Twins Game July 1, 2013

My dad and I went to our first Twin's game of the season on July 1 with Aunt Julie and Uncle Steve.  We had SO much fun (granted our Twins got spanked by the Yankee's)!! 

Aunt Julie is a quick, hyper gal with a loving heart and Uncle Steve is... well, he's Uncle Steve.  They are an awesome pair and it's a blast to hang out with them.  I didn't know if I would be able to go to the game because I was supposed to have a double header at volleyball that night but I found a sub and met up with dad at 5:30 to go to the game!  We rode together and met up with Steve and Julie and the night was filled with jokes, innuendo's, and laughs.  

We ate polish hot dogs (with lots of kraut), kettle corn and peanuts.  WHAT A FUN NIGHT!!  I have some pictures below.  If you haven't gone to a baseball game, GO!!  It's a lot of fun and you get your money's worth (for the game anyway, food is Pricey!).

 

Have an awesome Tuesday!!

Rebecca Grupp

Fourth of July Vacation 2013

(I forgot a friendly reminder: I won't be posting on weekends...)

OH MY GOODNESS.  I want you all to think about your favorite annual or tradition-vacation...

Ours is always over the Fourth of July.  And we love it.  I can speak for the group confidently (about this love), because of how many smiles, fish, funny stories from holidays past, and hugs are shared.  We all get to revisit what's been happening since we saw each other last.  

We always spend 4 nights in Milwaukee area with my aunt and uncle.  "We" is a large group between 10 and 25 people...  This year it was my Aunt (dad's sister), Uncle (dad's brother-in-law), and their daughter (10 y/o), my Aunt (mom's sister), Uncle (mom's brother-in-law), and two cousins (22 and 25 y/o), Dad, Mom, Sister, Brother-in-law, Niece (8.5 month old), [ex]bf (see here), his daughter and her friend (both 11 y/o).  It was a FULL house.  

We got there Wednesday night and pretty much just hung out and went to bed... The first fishing group went out at 4:45am on July 4 and caught 17 fish (when I say they went out, I mean they went two miles out on Lake Michigan and fished in water that's like 200 feet deep).  The second group that day went out at 2pm (while I watched Kylie, Melissa and Tyler went.  EEK!!!).  We got to spend some time at the pool, eat a lot, and watch fireworks.  

The next day (Friday), we went fishing at 5:30am and caught 8 fish (of which mine was a Monster).  After we got back, we went to The Boathouse and got the fish we caught, cooked!  We had blackened, broiled, and fried fish and oh my word, it was amazing...

And in the second group (the three youngest girls, Somebody (see yesterdays post) and myself), we caught 2.  Evidently our capabilities need refining. :)  When we got back to land, we packed up and went home to play yard games and have some drinks.  

my 38" fish from July 5, 2013... it took over an hour to reel it in!

Saturday was a little lower key - only one group went out to fish and while they were out, the rest of us went to the market on the pier, the candy stores, a toy store, then to the beach.  When we got back to the house, we played yard games (one of which my brother-in-law thought up) and had an awesome supper.  

We left for our respective homes at 8:00am on Sunday - it took 7 hours and 3 stops (food, fuel, etc).  

All in all it was an AWESOME trip much like every other year.  We caught some awesome fish, and made many more memories.  Thank goodness for close family.  Love them all.

And now, enjoy the photos :)

patriotic baby and I :)

Kylie got a little rowdy with a bottle of wine in the Italian Grocery Store

Dad and I fishing on July 5, 2013

Xoxo

Rebecca

Notice: All photos and verbiage displayed on this blog belong to me unless otherwise noted and are NOT to be used for any other purpose than for this blog posting.  If these pictures or verbiage are used by any other person or entity, legal action will be taken immediately.

BIRTHDAY!!

Melissa (my sister) turned 24 on June 1st this year.  And so did I.

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY!  

No worries, I said it to her ON her birthday as well...

