reservations and hotel reservations. Of course, the closest hotel we could get was 26 miles away from the track, but hey, not bad! And to get the cheapest airfare we are going to be there for a few days. We have decided that in order to pass the time until the race, we are going to make a stop at Universal Studios and after the race a stop at Brian's Uncle's house (the flower girls).

For those of you who are going: Daytona 500? What is that? Well, it is the SUPERBOWL of NASCAR. It is the first race of the season. For them, that is the biggest race of the season. That is THE race, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, FL. Woohoo, and we will be there!! I can hardly wait!

Other than that, things are the same here. I feel like turning 30 this year is like having to take your car in for its 50,000 mile overhaul. I have been to the doctor's, had blood drawn after not eating for 12 hours, I have an appt with the eye doctor next week and the dentist next month. Good grief! Guess I have to check in with everyone to make sure my engine is still running smoothly, so to say...

Good news from Brian's mom. She just accepted a position with Radford. Yes, she used to work there, but this is a NEW, EXCITING position. This is something she has always wanted to do and also in the field she got her degree in recently. We are very happy for her!!

I will be heading up to Greeley this weekend to go see a show that Suzi and Zak have both worked on. Brian will have to stay home, as it looks like we will have cadets at our house this weekend. They can have some guy time together.

Brian's cousin's wife, Kim, just had her Achilles heel operated on. Sounds like it was painful! So, we send get well wishes her way!

Oh, and GO RED SOX!!!!!!!

Finally, a race!

We finally got to see a race! It had been 3 weeks without seeing a race! Due to all our travels and the way the races fell, we missed 3 of them! Which was a bummer, because I really liked Jeff's (Gordon) car last weekend! It had a different paint scheme, mostly all silver! Very slick looking.

I am on a fantasy racing league thanks to my brother-in-law, Vince. All season long I was doing so poorly! As of today I am in 2nd place! Vince has always given me a hard time about being in the bottom of the heap, so now I get to give him some grief as for the past few weeks, I have been WAY ahead of him in the standings!!

Yesterday we just chilled out and watched the race. Which after it was over they reported the sad news that a Hendrick plane had crashed. Very sad news, that is who Jimmy Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Brian Vickers race for (Hendrick Motorsports).

After the race we went to dinner with the DJ from our wedding, Doug, and his girlfriend. We met them at a restaurant in Green Mountain Falls called the Black Bear. It was very good. It's a fancy restaraunt that also serves burgers and chicken fried steak. It's interesting, and we had a great time. It was good to catch up with Doug.

Our Grand Opening of the Theater went well on Friday night. We had about 14 people show up. It seemed to all go by so fast, but it was nice and the movie was good. It showed off the many features of the theater.

Saturday I had a "Craft Day". I invited all my girl friends over to work on crafts. It ended up that only 3 people showed up, but it was fun! Shallyn made a beach blanket for her in-laws and I taught my friend Susan how to cross stitch. Her sister-in-law came with her and also worked on cross stitch. I will try another craft day in November, see if I can't get more people to show up for the next one.

Well, I am finally going to post the links to our Honeymoon pictures. We have been trying to get them all straightened out. Some of them are still needing to be rotated, but you can get the jist, and some of them are so great to look at! Enjoy: http://www.dooh.com/pics/2004/2004-10-09-DW

Grand Opening

Tonight we are celebrating the "Grand Opening" of our theater. Since we have recently put the overhead projection system with screen in the basement, our theater is now complete. We also have digital surround sound and stadium seating. We will take pictures tonight to share with those of you who are unable to join us for the opening.

Just like any opening, there will be a social event before hand. We will serve wine and cheese. Once we are in the basement, there will be candy, licorice and popcorn. We are showing the movie 'The 5th Element'. We choose this movie so that we can show off the color and sound of the theater. Brian made up a wonderful invitation if you would like to take a peek: http://www.kirouac.org/theater/invite/

Other than that, we are still trying to get back into the swing of things. We have both felt wiped out this week. Probably due to lack of sleep from last week and the time change and everything. This weekend should be pretty relaxing and should allow us to get some 'down time' in.

