Our New Apartment

Here are some pictures of the apartment that we chose... we are hoping to get into the condo within 2 weeks. (cross-my-fingers)
The furniture is not ours, so it will all be taken out before we move in.
We are so excited!! :-)

Things to Do, People to See! Part 2

Part 2 of our last week in KC...

Wednesday (8th)
La Bodega
The Kidwell's (Steve & Jill)
We had sangria, a ton of different tapas, and great conversation! It was so fun and so good to see Steve and Jill after such a long time! :-)

Steve & I (sadly, we forgot our camera that night and this is the only picture I have with Steve that I can find! Playing golf in 100 deg weather...very attractive!)

Thursday (9th)
Pizza and Wine!
Geraldine & Orestes
We went over to their apartment and had dinner -- we brought the wine, they provided the pizza -- it was perfect!! Exactly what we needed -- a relaxing night discussing and catching up on life! We appreciated them taking the time out of their busy schedule to see us! (Orestes is finishing his doctorate and Geraldine is taking night classes to get her masters!) No pictures that night either...

Friday (10th)
The Classic Cup
& Tomfooerlies (for drinks)
Jennifer & Brett, Geraldine & Orestes

We had wonderful time having dinner and drinks with everyone that night! Thank you to Jennifer for thinking of the idea!! :-) Also, thanks to Brett who drove in all the way from Columbia! It's always nice to be surrounded by GREAT friends!
We do have pictures for this one!

Lio & I, Jennifer & Brett

Lio & I, Orestes & Geraldine

Saturday (11th)
Lio & I cooked dinner for the family -- stuffed peppers, tomatos and squash; rice and 'gratin dauphinois' (potato gratin w/a ton of cream and emmental cheese-YUM!) -- then the top of our wedding cake for dessert! (Since we couldn't take it with us!)

I guess it figures -- we were a little too nice one another at the wedding... I'm glad we don't have pictures after we fed each other... icing was everywhere!

Sunday (12th)
My Mom & Dad smoked baby back ribs and sausages for our last night - it was so fun to have everyone there at the table that night! :-) We told the funnest stories and had some great laughs! It was wonderful and I will miss everyone so much... :-( Love you all!

Monday (13th)

Rachael Moment -- (that morning) I of course forgot to change my phone to a pre-paid (before we left) so I could keep the number -- I drove 25 mins all the way to the AT&T store and they told me I couldn't do it there and had to call the customer service line. Worthless... So I wasted a good hour and a half getting that done.

When I got back, we just got everything packed up and brought our bags downstairs -- 2 large suitcases apiece, along with 2 carryons apiece! My dad came back from work, we had our wonderful leftovers from the last two nights and then headed to the airport. (It was so sad to leave!)

Our Itinerary: (all local times)

Monday 4:40pm - Kansas City to Minneapolis (1.5 hours)

Monday 7:00pm - Minneapolis to Los Angeles (4 hours) -- then a 6 hour layover in LA

Tuesday 1:34am - Los Angeles to Taipei, Taiwan (13 hours)

Wednesday 7:30am - Taipei, Taiwan to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (4 hours)

These pictures are from the third leg of the flight... (we are so tired - it was 3:30am in the morning for us with the time difference)

Things to Do, People to See! - Part 1

Before we left, we had a full schedule:

For the 4th of July weekend my family and I went down to Table Rock Lake. Lio ended up flying in on the 3rd to Springfield, MO -- only an hour away from the lake. It worked out perfectly since we thought Lio would not be able to come for the weekend (because his audit was going to last till the 3rd) -- but he got off early and was able to make it!! It wouldn't have been the same without him! :-)

For the 4th, it threatened to rain for the first part of the morning, but ended up clearing up and we tied up in a cove that had a live band playing on top of a houseboat! It was so fun! The houseboat is in the background of the picture, with the band playing on the top deck...
(Note - The awesome poodle that was hanging out with everyone in the water... it would have been perfect if it was holding (pawing) a beer)

For the fireworks, we took the boat out on the lake -- it was so neat to see all of the boats (I'm sure over a thousand) with their lights sparkling on the water! (Wish I could have gotten a picture! - It was took dark though...)

Sue & Steve (Mom and Dad) Melody & Joe (family friends) Doug, Christi and Hunter (Doug's friend)

Lio and I

We drove back on Monday the 6th, and had dinner dates throughout the next week... :-)

Tuesday (7th)

BB's Lawnside Bar-B-Que

(at 85th and Troost in KC, MO)

They had a live blues band playing that night - Trampled Underfoot. It was a great night, we had Amanda & John, Dave & Lois, Auggie, and the Dietze family all there -- we had a blast sitting outside, listening to music and having some beers! PBR bottles (I think they were bottles...) were the bucket special that night... ahhh, it reminded us all of college!

mmmm... ribs! The Dietze's and the Suckolics'

Cari & Christi enjoying their meal

(yes, the French fries are like a quartered potato...huge)

funny stuff... Lio & I