5.31.2008

5K day!

Today some girls from work and I ran a 5K at Frame Park in Waukesha. It was an absolutely gorgeous day to run, a perfect day for a race! Race...what am I talking about? I was just hoping to actually finish the race. I did, in a whopping 31 minutes. Usually when I run, I run between 5.2mph and 5.7mph on the treadmill. Let me change the word run to jog, because in essence that is what I am doing. That equates to about 11min miles, or so. 6.0mph would be a 10 min mile. So today, I was running at a faster pace than I normally would train. It went pretty good, the last 1/2 a little rough, but I made it through. It does give me the itch to start training for a half, but then I wake up to reality and realize I must be a crazy person. Maybe when I have a bit more time on my hands, again, not sure when that would ever exist. Jeff and the kids came out also to cheer me on, which was nice. It was held at frame park, which is a course that runs around a park with a river (people were water skiing today), and also had a huge playground area, which Maddy absolutely loved! She is at the perfect age now, she is not afraid to go up and play by herself, or with other kids. And again, the weather was 70 degrees and sunny with a little wind, what could be better.
I have been keeping up with Jason's blog. He is now out in Las Vegas with Dan, another CCPL member, at the WSOP. I will add a few notes about anything exciting that goes on, if anyone is interested! Jeff and I have a Brewer game tonight, hopefully it will go as well as last night, and the roof beTTer be open tonight!!!
Talk to all later!

5.28.2008

Memorial Day Weekend



Hooray for the holidays!! We spent the day Saturday and overnight up in the Dells at Chula Vista with the Ehrhardt's and Sigourney's. The weather was great! Everyone is so used to the gloomy and cold weather that is Wisconsin's Memorial Weekend. However, we had clear, blue skies and warm weather. What could be better?
On our way up, Jeff decided to take a small detour though Merrimac for a little surprise for Maddy. When Jeff was growing up, they used to take the ferry that crosses the Wisconsin River between Sauk and Columbia counties.



We drove to Merrimac to catch the ferry, and stopped on the other side for a snack and stretch. It was fun to cross the river, I can't remember if I have ever been on a ferry. As were were getting the directions from our GPS, we headed out towards the freeway. We drove through Lodi and then headed back onto the interstate. I was reading my book, not paying too much attention to where we were going, and Jeff asked me if we had passed this exit already. We realized that we took the ferry in the wrong direction. We were supposed to catch it in Lodi and take it to Merrimac. So we had to backtrack a bit, but it still was a fun little excursion.
We arrived at Chula Vista and rang the doorbell for about 15 min. Jeff was convinced that we had the wrong room because no one was answering the door, but finally Nana let us in and vacation began. The kids played in the big indoor water park on saturday afternoon. It was a little cool for outdoor swimming, but good thing for indoor Dells! The kids had so much fun together, playing in the pool, running around the condo and getting into mischief....
After the little one's (Mad and Winn) went to bed, good as always, Jeff had a surprise for everyone. He had recently purchased an Argus 300, for those unfamiliar with this ancient piece of equipment, it is used for viewing slides (yes I said slides). Jeff's parents slide projector broke a while back and he has been wanting to view the slides of his parents when they were young :) and also of Mary Jo and himself. So he bid and won an Argus slide projector in Ebay for the low price of
3.99 with a shipping fee of 18.00. It was well worth it! Jeff's dad brought some slides (just 15 or so boxes????????????) and we spent the night viewing slides. It was quite fun, seeing Jeff's parents in all the weddings they stood up in, the kids when they were little, and some of the other relatives! I know my parents have a lot of slides also, so I am sure there is a Krause slide night coming up sooner than we think.
In the morning we headed out to breakfast and spent the morning playing. Jeff and I headed back to Milwaukee for the annual CCPL Memorial Day Tournament at the Serbiak's. Jeff and I really needed to cash at this event in order to be in the running for the Tournament of Champions. Jason's blog listed on the right, has some hands and some good updates on the event. Jeff was out fairly early, I was bubble boy, one away from cashing so that was pretty disappointing. But we had a fun time! I moved a bit up in the standings, hopefully enough to make it in the play-in event for the TOC. Jason won the tournament, which I hope was just the start of some good poker and winning for his trip out to Vegas for the WSOP.
Jeff's parents brought the kids back on Monday afternoon. The day was great, 80 degrees or so! Again, unheard of in WI over Memorial Day weekend. We played at the park, grilled out and had a great day.