I forgot to mention a very Happy Anniversary to Greg and Dianne and also to Mike and Lucy! Both couples' wedding anniversary was Wednesday. And also tomorrow is Mike and Kelly Kirouac's Anniversary! Congratulations to all of you!

My allergies seem to be acting up again! I must be allergic to falling leaves! Because I don't know what else it could be.

Brian and I have been pretty good about getting out and walking. Both our doctors were on us about exercise, and it's been a while since I had been walking. So, we both hold each other accountable to make sure we get out and do it. Plus Buddy is starting to look a little pudgy again. So, all 4 of us can benefit from walking. Hopefully we can be good and keep it up!

We have recently taken on another AFA cadet. We had signed up to sponsor 2 this year, but we had only seen and heard from 1 of them. We recently found out the other one moved on to another family that he all ready knew. While we were in Florida, the sponsorship office left a message asking us if we would take on another cadet, because his sponsor family was transferred out of Colorado. We gladly accepted and we hope to meet him soon. So, now we have 3 total again. We haven't seen much of Adam this year, hopefully he will come over once and a while still.

Well, that is about all that is happening here! Hope everyone is well!

Jet Lag

I think I am still suffering from Jet Lag. I am so tired by mid afternoon that I could easily fall asleep at my desk. Of course that is probably also because I have nothing to do at work (work wise). At least now I have Sushi (the fish). He is pretty funny. He has finally figured out about the food in the morning. When I used to lift up the plant to feed him, he would freak out and swim away. Which would cause him to miss his food, because it sinks to the bottom pretty fast. So, now he knows when the plant is getting lifted up, that means food is heading his way and he swims to the top. But I drop the 3 pellets in and he usually only sees and eats one. I think I may have to try putting one in at a time.

We are recovering from our trip. 1 of the 3 bags has been completely emptied, of course it's still on our bedroom floor. The last two bags just have things in them like pictures and stuff we bought. I will have to empty those out this weekend.

Other than that things here are okay. We spoke with Brian's parents on Sunday night. They told us that Grandma Kirouac was run over by her own car! It ran over both legs between her knees and ankles, but nothing was broken! But she had some pretty sever trauma to her legs so she is spending some time in the hospital to get better. We hope she feels a lot better real soon!

My friend Scott landed himself a brief visit to his local hospital when his white blood cell count was way to low. The chemo caused it to drop severely. But he is out now and doing well, and continuing on with chemo. My mom and I are going for a weekend visit in November to go and hang out with him.

We put some Halloween decorations out on Sunday. Just a few this year since it was so late. I have a few more I would like to put up also.

That is about all that is happening here right now.

Work, again

Well, had our first days back at work today. That is never easy after having such a nice vacation.

We had a great time in Florida. We started the very first day by going to the Animal Kingdom right after we checked in. Our room was so neat, it looked out over the "Savannah". The Savannah we overlooked had a few giraffes (2 or 3) about 5 zebras and some wildabeast things. (I think that is what they were, we just called them 'big things'). Every day they were there to look at, right below our room! The pictures will have some views, it was neat. We should have the pictures up in a day or two.

Sunday we spent at Magic Kingdom, rode a few rides, had some fun! Monday was Epcot, we had some showers that afternoon, but we just sat in Germany and had a beer while the rain came down real hard. Then it let up a bit and we walked around the rest of the park with our Mickey Ponchos on.

Tuesday we went to Blizzard Beach, one of the two water parks Disney has. We brought our waterproof camera (thank you to the Carter's) on some of the rides, so that will be fun to see how the pictures turned out. Currently they are being developed. That night was our fancy dinner at Disney's nicest restaurant, Victoria and Alberts. It was wonderful!

