Waterslides and a Beautiful Ride

This past Thursday, Gearry and I hopped on our motorcycle and cruised down to Holiday World for the day. Even though we're married, have careers and own a house, we're really just big kids. And I think it'll probably be that way forever. And I like that.

The motorcycle ride down and back was one of the best parts of the day! We took Hwy. 37 all the way down to Interstate 64, meaning most of our route ran through Hoosier National Forest. The weather was absolutely perfect -- 70s and 80s and clear skies -- and the drive was gorgeous.

The best part about taking a motorcycle to Holiday World? Front door parking. The motorcycle lot is literally fifty feet from the entrance, so it was fun bypassing the hundreds of cars in the giant lot and cruising on up to the front. Not that we wouldn't be walking about a bazillion miles that day anyway, but hey, still.

I grew up going to Holiday World, and although some of the stuff still looks exactly the same as it did when I was 6 years old, a LOT has changed. Namely, the addition of three world-class wooden coasters (The Voyage is the newest and Gearry and I both agreed it was the best coaster we'd ever ridden) and an awesomely huge water park, Splashin' Safari. Gearry and I hadn't been in a couple of years and they've added several more rides and attractions to the water park since we'd last visited. We basically go just to ride the roller coasters and spend the vast majority of the day in the water park. We don't play the lottery and don't plan to, so we can't say "If we ever win the lottery" but if we ever randomly come across a ridiculously large amount of money, Gearry and I said one of our dreams would be to rent out the park for the entire day and only allow our friends and family in, so that we could all enjoy the rides and slides as many times as want to, with no lines. Seriously.

So, we had a great day. Went on lots of slides, chilled in the wave pool and lazy river and applied sunscreen liberally. Although Gearry still got pretty burnt up. He now has a Rudolph nose. And similarly colored back, arms, etc. Poor guy! I keep forgetting and doing annoying things like pinching his nose, rubbing his shoulders or hugging him really hard. All of these innocent gestures result in dirty looks and dirty words and cries of pain from my poor hubby. I swear I'm not mean on purpose!

In case you are wondering how softball is going (if you ever knew I was playing softball), it's going pretty well. It's a lot of fun; I had forgotten how much I missed playing. I'm still super competitive so I kind of freak out if I screw up or when we lose, but thankfully most of the girls take it pretty seriously and we have a decent team. I'm not sure of our exact record, but I think it is along the lines of 5-4 or something of that nature. We play on Tuesday nights and some Friday nights, like last night (we won!). I always seem to find an excuse to slide into the base, so I'm getting used to coming home every week with a little less skin and have some nice scars already to add to my collection. When you slide into home and score the game-winning run, however, loss of skin and blood is totally worth it.

Today is gorgeous... 85 and sunny! After volunteering at the animal shelter, I met Gearry downtown at the farmer's market where we picked up some fresh goat cheese, tomatoes and a baguette. This, along with a little bit of local honey and some fresh herbs, is our favorite lunch of all time, which we enjoy as much as possible in the summer. Nothing really tastes better than fresh, local food. Too bad they don't have a farmer's market every day of the week.

I need to go do some work for my professor for awhile (my little on-the-side-do-however-much-I-want-when-I-want job that) but I just wanted to give everyone a little update on the Young-Caudell clan! We're happy, healthy and a little stressed out (starting school this fall is the main culprit there)... life as usual.

The OFFICIAL Start of Summer

Yeah, yeah, I know summer doesn't technically begin until mid-to-late June, but Memorial Day weekend is most definitely the real start of the season. I just took the dogs out to potty and was absolutely delighted to hear the extremely loud sounds of a band doing a rocking cover of "Down on the Corner" coming from the clubhouse deck. It is now officially in-season here at Eagle Pointe, which means live bands by the clubhouse pool and cabana bar every Friday night, an influx of summer residents and vacationers, a heightened need to be on constant alert for stray golf balls whizzing through the air (if my car gets dinged again this summer, some golfer is going DOWN) and the ever-present smell of grill smoke, fresh grass and suntan lotion.

Not surprisingly, Gearry has to work this entire Memorial Day weekend. I probably could have made other plans, but I decided I needed a weekend to just chill. Therefore, if the weather cooperates, I plan on spending much of the next 72 hours laying by the pool, ordering drinks from the cabana bar and working my way through the pile of cheesy chick lit books I picked up today.

Gearry begins his new role as "floating" Sous Chef in the next couple of weeks, so he may may may (I'm not holding my breath) have some Friday evenings off this summer since he'll be working mostly mid-shifts (approx. 9 am to 6 or 7 pm). This will make me very happy, as Friday evenings jamming to a band by the pool just aren't that fun alone, and my besties are usually working (Gearry) or 4 hrs. away (Stebby, Hillary) or 10+ hrs. away (Colleen). I guess this will be good once I start school in the fall, because I won't have many distractions from the ridiculous mounds of work I'm hearing that I will have, but for this summer... blah.

