Benefits of a small pooch

Cheddar had a rough start to the week. He threw up 1-2 times daily until we took him to the vet. Like all dogs, Cheddar HATES the vet. Even while there are no doctors in the room, he wiggles around on the examination table impatiently. This time he was only forced to get his temperature checked (mind you it was via his behind). They prescribed wet food and a medication like pepcid for a week. He's already much better.

On the way home, we looked over the bill and saw they only prescribed 2 pills to him. That's because he's so small he only has to take 1/4 of a pill per day!

Let your voice be heard

Vote!

Cabintastic

Once the bugs die off and the river warms, we spend more time up north at the cabin. We started the season off with a weekend trip to join Autumn, MacKenzie and the rest of the Axner/Wyckoff crew. A visit by a bat in the wood stove led us to tell fun ghost stories. Our next trip was a combination of visiting the Engels at Aspen Lodge and trip into the BWCA. It was the first time Cheddar ventured onto canoe waters. The paddle into camp was sunny and trouble free, perfect. On the way back, the wind picked up and Cheddar decided to jump ship. Luckily he was hooked into his life jacket for easy recovery. Aspen Lodge was filled with our usual skinny dip, cribbage and good food.

After two family trips, we took a bunch of friends up with us for the weekend. We spent our time playing lots of games while the dogs ran wild. Lastly, we had a chill weekend with the Becketts. With cold weather approaching, we cuddled up near the fire for some much needed relaxation.

The Circle of Life

Over the past couple of months, Rebecca's Nana and Trevor's Grandpa Jim passed away. Even though both grandparents led long and fulfilling lives, it was hard to say goodbye. Dealing with death prompted thoughts of getting old and the next stage of our life. As difficult as it is to move on, it's comforting to know that these changes also bring new, wonderful people into the world.

Here's to all our friends and family with new additions and to our grandparents for reminding us to cherish every part of life.

Sweet Sweet Sweetbriar

Our good friend Casey has a cabin in northern California on the Sacramento river. This was our second visit to this picturesque retreat. Sweetbriar consists of a series of old family cabins nestled along a fish filled, rapid paced, cold water river just south of Mount Shasta. Most of the week was spent lounging riverside and eating good food. We ate, showered, slept and played outdoors. With such beautiful trees and mountains surrounding us, it is the perfect vacation.

Our crew consisted of Casey, Tina, Sean, Becky, and Ben. Casey's parents joined us for a portion of the trip as well. They were extremely generous with delicious home-cooked dinners. Beyond swimming and tubing in the river near the cabin, we also took a couple half-day trips. Due to the haze from the nearby fires, we took one afternoon to shop around Mt. Shasta city where Rebecca picked up some great earrings and clothes.

Once the haze cleared, we spent an afternoon jumping the Sims cliffs, a secluded stretch of the Sacramento river. Casey led Sean, Becky and us for a swim up the rapids to a nearby waterfall. Though it was very cold, it was a great swim.

Another day was spent at a mountain reservoir. Castle Lake is a beautiful, deep, clear lake with mountains on all sides and more cliffs for jumping. We hiked a mile around the lake and ate a picnic lunch. After our sandwiches had settled, we swam across the lake to jump off some cliffs.

Sweetbriar provided us again with much needed relaxation, beautiful landscapes, and good company. We hope to be back soon!

Mah-keese

As you all know, I (Rebecca) currently support a system called MQIS for General Mills plants. MQIS is an acronym for Manufacturing Quality Information Systems. The system is used for a variety of data entry and reporting needs. To help broaden my knowledge base, I was recently sent to Irapuato, Mexico to help with the start-up of the new taco lines and implementation of MQIS. When introduced to MQIS, our Spanish friends referred to it as one word, pronounced Mah-keese (similar to Matisse). I'm petitioning to rename my team.

Onto the trip....Our descent into Leon, Mexico was accompanied by a picturesque sunset to the west and storm clouds penetrating the mountains to the north. It was quite beautiful. Pete, my co-worker, and I picked up the car and took a 45 minute drive southeast into the neighboring city of Irapuato. With an elevation of over a mile, Irapuato is 3.5 hours northwest of Mexico City. It's a smaller city, but large enough to host a General Mils plant, a Con Agra plant, a Coca-Cola plant and much more. Our days were spent at the plant in a large conference room setting up data and training the trainers. For lunch, the plant provided us with a variety of food including Dominoes pizza and chilaquiles. With our limited free time, we were able to take a tour of the new taco lines (still in the construction phase) and the neighboring Green Giant lines.