5.26.2008

WSOP 2008


I have not posted in a very long time. We have been so very busy, out of town the last 2 weekends. A few notables of events in the past week. Last saturday Jeff and I played in an annual World Series of Poker event. There was approximately 32 people playing and the top 6 would be paid out. A few years ago I made the final table, but this year, I was knocked out 12th, missing the final table by 2 players. My hand was pocket 7's, the flop came 4d, 7h, Jc. So, I was sitting here with trip 7's, no possiblity of a straight or flush on the board. I raise a decent amount and Joe J calls. We are the only players in the hand. The turn is a 9d. I again bet big and I get a call. I was pretty confident that I had the best hand, so the river comes Qh, and I go all in. I was sure that Joe wasn't holding a 8, 10 to make the straight, and there was no flush. He calls, and says, you got the straight? I did not, I show my trip 7's, and he flips over the pocket jacks, making trip Jacks. I wasn't a very happy camper to say the least. But I had a fun time. Pete took 4th place, and Don took first (first time for a repeat win). One funny thing that happened was a guy had a dinner to attend at 5pm. We started playing cards at 2pm. He was playing really aggressive to get rid of his chips (I am not sure why he was even playing in the first place), but of course he kept winning hands. This would only happen when you would not want to win (again, I ask, why anyone would do this???) Long story short, Chris M was posting blinds and mucking cards until Nate returned. Normally this would not be allowed to happen at a tourney, but is was a friendly game. He made it to the final table. Too funny. He had $50 left and was all in with a 5, 10 against Kings.



The board comes 4, 8, 6. With no money left, the was no betting. Turn was a 7 giving Nate (again, not present) a straight. The next hand he was all in again, and lost. Finally the game could return to normal. We had a fun time, no cash, but still some good poker and conversation.

5.21.2008

Dance, dance, dance









Last Sunday, the kids and I headed up to Wisconsin Rapids for Liesl's dance recital. Jeff was golfing on Sunday, we went up by ourselves for the day and then the plan was to come home on Monday. The way up went pretty well, Maddy and Winston slept most of the way (3hrs) which was nice! Liesls dance recital was great. She was in 3 numbers, and all were in the second half. She did so well! I was so glad that Liesl asked me to go. I think maybe next year Maddy might be able to sit through. She was so excited to see Liesl in her cute dance outfits. She had 3 of them! I can just see Maddy now, dancing away. She continues to say that she wants to dance too. We will see, maybe when she turns 3 she can start. I can't believe she will be 3 this year, yikes!
We had a nice day up there, Maddy and Winn were happy to spend time with their cousins and of course Aunt Mimi and Uncle Scott. We headed for home Monday afternoon, with Nana as well. It was nice to drive home with someone else in the car. It makes the time go by much faster! Kids were good on the way home as well. I know it will get harder to travel when the kids get older, but were getting some good practice...

5.16.2008

New camera











I just purchased my new digital camera. My old one, which was very capable of taking decent pictures, was just getting to be that...old. I got it 5 yrs ago from Jeff, and it has been a great camera, but it was too big to fit in my purse. And the the LCD on the back of my Nikon was 1 inch. I did too much research (I learned that from my friend Jenny ha ha), and finally purchased a Canon SD870. I absolutely love it. I can fit it in my purse or pocket and its soooo much faster than the old Nikon. Anyways, enough boredom about my camera.

We have a busy weekend planned. Tomorrow is a poker tournament at a fellow CCPL players home. We start at 1:00 in the afternoon, and play until a winner is declared. This could be very late, or very early. I hope the first. It's a pretty fun tourney, about 50+ people will be playing. A lot of the group is people that went to TM, so it's always fun to catch up.

