Life in April

It's been a busy month already and we aren't even quite done with it yet. We also haven't shared much lately about what we've been up to, so I figured I'd pen a quick update on that very subject.

A few weekends ago was my cousin's wedding (yeah, the one we had the big bachelor party for). Since I was in the wedding it was a little more involved for us. We went up to Fort Wayne on Friday for the rehearsal that night. My cousin, his bride-to-be, and their families had spent the day getting the church and reception hall decorated and everything looked great. The rehearsal went off smoothly and then it was off to dinner at The Lucky Turtle (or, "The Stupid Frog," as I called it after forgetting the name) before hitting the hay. The day of the wedding was nice and relaxed, which was a good change from what I'm used to as far as weddings go. The wedding didn't start until late afternoon, so there was plenty of time to take pictures beforehand and even for my cousin and me to meet for lunch at Jimmy John's. The wedding itself was great - but really, they were married by the end, so what else is there? The reception was also a lot of fun with good food, dancing, and a killer toast by the best man (that's me!). It was a fun and exciting time and we were glad to welcome a new member into the family.

The Happy Couple (and bridesmaids)

My little cousin cutting in with my pretty wife

Congrats you two!

The next weekend we were back in Fort Wayne for Easter. We celebrated with my family on Saturday by having a delicious steak dinner and then homemade ice cream later. We brought Leo up with us and he had lots of fun running around with the neighbor's dogs (video here). Then on Sunday it was off to church with Leslie's parents and then a traditional Easter meal at their house with the extended family. As usual, Leslie and I ended up spending a good deal of time hanging out with our niece and nephews - we're obviously the favorite aunt and uncle.

This last weekend was a little different. Leslie was up in Michigan for a bridal shower, so I had to go it alone for a few days. Usually this would mean watching a lot of Netflix with Leo, but I had things to do. Friday night was the annual casino night that one of our vendors at work puts on for a bunch of their customers. It's loads of shrimp cocktail, a buffet dinner, and gambling with provided "money". It's a lot of fun and Leslie was definitely sad to miss out (and the other wives were sad she wasn't there too). The next day I was off to Ohio for a family get together. It's a yearly thing and about the only time I see some of my extended family. This year it was at one of my dad's cousin's house. They have a beautiful piece of property and we took full advantage of it, along with the wonderful spring weather, by walking down to their creek, around their woods, and even playing a round of mini golf in town. There was also a lot of great food and more homemade ice cream. Two weeks in a row... man, I'm getting spoiled.

Epic Shrimp Cocktail Bar

Oh Craps

A Little Piece of Paradise

Mini Golf with the Family

The Ohio Sunset

So there it is - what we've been up to recently. We got a chance to see a lot of friends and family at these events, but if you weren't one of the ones we saw then know that we miss your face and hope to see you soon. Thanks for reading and take care! Oh, and here are some more pictures of our kids. Because they're cute.

#nofilter

Deep in Enemy Territory

Bird Watching

The Big Dog

Spring Things

The weather is changing and it's finally starting to feel more like spring! Well, mostly... we did have snow last week, but that's Indiana for ya. With the coming of warmer weather we've begun looking towards new projects and things to do. This will mean heading outside and hitting the landscaping hard, but that's another post for another time. The last few weeks we've been doing some decorating inside (and outside) the house!

Leslie has been wanting to get some prints from Etsy for awhile now, and we finally got around to getting stuff picked out and ordered. These items included a few things for the kitchen as well as some for upstairs (but we'll get there later). These really help the kitchen look complete and add interest to the previously blank walls.

And while we're talking about kitchens, another improvement we've added is this nifty towel rack under the sink. A certain someone in our house likes to get his paws up on the counter and grab towels... so we decided this would be a good way to thwart his attempts. It's a nice little gadget and keeps towels tucked away where puppy teeth can't get to them. Plus they probably dry out better too.

