Memorial Day

We went to our friends Grady and Anna's place for a Memorial Day cookout on Monday. We had a great time hanging out on their roof drinking beers and eating hot dogs and hamburgers. Even Keith managed to make it back from Michigan for the occasion!

Joel and Julie came in from Suburban Iowa for the cookout. Luckily Julie's sister now lives in the Bucktown area so they were able to come in the night before, thus eliminating the need for camping gear! (We tease, we know that you don't live that far out Joel and Julie. The most amazing thing happened while Joel was on the deck; we actually got a picture of him where he's not making a goofy face and is relatively sober!

The biggest news from our point of view though was that Anna invited Vince to come over for the party. This is a big deal because Anna and Grady have not one but two cats! Vince loves cats, he views them as playmates to chase around and have fun with. Cats however do not seem to view Vincent with the same adore. Most of the cats that we have come into contact with have hissed and quickly moved away. This however does little to discourage Vince he still says hello with that dopey grin and wagging tail of his.

We never did get Max or Dirk to interact with Vince. Dirk was in the living room when we left and he ran like hell when he saw Vince coming. I guess they just don't see Vince as being friendly!

Vince got all the attention he could handle at the cookout and by the end he was pretty worn out. He's been pretty much sleeping all day on Tuesday, isn't that the life?

Vincent Expands his Domain

In between our job demands and travel Paula and I have managed to start setting up our rooftop deck for the summer. We added a new tent for coverage (great for rain or shine) and have planted a few of the flower pots.

Well, I should say that Paula is handling most of the planting as I am living in allergy hell right now. This is far and away the worst allergy season that I've had in years! I'm not the only one at least, the people at my plant have all been having issues - must be something in the northwest Indiana air!

Since the roof is open and we tend to spend a lot of time up here (I'm posting to the blog from the table now) we decided that Vince should be allowed to come up as well. Our townhouse is connected in a row of nine and we're trying to contain him to three roofs so we have had to block the fire escape steps.

We had friends over for dinner on Friday night and spent the whole evening out on the deck. Once he settled in Vince was a good boy who just sat at my feet under the table enjoying the "great outdoors."

Paula's Glorious 3-Way

People, get your mind out of the gutter! I am talking about the fantastic Skyline Chili 3-way of course! I am currently working in Cincinnati…home of some great food including Skyline Chili. Props to Jason for the introduction into the Skyline experience that’s been rocking my taste buds since summer 1994. My mission (that I have chosen to accept): eat my fill of Skyline. Right now, I’ve got a full count going on (3-2)…3 3-ways and 2 cheese coneys eaten. I’m thinking I can squeeze in one more 3-way while I am here, but we shall see if the pant seams burst first.

Of course, no trip to the ‘nati is complete without a trip for some legendary black raspberry chip ice cream at Graeter’s. The picture shown above is KM, myself, and Jenny after out trip to Graeter’s in Fountain Square (after dinner at Zips for the best burgers in town). That is why we all look sooo happy.

I also managed a trip to the Cincinnati Art Museum as well as a Reds game. Yes, the Reds actually won too. It was quite a home run derby as Ken Griffey, Jr. hit his career 572 home run. The weather has been perfect, but I am looking forward to the holiday weekend at home.

Next up for June: 20 day trip to Riga, Warsaw, and St. Mortiz. I am looking forward to this trip as it will be my first time to each location!

Check out all my Cincinnati pictures.

My Owners Went to Switzerland......

.....and all I got was this lousy bell!!! Yes, as posted earlier Paula and I were actually on the same continent for a weekend, and we met in Zurich. We figured that Vince needed something from Switzerland, and this mini cow bell fit the bill! At least he won't be able to sneak downstairs when he's wearing this.

Vince had quite the long stay at the kennel while we were gone, and he grew sooo much! He was very happy to see Eric on Sunday afternoon, but we're sure that he was just as happy having puppy friends to play with all day long.