My neighbor Kelcey and I started running last night. I have slowly been getting back into running, but it is just that...slow. I am up to 25 minutes now. When I run by myself, I will usually stop when I feel like it. When you run with someone, it's a little harder to stop. You can usually push yourself a little more and suck it up. So we both made the entire time. 25 min is not that long, but its a start!! It was nice to get to know our new neighbors. They are really nice, and they just had a baby girl 2 months after Winn was born. It will be fun to get together this summer!

Sunday, the kids and myself will be driving up to the Rapids to see cousin Liesl's recital. I am very excited to see it, she will be wonderful I am sure. We'll spend the night and then head back on Monday.

5.11.2008

Happy Mother's Day

I had a wonderful Mother's Day. We went to breakfast at the Cafe at the Plaza with my parents and the kids. We had a nice time, and the kids were so good! We do breakfast on the weekends, so we never have to worry about Maddy not eating that meal of the day.
I want to wish all my friends and family a happy mothers day. Being a mother or parent is not an easy job, but every second is worth it. Thank you to my mom and Jeff's mom for all you do for us.
Here's to all you moms!

Bye Bye NUK's

Friday night was the launching of the Nuk's (paci's, whatever anyone call them). Maddy has used her nuk since she's been born. After about 9 months, she only used it for bedtime, and from then on was quite attached. I have always hated the nuks, but if it was only for bedtime, I learned to tolerate. We decided that she was getting to be a big girl and we have been talking it up with her for the past month. Big girls don't need nuks anymore. She wanted nothing to do with that... I was a bit worried that she wouldn't be able to get to sleep, wake up all night, and the list goes on. My mom gave the idea of launching her nuks into the air on balloons to fly away to the babies that needed them. Did I really think this was going to work??? NO!!!! But, that night, we decided we should give it a try. We have lots of overnights, mini-vacations, etc coming up...that we thought that if we didn't do this now, it might be a long time coming. We prepped her the remainder of the night, and she seemed to be ok with "giving" her nuks to the babies that needed them. We weren't really sure if she understood that they would be gone, but we're going to give it a try! She was very excited to let her balloons fly away, "They are flying so far away, all the way to the moon" she proclaims. That night, she went to bed and wondered when her nuks were coming back. We reminded her that she sent them to the babies that needed them, and she was happy. I think we underestimate a child's ability to roll with the punches. All the milestones I think she would have a hard time with, stopping the bottle, moving out of the crib, getting rid of the nuks, and so many more, she always seems to adapt so well. I was preparing myself for a week of crying and having a hard time sleeping. None of that happened and its been 3 nights and counting. Hooray!







5.09.2008

Summer, here we come!






I am so excited for the warm, summer days and picnics, swings, and Popsicles. Maddy can now actually finish a Popsicle in less than 30 minutes. Of course, there is no way I could help her finish it, she must do that "by herself." She becomes a complete mess, but that's what baths are for.

5.05.2008

i love the Wii

Things were a little off during the CCPL stop at the Ehrhardt's. Mark, our tournament director, was not going to make it to the event. His car broke down in Waukesha, and said he would not be able to make it. So, we had to scramble a bit to figure out chips, blind structure, running the tourney, etc. We decided that we would leave it up to Farkas, who is no stranger to running a good tournament. Initially our plan was to both try to get the kids to bed, before the start of the game, which is supposed to be 7:00. Luckily, with Mark not being there, things got off to a slower start. We were able to get Winn to sleep at 7:00 and Maddy shortly after. I was a bit concerned about having 19 extra people in the house and hoping that the kids would stay sleeping. Well, by some sort of miracle, all worked out well. With the exception of my master plan (Jeff and I placing 1st and 2nd). Jeff was knocked out 11th and myself 6th, oh well. It was still a fun night of cards and company. If anyone is really interested in hands, etc, you can probably check out Jason's blog if interested. As of now, there is nothing posted yet.







