Dado turns 60

This past weekend was no different than the rest of the year thus far...BUSY!  Of course, it was another terrific weekend with friends and family.

Thursday evening my dad was greeted at the St. Louis airport by his friends, Dennis and Derry. This was the beginning of many surprises to come over the weekend.  D&D hopped on the plane with my parents and headed out to the city by the bay.  

After getting back to my place...SURPRISE...Cindy, Bobbi, and Doug showed up!  Cindy came from Dallas and Bobbi and Doug also made the journey from St. Louis.  Of course Chrissie, Kyle and the kids were here too from all the way across town!

We had a great BBQ at home and prepared for the weekend ahead.  

Friday we sent the guys off to golf at the Presidio and the girls went shopping...wedding dress shopping more specifically!  Well, dress #2 was the big winner.  So much for shopping around! It is perfect and wonderful and every other adjective synonymous with THE BEST THING EVER!  I will have to say wedding dress shopping can be a bit disappointing.  You get all hyped up because you found the dress and then you have to wait 6 months to see it again.  Boo.

After finding the dress, we paid a visit to the aisle I will be wearing it down.  This is St. Ignatius Church and while this picture doesn't do it justice, this is the only one I have right now!  The aisle is looooooooooong...and I intend to take my sweet time walking down it...only do it once!

Me, mom, Derry and Cindy at the entrance to China Town.

Hummmm...how can I get this in my suitcase?

After a quick change, we headed off to see Beach Blanket Babylon.  GO! It really is a must see. Funny, entertaining, and hot.  Yes, they are lacking in the a/c department.  But, the show was good enough to let it slide.  Then...of the The House for dinner.  Once again, SO good and great company.  

Mom and Cindy at dinner.

Kyle, Crick and the birthday boy.

Apparently Dennis was so tired he had to hold his head up!

Derry, Mom and Cindy

Saturday.  Napa.  Wow.  So much fun, and craziness it is hard to put into words.  Pictures, anyone?

Dado and me at Gloria Ferrer

We decided Scott can be in family photos now ;-)

Mom and Derry

The girls (me, mom, Derry, Cindy and Bobbi)

Kyle and Cindy enjoying stop number 2-Robert Mondavi

Apparently after Mondavi I was too busy drinking to take pictures...the following are the result of this...

The singing begins!

Trust me, they didn't stay seated so nicely for long.

Kyle, Scott and Cindy

Off the bus for our last stop at Kuletto.  It was beautiful (as you can see).

All of us...Mom, Derry, Bobbi, Doug, Me, Scott, Kyle, Dad, Dennis, and Cindy.  Sometime during this tasting we became Kuletto members...hummm...how did that happen?

Oprah's shack.

Uh oh.  Back on the bus.

Yikes!

The cool kids at the back of the bus.

No use crying over spilt (googled spilled v. spilt-spilt won) wine...just have another glass and bleach the whites when you get home!  

And then dad took it to a new level.  I won't post the rest of this series, but let's just say clothes were lost.

After making it home after 11 hours in wine country, camera broken, new wine club joined, pants stained, and sufficiently wined out...we called it a night.  

Sunday was rough.  Sent the guys to golf Harding (where the President's Cup is being held) and the girls just did a little touring of the city.  After getting D&D off the airport, team Koonless never left the house!  A little pasta dinner and in bed by 10.  

So, here I am.  Exhausted but happy to have a had a great weekend with everyone.  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADO!  Let's do it again next year!

Happy Birthday Scott!

As promised, a birthday weekend recap...

Friday night Scott was joined by friends at Ozumo (sushi) to ring in his birthday.

Thanks to Tommy, Cortney, Jeanne, Todd, Kyle, Chrissie, Karina, Robert, Nick, Kristina, Cru, and Jen for making the trek to the city (AND getting sitters) to celebrate. (Unfortunately we didn't capture everyone on camera, but below are a few of the pictures from the evening)

Me and the birthday boy!

Cru, Robert and Scott

Cousins!

Scott and Tommy

Scott taking a look at his birthday pineapple souffle type thing?  