Wednesday was back to Epcot for an incredible experience. We did Disney's Dolphins in Depth. You get a behind the scenes look at what things Disney does with their dolphins. Bet you didn't know that Disney even has dolphins! They don't use them for entertainment purposes, they don't have dolphin shows. They use them for research and development. We spent the first hour to hour and a half learning all about them and how they learn and how they work and such. Then the last 45 minutes we got to get in the pool with them! We got to rub them and pet them and make them do a few tricks! It was so incredible! I had so much fun, I could have stayed in that pool forever! They didn't allow pictures so we couldn't take any, but they did take one of us, but my eyes are half closed... Bummer. But it was such a neat experience!

Thursday was another day at Magic Kingdom for a while and then we went to dinner at Wolfgang Puck's and then on to Ciruque du Solie. That was neat to see! Half the things they do scare me to death!

Friday was MGM... we rode Tower of Terror 3 times, and the Aerosmith ride twice! We did have a brief downpour of rain in the morning, but we just put on our trusty Mickey Ponchos and went to indoor rides, which most of them are at MGM. We ate lunch at the 50's cafe which is like eating in 'mom's kitchen'. You get in trouble for putting your elbows on the table and you have to finish your vegetables. The waiter serving the group of tables next to our kept making people get up and sing 'I'm a little teapot' if he caught them with their elbows on the table or if they were playing with their food. It was sooooo funny! Dinner that night was at the Sci-Fi drive in, when you sit in a car! And you watch a big movie screen that shows scenes from old sci-fi movies. It was pretty neat. We have a picture of us somewhere, in the car.

Our last day there, Saturday we got up early (and I mean EARLY). We had to get everything out of our room before we went to our Sunrise Safari breakfast. That was really neat. They took us on the regular safari ride, but before the park opened and just as they were letting all the animals out of the barn for the day. We took about 70 pictures, it was so neat! After the tour was done, we had a wonderful breakfast that was so good! Brian got 2 of the recipes from the chef, because some of the dishes we would have to try again!! We hung out in the park for a little bit before heading back to the hotel to relax before heading to the airport.

We then had a long journey home, and we were so tired by then time we got home! So imagine our surprise when we discovered that while we were gone, some people had snuck in our house and put over 2500 superballs in our house, as well as feathers and some blow up beach toys. There were superballs in our drawers, our shoes, our laundry detergent, our candles, our jackets... just about anywhere you could put a superball there was one. We know who all the culprits are and we just have to say that I hope they watch their back!!

Overall, we had a GREAT time! Disney World is awesome! It was hard to come home, there was still stuff to do and see. You really need about a week and a half to two weeks to be able to see and do everything. This was truly a magical experience for both of us and we had more fun than we thought possible. We stayed at the parks to see all the shows and such and then we would get up early to ensure that we would be at the parks when they opened. We slept about 5 or 6 hours a night on average, so we were pretty tired, but the excitement of it all kept us going. So thank you again to all of you who helped to get us there! We ate some incredible food and saw some incredible things! It meant the world to both of us.

We're back

We are home, safe and sound! Lots to do today though! Will enter stories later!!!

I'm going to DisneyWorld!

Well, tomorrow is the BIG day! After waiting MONTHS for it! It's almost as exciting as the wedding. (Almost, but not quite). Our plane leaves at o'dark thirty in the morning from Colorado Springs, but still, we have to get up, drive to my mom's house and then she will ferry us to the airport. So, I see my alarm clock going off about 4am.... yuck. But soooo worth it!

According to Weather.com, the weather should be great, mid 80's everyday! Chance of rain, of course, but isn't that Florida? The National Hurricane Center is not tracking ANY hurricanes at the moment, so more good news!

It's tough to get through that last day of work before your vacation! Especially when your job is a little boring. I have left myself several things to do today to try to help the day go by. Plus at lunch I have to do things like run by the insurance office and move laundry, so even lunch should go fast.

By the way, we finally got our Santa Fe pictures posted: http://www.dooh.com/pics/2004/2004-10-02-santa-fe

Well, we will be back next Saturday! Happy Anniversary going out to Dave and Patty!!!

