Found in Fishers

Con"grad"ulations Mark!

What an awesome weekend! My sister, Liam, Mom and Dad came down to Fishers and we all attended Mark's graduation from high school this weekend. It was such a great day. The weather was wonderful in the morning. Congratulations to all Hamilton Southeastern High School grads!

Since graduation was at 10:00 AM at the Indiana State Fair Grounds, we planned on leaving about and hour and 15 minutes before the ceremony began.  Mostly because we wanted a good seat. We got one! This required that we kept a pretty strict shower schedule in the morning. Dad was trying to butt in during Sarah's time. I heard some growling but I think that was just Dad trying to wake up.

The ceremony was a bit late because a couple students were in an accident on their way to the ceremony. They must have been ok because they came to the commencement. After hearing the obligatory speeches, the names of the 425+ grades were read. Mark looked pretty darn serious the whole time. Not sure if it was because he was thinking or bored.

Pomp and Circumstance started so did the tears. Just sentimental is all.The HSE Wind and Chamber Ensemble bands played. That was really special because Mark was in the band for all 4 years of his high school career. And, they did such a nice job. When I hear Pomp and Circumstance I cry even if I was watching a graduation on TV. The music just gets to me. I  thought it was a great ceremony. There was an older couple next to me. The woman would offer me a Altoid about every 30 minutes or so. It was sweet. I hope it was because she was being nice and not because I had bad breath.

Following the ceremony we got ready for the party. I was thankful Sarah and Mom were on hand to help me. I felt like we had a lot to do. Liz and Mark helped out too as John was running some last minute errands like picking up the cake. We had an enjoyable time at the party. I will tell you more about that in another post. Especially about when the tornado sirens started going off.

Celebrating the Big 5-0 at Bubs

It is hard to come close to beating the ride to St. Louis for Mark's birthday pizza. Tonight we gave it a shot in celebration of Juan's birthday.

When I got home from work, I found the mulch was not delivered like promised so it was a perfect night to surprise John with the traditional birthday dinner out. And, I had just the spot in mind. I did not tell John where, just the address as he punched it into his GPS. We went to Bub's in Carmel. In hopes of finding a delicious burger we found an extra surprise.

Bubs is famous for the "Big Ugly Burger." This burger is 1 pound of meat weighted after cooking along with a special bakery bun. If 1 person eats the burger his or her photo is placed on the wall in the restaurant. If you eat 2 your get an 8 x 10. 3 burgers get you an 11 x 14. We went for the 4 x 6 for eating 1 burger.

Mark and John decided to give it a try. The waitress explained the rules; whatever they order also had to be eaten. John decided to leave out the lettuce and tomato. Mark took only cheese, ketchup and mustard. Me,  I took a quarter pounder. That was enough! No contest for me.

Not long after receiving the burgers, we all agree they were very good. Moist, flavorful. A real treat. Mark and John had 3 pieces of cheese each on their burgers. I took bleu cheese, my favorite. I started to worry a bit about Mark because he drank 3 full glasses of lemonade before eating, but he did it. Ate the entire BUB. John was lagging behind but in the end made it.

 The two had their picture taken for the wall. John signed it "The Big 5-0" and we asked the waitress for a certain location in the restaurant. Of course we need to go back and see the photo. Bring friends to see the photo. Needless to say, John was uncomfortable all night long from such a big meal. Last time I checked he was still laying on the chaise lounge on the deck with Sally.

We had a great time. Good food, good company. Here's to many more birthdays Juan!! I hope the mulch is delivered tomorrow. I know two guys who have quite a few calories to burn up this weekend.

It's almost been half a Century!

Juan celebrates the big 5-0 this week. We were going to Tampa last weekend to celebrate but decided to use the money on landscaping, more on that later this week after the mulch is delivered. Since we did not get to Tampa, I decided to invite some of our friends over to celebrate. I am always looking for a reason to have a bunch of people over.

Well, I definitely picked the right people. We had a blast! There were so many funny stories about buying party napkins, tattoos, as seen on TV products and more. We even spent some time microwaving  some leftover peeps from the Remley's house. Yes we are all adults. No we had not been drinking heavily. Life is too short not to have a little good clean fun!

