Winter Weekend Get-Away with Friends

Friends together for a weekend in Niagara Falls, Canada.

We escaped the winter blahs by spending the ML King Jr. weekend in Niagara Falls, Canada. Along with Scott and Sue and family(the N's) and Mary and Paul and family (the K's), we stayed at the new and very beautiful Doubletree Resort Lodge and Spa. The building is gorgeous - it looks like a lodge inside and out, but with the styling of Frank Lloyd Wright. Very natural with wood and stone, decorated with mission style furniture and lamps. Even the lobby was spectacular, with a fireplace and lots of comfy couches for lounging. To top it off, there was a very quaint coffee area that served Starbucks!

The rooms are beautiful and very comfy! The beds really are as awesome as they advertise! Down comforters and many very fluffy pillows. We decided to upgrade to a 2-room suite, which didn't cost that much more per night. Check out the website for all the details on the rooms.

Our days revolved around life at the pool. The pool is awesome, and the kids swam for hours! The setup of the swimming area is ideal; the hot tub is right with the swimming pool, so the parents could soak and still watch the kids swim right next to them. After swimming, the kids would go into the sauna with Mike to dry off.

Saturday night Julianna slept over at our "apartment" and did crafts with Emma. The adults and Austin watched the movie Ladder 49 in our suite. Sue was smart and didn't subject herself to the emotional roller-coaster of watching a movie about her husband's new career choice, and instead headed back to their suite to get the baby ready for bed. Needless to say, I cried like a baby through most of it...for obvious reasons! It's a very good movie, and really captures the behind-the-scenes life of firefighters. The ending is very sad, and hits a little too close to home for me, but I would watch it again. I tried to assure Austin that Uncle Bubba would be fine as he performs his duties as a new firefighter, but one always worries anyway.

When I zoom in my camera all the way, this is the view of the Falls we get. Although you couldn't really see the Falls, the fireworks from our room window were very cool!

This is the view out of our 12th floor suite window. The new casino is the building to the far left. You can see the mist from the falls billowing up.

Emma and Julianna in their matching outfits.

Our suite party on Sat. night.

Austin, Julianna and Emma at the fountain in the lobby of the new casino in NF, Canada.

What a Cutie-Pie!

Scott and Sue came over for dinner and to drop Julianna off for a sleepover. I caught little A in a smile. She is the sweetest baby! I just want to eat her up!

Julianna and Emma decorating sugar cookies.

My Bro, In the News!!

Check this out! Scott was in the paper yesterday for a story regarding the paramedics training at the fire academy. Check out the whole article here.

Life Happens While You're Busy Doing Other Things

Another busy day here in the B household. I'm furiously trying to finish two big projects at once, one being the school yearbook. Even though we have (well... I have; I am the advisor, after all!) decided to pare it down a bit this year, it's still a lot of work. I can't wait to put this baby to bed and forget about it until March. My other project is a paid job, for which I need to finish this week as well. When it rains, it pours.

As if that wasn't enough to keep me tired, Mike and I need to start a big family project that has to be finished by the middle of Jan., when our new furniture arrives. The upstairs living room is now going to be a quiet, relaxing room, and the basement is going to be the new "living room". The big TV and all it's sattelite units (ie: noisemakers) are moving down there as well. No noise in the upstairs "contemplation room". Eventually I may get one of those modern-looking CD setups with the tiny speakers, but that's it. And I'll still have a phone in there. One may need to talk to someone upon the completion of contemplation.

I've decided I want to paint the basement in earthtones, to give it a "lodge-y" feel. The two club chairs and ottomon will move down, and the green couch is going to Laura & Daryl's cabin (and possibly the oak entertainment center, if they want it). For the "contemplation room", we already have two new end tables and a coffee table in the mission style. We'll be getting a love-seat, reclining club chair, and couch, in brown leather of classic styling. (Sound familiar, Doug and Julie?) Once the old stuff is out, and before the new stuff comes, we will have the carpet cleaned (finally). I can't wait! I already purchased the luxurious faux mink couch throw that is the ultimate accessory for contemplating.

Work is going great - I love it. I really enjoy the kids and the details. And to top it off, a place to call my own! Things stay where I put them! No crumbs unless I make them! No laundry! No dirty dishes! (well, except for my coffee mug and water glass...) It's serendipity, I tell you!

Soon we'll heading off for a long weekend away with a bunch of friends to Niagara Falls Canada!
The kids will swim, the parents will chat, and everyone will be happy! I'll probably have my new contemplation room by then, and then I won't want to leave it! (Yes, I'm that excited about it!)

A new day awaits.

A man and his Idol...

Time Flies!

Our 13th New Year together!

Mary and Paul toasting to the New Year!

The girls sleeping, and Emma snoring!

Happy New Year To All Our Friends and Relatives!

I hope that everyone had a safe and fun New Year's Eve. We had a nice quiet evening at home.
It was Ladies against Gentlemen in a game of Outburst, in which the Ladies won, of course! After toasting to the promise of a New Year, Mike and Paul fell asleep, while Mary made it until 1 am reading scandal mags with me. I plopped into bed around 2:30, after cleaning up and vacuuming. (It's always nice to wake up to a clean house the night after a party!) The girls slept until noon! Surprising, considering Emma's tendency to snore. The boys had slept in the basement, so no one really knows what time they got up. I'm sure they got up and right back at the video games, since Austin got a "cheat code" magazine yesterday.

Today is going to be a quiet day. I need to catch up on some volunteer work, and some work for the author I help out every now and then. Maybe I'll watch and movie and take a nap...We have tickets to the Nighthawks season opener, but I may just duck out on that one!

Happy New Year!

It's 2005, and already another year has gone by. Dad came to enjoy in the festivities, but left before midnight. We rang in 2005 with Mary, Paul and kids; a much smaller group than years past.

The girls went in the K's hot tub, while the mommies danced to Cosmo music in the makeshift disco! The boys couldn't even tear themselves away from the video games to participate in the countdown.

Having saved it for a special occasion, Mike opened our coveted bottle of port from Temeculah CA, as we toasted the new year with Mary and Paul. Scott called us from his hotel right after midnight to wish us a happy, and I was so glad that he took time out from his family and friends to remember us. Maybe next year they can join us in our home.