Memorial Day Weekend!

Sometimes, when you're a lucky kid, your boss will give you a three day weekend. Last Saturday through Monday, I received just that, and boy did it feel like heaven.




Of course, the fun always begins as soon as you get home from work on Friday night, so I had breakfast for dinner and rented a chick flick. Oh.... and did I mention the large bowl full of ice cream with chocolate, caramel and a cherry on top?! ;)





Then on Saturday I drove to Madison, where my friend Laura was a vendor at a farmer's market there. She's so much fun! We usually see each other at busy events and never really get a chance to visit much, so it was nice to actually get some one-on-one quality time with her. Even if it meant driving around Madison on a wild goose chase with her.



In the afternoon about 85 people made it to the Gitto farm for a "Party just because..."! We enjoyed sports like volleyball, Frisbee and croquet, and of course there was food and music to be had as well.

 Croquet is a bit slow-paced when you have somewhere around 13 people playing.

My lovely friend Rachel... she's so gentle, encouraging and sweet. Her sweet nature and good example inspires me to be more mature and kind.

 This girl! Sarah... she's so good natured... and has such a fun sense of humor! 

Here are the volleyball junkies. Literally.... they may have stopped playing for a very short time to eat. I think they even played in the rain!

Sorry the pics are blurry... but the food and fellowship were fantastic! It's always a fortunate affair when you have so many great friends in one place.

So here we have Courtney... and her giant ice cream cone. She apparently forgot how you turn the soft-serve machine off. ;) ...it's funny, I almost did the same thing. You pull the lever and forget about everything else as you focus on getting that perfect twirl. =D

A big rain storm that rolled in, too. My friend Malachi captured a sweet time-lapse of the storm and stunning sunset. Sometimes he'll upload his time-lapses to his YouTube channel so be sure to keep an eye out for it.

As always, it was a good time at the Gitto farm. At a late night hour I zipped home with Courtney and stayed at her house for the rest of the weekend. Spending time with the Dunn family is always a pleasure! They all have their own amusing witty remarks and wisecracks. They jovial and fun to be around... but know how to be serious and calm as well. 

On Sunday, I went to Courtney's church. Both messages were good and then we had mango smoothies afterward!!! They were so tasty!

Then after lunch the sun came out, it was warm and the swings in the park were calling my name.... so we ran out the door to enjoy the "curious" weather. My new friend Josh lent me ALL of his camera stuff... we're talking fancy. So I tried one of the less intimidating lenses and cameras out. My subject was very photogenic as usual:





In the evening Court and I decided to go on an adventure... to Cheddar's! The food and atmosphere were surprisingly impressive. I had the most delicious whitefish, rice and salad, and Courtney had a big burger...

Courtney showed me where she taught school this past year. I convinced her we needed to get a picture of her for posterity's sake! ....especially since it's technically her first teaching job!

We spent the evening drinking sun tea, singing silly songs, and just simply relaxing. Mrs. Dunn and Court were trying to figure out what is important to each of us in life... relaxation was on the top of Court's list!

We found june bugs, Mr. Dunn showed me his garden and flowers! I love that he's like a farmer pretty much, in his own way!

We had a bonfire later on and I introduced them to s'mores with reese's peanutbutter cups instead of milk chocolate. It was the perfect night for sitting around a fire and visiting.

On Monday we went to the Memorial Day parade in Racine... and I forgot my phone!!! But luckily Courtney remembered hers and took lots of pictures... which you can see on her blog. Oh, did I mention all of the phlox growing in all of the ditches? Soooo much purple! It makes my heart happy! We took a walk on a wooded trail with phlox making up a good portion of the undergrowth. It was quite serene and peaceful.

Sammi, Court's cousin, came with us. She's so nice and fun! Christopher took us to this HUGE tree.. it had to be the oldest tree in the woods. The branches were the size of regular tree trunks. It was quite the tree, and rather perfect for climbing.

We brought Zirk along on our hike! He really is the coolest dog ever.

We decided to wade in this river. Water always attracts me. I can't help but feel it on my feet.

This picture of Zirk is soooo funny! He's such a feisty little dog. He wasn't too sure about hanging out in the water.



It was such a nice three days, but alas, I said goodbye and set off for home. The drive back was easier than I expected. No crazy holiday traffic or slow-downs... It was the best holiday weekend!