Valentine's Day 2009

Sometimes bad things can be good. In a lesson we continue to learn through life, when things don't go as planned, there opens an opportunity. With three days remaining before Valentine's day, the rain had melted all the snow. We were planning on going snow shoeing. We told our wives we had a "Plan B" - what we did not tell them was that "Plan B" was to think of something, and quick.

I really wanted this year to be special for Nicole and Tamara and since we had already planned the day as couples, it presented a unique opportunity to send Nicole on an adventure with Tamara. Dan (Tamara's husband and all around amazing guy and brewer) was excited by what I proposed and we quickly started developing the idea, identifying locations, securing contacts and appointments to make this day as special as possible.

After all, we only had 36 total hours until the adventure would begin.

I had a lot to do and little time to do it. After Nicole went to bed on Friday night I started my arts and crafts project, creating the maps, clues, cards and adding a voice over to the actual "Amazing Race" intro song.

3:30am rolled around faster than I wanted and I knew I would be getting up in 4-5 hours to take Eliana to the store for doughnuts. I wasn't done but I had to get some sleep.

Luckily, after doughnuts, Eliana and I had time to glue all the clues together and put the logos on the envelopes. I finished with about 30 minutes before we had to leave.

Dan and Tamara were going to meet us at the Mahoney household. After we were all there, I told the girls that "I forgot something and Dan and I were going to be right back". Ha Ha Ha

Dan and I left to start leaving clues around the city and only had a 10 minute start on the girls. When the 10 minutes elapsed, Jill, my mother-in-law, brought out the first clue and played the CD to kick off "The Amazing Race- Valentine Edition". The race was on and the fun was just getting going.

Here is a short compilation of where they went and what they had to do.



Dan and I had a blast putting it together and our wives had an unforgettable adventure. The day was a success.

After dinner, the girls told us that they were going to be responsible for next year, I can't wait to see what they come up with! I figure if we can do this with 36 hours...

Rain, rain, go away...

So, January was one of the coldest on record, February seems to have missed the winter memo and it has been raining for a few days. Luckily we were able to get in one great day of sledding before the rains came and washed the snow away.

I hope you enjoy the photos!

I love road trips

I love road trips- especially ones that go down memory lane.

Here is the first of many videos that make me fell all warm and fuzzy inside.

I hope you enjoy.