Posts Tagged ‘restaurant’

We went out yesterday to Hachinohe to pick up some finishing touches for my knitted snake and get some lunch. We arrived at Lapia Mall and tried out the Dragon Gate restaurant downstairs. They have a bunch of delicious-looking dishes, but I chose a yummy plate of I'm-not-sure-what: some strips of veggies and beef that was really good! Matt wasn't feeling so hot and had a nice, big bowl of ramen. We ordered some shrimp fried rice for Rhino, but he didn't touch it and just wanted the ramen. Heron enjoyed some of the side dishes: some pretty peach-shaped anman (steamed buns filled with azuki bean paste) and some spiced satsumaimo (Japanese sweet potatoes.) I usually love satsumaimo, especially tempura fried, but I thought these were horrible. At least Heron liked them!

The mall has a large play area called Fantasy Dome and we popped over there. They have a bunch of rides, including a roller coaster, but nothing was running (I'm not sure when they run, I've never seen them operating!) We went to the Yu Kids Island, where they have various spinning things and toys, but best of all: a balloon room. Rhino had a great time!

There's a sitting area for parents and this one had a foot massaging machine. I decided to give it a go. I don't know what any of the buttons or the display told me, so I just selected something at random. Little knobs clamped down on my feet and the machine proceeded to massage. I think I have a fairly high tolerance for pain, but this really was one of the more uncomfortable experiences I've had! I don't know if I just selected the wrong setting or of everything is that painful, but I would not recommend the 100-yen Japanese foot massage machines to anyone!

We let Rhino play some games in the dome. One of his favorites it the crocodile-whacking game. He's not really too bad at it!

Do you want directions to Lapia Mall / Fantasy Dome in Hachinohe, from Misawa? Click here!

Matt and I had wanted to get down to see Tokyo sometime before Mama’s trip this fall. We had only just traveled through and not really spent any time there. Liz & Drew and Nicole & Mike were also wanting to visit one last time before everyone moves to Texas, so we thought a big group trip would be fun! It turns out that Mike couldn’t get leave and Drew was deployed, so it ended up pretty much being a girl’s trip with Matt. He didn’t mind too much, though! We were meaning to rent a van through MWR — a cheap daily rate and we don’t have to pay gas or tolls (tolls are about $300 to Tokyo and back.) We were too late reserving a van for our dates though, so we ended up taking our little van. It’s a good thing the other husbands couldn’t make it, otherwise we wouldn’t have had any room at all!

Sunday:

We left by 7 in the morning, had to pick up Liz & Nicole and a few things on our way out of town, got a little lost finding the right toll road in Hachinohe, and then were finally on our way by around 9! The four of us took turns driving, so it wasn’t all that tiring. We made a handful of rest stops along the way to stretch, do diaper changes, and get lunch. Getting into Tokyo was a little confusing with all the different highways, but we made it to the New Sanno (military hotel in downtown Tokyo) by 6 without too many problems! We had dinner at the American restaurant in the hotel and promptly fell asleep.

Monday morning we had a nice breakfast in the hotel restaurant before heading out. We decided to do Tokyo Tower, which is in Roppongi and very close to the New Sanno. We took the subway a couple of blocks and then had a nice walk up to the Tower.

We got some great views of the whole city from the observation deck. It’s not at the top of the tower, just a little ways up. Rhino enjoyed looking out (and down) the windows and got some practice walking around. Liz and Nicole went up to the next deck to see what was up there. Liz got brought one of her Blythe dolls to take photos of around Tokyo and got some shots of her on the tower.

There are other attractions in Tokyo Tower, including a wax museum, trick art gallery, and “space wax” museum (which was sort of just a small gallery of old anime.) We had fun taking photos in the trick art gallery, and the wax museum was full of rock and roll musicians, Alice in Wonderland, Jesus, historical Japanese figures, etc. There was plenty more to do in Tokyo tower: an aquarium, a playground, lots of little shops and restaurants, but the museums and view had taken up most of our morning and this pregnant lady was hungry and tired!