I filled the counter full of yummy snacks. Always picking the ones I have a taste for. This weekend it was chicken salad on croissants. Oh, and M & Ms. When the night was coming to an end, I realized that I never picked up a cake, oops. John thought I was kidding but I really did forget to pick up a cake.

The best part of the night was opening the gifts. It started with some Lysol from our friends who know I hate the smell of cigar smoke. John got a funny t-shirt and his own box of Sham-Wows! The funniest gift of all was this red box labeled New PJs. It was from the Northcrafts. John opened the box and inside was, well, nothing. Kinda like the Emperor's New Clothes. I can't go into too much detail without getting in trouble from John who says I tell too many stories but we all laughed and once everyone found out why it was so funny, they laughed too. It was non-stop laughter for over an hour. I can only say that I added to the evening sharing a variety of stories about emergency shorts and white socks. Juan was a good sport and he really did laugh. I think we all laughed more than we had in a very long time. We are blessed to have these friends to spend time with. If you can't have fun around your friends then where else can you?

We are expecting company in for the weekend and will celebrate Juan's birthday again. This time with a cake. I think I will order one of the infamous Costco cakes because we all love them. I need to come up with a present. What do you buy a 50 year old dude!

15 Days and Counting

Tis the season for some party planning. First Juan is celebrating the big 5-0 in a couple weeks. We are having some friends over this weekend to celebrate. The next weekend is Memorial Day weekend and then it will be Mark's graduation. It does not seem possible. How can it be that four years have already passed. We have lived in Fishers for four years!

Mark is getting excited. I think he is ready for the next step. He is going to start college in the fall in information technology. The first semester will be at Ivy Tech as he is part of their 2 plus 2 program. Basically he will have dual enrollment at Ivy Tech and IUPUI. After 2 years he will finish at IUPUI. The benefit of the dual enrollment is that he can take the foundation classes at Ivy Tech. Classes like English, Algebra, History, etc. with smaller class sizes.

In the meantime Mark is trying to land a job. Figures that the economy is in the tank when he is looking. I feel worse for all of those recent college grads.

Tonight Mark finished his senior valedictory speech. It is a senior requirement. He did a nice job. It is a PowerPoint summarizing his senior year that he has to present in class tomorrow. He captured some great memories.

The next few weeks are full of planning. The family is coming in for graduation weekend. Mark graduates on the 30th at 10:00 AM. That afternoon we are having a picnic for our friends in the area. Then in June we will have another picnic up north at Sarah's house to celebrate with our friends from the region.

Yikes, I better get my act together. I don't even have the invites in the mail yet!

Southern Comfort

 Last week, I was able to attend a conference for school data warehouse users in Greenville, South Carolina. It was a great conference and a great location. There were six of us from work that went to learn more about how we can further use the data we store as a school district. Along with me were some of our data analysts and our two tech specialists that provide professional development for teachers. It was nice to get away and spend time dedicated to looking at our data. What was even better was the weather in South Carolina.
We arrived at the small airport in Greenville. It was sunny with a slight breeze and about 70 degrees. Once we settled into our hotel room, we took a walk down mainstreet. When searching for things to do in the evenings, I suggested we go on a mouse hunt. Greenville has several bronze mice hidden in the downtown area with clues to find the mice. It is based on the book, Goodnight Moon. It was fun seeing who would find each mouse first.
Greenville is a dog friendly city. Buddy and Sally would have loved it. The main street is lined with numerous cafes that also have outdoor eating areas. All welcome dogs. There are doo-doo bag dispensers on the light posts and dogs are brought out water dishes along with their own lemon slice on the rim.
Back to reality on Thursday night. The time went by pretty darn fast.

This place is for the birds

Our little feathered-friend who's taken up residence on our front door wreath must be close to motherhood. Up until a few days ago she would take off the minute the door opened. But not anymore. We come and go for the newspaper and mail and she sits tight, just giving us the evil eye as if to say, "Who do you think you are?". Don't mind us, we only own the house. Given momma's lack of interest in flying the coop I figure her eggs are ready to pop any day now. So it only seems appropriate that we name her...and we need your help.

Give us your suggestions for naming momma bird and our the winner -- chosen by our select panel of judges -- will receive a very special, one-of-a-kind Found In Fishers keepsake. Be creative and let's get those names rollin' in!