We went to Chino Latino for supper and cocktails, then went to a couple of the hang-outs in uptown.  I am going to let the pictures tell you HOW MUCH FUN!!!!! we had.  :)

Have a Fantastic Friday!!

Melissa and I - I don't mind sharing a birthday with her at all :)

My sister, brother and I.  It's a good thing we get along better now than we did when Carl shut the door on Melissa's head when we were kids.  That would have been an awkward public display.

Bestie - Katie.  Lurve you.

Carl bought us a drink - evidently it wasn't Katie's favorite (or Melissa's) and I thought that was funny.

Here is the "before" to the picture above... It was a very dramatic beverage. :) 

THANKS CARL!!

Needless to say, we had a BLAST.  We have to make this birthday ordeal an annual event. :P

LOVE my siblings.  :)

Becca

First Date with Another New Guy

Another couple of first dates, another couple of heart breaks.  Actually just one of each. 

I met this guy online (which I promise you I will never ever do again)...  We will call him Somebody.  He asked me on a date a couple of months ago, January or something, after about 3 months of talking and I said no.

Now the reason I said no was because of a couple of reasons, but the primary reason is that at 24 years old, I didn't think I was prepared to take on kids (3) let alone kids that the eldest was nearer to my age than HE was.  The secondary reason was that I was worried about the stages we were at in our lives.  He is 10 years older than me.

He asked again a couple of months later and I still said no.  Finally, after his third time asking, we went on our first date on May 31.  His picture was really cute but he was a LOT better looking in person, I mean Wow.  I walked in and he was sitting down and smiled at me.  He was a chatty fella, and since we had been talking for so long before we finally met, it was like we had known eachother for 6 months.  Which we sort of did.

Anyway, we ate lunch (which was pretty delicious) and parted ways with a hug.  I got a call that night from him saying how much fun he had and that he would like to see me again.  

*Now, being a girl that's perpetually single, know that there is tremendous novelty in someone being interested!

I said sure but I was going to be gone for over a week.  The following night was my birthday (see post tomorrow) and I wanted to tell people about my date but there is something you need to know about twins... When you have a birthday, SO DO THEY!  It's not a bad thing, but you think twice about the level of attention you draw to yourself because attention is limited.  I wanted to keep it about the both of us :)

Anyway, we went on a second date and he came to a volleyball game of mine.  We started spending 4-5 days a week together if I was at home.  Eventually I started to notice some personality traits about him that I started to ponder.  Things that made me a little edgy about "us".  

I had invited him to come to our family fourth of July trip with us (in a later post) already so I had a solid 4-nights and 5-days to determine if this is what I wanted... He ended up bringing his daughter who invited her friend.  We were like a small little family going on a vacation (insert becca-freakout moment).  

The vacation was a BLAST but I learned a couple more things about us that I didn't like at all.  This was solidified on our drive home and I realized that of the 7 weeks we had been together, I spent 2.5 weeks wondering if this is what "joy" is.  

Well it wasn't. 

And at 24, I'm not ready to settle for what might be happiness.  I want what IS happiness.  

Tuesday night we had a conversation and ended it.  There are hurt feelings (and were harsh words and feelings exposed), but I'm at peace with the decision.

The reason I am writing this to you is that I think it's important to understand what I believe leads to a great relationship (and why I am still single).  What I have learned from this experience is that it takes very special care to introduce someone to kids - maybe I was introduced to his too early on (hence the freak out?)?  I'm not sure.  

Also, there are no circumstances where it is o.k. to settle for what you THINK is happiness and joy.  "Sometimes" isn't good enough...  Both parties in the couple need to be equals, one can't be made to feel like a lesser being, or small.  Contribution is important... 

Have you ever gone on dates with OR dated someone that made you think twice about what it REALLY is that you're looking for?

I can tell you that my family is the reason that I am contentedly writing this post knowing that even though he is a Very nice guy (and appealing to the eye), I made the right decision.  They support me through the analysis of my situation, and will sit there and listen to me whine and feel sorry for myself (while dad sings "another one bites the dust").