We went for a walk to find the Outback Steakhouse (I know, American food in Japan, but it will be a while until I have it and I can have Japanese food any time!) Matt carried Rhino around and he really seemed to enjoy the trip, then got comfy for a short nap.

Lunch was good and Rhino had a blast playing with everything at the table! It was only about 1, but I was pretty exhausted from lots of walking and Matt was ready to go back to the hotel. Liz and Nicole had doll-related shopping planned in Akihabara and Nokono, which neither of us were really too interested in anyway. They got back after dinner, so Matt and I went for a walk around Shibuya to check out the district and find something to eat. I feel like we didn’t get a whole lot accomplished on Monday, but it sure felt like a very full day!!

The alarm clock is set for 9am, but I’ve been up since 5. It isn’t Rhino’s fault — he’s still asleep. Maybe it’s excitement or just the time change. We went to bed around 9pm (after being up for about 28 hours) and I got a full 8 hours, I just thought I would have wanted more! It’s 6 now, which is about 2pm in California. So maybe my body just knows not to sleep-in until 2.

We ate here at the hotel last night, at the California Restaurant for their dinner buffet. I don’t exactly know what made it so “California” — there was plenty of Japanese food! People had told us that everything is more expensive in Japan, but I guess this is the first we’d seen of it. The buffet wasn’t really anything fancy. We had a salad and some pork and fish and potatoes and rice. The bill came out to be 6000Â¥, which is about $57! It’s a good thing Matt is getting so much per diem (and I get 75% and Rhino gets 50%) to pay for these expensive meals!

We are staying at the Radisson in Chiba, which was about a 30 minute shuttle ride from Narita airport in Tokyo. We didn’t really get to see the hustle and bustle of Tokyo. We were driven (on the left side of the street – which scared us a few times!) through bamboo forests, rice paddies, and small houses to our hotel. I wish we would have learned some Japanese before we got here, like we had planned to. It’s kind of embarrassing trying to talk to people. We don’t understand, they kind of understand, and eventually it works out but it is a very awkward conversation! We brought all our little phrase books and dictionaries along, so I’m whipping those out today to try and learn something!

I haven’t taken very many photos or videos yet, but I will! Before we left California, I did put up a few new photos and new videos, though. More to come soon!

EDIT: Here are some photos.

Upon first arriving at the hotel:

The Radisson at Narita from Melissa on Vimeo.

The sign for the hotel:

Here’s the view of the town from our hotel window:

Here’s the view of the farms from our hotel window:

It’s Rhino’s 1-month birthday! The time has really flown by so quickly. I feel like we just brought him home yesterday. Maybe it’s because we’ve had so many visitors and haven’t really settled into our own routine. I’m looking at his birth photos and he all ready looks so different! We measured him and he’s about 23 inches (but probably someone inaccurate) and don’t have a reliable way to measure him. He’s all ready outgrowing some of his clothes!

It is also my birthday today. Hooray, I’m 25 now! Papa flew in from Dallas last night and will be visiting with us until Monday. Rhino, Papa and I drove down to Santa Barbara this morning to pick up Rhino’s birth certificate (yay, it’s finally in!) Then Papa took me out for pizza in Goleta before driving back up. We picked up Matt from work then enrolled him in the military system and went to get his passport photo taken. At first the photographer told me to have him up against the wall. Considering he still has a floppy neck, that didn’t seem like a good idea. He decided to put some white cardboard on the floor and I put Rhino down. For the photo, he had to have open eyes, looking towards the camera, head straight, couldn’t have any arms or hands in the photo, and I couldn’t be propping him at all. It was pretty tricky and we went through a lot of shots, but we finally got an acceptable one!

We tried out a new restaurant, Lompoc’s Blacksmith Steakhouse, for my birthday dinner. It was a nice place that Robb and Janeece recommended to us and we had never known existed. Rhino was nice and quiet for a little while, but then started to get a little fussy and let out a few shrieks. We had a few women come over to coo over him and tell us all about their babies. Matt held him most of the way through dinner and it was amusing watching him try to cut his steak with one hand! We all had steaks and corn chowder, which was pretty yummy. They serve three desserts: cheesecake, chocolate cake, and tiramisu. We decided to get one of each to take home, then split them over the next couple days. Yum! It was a busy day, but nice to get things done. Definitely a good birthday!

