Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Women's Weekend

I leave for Women's Weekend tomorrow (Thursday) as soon as I can get home from school and get to Sherri's house. If you listen closely, you may hear our laughter all the back to Rochester!

See you on the other side.

Hope all is well.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Dynamite Weekend in Dayton

We just got back from Dayton, Ohio, where we attended the wedding of Sue and Jim A.'s son, Andrew. And we had a wonderful weekend.

We left here on Friday morning and had an easy 7-plus hour drive. I say easy because Jim drove most of it while I knit. I did drive the first 1.5 hours, because Jim had to be on a conference call for work for part of that time.

We arrived at the Dayton Marriott around 3:30 PM and quickly headed across the street to the paved multi-use trail that parelleled the Great Miami River. Jim ran and I power-walked for 45 minutes. One of the sites we went by was this beautiful carrillion tower. 

We ate dinner at a recommended restaurant in the Oregon District and had a nice meal. Back at the hotel we met up with Rochester friends Diane and Mike who had just arrived. We made a quick stop at Sue and Jim's hotel room, where they were hosting a small party. Here we got to meet the bride, Susan, as well as see many familiar members of Sue and Jim's family. 

On Saturday the wonderful weather continued. I had heard about "A Wool Gathering" that was taking place about 20 miles away from Dayton. I told Jim that I would like to go to that unless he came up with another idea of what to do on Saturday , and since he didn't, we drove to the little town of Yellow Springs for this event. This fiber festival was held on the property of a large dairy farm that offers lots of family activities. In addition to the fiber festival there were wagon rides, a corn maze, a restaurant/ice-cream store, and a mini-golf course! Yes, a mini-golf course named Udders and Putters!!! The fiber festival was most enjoyable and just the right size.
Jim was patient as I walked around all the booths, twice! There were the usual animals on display:




On our way out of the fiber festival, Jim discovered that he had a winning ticket for a free ice cream cone~which made the whole thing worthwhile! 


We decided to play a round of mini-golf, which was fun, especially for me since I beat Jim~ a very rare occasion! 


We returned to the hotel, after stopping for lunch at a small restaurant that advertised that they were voted the best BBQ in Dayton in 2008. It was indeed very good!

Andrew and Susan's wedding was held in the chapel on the campus of the University of Dayton and it was a lovely ceremony. The reception was held in the Schuster Center in downtown Dayton. The is a performing arts center and the atrium/lobby area is rented out for events like receptions when there is not a performance schedules. It was a beautiful glassed in area, perfect for such an occasion.
 

We were thrilled to be able to share such a special day with Sue and Jim and their family.

Saturday Corey raced at Colgate and he had a really good race! We are so happy for him! 

Today we had an uneventful drive back to Rochester. Jim did most of the driving so I could knit and the weather was once again most cooperative.

About my knitting: I decided I really wanted to try to make something new to wear to the New York Sheep and Wool Festival on October 17th. I chose a fairly simple sweater pattern and made very good progress  during the travel time to and from Dayton. I am still optimistic that I can complete it in time. I'll post a in-progress photo shortly.

Tomorrow (Monday) is GrandDad's birthday, Happy Birthday, Dad! I'm glad you are back in town so we see you  more often! Have a great day!

Hope all is well.