I'll leave you with the sweet performance Taylor Swift (warning: she's country... I'm mostly a pop/rock/92.3 type of girl, but I still have a weakness for a few great country singers) did at last week's ACM Awards in Las Vegas. I loved it because 1.) She went all out... you could see that she put every bit of energy into the performance. 2.) It contains the coolest costume change I've ever seen. 3.) Who wouldn't think an on-stage downpour was cool? Enjoy! (Unless you are one of my many anti-country friends, and kindly opt out ;)

Fantastic.

A great weekend in Ohio with Josh, Hillary, Stebby & Co.

Very tired. Will provide a real update in the next couple days when Hill hopefully uploads some of the many fun pictures from the Columbus Race for the Cure 5K we all took part in on Saturday morning and the fun craziness we all took part in Saturday night!

I'm sleepy and more than a little stressed out by the thought of this fall and upset because my knee (illiotibial band) is seriously messed up and I'm not going to be able to run or bike for awhile, so it's nap time.

Jammin'

Bailey rocks it out to Jason Mraz. Seriously.

One of Those "Good for No Particular Reason" Days

I liked today.

I volunteered at the shelter this morning, then went grocery shopping, then enjoyed a tasty salad and lemon water for lunch on the back deck with Gearry before he headed off for work. Napped, ran, showered, walked the dogs, worked on a research assignment. Nothing particularly special, but a good day. Good mood. Lots of things to look forward to.

Tomorrow, Mother's Day. We're brunching at Gearry's resort with my parents, his parents and my brother. I can't think of a prettier or classier or tastier place to celebrate Mother's Day.

Next Wednesday, finally finishing the bathrooms and guest room in our house. I know, I know, we've lived here almost a year. Nevertheless, we're finally doing it... touching up paint, installing all new hardware (towel racks, towel rings, etc. in brushed bronze for the master bath and wrought iron for the guest bath), putting up a few shelves, etc., etc. I feel like such an old married lady for getting excited about decorating/remodeling, but when you own your own place... it just feels good to have it "perfect."

Next weekend, Columbus, Ohio, to spend a couple days with my besties!! AND... Josh is coming with me! My friends all love him, but it was hard for him to hang out with all of us before because he wasn't 21. I'm so glad he's coming (even though I'm still mad at him for ruining the Indy Mini-Marathon), and so are Hill and Stebby. We're heading over Friday evening after Josh and I get off of work. On Saturday morning, Hillary, her husband Chris, Stebby, Josh and I are all running in the Race for the Cure 5K in downtown Columbus. And Saturday night... paaartay! I need a good, fun, go-crazy, bar-hopping weekend. It's been far too long.

I'm Yours!

As you all know, summertime rocks my socks. In honor of this most wonderful season, I decided to share my fave song of the moment and my definite 2008 "summer anthem." It makes me think of laying by the lake, or sitting on the beach in Key West with a drink. Love it. Enjoy!

Happy Voting Day!

If you're reading this and you live in Indiana, I sincerely hope you took the time to go vote today. I was at the polls bright and early, around 6:15 a.m, so that I could make it into work by 7 am. (I work four days a week, 10 hour days, so I like to make it in by 7 am so that I can be off by 5:30ish.) I've always voted absentee, so actually going to vote was a new experience. I'm sure you all know by now where my allegiences stand... Go Clinton!! I'm excited to see the results later today...

I took these pictures yesterday on a long walk with Bailey and Zoey. We've lived at Eagle Pointe for almost a year now, and I keep finding new trails and fun little community features. Last week I discovered this sweet gazebo (accessible by about 150 stairs), perched on the side of a huge hill, that has an amazing panoramic view of the water. My camera most certainly doesn't do it justice, but it's a great place to go for some R&R and stress relief... that is, if you don't have the dogs with you, who spent the entire time I was trying to chill attempting to jump off the side of the gazebo so they could go down to the water.

Hey, look, Bailey's a blur as usual. I'm pretty sure that if he were a kid, he would have ADHD. Asking him to stay still long enough for a picture is usually out of the question. But, othertimes, he'll sit contently in your lap for hours and not move a muscle.

Josh forgot his shoes.

We're not going to the Indy Mini-Marathon tonight and tomorrow because Josh forgot his running shoes at Purdue. You're coming to a RACE and you forget your shoes??!

I'm in a bad mood, needless to say. We canceled our hotel and I'm home wallowing in self-pity. It was silly to go up there and spend all that money on dinner, hotel, parking, etc., just for me to do a 5K, which I can do plenty of around here. Even though I've been registered since December.

Yep, I'm in a bad mood. Lonely weekend ahead. Sweet.