Last night we got together with some people from our WoW guild, Caprini Domineri. We went out to Cool Hand Luke’s for dinner (also where we went in June for our 2nd anniversary and found out we are pregnant), which was all right. We are less impressed with the food than before, but it was good to visit with people (Dave & Clarissa (who we haven’t spent time with in a year and a half!) and met Joe and Kyle). A few photos were snapped with Joe’s iPhone, so if I get a hold of those, I’ll put some up here.

We planned on going out to a movie after dinner, but Matt and I live under a rock when it comes to movies and have no idea what’s out or what anything is. Dave and Clarissa recommended Juno, and we had never heard of it. They way they described it, I didn’t really have very high expectations. I was very surprised and really enjoyed the movie. Afterwards, we all went to Dave and Clarissa’s for a game of Atmosfear, a goofy horror DVD board game that we had played with them ages ago. Good times were had by all. Then we headed home around midnight to finish up our WoW daily quests.

Last night Matt and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary. It's a little early, but I work on Monday during the day and Matt works at night. It's been a great two years and I'm happier than ever! After almost nine years of being on birth control, Matt and I decided to discontinue its use in April. I've had a few issues that have had me doubting my fertility and with the length of time I was on birth control, I heard it often takes some time for the body to normalize. Well, "some time" means less than a month for me, apparently. So … on our way to our anniversary dinner at cool Hand Luke's, we picked up two pregnancy tests at WalMart. I was so anxious, I took one in the restaurant bathroom! Two lines is pregnant. There was one bold line and one faded line. I was excited, but tried to contain it until something more certain confirmed it. all through dinner we talked about babies! Names, sleeping arrangement, child-rearing practices, teenagers … I guess we got ahead of ourselves there. We decided not to make any phone calls until I went to the clinic. This morning I took the second test and there are definitely two lines! At 8am we went to Family Practice to have a blood test done. It has been eight hours and we're still waiting for the call. It's driving me insane! Matt went to sleep.

I’m all graduated from my class, packed up and ready to go, and just waiting for a trip to the airport now. I can’t wait to see Matt in just 14 hours. Wow, it’ll be a long day.

Well, here’s my weekly update. Last weekend Lance, Rick, Jesse and I went to Atlanta. We showed up Saturday morning, grabbed some brunch at the Original Pancake House, checked into our rooms, then they guys, sleepy from an apparently sleepless Friday night, crashed for a few hours. I finished Neil Gaiman‘s Anansi Boys, somewhat of a sequel to American Gods (though I enjoyed Anansi Boys a bit more). They’re both quite good. We went out for dinner at an amazing Barbecue Kitchen, where the portions were humongous and absolutely delectable, and for the most reasonable prices I’ve ever seen. It was heaven on a plate. We changed and went out to explore Atlanta’s nightlife. It was an opportunity for me to dress up, which I don’t do often enough. We found a club called Tongue & Groove, where they hang unusually large Easter egg-type decorations from the ceiling. I was also amused by the slide shows of random images being projected over top the artwork adorning the walls. It was a good time. A little drinking, a lot of standing around. I feel a little odd going out with three guys. There were a few bridal parties and groups of girlfriends dancing in a circle, which made wish I had some girlfriends with whom I could go out on the town. It was a nice time nevertheless. Sunday morning we went to Six Flags. It was fairly overcast, and a Sunday during the school year, so there weren’t that many people there at all. We hardly ever had to wait in line for coasters, except for two. We rode a few water rides and half a dozen roller coasters, listened to some live music, and had some lunch during the six hours we were there. I was really pleased with the park and had a better experience at the Georgia Six Flags than I had at California’s Magic Mountain. I absolutely loved Deja Vu (exhilarating!), the Super Man was pretty neat (we did the whole ride in a horizontal, flying position), and Goliath was a blast as well (CA has Goliath, but it’s a little different). It was an exhausting day, but I had a blast. We returned to the Barbecue Kitchen on our way out of Atlanta for another meal and some of their famous (absolutely amazing) banana pudding. It was quite a nice last TDY weekend.