Hope everyone has a great week!!

Fish anyone?

When I started my new job a few short months ago, there was one of those vases with the water plants. Most people put a betta fish in there, but this one was lacking in the fish department. Not anymore. I got a fish at Petsmart last night when we were there getting dog food.

I put Sushi (that is what I call him) in his new home this morning. He seems pretty happy. I moved him onto my desk. He likes to watch what I am up to. But he doesn't like it when you put your finger up to the glass, he swims away. He's pretty funny and entertaining to watch. Good thing, I needed something new to do around here.

Happy Birthday

Just wanted to say Happy Birthday to my Uncle Ed. Hope it's great!

Our Trip to Santa Fe

Well, we made it home safe and sound last night from Santa Fe. We had a good time. The ride down on Friday was chilly. I had on at least 3 if not 4 layers of clothing. And that worked for me. I had on Brian’s electric jacket, but I had left the temperature control at the house, so I was not able to turn it on, but it worked out that I was okay with out it.

<>We left the Springs about 1:30pm on Friday. We pulled into Santa Fe about 6:30pm. We only stopped twice on the way down. That night we just ate at the restaurant in the hotel and then played cards before going to bed. In the morning we went into the center of Santa Fe, to the Plaza, and walked around for a bit. Then we went back to the bikes to get ready for a ride. While we were putting all our gear on, two old (antique like) planes flew overhead with the smoke coming off of them, like they were in a show. Well, I found out this morning that there was indeed an air show there this weekend and that a pilot was killed when his plane crashed that afternoon. The pilot was from Parker, CO, which is between the Springs and Denver. <>

We spent Saturday afternoon on a long ride. We went out to the Bandallier National Monument. There are a bunch of old Indian houses, or ruins there. You can go crawling around in some of them. As soon as the pictures are up, I will post the link. We just rode around the mountains of New Mexico. The weather was great, not to hot, not to cold. It was nice. We got back to the hotel about 5:30pm, got cleaned up and went to dinner. <>

Sunday morning we got up and after breakfast we started heading for home. We took the scenic route back up through New Mexico to Colorado. Then about Walsenburg, CO we jumped onto the interstate and just took that the rest of the way home. It was pretty chilly yesterday also. Once we got back into town we went to my mom’s house to get the dogs and my car. <>

After we had been home for a bit last night the doorbell rang. It was our neighbor asking if we wanted a big bag of dog food. It turns out her beautiful 2 year old Brittney Spaniel passed away over the weekend. Apparently she had tumors in her stomach and lungs. And it all happened very suddenly. She was very upset and I don’t blame her. Misty (the dog) was very cute and very personable. It was so sad, I think she really wanted someone to talk to. I will miss Misty. <>

Well, only a few days left until we leave for Disney World! I am really looking forward to it! <>

Happy 21^st birthday to my sister today!!! Happy Birthday Suzi!

Santa Fe, Here we come!

Today we head to Santa Fe for the weekend. Brian and I are both working half a day and we will meet up with the rest of the group at my mom's house at 1pm to leave for New Mexico. Why my mom's house? Well, it's the most Southern meeting point, and I have to leave my car and the puppies there. It works out well that way. Esten works just about a mile from my parents' house also, so he is close also. So, I will leave work at noon, head home, grab our bags for the bike, and get the pups in the car. Also I will change into more layers of clothing. Today is a raw, cold, icky day in Colorado. A front came in last night. It only extends to just about the New Mexico/Colorado boarder, so once we hit that, things should be better!

We plan on visiting the square while we are there and we aren't sure what else. We will have to see what the weather is like down there. Weather.com is saying that it is supposed to be low 60's all weekend. Great riding weather!

Last night we watched the Air Force vs. Navy game. It was a pretty good and exciting game. I am sad to say we lost in the last few seconds, but it was a good game. It was nice to watch the game from the warmth of our basement, as it was pretty chilly out there last night.

Well, I only have 3 hours of work left, so I guess I better go and get some work done!