The time at the plant was constructive. Most days we were able to finish by 6pm. Our after hours schedule was determined on day one. After returning to the hotel, we split up to work-out, study, swim, and raid the grocery store of interesting Mexican treats. We met for dinner around 7:30. The first night we ate at the hotel. Despite the electronic 80s jams playing in the background, it was a pleasant evening. Vaishali, another co-worker, ordered a beer Michelada style. I was nervous for her due to our experience in Guatemala, but it was quite good! The second night we ended up at an Italian restaurant in a mall. Again, quite good, but not very cultural. Our final night in Irapuato surpassed all expectations. Pete visited Irapuato in the past and brought us to Panteon Torino (The Bull Fighters Cemetary). The restaurant is designed to look like the inside of a stadium with the liquor lined up behind the bar in the "stands". Through dinner we were serenaded by mariachi which made the meal more enjoyable. After a couple shots of tequila (served alongside tomato juice and lemon juice), the bull arrived. The bull danced through the restaurant inviting all to join along. Once everyone was roused, a stage was set up for bullfighting. We each took our turns to be the Forcados waving a red cape trying to distract a fellow patron running back and forth with bull horns held up to their head. It was quite adventurous. We had one more night in Mexico, but had to stay near the airport in Silao due to early flight times and thus had dinner at Applebees.

Even though we weren't able to fully experience all Irapuato has to offer, the trip was an excellent experience. If I ever end up in the city again, I'll be sure to see more sights and hopefully have another shot at Panteon Torino.

Madrid

We spent three lovely days in Madrid. Despite being the third largest city in Europe, it still had some of the same charms we witnessed in Barcelona. Scott guided us on an evening stroll through Plaza de Oriente, Placio Real, Cathedral de la Almundena and Jardines de las Vistillas for our first night. The rest of our nights were spent strolling the city finding spots for dinners and gelato. During the days, we took time to see Museo de Prado, Parque del Retrio, Museo Nacional Reina Sofia, Jardin Botanico, Plaza Mayor, and various other monuments. It was great to be able to see so much of the country within such a short amount of time. We were always remember the beautiful architecture, tasty tapas and daily siestas.

Barcelona

We arrived in Barcelona in time for a traditional late lunch. Our hotel was only a couple blocks away from the Picasso museum, thus a perfect place to start our exploration. The variety of work leaves all visitors content. To help with jet lag, we forced ourselves to stay up through dinner and even a couple of beers at a nearby pub.

We started our first full day at the Museum of Contemporary Art and walking along Port Vell. The museum had gorgeous photography along with odd pigeon videos. We spotted a line of locals outside a restaurant where we stopped for a traditional Spanish lunch of sangria and paella. With our bellies full, it was time for our first siesta. We spent the evening people watching at a bar off of Las Ramblas.

With museums closed on Mondays, we took the day to see the beautiful architecture of Gaudi. After a full day of walking and sight-seeing, we spent the evening sampling sangria, chocolate churros and litras of cerveza.

Tuesday we took a walk to the beach at Port Olimpic and passed by the beautiful Arc de Triumph and Parc de la Ciutadlla. In the evening, we split off from the crew for some shopping, drinks and dinner in Placa Reial. A long line of people attracted us to a fancy but cheap restaurant. We continued to drink wine more than water and finish every meal with a scoop of gelato.

Our last day in Barcelona was spent enjoying the works of Miro. We visited the Miro museum and continued on to the Parc de Miro. The museum was fabulous although the park was not much more than a single statue. We experienced much more than posted here. Overall we spent our time walking the streets, looking at old buildings and drinking wine. Fabulous.

Espana

What a splendid country! Filled with cozy neighborhoods, pitchers of sangria, siestas and even the beach. Spain is definitely a worthwhile vacation. We were lucky enough to spend a full week exploring Barcelona and Madrid alongside Pam, Robin, Sara, Scott, and Jennifer.

What the heck, Jeffrey!

We knew our flight to Newark was going to be long when we took our seats just in front of the family we had been mocking while awaiting the boarding call. The family was complete with a young boy (XYZPDQ Peter!), his older brother wearing a woman's watch, their mother tuned into her book, and a controlling father.