Not much has been going on really. Class has been short this week. Monday we finished up our troubleshooting block, Tuesday we were tested on it, and today we went in early to clean the floors and get our certificates. We had our last day at the Y and our last dinner out at Tbonz. I have been slacking on my crocheting and owe two overdue squares to partners. One I’m nearly finished with, and one is more than I think I can handle and I’ve restarted it way too many times. I’ve also been trying to work on my math class, but find it difficult without study partners, a solutions manual, instructor office hours, or lectures. Whenever I get stuck on a problem, I get a little frustrated and lose a little more motivation. I go to my first class on Wednesday, so I’m going to have to knock out as much as I can before then and try to get in some instructor visits.

Well, my next post will be from home. I can’t wait! Ta ta …

So I've passed my half-way mark here in Georgia. Class is going all right. I'm in Block 3 of 4 and will test out on Monday. It's a little boring and way more information than I'll really need to know, but I'm getting paid to sit in class for a few hours a night. My days aren't terribly exciting. During the week I sleep in, go to lunch with the guys, run some errands, go to the Y, then to school. It's almost like clockwork. The first weekend here we hung out in Augusta. We ate at the Bees's Knees (one of my all-time favorite restaurants) and then hung out at the Soul Bar on "Disco Hell" night. I'm not much of a clubber, but it was a decent time (although I learned that Whiskey Sours and I are highly disagreeable.) The second weekend we drove to Charleston and back on Saturday. We found a really nice rooftop bar where we had some snacks and drinks while listening to two guys with guitars. Sublime and Grateful Dead covers. It was good. We found a touristy hot-spot called Wet Willy's, a daiquiri bar, and had a good time drinking and dancing. Needless to say, much of Sunday was spent in bed. This past weekend was a three-day weekend. Lance had planned to take the rental car up to D.C. to visit friends from when he lived there, and I got to tag along and get dropped off near Langley AFB to visit with Andrea. I slipped in silently at 5:00 Friday morning, was greeted by the cats, and crashed on the couch. Friday Andrea gave me the LAFB tour and then we headed over to Poquoson, our childhood hometown. We drove around and saw all our friends' old houses, passed by our elementary school, saw our church, and the old house. Some things have changed, but not too much. We attempted to explore the old woods in which we used to play (the parts that weren't replaced with homes), but they were so overgrown and overrun with massive spider webs, we didn't get very far. We had a half-off dinner at Chili's, where Michael works. We watched a bunch of movies (Howl's Moving Castle, Mirror Mask, The Jacket, Kiss the Girls, Along Came a Spider, Snake Eyes) throughout the weekend. The three of us played some Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble. Andrea and I hung out at Virginia Beach, soaked up the sun, had some frozen custard, and visited the haunted house. It was a blast! I brought hooks and taught her to crochet. She did quite well for just three days of instruction! Michael is apparently very good at origami and has taught her quite a bit, so she passed some knowledge along to me. We made Chinese dragons and cubes out of dollar bills, as well as cute patterned pigs and cranes. I have tons of great photos of the weekend, but for some reason I cannot get the card reader to work for me. It's been so long since Andrea and I have really spent time together, so the weekend was really nice to just be around her and gab. It was definitely worth the long drive. Phew! I finished my art class, though not as successfully as I had planned. I can be quite the slacker. I'm starting up my math class now, which isn't designed to be a distance learning class, but I'm communicating with my prof through the end of the month and will try to do it on my own. It's not so bad … so far. I was on a crocheting kick, trying to get a significant amount done on Mama's afghan. The past week has been sort of crochet-lazy, though. I still have to make two squares to mail out for my square trade. I received three squares since I've been gone, I just wish I were there to open them! That's sort of a long-winded overview of what's been going on out here in Georgia. It's not the most exciting, I know. The active duty pay will be nice and while I'm out here, the government pays me to eat out (and the Augusta restaurant selection dwarfs that of Lompoc!) I miss Matt terribly and cannot wait to see him. We chat every day, though haven't really been playing much Diablo II together. He has Jason and the cats and seems to be doing well enough. I'll be home on the 30th … I'm sure I'll have more to blabber about before then, though.