I love wind chimes and we managed to find one we liked at Home Goods. It sounds great - something I'm very particular about - and was much cheaper than other chimes we saw. It's hanging out in the backyard and makes me smile every time the wind blows.

It seems like a pretty common thing for families to have pictures of their kids or posed family photos in the stairwell. We decided to conform to this standard and hung big ole pictures of our kids on our wall! Aren't they just so cute?

Oh, but we weren't content with just hanging those pictures. Now that we have the hall painted and finished we went ahead and got lots of frames and pictures for the walls. Some of this was on the walls in our apartment, but most of it is new (some of which are the aforementioned Etsy items). We got it all set on the floor so we could figure out how to put everything up... but haven't had time to get everything hung just yet. We're in the process of getting a good deal of other house stuff done, so we'll post pictures of this new photo wall once it's done along with some other fun stuff.

And seems that's all I've got for now. Thanks for reading and we'll see you next week!

Dinosaurs Go Boom

Most boys like dinosaurs at one time or another. And what's not to like? They are, at least in the movies, giant monsters with big teeth that run around eating each other all day. That's pretty appealing stuff to most boys (and the likes of Michael Bay or Guillermo del Toro too). And I was no different. I remember having dino toys, books, movies - the whole bit. I even remember reading about paleontology and thinking how cool digging up dinosaurs would be. Now don't get me wrong, I was no Ross and I never considered that as an actual career path, but I did love dinosaurs.

A passion for dinosaurs, however, is not what made me buy my latest book (number four of the year for me), T. rex and the Crater of Doom. I may have lost an interest in dinosaurs as I've grown older, but my interest in learning has grown with me. I try to learn a bit about everything - astronomy and art, physics and politics, economics and exegesis. I don't consider myself an expert on anything (except maybe Primavera P6) and I like it that way. I'd rather listen to the overture than the entire opera. I'll learn about sustainable fishing or using music as medicine from TED, but I don't plan on pursuing doctorates in agriculture or medicine. And that's part of why I loved this book.

T. rex and the Crater of Doom was written by Walter Alvarez, one of the researchers who discovered evidence suggesting that the non-avian dinosaurs, along with 75% of all life on the planet, were killed by an impact event. Essentially, the book covers (spoiler alert, I guess?) the initial findings that Walter and his team made that suggested an asteroid caused the mass extinction at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary, the research that went on for a decade after that to prove it, and a brief explanation of some of the ideas and science behind it all.

I absolutely loved this book. While I had already known about the Chicxulub crater, I was endlessly fascinated by it all. Alvarez did an amazing job writing a book about geology in a highly accessible way. The level of detail he gives is perfect - I never felt like what I was reading was over my head, but instead it got me more and more interested in the science as it went on. The early chapters were especially fun for me, as they introduced some of the basic concepts of geology and showed how they fit in the context of the impact story. I also enjoyed Alvarez's description of the events leading up to the discovery of the impact site and all the work done in the process. His writing makes you feel like you're moving - you're right there next to him as he's swept from discovery to discovery, always struggling on towards the goal of finding definitive evidence for an asteroid impact. Somehow he makes the decade long hunt and all the monotony of geology a quick-paced adventure. Alvarez also does a great job showing the value of cooperation between scientific disciplines and is quick to compliment other scientists, even those who worked hard to poke holes in his theory. He worked with a number of great scientists and makes sure to mention their contributions and hard work that helped him along the way. Just by how he speaks so well of others I can't help but think of him as a friendly guy that I'd like to have a drink with.

This was a great book, but I can't recommend it for everyone. It is science-y, so if you don't care at all about geology or paleontology then it probably isn't for you. It is, however, very accessible, so if you're like me and enjoy learning about a lot of different things then maybe this will fit nicely into your library as it has mine. I learned a lot from this book and found it to be a highly enjoyable read. It's just too bad textbooks are never this much fun... I would have done a lot better in school if they were.

Cakes For Dinner

No, not like normal cakes. Crab cakes! I had mentioned crab cakes and seafood one night to Leslie and for some reason she just couldn't stop craving them. So we decided to try something new and make them! This is our sixth recipe and is found here at Allrecipes.

