Kentucky Fun

 

Hello from Kentucky! Just a little update on what we've been up to for the past week.

 

Chuck and I got in to Louisville on the 4th of July around 6:30 pm after a FLAWLESS travel day. It was literally perfect which, if you've followed the blog for awhile, you know this NEVER happens to us and is a big deal. We picked up our rental car and drove straight to my Uncle Tony and Aunt Kelly's house in Oldham County where all of my family and some of our friends were having a rainy 4th of July party. There weren't many fireworks because of the weather, but that didn't stop the fun. Just look at the community drink table!

 



 

First thing Friday morning, Chuck and I drove down to Rough River Lake and spent the day with his dad and our lake friends. Before we moved out of Kentucky, Chuck and I went to the lake almost every single weekend in the summertime. This was our first time at the lake in 2 years, so it was really exciting. It was still kind of rainy though, so we only got to go out on the boat for about 3 hours. Again, that didn't stop the fun. We played cornhole tournaments, grilled steaks, and had some drinks.  

 

 

 

 

On Saturday, it was back to Louisville for a day of covered volleyball with friends, as it was STILL RAINING.

 

 

After volleyball, it was home to get cleaned up and then we met up with family and friends at The Silver Dollar, one of our new favorite restaurants in Louisville. Seriously, it's SO GOOD.

 

 

 







 

 Sunday we spent at church and at my parents' house where my parents cooked dinner for us and Chuckie's mom. Here is my dad, the grillmaster.

 

 My parents watch a lot of Food Network shows and it seriously pays off. Look at this pizza they made just last night.

 

Monday I spent at the pool with my best friend and cousin and Chuckie spent at the Amazon fulfillment center in Jeffersonville, IN. Tuesday Chuckie also spent there before he had to fly out and go back to Seattle for a few days. He's been there since Tuesday night and will come back to Louisville tomorrow morning! Then we'll have the weekend to have fun again before he has to go back to the fulfillment centers on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and then it's back to Seattle for both of us on Thursday.

So far our trip has been awesome, especially once it finally stopped raining! I love driving around the city without having to use the GPS on my phone. I love that there is enough parking everywhere I go. I love being with family and friends.

The only thing I don't love is the humidity.

 

 

The Hagans visit Seattle

It was so nice to have my parents in town last week for 5 days. It's always nice to have visitors and be with people who really know you well. This was a nice vacation for my parents and felt like a vacation for us! We loved showing them around and exploring things with them that WE haven't even seen yet.

It was just an added bonus that they brought us Easter gifts, treated us to many meals, were some of the cleanest house guests ever, did laundry, stocked our kitchen with food and other items we're lacking, AND cooked dinner for us after Chuck and I both worked all day! Yep. They spoiled us.

Parents are the best.

While we worked all day Monday, they explored Pike Place Market and the Space Needle.

Here they are with one of the fish guys.


My dad also has a great video of the fish guys yelling "Go Cards!" right before the throw a fish over his head.

On Tuesday they were on their own for a little while in the morning, so they took a ferry to Bainbridge Island and had lunch.


They said it was fun but that really the ferry ride was the main reason to go. Chuckie and I will have to go on a nice day!  That night, Chuck scouted out a restaurant for dinner, and we ate at Senor Moose, voted Seattle's best Mexican restaurant in 2012. And it totally was. The food was incredible and they had a crazy list of margaritas- some had jalapenos and cucumber in them- and they were gooooood. You can't go wrong at a restaurant with a wall full of tequila.

 

On Wednesday morning I drove my parents to the University of Washington's campus. We parked and walked around to the bookstore and to the Quad where the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. It was absolutely gorgeous.

We made a pit stop at Savery Hall, the building where my Uncle's office was when he was a professor at UW back in the 70s.

Later that day, Chuckie got off work early and we made the long trek to Mt. Rainier. That was one of the coolest places I've ever been, and I took a lot of pictures so, that will get a blog post of its own.

Thursday my parents weren't scheduled to fly out until 10 pm, so we had the whole day to continue exploring. I drove them around Fremont, our old neighborhood, and we did some shopping. Then we drove north to find my aunt and uncle's old house from when they were living here while my uncle taught at the university. We found the house and found it was for sale!  My mom considered buying it. She was really excited to see the house again. She came to Seattle and stayed in that house a few different summers while my aunt and uncle lived here, so she has great memories there from her teenage years.


The rest of the day and evening we just hung around the apartment, ate all the leftovers from the week and made sure they had everything packed up.  It was a great visit and we were sad to see them go... But- we only have to go a few weeks without seeing them and all the rest of our family. We go home for Derby in just a few weeks!

 

The roommates

If you've ever seen the movie "Grandma's Boy" (and if you haven't, please don't waste your time- it's terrible) you know that there is a character in the movie who is way too old to still be living with his parents, but does. He sleeps in a race car bed and when he talks about his parents to his friends, he calls them his "roommates." Well, for the past 3 years, I too have lived with "roommates"- my parents. While I'm totally looking forward to living with my new roommate- Chuckie- there are definitely some things I will miss about my current roommates. Here is a little glimpse of what it's been like living together for the past 3 years.

- Last summer, the roommates started watching all of these cooking challenge shows on the Food Network. At some point, my dad became obsessed with Bobby Flay, to the point where now sometimes when we say grace at dinner, it ends with "Thank you God, for Bobby Flay." But because of this new obsession, they started cooking with all different types of ingredients and making up their own recipes. And y'all? It's been GOOD. Sometimes when I eat the food they make, I feel like I'm in Bobby Flay's kitchen.
- We share a love for most of the same TV shows which is nice because there is only one TV in the house with DVR. One of our favorites is New Girl. I wasn't sure they would like that show but they started watching it with me and one night recently, I came home and they were watching it without me! As in- I wasn't forcing them to watch it. They just really enjoy it! Other shows we love are Dexter, 24, How I Met Your Mother, Amazing Race, Survivor, and a lot of HGTV shows.
- Sometimes they leave me notes and I love it. "The coffee is fresh," "Happy birthday!" or my favorite, (from dad usually) "read this article in the CJ!" with a post-it attached to some article in the paper he wants me to read.
- We share a a major love for margaritas.
- I have taught my parents a lot about technology. Facebook, ipads, facetiming, twitter, printers, etc. I'm not a super technology genius but sometime they make me feel like one. Especially when I tell my dad to google something and he types "google" into the google search bar. Yes. He googled google once.
- One time, I was supposed to make jello shots for a party. After I made them, I needed to put them in the fridge to set but I couldn't get the refrigerator door open (in the garage) to put them in, so my dad moved the car back a little for me so I could. They're so supportive.
- One time, I heard a clanking noise in my trunk and when I stopped to see what it was, it was a microwave. I asked my mom why it was in there and she said "Your dad put it in there." So when I asked him about it and why it was in there he said "We are running out of space for things in the garage!"
- Sometimes they accidentally hide my mail from me.
- When Sami left for college, we became empty nesters together.
- A few months ago, we almost bought a new refrigerator because ours had a rank smell coming from it and we couldn't figure out why. Then- the Big Fridge Cleanout of 2012 happened and we discovered the source- some nasty old Ricotta cheese. It was pretty entertaining.

So as you can see, the roommates and I have had some pretty good times together. And this list doesn't even cover half of all the things I could tell you. But just know this- I have laughed so hard at with them I've cried so many times I can't even count them. (I swear some of the misunderstandings that happen in that house are like something straight off of I Love Lucy.) 

Roommates- if you are reading this, I hope you know that you've been great roommates and I will continue to thank God for Bobby Flay when I say grace in honor of you two. Love you guys.