Well, I'm here in Georgia now. Yesterday I had a 6 am flight out of California, a long wait in L.A., a delay in Atlanta, and finally wound up here in Augusta at 9:30. R's luggage was lost, but it was lost in that airport, so they took forever looking around for it until they stumbled upon it in the Lost and Found an hour later. L picked up and we went out to the Waffle House (how could we not upon arriving in Georgia??) Signed into the hotel. I have my own suite with a bedroom, living room, and bathroom, two TVs, a desk and two tables, fridge, sinks, etc. etc. It's nice. But last night it was wet and smelly. I guess the AC dumped all over half of my bedroom and the carpet was just one giant, saturated sponge. I was too tired and just wanted to crash. I moved up two floors to a new room today, though. This morning we checked in at the orderly room and then went to class. There are nine students in the class, but apparently that's a really large class. They split us up so there's a day shift and a night shift. I'm working 5pm-1am (which will probably be more like midnight). So I got the orientation and my books, then we ran errands and bought lots of groceries (I'm not wasting all this per diem eating out every meal!). I should be napping right now because I have class tonight and am running on four hours of sleep, but I'm just not tired. I don't mind having the night shift for a lot of reasons. Nights are nice. The only thing is that keeping in touch with Matt will be interesting, especially with the time difference. We'll work it out, though. We'll definitely get in phone time as well as Diablo 2 or StarCraft time … sometime. I know it will take some adjusting and I'm only gone 39 days, but I'm just feeling pretty down and lonely right now. The last time I was at Fort Gordon wasn't the happiest time in my life and driving around post comes with a rush of unhappy memories. It's been a long time since I've fallen asleep by myself or haven't had someone to talk to. One of Matt's coworkers from his unit (as well as an ex-coworker of ours at our old unit) is here for the same class. I guess it was a last-minute decision to send him and it was between him and Matt. How neat would that have been if Matt had been assigned this same TDY? I think that would be great … but Jason … hah, he'd show up to an empty house. Ahwell, it didn't work out that way. I have to go unpack all the stuff I had repacked after the wet carpet disaster. I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to babble on here, so don't worry, I'll be back soon!

I've actually been avoiding posting since we returned because, while most of my posts are pretty lengthy, this one just seems like too great an undertaking. Well now it's time, so here we go!