The Recipe

Best Ever Crab Cakes

1 Egg

3 Tablespoons Mayonnaise

4 Teaspoons Lemon Juice

1 Pinch Red Pepper Flakes

1 Teaspoon Dried Tarragon

1 Tablespoon Minced Garlic

1 Pinch Salt & Pepper

8 Ounces Lump Crab Meat

1/2 Cup Crushed Buttery Round Crackers

1 Tablespoon Butter

Mix together all but the crab meat, crackers, and butter. Gently sir in the crab meat, trying to keep from breaking it up. Gradually mix in the cracker crumbs to reach the desired consistency - soft, yet able to form into loose patties. Heat the butter in a sauce pan over medium heat and cook the cakes in the pan until golden, about 5 mins per side.

Before Adding the Crab and Crackers

Fried Crabby Goodness!

End Results and Final Thoughts

These were delicious! Had I known that it would be this easy to make wonderful crab cakes I would have done this all the time. We enjoyed these immensely and were glad that we made a double batch. I really recommend this recipe. It's nice and easy, but produces great results. These will definitely be resurfacing again as we make dinners.

Bromanceathon

Leslie had a stretch of bachelorette parties and bridal showers there for awhile, but these past few weekends were my turn for pre-wedding festivities and some guy love. Two weekends, two bachelor parties, and lots of fun. (Warning: this is a pretty long post... feel free to just scroll through and look at the pictures.)

The first one was for my cousin, and, although we're cousins, we're actually more like brothers - he was best man at my wedding and I'll be best man at his. So, as best man, I had the privilege of getting everything planned for his party. The two of us, along with five of his friends, set off on a Saturday afternoon for a celebration around the Indianapolis area.

Our first stop was at Sun King Brewing. While fairly young (opened in 2009), Sun King is the second largest brewery in the state. They place an emphasis on seasonal brews and only distribute locally. We visited the tasting room (a huge draw for locals as you can get growlers refilled and buy four-packs of cans), sampled some of their seasonal and house beers, and went on a very informative tour of the brewery. It was a good way to start off our little excursion.

Stop number two was Flat12 Bierwerks. This brewery had many different types for us to try, a seating area, and sold pints in the store (compared to Sun King, who doesn't allow you to drink past the samples they provide). We spent a little while there enjoying a lot of really good beers. When talking about it later, it seemed that the group generally agreed that the best beer we had that day was found at Flat12. The Circle City Spuds truck, a local food truck, was sitting outside the brewery and provided us with a snack of Southside BBQ Nachos to enjoy with our drinks. Soon, our chips and drinks finished, it was a quick walk across the street to...

The Smoking Goose - one of my favorite places in all of Indianapolis. They buy local, responsibly raised animals and prepare them in all kinds of delicious ways. You can get traditional items (like bacon, Andouille sausages, and sugar cured hams) or something a little more unusual (like elk liver pâté, specialty sausages, and lardo). They've also started doing something in the past few weeks that was a huge hit with our group - bacon flights! It's a sampling of four of their different kinds of bacon - traditional apple wood smoked bacon, jowl bacon, lamb bacon, and chocolate covered bacon. Everything tasted absolutely incredible. It was really interesting to savor the different kinds of bacon together and appreciate the different tastes of each. The lamb bacon was the biggest surprise, in my opinion. I had no idea what to expect it to taste like and was blown away at the first bite. It was awesome. I also bought a few things to bring home - a pound of jowl bacon and a package of their Duck, Pear, & Port Sausages. Can't say I've ever had those things in a sausage before, but I'm sure it'll be excellent.

