Topeka Nights

Topeka has been a very interesting place to be to say the least! Mom, Dad and I were at happy hour tonight in the hotel bar and asked the bartender about a good, local restaurant that we could go to. He couldn't say enough about The Plantation House. It sounded so quaint! He explained that it was a great steakhouse where all tables could be closed off for privacy. There was a bell that you could ring for your server. It sounded perfect!

We were expecting a beautiful plantation house and were a bit surprised when we pulled into the parking lot...Some restaurants are misleading when you see the outside...not this one! The inside smelled like a musty old house. The 'great' sectioned off tables were nothing more than vinyl accordion doors. This may not have been the place to order a cosmo, but Mom was brave. Who cares if it was served in a margarita glass with a straw!

The ambiance was something to talk about, but the food was actually really good! I decided to take pictures of our white trash gourmet meal...enjoy!

French Onion soup...without the cheese!It's not water...it's wine!

Cheers!

Field Blessing!

Most of you know that my brother, Erick and his wife, Heather have been trying to adopt a baby for the past 2 years. They found out that they were selected by a birth mother when we were all on vacation at my parent's house in July. It was a very exciting moment for all of us!

We knew the date that they would find out the definitive answer so Mom and I planned a baby shower just in case!

Mauren Marie Field was born on August 3rd in Topeka, KS weighing in at 6lbs 2oz. She is truly a miracle and a blessing to us all! She was 4 weeks early and wants to be like her cousin, Nadia and has decided that she likes to sleep more than she likes to eat. She is making great improvements with her eating and will hopefully have the suck, swallow breathe mastered soon!

Mom, Dad and I all drove down to Topeka for the weekend to meet the newest family member. She is perfect!!

We had another wedding this weekend, but this time we only had to travel about 20 miles to get there! Darrell, Dorita and Curt and Michelle Wax drove down from ND to stay with us for the weekend. We took the clan out to Gasthof's on Friday night which is a German restaurant that has men with accordions walking around singing songs and telling you to drink beer. It was a blast! Nadia was serenaded with Mary had a little lamb and row row row your boat.

Nadia found a new friend in Curt. She walked around the house saying 'Curty' all weekend long. I'm sure he was ready for a quiet ride back to ND!

Nadia was in heaven with Grandma and Grandpa here. She gave her orders and they followed them! She had both of them sitting on the floor with them at some point during the weekend. She also had Michelle sitting on the sidewalk in front of a neighbor's house playing catch. She's going through a 'bossy' stage right now!

This One's for Kimmy!

North Dakota Car Races!

Kimmy would say that we were dirtbags for an evening since we went to the car races in Dickinson. :) I actually had a lot of fun and wouldn't mind doing it again!

Vacation - Part 3

The last part of our vacation brought us back to ND to spend some time on the Farm and a Kuhn wedding in Bismarck. Nadia loved riding on the 4 wheeler and yelling for her new friend, Buddy.

We went to Bismarck on Friday and took Nadia to the zoo. Dana and Dawn came with us. It was fun to see Nadia's reactions to all of the animals!

Darren's cousin, Jocelyn got married on Saturday and we all had a blast! It's hard not to have fun with that many Kuhns. :) We decided to let Nadia stay at the dance as long as she was in a good mood. She loved chasing all of the other kids and dancing.

Nadia and I stayed at my friend, Dannette and her husband, Zach's house on Friday night. They took us out on the river on Saturday morning and we spent the morning on the sandbar. Dannette has a 9 month old girl, Taylor who is a doll!

Nadia's dance skills...although you may have a hard time concentrating on Nadia with Dawn getting down in the background!

Summer Vacation Part 2

After pretending we were in high school again, we packed up the minivan and headed south to Hot Springs. We made one pit stop along the way as Nadia had a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa Kuhn's and kept going south. Thank God for the minivan!

We spent a lot of time with family and doing some touristy things in the Black Hills. Nadia got to see the Flintstones Park for the first time. She liked riding the train, but liked the regular park the best. Go figure!

Erick, Heather, Darren and I went to Cascade Falls one afternoon to do some cliff jumping...that's how I remember Cascade Falls. Well, the cliffs aren't really cliffs but Erick and Darren did a few dives into the water.

We also spent some time in the pool that YaYa bought for Nadia and any other grandbabies that come along in the future. :)

Summer Vacation Part 1

Every 5 years my high school has an All Class Reunion back in Hazen, N.D. This was the first leg of our 3 part vacation. We kicked it off in true Hazen fashion with some beer and Fleischkuechle.

We had so much fun seeing family and old friends! What is it about reunions that make you feel like you're back in your younger days still? We were out until 2 or 3 a.m. each night! I think we have finally recovered after 3 days.