Mel and Matt's Excellent Vacation Monday - We left the car in Santa Barbara in the C-lot … C for Conklin. We had a layover in Los Angeles, so we went and had chili at Chili's in the airport. It was 7 pm before we landed in Denver and Mama and Ron were there to meet us. We chatted in the car and pretty much crashed in front of the TV with some terrific Sloppy Joes when we got to the house. Not much of interest to report. Tuesday - Mama rented a car for us, which was extremely nice. She had to do some work, so Matt and I just sort of wandered around town a little bit. He picked out a new, "grown-up" leather wallet (to replace his dingy Linkin Park, Hot Topic wallet). For some reason, I couldn't do a name change on my driver's license last year unless I was at a Colorado DMV in person, so this was my first opportunity to correct my driver's license. Surprisingly, that took all of ten minutes. When Mama finished working, she took us to the Cave of the Winds. Well, actually she made a wrong turn and took us to the Manitou Cliff Dwellings. That was okay, though, since we had never been there before! We toured around the museum and the dwellings a bit, then watched the native American dancers, which was so cool! Afterward we went to the Cave of the Winds, but would have had to wait around too long for a tour, so we just left. In the evening Mama and I looked through old "kid things" that I might want to take back with me or have mailed. All of what I'd like to keep is mostly children's books, the rain stick Grandpa gave to me, and a box of old sketchbooks, journals, and yearbooks. We had a nice steak dinner with baked potatoes and spinach/egg/bacon salad on the back porch, followed by a rousing game of Balderdash! Ron and Mama are awesomely goofy with their definitions and Matt was really good, but that night I topped them all! Heheh. When Mama and Ron went to bed, we stayed up and watched some TiVo'd Animal Planet. Wednesday - What a relaxing day! We slept in and didn't do much in the morning. Mama, Matt and I drove to Gleneagle to meet Ron for lunch at Barracuda Bob's. What a cute little lunch stop! Ron took Matt back to hang out, but Mama and I headed to Black Forest for Yevgeniya's Day Spa for our massages and facials. We had our massages together first and they were so relaxing! Mama then had her facial while I hung out in the sauna and read magazines. When I went in for my facial she got a pedicure. The place was so comfortable and the people there were extremely nice! We spent most of the afternoon doing that, then headed back, a little oily and feeling refreshed. We had dinner followed by another round of Balderdash, which Matt won. More Animal Planet then bed. Thursday - Thursday I don't remember doing much of anything, which is wonderful. Mama and Ron had to work, so we just sort of lounged around as I remember. Dinner was really the highlight of the whole day. Mama and Ron took us out for a first anniversary dinner to The Melting Pot. Oh my goodness, it was so good and so much fun! We ordered the Big Night Out, which started with wine and salads (whoa, great salads), followed by a spinach and artichoke heart cheese fondue with rye bread, apples, tortilla chips, carrots and celery for dipping. How great was that! Mama and Ron split the Pike's Peak Entree (lobster, shrimp, teriyaki steak, chicken, New York strip, and ravioli pieces to cook) and Matt and I shared the Garden of the Gods Entree (filet mignon medallions, teriyaki steak, chicken, peppercorn pork, sausage, and portobellos). We traded our mushrooms for their ravioli Florentine! We chose to cook our meats in a Coq au Vin fondue, which is a broth with burgundy wine, mushrooms, garlic, spices and herbs. What I liked is that they made everything in pot in front of us: mixed up all the cheese fondue ingredients before our eyes as well as all the meat fondue ingredients. Now we can go home and do it ourselves! We were stuffed, but couldn't skip out on the chocolate fondue dessert. We chose a dark chocolate fondue with strawberries, pound cake, bananas, brownies, cheesecake, Oreo covered marshmallows, and graham cracker marshmallows. Overwhelming goodness! Anyhow, that was dinner. I can't believe I spend more time talking about food than anything else. It really was that good, though! Friday - Matt and I packed up and headed for Denver, where Mama owns a condo by the science museum. We went to the Cherry Creek Mall to wander around the Tattered Cover, grab some lunch, and pick up Oblivion for Matt. I don't know if it was just the heat (98 degrees that day!!), the lack of oxygen, or just laziness, but when we returned to the condo we pretty much just passed out on the couch for a few hours, unable to move at all. The condo is nice. Mama is redoing everything in it to prepare to rent it out to travelers on business. I think it'll be great! For our purposes, it was perfect! Comfy bed, a pretty shower, Internet, television, a pool. Hooray! When we finally got up off the couch, we met up with a friend of mine from Fort Collins, Matt (yes, another one!) He moved to Denver a while ago to go for a second bachelor's degree in industrial design. We didn't really have any plans, so we found ourselves driving around aimlessly, chatting and catching up. We found a pretty little lake and went for a walk around it. The walk was longer than anticipated in such heat, but it was still nice! We went to 16th St. downtown to wander around and found dinner in the Appaloosa Grill. Matt (mine) had the seared Ahi tuna to try for the first time, which we found neither of us really care for. What was terrific was the pomegranate