Our 2nd Annual Snowshoe Race

This weekend Marcie, Katie, and I traveled to Minneapolis to visit with friends and participate in our 2nd snowshoe race. We left on Thursday night and flew back late Sunday, giving us three full days in the wonderful twin cities. Katie stayed with Pat and Jenny while Marcie and I stayed with Julie and Daniel in downtown St Paul.
Jeff and Amy also drove up from Chicago to meet us for the race so in the end we had a nice big group of friends to hang out with for the weekend.

Everyone came over to Julie’s on Friday evening for dinner and strawberry margaritas. I guess you could say that it was a pre-party for the race on Saturday morning :) We all prayed for snow when we went to sleep because there was hardly any on the ground, which would make for a not-so-fun snowshoe race. Surprisingly it did snow a little, although not a lot. In fact, when we awoke in the morning we thought for sure there would be no snowshoeing since only 2 inches of snow had fallen during the night. So sure, in fact that we left the snowshoes at home and put on our tennis shoes expecting a road race instead.

Of course, we were wrong. We arrived only to find out that the race would take place as planned, with snowshoes. Lucky for us they had a rental booth thus, despite carrying our snowshoes 2,000 miles across the country, we rented. It was a 10K and we were not planning on doing very well, none of had trained, it was just for fun. We didn’t expect however, to come in dead last! Sure enough, as Marcie and I crossed the finish line we had the luxury of telling the race crew that it was safe to pack up, we were the last ones.

Following the race, we attended the chili dinner and awards banquet. Marcie won a box of cheese for traveling the furthest distance and Jeff won one for having the closest birthday (Jeff’s big day was Sunday). As they listed the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners in each of the age categories we began to realize the at most of the participants raced the 5K, not the 10K. We began to laugh at the idea that one of us could possibly win an award by default due to the lack of racers. Sure enough, they came to the men’s 20-29 category and announced the 2nd place winner (there was no 3rd). “Will Mike Germani please come up” – Ha, we all about died laughing but immediately following that announcement was the 1st place winner, Jeff Taylor-Haas! Unbelievable! Despite Jeff and I placing last in the race, we also managed a 1st and 2nd place victory. That’s the kind of race for me :)

The irony of the weekend was still to come for as we left the race, it began to snow, hard. It kept snowing all day… and all night. It made travel difficult on Friday night but despite the mess, we all managed to meet up again at an Indian restaurant in Eagan. Afterwards, we celebrated Jeff’s birthday back at Julie’s with ice cream and an exotic shaped cake :)

Sunday morning we awoke to 9 inches of snow, at least according to the news. In actuality, the wind had blown so hard during the night that in some spots there was no snow while in others there was 2 feet or more. We ventured out again to do a little shopping and then to the airport for our flight home (we only got stuck once). It was another great weekend and with any luck, we will go back soon.

We Love Canada :)

Two weeks ago we ventured to Canada for a quick ski trip to Whistler. Once we got past how expensive hotels were, we had a great time. We ended up staying about 1 hour south of the mountain in a crappy hotel with 6 of us in the same room (the crew was with us, Katie and Jim and Erin and Ray). Mike and I volunteered to sleep on the floor so we had 2 wonderful nights of slumber in our sleeping bags. We got on the mountain later than expected between renting gear and buying lift tickets. We almost got away without any mishaps but then Ray fell on his shoulder (and may have a rotator cuff tear) - it was his first time on a snowboard. And then on the last run I fell on my butt and thought I broke my tailbone (but now I think I have mearly herniated a disk). But I do have to say that I am becoming a much better snowboarder!!! After a taxing day on the mountain we hung around Olympic Village and had some drinks and ate dinner. What a wonderful weekend!

Big Bird and Snowshoeing with Friends

From 1/22 - My work had very generously (haha) given me a 12 pound turkey for Christmas, which is great if you know how to cook a turkey. So I told Katie and Jim that I HAD to get that big bird out of my freezer. Katie had the idea to have a dinner party and cook the turkey (well, actually to make Jim cook the turkey) So Saturday night the 6 of us met at Katie and Jim's for dinner - got all dressed up, and Katie and Jim even got out their new China!! We had an entire Thanksgiving dinner, lots of wine (3 bottles of wine to be exact) and the best desert EVER. Erin and Ray brought over ice cream floats with the "float" part consisting of OJ, Limes, and Champagne. For entertainment we played Catch Phrase and then Spoons. I had to teach everyone the "on your honor" part of spoons - I guess Grandma really did make that up - but everyone seemed to have fun.
Sunday morning the 6 of us went to the mountains (Snoqualmie) and did some serious snowshoeing (If you call hiking 3 miles in 3 hours serious) It was the most snow I had ever played in! The trail went through the woods, up the mountain to a frozen lake. We had many stops to have big snowball fights, play Frisbee, do somersaults, and yes, even a few headstands. After the strenuous workout we HAD to stop for some pizza and beer at Jay Berry's Bar and Grill. Mike couldn't handle the fun and he came down with the flu and had to stay home from work today!

New Friends in Town

From 1/20 - Yeah!! We have new Friends!!! Erin and Ray (who started out as friends of friends) have moved to Seattle! They live in an apartment on First Hill and Erin is a PT at an outpatient clinic and Ray has a degree in Criminal Justice and works at an accounting firm. Ray is from St. Louis and Erin is from Kansas City. So Friday night Katie, Jim, Mike and I met Erin and Ray at Pike's Brewery for an awesome dinner, then (we planned ahead) we went back to Erin and Ray's apartment and relaxed in their hottub on the roof of their building! The following day Katie, Jim, Mike and I headed for the mountains and went snowboarding. The day started out pretty nice but by early afternoon the slopes turned pretty icy and we all thought we better leave before we get hurt - although we didn't leave soon enough because Katie hurt her knee and I fell on my neck on the last run and it was sore for a week!

Christmas In Maine

We spent Christmas in Maine this year and we were there for an entire week! I thought I was going to be pretty sad being that it was my first Christmas away from home but Mike's family is so fun and welcoming that I ALMOST thought I was with my family!

Mike's family events were held on Christmas Eve and we first went to Aunt Liz and Uncle Roy's for a visit and then to Aunt Dianne's for a fresh lobster dinner! Christmas Day was relaxing as we stayed at home and opened presents and ate lobster rolls that Nancy made and hung out, then went for a quick visit at Aunt Anita's. We pretty much spent the rest of the week relaxing, hanging out with the family and visiting Mike's friends. Katie and Scott had an awesome Christmas party one night and then Derick and Sarah had a fabulous New Year's Eve party at their new house! It was such a fun vacation that it was REALLY hard to leave!

We're back!

Well, it's time to start blogging again; that is if anyone still checks this thing. I noticed several people suspect that we have died, gotten lost on Mount Hood, or have been abducted by aliens but I assure you we are alive and well. I could tell you that we've been really busy this year but there's really no excuse except for laziness. We've been doing a lot of stuff and Marcie has written a couple entries which I will post shortly (as soon as I find some pictures). By the way, I know the picture doesn't really apply to the post but I like it anyways and wanted to share.