The flight started out like any other. Before take-off the boys were given a portion of a piece of gum each. "Wait, wait, wait, NOW! Everyone start chewing!" Luckily we made it into the air safely. The rest of the flight was pretty uneventful, except for the lies being told. Who knew that seat backs needed to be in their upright position because it's better for your back?

The main event occurred during our descent. Older bro, Jeffrey, started having pain in his ears due to the change of pressure. Unfortunately, the gum was incorrectly portioned and there wasn't enough to heal the pain - Jeffrey was forced to yawn. "Yawn, Jeffrey, yawn" was yelled behind us by his frantic father. In turn, young Peter pointed out that he "highly recommended taking a car to visit grandma to prevent ear problems". Unfortunately the insight of a 9-year old did nothing but aggravate poor Jeffrey. Instead, Jeffrey continuously hit Peter when the pain became unbearable. Luckily their father stepped in to help with a lesson on yawning, "You have to yawn all the way. Watch me, watch me". In spite of our eagerness to learn, we held back and didn't take in the lesson.

We do need to add...having issues with pressure and your ears inflight can be quite painful. We do not wish that upon anyone. So, be sure to yawn!

Spring to Summer

Since our trip to Guatemala, we have done our best to keep busy. Before spring crept up on us, we did some work on our kitchen. After only a couple weekends, we added lighting and switches, painted, and upgraded the fan, faucet and doorbell. It now looks a lot brighter and bigger. Later on this year we'll update the flooring, maybe.

Outside of working on the kitchen, Trevor's softball league started while our tennis league ended. We celebrated many birthdays and holidays with family and friends. Kaki King, Califone and Iron & Wine performed for us. All while we were able to make two trips down to Chicago to celebrate Sara and Scott's birthdays and help them with their big move.

Coming up, we're taking a trip up north for a long weekend and then we're off to Spain! We'll make sure to add some posts and pictures after the trip.

Until then, we hope everyone has a great start to the summer!

Winding Down and Celebration

The hippy town of San Marcos was our next destination. It is situated on Lake Atitlan, just a boat ride away from San Pedro. We had rooms at a luxurious hotel nestled in the cliffs. After a vegetarian lunch, we showered up and explored. It is a small town filled with restaurants and holistic centers. We booked massages for the next day and picked up some Guatemalan wine for the evening. The rest of the afternoon was spent chatting it up with a Chicago-native-turned-Guatemalan-artist while sipping on tea and smoothies. The chef at our hotel served us Spanish tapas for dinner. The tapas were great, but we missed out on dessert, major bummer! We made the most of the luxury by hanging out in our rooms, playing cards and drinking wine. We woke up to a bright sun and a stretching yoga class before breakfast. We took a quick dip in the lake before checking out of the hotel. Then it was on to massages and lunch to round off our time in San Marcos.

It was a grueling ride back to Antigua due to road construction We made it in time for dinner and found a fun fusion restaurant to eat at and a fancy garden for dessert and drinks. Rebecca was awoken with banana bread overflowing filled with candles for her birthday. It was a wonderful way to start the day! We spent the morning shopping and exploring the city. We ran into some fun art galleries and local markets along the way. We experienced our first typical Guatemalan lunch at La Fonda de la Calle. After walking the city further, we took a siesta. We started the evening festivities with a happy hour at a local Irish bar. We moved on to coffee and sangria on a terrace overlooking the city. Dinner was at a Spanish-style tapas restaurant with seafood and paella. We stopped at a Bavarian bar before heading back to the hotel for beers and cards. Overall, a great birthday celebration!

Xela to Lake Atitlan

On our way to the starting point of the trek, we picked up a fellow traveler, Brad, our non-English-speaking guide and two porters. We all got dropped off in Cantel, a small village outside of Xela. The porters loaded up their packs with food and sleeping gear. They didn’t include any of our stuff, which was expected. So we put on our packs and followed our guide up the first mountain. The day was cool which helped with the climb. After 600 meters, we made it to the highest point of the trek. The view was gorgeous! We continued on until a much needed lunch break. We had the opportunity to call it a day, but decided to forge on. The second half of the day was a strenuous and long downhill climb through the forest. We made it to the Nahualate river right as it started raining. We had a steep uphill climb before stopping for the night. We were greeted by a man who played the guitar and told us folk tales. We found a “candy store” to fill up on sugar treats before dinner. By 8pm, we were all snuggled into our sleeping bags on the concrete floor. Luckily the roosters were nothing compared to SE Asia and we were all able to get some shut-eye.

