Here I am!

What a wonderful weekend I have had. Makes it hard to get back to the daily grind of things at work. I really miss having my summers off the way I did when I was teaching! One of the biggest perks of that job. Oh well.

Anyway, Friday I took a half day and The Captain and I headed straight for the Filthy Whore where we promptly set a course for the river and did a little tooling around.



Around 5 pm, The Pirate, AC, h and Otto joined us for a dinner cruise.



While Otto had been on the FWII before, this was his first time where the boat actually left the slip. He did a super job on the boat and spent most of his time doing this......



While I spent a lot of my time doing this...............

We had a little scare when Otto jumped or fell, (we're not sure which) from the upper deck to the lower deck but he appeared unscathed.

The Captain found a good spot to beach us for dinner and secured the lines to the available trees.



And then AC got right to work. She volunteered to do the food and who was I to say no? She made mussles, which The Pirate and The Captain gobbled right up!



Then she threw some halibut and salmon on The Captains new boat grill which he is so excited about! We can now cook and cruise in style.




The fish was really good and she also whipped up this amazing salad with rice noodles, peanuts and tons of veggies. So amazing! And quite beautiful to look at.


We spent several hours just out and about enjoying the views, a few bevvies and of course, each other's company. As usual, The Pirate totally dressed for the occasion. There was talk of whether or not his outfit made him look like a mo, but I think he was dapper and dashing as always! Not a hint of mo in my opinion.And of course, we had many pictures of the two of us taken together. We just love to mug for the camera!



The sunset was really lovely although this pictures don't do it any justice at all!


After we docked, we busted out the Uno for the longest game EVER!!!! We laughed and carried on throughout and goofed around with the camera some more.


After that, our guests departed and The Captain and I snuggled in for the night. The marina is lovely at night although we are still getting used to how busy it is compared to our old marina.


I slept really well but The Captain complained of being woken up by the birds and the passing train. The next morning after we cleaned everything up and buttoned everything down, we headed to "FOOD" for breakfast. It's actually called The Lastrack but the sign makes it look like FOOD is the name of the joint. Good, greasy breakfast was just the ticket and I'm sure we'll be back there since it's right next to the marina.

The Captain and I hung around the house until it was time for him to depart and then I was on my own again. Two days in front of me and no real plans. I was looking forward to just letting the days flow and tackling a few things on my to do list. First up was a trip out to White Bear Lake (go Bears!) to pick up Kitten's awesome road bike she is lending me for my mini-tri. Just so happens that her super light weight bike will adjust to fit me AND that her clip in shoes totally fit me even though we wear two different size shoes. Huh. That night I hung out with The Pirate and AC for a bit and then hit Deeg and Cess's backyard for some time in front of their fire pit.

The next day it was so gorgeous! I borrowed Deeg's power washer and washed the outside of our house, front porch and walkways. It made such a huge difference and I feel like we are finally ready for a season of entertaining on our porch and patio. I watered the lawn, did some laundry and then Kitten came over and gave me some pointers on the bike. We put it on the trainer so I could practice with the clip in shoes without the fear of falling over. It was great of her to talk me through some of the finer points since I know nothing about cycling! Afterwards, I took her to lunch at Punch Pizza and we sat on their patio in the sun just chatting and really enjoying our lunch. It's always a pleasure to spend time with her and I'm really going to miss her when she goes on her trip around the world. After she left, I went for my first bike ride. I was wobbly to say the least so I skipped the clip in shoes for my inaugural ride. It was tough, hard work my muscles weren't exactly used to and I was huffing and puffing pretty good. I went about 5 miles and it took me 25 minutes but I fully intend on improving my time quickly! That night h and I rode the couch and watched movies and I went to bed fairly early.

The next day I rose early and tackled two more chores. I got my clothes closets all cleaned out and took 4 bags of clothes down to the basement to await donation. I then dusted our Venetian blinds which were positively furry with dust. Yuck! So glad to have that tedious chore done and then I set out for the sporting goods store in serious training mode! I picked up a new swimsuit and a pair of jammers (which are boys swim shorts that are skintight and to the knee; I figured I will wear those on race day to swim, bike and run in since they are quick dry but have good coverage and no padding), a hard core bike lock, a yoga towel and some boxing gloves so I stop ripping my knuckles open at the gym.

When I got home it was time to dive into my first official mini-tri training session. I hit the gym for a 30 minute swim and then came home, changed clothes and headed out on the bike. I did another 5 miles and this time, I wore the clip in shoes. They made a HUGE difference and I felt like I did MUCH better. It was strange to be back in the pool again and I could definitely feel my "sits" bones on the bike for the second day in a row but the workout went well and I could have run afterwards if I had to, luckily this workout didn't call for that. Instead I took a nap in my hammock, made dinner and lunches for this week, finished the laundry, took a dip in the hot tub and then hit the rack.

And so that's what's been up around here. Hope you all had a marvelous Memorial Day weekend.