Not a great picture but at least you get more people...(L-R)Me, Robert, Karina, Jeanne

Kristina and Nick

Friday night we awoke a few times to the sound of thunder.  I originally thought it was fireworks but quickly realized that fireworks don't go off at 3am!  Funny to be confused by a sound that I grew up with.  Saturday brought a lot of the same and so we stayed home to protect our scared little Lola from the storm!  Ok, really, it was rainy and gross and the idea of driving up to Napa seemed a little bit hard so we just relaxed on the couch for Scott's birthday. While it wasn't the most glamorous of days, we had a great dinner of burgers and a chicken sandwich at Barney's and even stayed up past midnight!  BIG night for us!  I didn't feel too bad though since I think he enjoyed his night on Friday (and the Hostess Cupcakes birthday treat).

Sunday brought more relaxing and a trip to church (where we are getting married-GORGEOUS) and a meeting with our priest.  Ah, let the wedding preparations begin!  

More fun this weekend...

one BIG day

THE BIGGEST! 

August 28, 2010.  WEDDING DAY!  

It is official.  We booked the church today and are officially committed to the date (good news, the reception site we wanted is also available that day)!

I am pretty much bursting with excitement over here.  Keep checking back for more details as I feel like posting them!  

I owe you all a post on Scott's birthday weekend too, coming soon...

ALOHA!

Well, I am unhappy to report that we are back.  While it is always good to be home, it is hard not to miss the island!

We had an AMAZING time celebrating our engagement and just enjoying some vacation time. I believe a story in pictures might be in order (it pretty much goes...gym/run, beach/pool time, cocktails, lunch, beach/pool time, enjoy sunset, dinner, sleep, repeat...).

One of the many gorgeous sunsets!

Mai tai anyone?

To add a little variety to the trip we booked a sunset cruise (I LOVE BOATING!).  This has been added as a MUST DO for any future trips.  It was very entertaining to try and drink our drinks while sailing along at a rather fast/windy pace...until it was at least halfway down it pretty much just blew out of the cup!

I could get used to this!

Scott, too!

The happy couple at sunset.

Oh, look at that, another one...

Sushi night number one (we enjoyed the freshness 3 times!)

One day we decided to hit the road for Hana with a plan for fish tacos at the Fish Market on the way back in Pa'ia. We didn't make it too far past Pa'ia before our need for the best fish tacos in Maui took over and we were turning around.  They were worth it!  I would skip the 4 hour drive for these any day (Scott's mahi sandwich was also to die for).  We also stopped at one of the zillion fruit stands on the side of the road and picked up some fresh banana and mango bread-YUM!

Scott at the Fish Market-you order from the chalkboard and the seating is family style.  A MUST on a visit to the island.

HAPPY HOUR-Scott and his Plantation Lemonade at Hula Grill while enjoying the live music.  I am surprised the island has any lemonade (or vodka and cranberry) after the number of these we consumed!

Self medicating my bizarre rash!

A few photos from our room before dinner

Scott's turn

Ready for my sushi...Sansei-another MUST!

dinner. me. again.

dinner. scott. sunset. again.

As I mentioned, I sure do love boat rides...so we went again.  This time on a snorkel adventure to Molokini.  Turned out the winds weren't cooperating so we headed for a different spot but the trip was fabulous.  Not many pictures as we were on a catamaran and the amount of water pelting us would leave any electronic device working.

View from the boat where we tied off to jump in to see the fishies!

We found champagne (it wasn't hard)!

What kind of CU fan/alum would I be if I didn't find the CU/CSU game (it wasn't hard either)! There were even a few other Buff fans there!

By this point we had moved from the Marriott to the Westin (if you want a hotel review...email me...that could be an entire blog post).

The Westin did have flamingos on their side!

We ended up back at Sansei...too good to go home without a return visit!

Hula Grill's famous mai tai-yes, it is THAT good.

10 days, too many drinks, a lot of food, sun, and fun later, it was time to take the red eye home...

Not a happy camper.

I put a smile on for the camera!

After an ambien induced sleep we arrived in San Francisco.  After a few loads of laundry and unpacking...

GIANTS GAME!  I am not used to this weather.  I ended up with two jackets and mittens on!

Scott gave me his jacket!

Well, that concludes our two week adventure.  Stay tuned-Scott's birthday is this weekend and my Dad's 60th is the next!  We plan to sleep in October!