The following morning we started the uphill hike out of the village. Again, the views were magnificent. You could see various villages hidden throughout the mountains. The rest of the trek was less steep, both uphill and downhill. We made it to Santa Clara by lunchtime. This was a much bigger town with restaurants and stores. After lunch, we set up camp in the house of an indigenous Quiche family. We had the afternoon and evening to ourselves and spent the time drinking beers and playing cards. We went to bed early again so we could get up for the sunrise. Unfortunately, our hosts did not aid in our sleep plans. We were kept up with bright lights and chanting. It had rained the night before which left a mist over the town. We woke up to see the sunrise, but only caught a quick glimpse of light over the lake. We filled up with breakfast before making our final descent to the San Pedro on the lake.

For more details of the trek, check it out through Adrenalina Tours: http://www.adrenalinatours.com/English/Hikes/XAtitlan.html

Exploring Tikal

From the time we forced ourselves up at 3:45am until we boarded our 6:30am flight, a higher level of stress was maintained. The transfer was late starting off, another pick-up couldn't be found, there were discrepencies in flight times and luggage tickets. We finally made it to Tikal for a group tour. Our guide was full of information about the sites and the Mayan culture. The ruins were tucked away in the jungle, quite amazing. After lunch, the four of us went back to the Grand Plaza for more exploring. By the afternoon, the site had cleared out so we had a chance to climb the ruins by ourselves. We saw various birds and monkeys all around us. We showered up and had dinner at our hotel before playing cards and calling it a night.

The next morning, we started the day with a Canopy Tour. We got tied into our harnesses and glided through the forest via zipcords. What a thrill! The rest of the morning was spent lounging and acrobatting in the pool before traveling onto Xela.

Getting Accustomed with Lava

After 3 hours of sleep, we arrived in Guatemala City at 6am on Saturday. Our transfer never showed up, but we were able to find a ride into Antigua. Our hotel rooms weren't ready, so we stopped for breakfast before spending the morning strolling the streets. Antigua is a colorful and quaint town. It is filled with stores and restaurants with all types of cuisines. For lunch, we ran across a hostel with a balcony and Super Nachos. Just what we needed before heading back to the hotel. Only one room was available, so we all took a brief nap on the full size bed.

We got picked up at 2pm for our Pacaya Volcano Trek. With our driver going only 40 mph and getting stuck behind a smelly bus, the ride to the volcano took over 2 hours. Needless to say, we were anxious to get on our feet and start the climb. It took about an hour and a half to arrive at the crater rim. The view at the top showed streams of flowing lava! We followed the crowd into the crater to get a close-up of the lava. It was pretty incredible. Once we got back to the van, we had a sandwich dinner before heading back to Antigua for a brief night's sleep.

Is it 2008?

The past month and a half has gone by in a complete blur. Before the holidays came around, we spent some time in cooking classes, at the theater seeing The Lion King, and throwing a baby shower for Florie. Mid-November crept up and we made our way to Chicago for the beginning of the end of 2007.

The Friedman's hosted a marvelous Thanksgiving celebration for the two families. It was relaxing, enjoyable and very filling! We had wonderful brunches, drinks at the top of the Hancock building, and a collaborative Thanksgiving feast. Rebecca, Sara and Jennifer took a day to have some sisterly fun (walking and shopping) before heading back to reality. This kick-started the holiday season. We spent Thanksgiving day between Sybil's and Rebecca's Nana's, both enjoyable and filling! It felt good spreading out the festivities this year.

For the next couple weeks, you could find us at stores around town or celebrating with friends and family. Erin and Vincenzo made it into town. Jay took SPAers around town in a pimped out limo. Sean got a new job. The Kremenak's threw a boys and girls baby shower pizza party. Sara and Scott came into town for some old fashioned fun. Between all that, we celebrated Hannukah four times. You can never have too many latkes!

Before Christmas, we had one final Hannukah celebration in late December. Pamela won the 3rd annual Frieaxlicher racquetball tournament, per usual. Christmas came and went. It was as busy as ever. We snuck in a birthday dinner for Pamela before Bill and Katie came up from St. Louis to meet Cheddar. We rounded up the year with a New Year's Eve bash.

The year was full of fun and excitement. It was wonderful to see everyone and celebrate. We're now looking forward to some downtime before the big trip to Guatemala! Until then, you can check out more of our Thanksgiving, SPA Limo and New Year's Eve pictures online.