We were planning on going to another brewery before dinner, but apparently spent too much time eating bacon. So, without enough time to do much else before dinner, we hung out at  The Goose for a little longer before heading to The Rathskeller. They serve traditional German food along with some other classics like steak, pasta, seafood, etc. It's located in the Anthenaeum, one of Indy's historic buildings, just south of Mass. Ave. Most of us got entrees like Jaegerschnitzel or, my order, their Wurst Plate. They give you so much food that all of us ate until we were stuffed and still needed boxes. After enjoying our dinners we rolled out of there (yes, literally rolled) and headed to the previously skipped-over third brewery.

Indiana City Brewing, the newest of the breweries we visited at just less than one year old, was our last stop of the night. We were all very glad that they stay open until 10pm, since we wouldn't have made it there otherwise and it was probably the coolest settings of the breweries we visited. While they didn't have the size and grand tour of Sun King or the variety of Flat12, they had a great interior and the most relaxed vibe of any. We got a few pints, settled into the cozy environment, and just hung out for awhile - something we hadn't been able to do at the other more crowded breweries. After spending some time there we packed it up and headed back to the house for the rest of the evening.

Once safely back in Avon (without stopping at Cold Stone Creamery, as one guy suggested), we started in on some more bachelor party classics like poker and Nintendo 64. After another guy swept in Texas Hold'em and I dominated in Super Smash Bros. for a few hours, guys began drifting off to sleep on couches and the floor around 2am. So the rest of us called it a night (a very successful night, I'd say). The morning saw a quick breakfast and everyone was out the door before noon.

I can't speak for everyone else, but it was probably some of the most fun I've had in awhile. I knew there were some good breweries in Indy, but had never been to them. It was the perfect mix of relaxing and adventurous for our bachelor party. And hopefully it was a good pre-wedding sendoff for my cousin.

The next weekend was another bachelor party for a friend of mine. I roomed with him in college, we hung out all the time together (and still do when he's around), and he was in my wedding as I'm in his. Our bachelor party group was made up of a bunch of other close friends from Purdue, so it was guaranteed to be a good time.

We started off at Flat12. Did I mind going there two weekends in a row? Not one bit. It was still as good as before, but this time it was actually nice enough for us to sit around on their patio for awhile. We had some drinks, enjoyed the sunshine, and left after about an hour.

The next stop was a brewery I had originally planned for us to visit the weekend before with my cousin's bachelor party, but I cut it for time and convenience. This was Fountain Square Brewery in, you guessed it, the Fountain Square district of Indianapolis. They had a good mix of seasonal and house brews, totaling just under ten different varieties. The beer was good, the environment was relaxed, and we managed to get a table - what more could you ask for?

Our next stop was X-Site for some laser tag! There were a lot of little kids in our games, which is both lots of fun and very annoying. On one hand they're really easy targets, but on the other... well, they tend to just get in the way. But little kids aside, our group still managed to win both games we played. I did pretty well myself, getting 6th and 4th overall in our two rounds. Guess I still got it, even after not having played for a long time. (Oh, and I don't have any pictures from this - the quick pace of laser tag isn't exactly conducive to photography - so instead here's a picture of the star of the show asleep in the car during his own party.)

After we shot children with ray-guns for an hour, it was back to the best man's house for the rest of the night. He had prepared a bunch of pizza fixings for us to assemble for dinner. We made five big 'ole pizzas covered in such goodness as bacon, sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, more bacon, green peppers, and even avocado. The pizzas were actually delicious. After dinner we hung out, talked about life and marriage, watched a goofy martial arts / soccer movie, and eventually went to bed. It was a great time having close to all of the old group together. These guys are my best friends and I was really glad to see them all again (even if I had seen a few of them pretty recently). Plus, doing a bunch of fun stuff on top of all was great too!

And that does it for my two weekend stretch of bachelor party fun. Now we've just got weddings coming up, which are fun in a different way (a more civilized way?). So in the meantime, a big thanks goes out to all the guys who helped make these weekends so much fun. And congrats to the almost-grooms! Hopefully your bachelor parties didn't set the bar so high that your wedding pales in comparison. And thanks to all you readers who made it to the end of this post (or skipped to it). Have a happy Tuesday and we'll be back with more fun on Friday!