pork with brie mashed potatoes! It was a relaxing visit of mostly chatting and "how-have-you-been"s. Matt was a really good friend to me a few years ago and it's very nice to see him again and introduce him to my Matt! Saturday - Renaissance Festival! Matt and I drove down from Denver to Larkspur to meet up with Mama and Ron at the RenFest. We got there first, so we wandered around the shops, took in some Puke & Snot, and watched a bit of the Washing Well Wenches. When Mama called, we met up for some corn on the cob and turkey legs. Mmmm… We checked out the batiks while we waited to shoot at the archery range. Matt and I stopped by the yarn shop and I got a spinning lesson (with a drop spindle, but also got a history lesson on the spinning wheel). Way fun! We bought a spindle and some wool for me to try out at home. That was enough of the RenFest for us. We headed back to the condo, did a little swimming, and just hung out some more. Then we got all dressed and went out on a little date to Benihana. Matt has never had Japanese food before, so I thought we'd go out to a grill with performing chefs. The food was okay and our table was un-talkative and seemed really grouchy. We went back to the Cherry Creek Mall afterwards to see Click, which was okay but not great. It's just nice to be out with Matt on a date. Sunday - Matt and I drove up to Fort Collins so I could show him my old freshman year stomping ground and meet up with some of the boys. Matt and I navigated our way through Old Town, where a busy Brew Fest was commencing, to Beau Jo's for some yummy Colorado-style pizza. The group of geeks I hung out with at CSU has sort of disintegrated over the years, so we didn't participate in a 20-person Outback dinner like we used to, but we definitely had to meet up with Tim at last. We arranged to meet at Joe's place and I, unfamiliar with the roads and foiled so many times by massive road construction, finally made it there after a few wrong turns.. Tim's hair is its natural color and much shorter. All the guys are looking great! Andy had just arrived home from hanging out with Peace Corps buddies in Denver, so Tim, Joe, Matt and I swung by his place to snag him. I haven't seen Andy since I joined the Air Force and he joined the Peace Corps in 2002, so it was really nice to meet up after all that time. Matt had all ready met Tim and Joe at the wedding last year, but we introduced him and Andy. We bowled two games at the Horsetooth lanes. Matt and Tim are tied for the win, Andy won the drunken bowling award, and well … Joe and I just kind of stink. :-p It was a blast, though! We went to Young's Cafe afterwards for some Vietnamese, which was pretty good. We went back to Joe/Dave's place to watch Tom Yum Goong, a Thai martial-arts flick. It was, well … amusing enough! The guys assured us that the previous movie, Ong-Bak, was much better. It was still nice to just hang out with the guys, though. We headed back to Denver around 9, but didn't really get there until about 11:30 because of horrible traffic! Oh, it was a mess. I think we watched the Simpsons then crashed. Monday - Got up and packed our stuff. Mama and Ron showed up around 9:30. We watched the Discovery Channel to kill some time before we headed to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science to see the Body Worlds 2 exhibit. We had tickets for 11:30, but slipped in sneakily at 11. We saw all sorts of real bones, muscles and organs as well as real people posed so we could see all the nerves and muscles and whatnot. It was neat enough, but I guess I was expecting something more spectacular. It wasn't really gross or anything, either. Everything was plastinated (?) and we got to see a lot of cross-sections of people and organs and whatnot. I think the part that got to my stomach the most (but was still amazing) was seeing a uterus with an actual 3-month fetus inside or the cross-section of a pregnant woman. It's incredible, but still sad. I kind of felt like it was just like school. We had little placards tell us what the elbow is or the stomach. We kind of know a lot of that all ready. I think the most interesting was the abnormal stuff: the coal miner's lung, the gigantic liver with cysts all over it, or the cross-section of an entire 400-pound man and all the fat in the organs and whatnot. We sort of flew through it in about 30 or 40 minutes, though. It was pretty crowded and most of the stuff didn't require a lot of scrutinizing. Matt and I grabbed some McDonald's cheeseburgers and Mama and Ron took us to the airport. We said our goodbyes outside, then headed in to wait for a few hours. We got some TCBY yogurt and the guy who served us was also at our table at Benihana, so we chatted a little bit. We had a three-hour layover in LA again, so we returned to Chili's for some chili and chips. We read a lot. I started and finished Neil Gaiman's Stardust, which isn't terribly long (perfect for layovers and plane trips!) but I enjoyed it tremendously. It's a fun, fantastical fairy tale and I do so adore Neil. We got home just before midnight, downloaded the new WoW patch, and installed Oblivion before crashing. It was quite a nice trip. When we talked to the cat-sitter, Meredith, she told us that the had a wonderful time playing with Gabby, but she couldn't go anywhere near Tal. This was a shock to us, because Gabby is constantly terrified of Matt and Tal is the social one. I guess we'll never understand.

Wow, that was … lengthy! Matt wrote his own long overview of our trip at his blog, too. Other things have happened since we returned, but I don't feel like typing anymore! More later …