Happy Birthday, Lisa!

This past Sunday, we celebrated our beautiful friend Lisa turning 30. She went all out, renting a lakehouse house in Grand Haven, Michigan, and providing both food and entertainment, the latter courtesy of the Corn Fed Girls. All in all, it was a wonderful evening...very memorable. We love you Lisa!


The birthday girl


The Corn Fed Girls


Enamored guests


Jess, Thais and Adam


Cabin Carters

Herndon Visit, Part 2

The rest of Adam and Jess' visit definitely broke the tourist mold. Believe it or not, Adam chose to run with Heath and I on our 18 mile run (marathon training is ramping up!). He not only finished, but at the end, was actually glad he did it. Wow! He, Heath and I were all pretty beat afterwards, but we had enough energy to drive down to Gino's East and partake in some yummy deep dish pizza.

Adam and Violet

Sore!

The next day we headed up to Michigan for Lisa's 30th birthday (see related post). After crashing four to a bed (no, seriously), we had coffee and tasty scones, then headed over to Grand Rapids. We enjoyed lunch at a local pub called McFadden's and then made our way to Founders for a little beer tasting.

Men being men

Roomies

Check out the brewery in the back!

Cheers!

Madeleine has arrived!

Yeah!

Heath and I are officially an aunt and uncle. Here are the stats on our beautiful niece...



Madeleine Aurora Carter
Born 1:59pm on 8/30/07
Length: 18 and 3/4 inches
Weight: 7 pounds, 3 ounces

Here are pictures of the proud parents.

The Herndon Visit: Part 1

Here are some pics from our first day with Jess and Adam. Unfortunately, their visit started wtih an unscheduled tour of Lower Wacker Drive since our car got towed (long story!). But that night, we enjoyed a yummy dinner at Italian restaurant, Dinotto, lattes at the 24-hour Starbucks, and then Second City along with the Phillips.

Fun times!

Draft Central

The Brown-Carter Football League conducted its first live draft at 4759 this past Monday. Let the games begin!

Bye Steve!

After several wonderful years in Chicago, our dear friend Steve is headed out to Boston to pursue his PhD at Boston College. We enjoyed one last night of revelry at a karaoke joint in Wicker Park. Steve was a master at the mic...so much so that a bachelorette party couldn't resist dancing with him.

The Carters Go Camping

When Thais mentioned to several family members that she was going to go camping, they all looked at her with the same amused look and asked, "You?" Determined to prove them wrong, we set out with our extremely qualified camping mentors, Aaron and Lenore, to backpack into Governor Dodge State Park just outside of Madison, Wisconsin.

We had some much-needed relaxation time playing cards (too many hands of Rook to count), swimming, and learning how to set up tents.





On our way home, we stopped by the New Glarus Brewery for a beer tasting and had a very tasty lunch at a "traditional" Swiss restaurant.




You'll be pleased to know that other than a fairly loud, "ewww" when treading through some swampy water (in the dark!) to get into the campsite, Thais did well.