The Condo Work Resumes/Continues

We have re-started work on the condo after another break! C.J. had a few weeks where work in the lab was slow, so he got a lot done around the condo. Though many of them were smaller projects, it feels SO good to have progress! This past Saturday, we spend 5 1/2 hours cleaning out our basement for the first time. I'm convinced it hasn't been done since the building was built (108 years ago). There were literally piles of dust and dirt to be shop-vacced out and cobwebs that must have come from 100s of spiders (I don't even want to think about that part!) We filled our huge dumpster with all kinds of things left behind by previous owners. It was long, dirty job, but it felt good to get it done! Here are some pictures and some of other projects completed.

C.J. getting the cobwebs

The chaos of the basement before cleaning

Some semblance of organization after cleaning

Shelves C.J. installed to help wtih organization

Us with our dust masks on!

New hooks on the landing to the basement

Shelves/hooks C.J. installed in the front closet

The ledge is finished!!!

Downstairs bathroom waiting to be painted after old vanity ripped out, plumbing moved, and new vanity installed

Cruise 2009!

We are readjusting to everyday life after being on a 7-night cruise with Royal Carribean leaving from San Juan, Puerto Rico and going to Aruba, Curacao, Dominica, and St. Thomas! This cruise has seriously been in the works for about 5 years. Of Keri's 5 housemates from Calvin and her, 3 got married in 2004 and 3 in 2005. We agreed that on the first batch's 5 year anniversary summer, we would go on a cruise to celebrate! Two couples were unable to make it (and were missed!), but 4 could go. The guys also all lived in the same dorm during college, so they all knew each other beforehand. It was an amazing time! We have never been on a vacation with so many different things to do and a complete lack of responsibility (meaning no dishes, cooking, etc. to do). We loved it! We'll let the pictures do most of the talking. Lots of activities and lots of laughs. If you have facebook, the same pictures are posted on there, so if you've seen those, you've seen these!

Dancing on the ship deck

The eight of us at our dinner table...the food was incredible!

Captain's champagne welcome reception

Us on formal night

DeGroots and Sportels on Aruba during a city tour-the others went sailing and snorkling

We snorkled too with some borrowed equipment on a secluded beach. We saw squid, urchins, and awesome colorful fish on coral!

C.J. enjoying the water at Boca Catalina on Aruba

Sportels and DeGroots after kayaking on Curacao

Dancin' it up at the 70's party on board

The girls with the village people

We hit the casino one night with $6.75 in change and lost it within about 10 minutes

The boys karyoke-ing "Under the Bridge"

Roots made our path on part of our jungle hike on Dominica

All 8 of us on the hike!

C.J. being Tarzan

Our guide jumping into the pool of a 300 ft. waterfall. We got to swim and jump from smaller rocks on the other side.

Rum punch after the hike! :)

Semi-formal night for lobster and steak dinner with free refills on lobster tails...yum!

Our cruise ship docked on St. Thomas

Us after a day on the beach and more snorkeling on St. Thomas

Magen's Bay on St. Thomas where we spent 4th of July

The four girls on the last night

Mud Run

My friends are crazy. About a month ago, I got a text from my friend Beth saying "Save June 6 at 9am...details later." I thought maybe a girls' morning out, or a pray walk, but oh no....she had signed us up for a 5 person team USO (army) mud 5k. That's right....a 5k running race in the mud. Beth's brother was killed in action in Iraq a few years ago, so this was to honor him. We were told to wear wool socks and duct tape our shoes to our pants so we wouldn't lose them. It was actually really fun! There were many mudpits that were knee deep, and others that you had to crawl through (hence the mud on the hands in pictures below). The running portion was in hay, gravel, and tall grass most of the time. My favorite thing I heard from one of the other runners during the race was "Wait a minute, we're running through mud, then hay, then mud, then hay...hello! That's how you make bricks!" Our feet certainly felt like bricks! The race ended with a run through a huge water spray from a firehose. All in all, not a bad way to spend a beautiful Saturday morning!

Team "Muddy Buddy" and our duct-taped shoes

Katie and Keri running

Our and Beth's sister's team's shoes after the run

We did it!

The Cottage and Mani

First of all, we have another nephew!! Keri's sister went into labor 3 weeks early and our nephew Arie was born in Cambridge on June 1st! It is killing us not to be there to see him, but we are very excited for our siblings and pumped to meet their new kiddo in August.

For Memorial Day weekend, Keri got 4 days off of work and we headed up to the cottage. The weather was absolutely gorgeous for that time of year up there. We had fun playing games inside and on the beach and dipping in the cold water twice. One of the really fun parts for us was taking Mani to see how he'd do with a little beach and freedom. He had never seen sand before and freaked out at first when his paw touched, but then became quite the digger! He also wouldn't go in the water for the first 2 days, but something clicked on the last day and we couldn't keep him out of it! He also slept in our tent with us (just curled up at the foot of our sleeping bags and didn't bother us till morning!) and did really well off the leash on the beach. Do we need a kid or what? All of our pictures are of him from that trip! Here are a few shots and a before and after video with Lake Michigan.

Mani loving the sand

Cousin Stacey and boyfriend Tim, Mom, Dad, C.J. and dogs on the pier

Family!

C.J. and Mani walking on the beach

Mani after hearding all of his toys-our puppy is growing up!

Mani scared of the water