A notable....Iggy took 3rd place, and Angie took 2nd. Followed by Adam M, who finally placed. He has been 2nd and 3rd a lot this season. There is a number of players from the CCPL that will be heading out to Vegas for the world series of poker. Hopefully they will come back with good stories and lots of $$$$!! Igg'y plan was to post and muck for an extended period of time, then come back to the tables and go all in on one hand. Good thing he decided against that.
There were a lot of suck outs on the river, as usual. As stated in the previous post, I don't really remember hands, expect that I lost with A 10s to J Ko, sucks. Jason and Angie were in hand that knocked Jason out. Angie was in (unbeknownst to Jason). Jason's turn to act, he raised all in, I folded. Jason thought myself and him were the only ones in the hand, so he turned his cards over, I believe he had a 2 8o. Angie was planning on calling with her A Ko. I am pretty sure that was it for Jason, I could be wrong, that is why I don't have a poker blog. It was a funny hand so I had to mention it.
Iggy also brought the Wii over to play, which for those that don't know, it is the newest Nintendo. It is so fun!!!! I am not really a fan of video games, but this is really interactive. There is boxing, bowling, tennis. You actually stand there and swing like you are playing tennis, same with bowling, etc. The sad thing is, as often as I work out, my triceps are still so sore from the boxing game. Yikes!!
Here is a pic of Jeff and I playing the boxing game.



Now I want the Wii!!!! Wiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!

5.03.2008

Poker night!

I am sitting here, by myself. What??? No kids??? Maddy is sleeping and Winn and Jeff took a ride over the the Iggy's to pick up a poker table. Thanks Jeff :) I am watching one of my favorite movies, Oceans Eleven, eating Doritos's and posting on the blog. What could be better? I can think of many things, but I'll take this.
We spent the evening yesterday after the kids went too bed, cleaning the house. More importantly, cleaning the playroom. For a long time now, we've had master plans to make the computer room into a playroom for all of Maddy's toys and whatnot. Now first of all, the computer room hasn't really been the computer room since we stepped up to the world of laptops. The other dinosaur has been sitting on the desk in the "computer room" for a very long time now non-functioning. We finally got our butts into gear and moved the computer and desk out and toys in. It looks pretty good for one night of hard work. The next mission impossible is the fish tank. Jeff has had a fish tank for 10 yrs. It has been functioning approx half the time. Sad to say, we have seen a lot of fish come and go. But Jeff is bound and determined to get it up and running once again. I will keep you posted on this mission...
We are hosting the Ehrhardt stop on the CCPL, that's the Cream City Poker League, for those who don't know of this exclusive club. This is the 2nd season of the CCPL. We generally play once each month, sometimes more often. There are usually between 15-20 regular players and we usually rotate homes each month. It's pretty fun, I am doing horrible this year. I am convinced that when I am pregnant I play poker much better. But I will settle for bad poker at this time, and for a long time after...2 is enough for me!
Maybe tonight will be a change of events. A fellow CCPL member has a blog as well, covering his way to the World Series of Poker. Jason is a great player, who remembers every hand he ever played, while I soon forget a few minutes after I lay my hand down. Oh well. Poker junkies, check out Jason's blog if interested. I'll catch everyone up on the standings of tonight's poker game. Hopefully the Ehrhardt's will be on top!!

5.01.2008

My little chef...




Tonight Maddy and I made homemade pizzas for dinner. She was so excited to "help make dinner!" First of all, she had to do everything herself, big surprise. She proceeded to "help" spread the sauce on, add some oregano, and dump plenty of cheese on top. Next came the turkey pepperoni. She ate one for every one she put on the pizza. Then a few tomatoes and some parm cheese. It was so funny, she could hardly contain herself she was so excited! The cooking in the over part is apparently no fun for a child, but she was so proud of herself when it was done. She proclaimed "I made such a special and cute pizza mom, let's share!" Now Maddy really is a pretty good sharer, most of the time. She enjoyed the pizza, and can't wait until the next time we can make more!