I love him anyway. :)

Just another day...

Love to all :)

Rebecca

New Gardening Capabilities

I mentioned in the last post, that I put in a new garden... I am THRILLED with the results but definitely used this year as a "learning opportunity". 

I live on .25 acres and don't have a TON of space to give up... In my back yard I have a little swampy marsh that serves no purpose and the area near my sliding door often collects water (that grows moss).  It sounds less pretty than it really is.  I love my house.  And my yard.  I did a lot of work on the front yard when I moved in (see below) and wanted to grow a fresh veggie garden like my older sister, Melissa. 

The top left picture is the online listing of the house before I moved in.  The top right picture is after I did the front landscaping.  The bottom picture is when I got the tree (see top left) replaced and tried to dig my own whole for it... I got a little over-eager/impatient waiting for a spade digger.  My self-dug hole took half hour.  Theirs took 30 seconds...  Oopsie!

Anyway, for the garden, I bought 3 yards of dirt for my 10' x 10' x 12" garden and planted basil, carrots, corn, cucumbers, green peppers, red onions, snap peas, tomatoes, and zucchini.

I will show you progress pictures as well to let you know how this became my learning year. 

before...

FIRST: I planted WAY too much

Starting with tomatoes.  But I DID want different varieties so I could have different flavors, but four is too many. 

SECOND: I planted WAY too close together

I learned that if I follow number 3 on this list with Carrots, I would not have a clump of carrots growing right now.  I will show you what I mean when I pluck them from the garden in a while.

THIRD: I need to start reading directions a bit better... 

When the lettuce bag says "one inch apart, one seed", they don't mean "dig a mote and pour in all contents".  Oops.

Immediately post-planting...

FOURTH: Give the veggies some distance... I know that I have a 10' x 10' garden but I should NOT have put 4 tomato plants next to snap peas next to zucchini next to corn and cucumbers.  Oops again.

FIFTH and final: Timing is critical.  I should have planted a bit sooner so I would be able to start reaping the benefits of delicious veggies right NOW.  However, life got in the way a bit and I procrastinated.  Either way, I'm patiently waiting for my first tomato.  I also bought a Green Pepper plant from Sam's Club, amazing.  It looks awesome and I can't wait for these babies to grow Bigger!

Taken 7/9/13

Like I said, this was a learning year.  I learned a LOT.

Much love. 

Rebecca

Where does the time go??

Welcome back!!  Impressive timing, right?

I figured I should spend a couple of minutes telling you a little bit about the past two months (and one day) since we last talked.  SO Much has happened.  I am going to make a list and the ones italicized, I have written and scheduled to be shared with you so I don't have to do this silly thing called "remembering" to post. PLEASE please comment (so I know you're reading still, despite my numerous months of absence) and let me know what you're up to!

May: 

Work work work

New Garden!!

South Dakota

First Date with the new guy

June:

BIRTHDAY!

5200 miles of driving

Meeting up with Margaret

Cooking

July (so far):

Twins Game

Fourth of July vacation!

Last date with the new guy

I know it doesn't seem like a lot but a lot has happened and I can assure you, it is material that deserved to be written about a long time ago. 

I need some advice for how you keep up with your blogs, also, how you keep it as a hobby versus another task or "obligation".  Is it because I don't have the readers that get engaged in commenting yet?  That I haven't proven useful for reading yet?  Any advice you have is welcome, I'm trying hard to keep motivated at it.  

I look forward to hearing from you, loyal readers!

In the mean time, enjoy some sneak peaks at some neat pictures from the past couple of months!

One of my favorite pictures from our birthday outing - these are my most favorite people...

One of my brothers 7 puppies

Twins game with Dad!!

The garden PRE-growth.  Stay tuned...

She is my favorite...

Thanks again for stopping by!!

Xoxo

Becca

Notice: All photos and verbiage displayed on this blog belong to me unless otherwise noted and are NOT to be used for any other purpose than for this blog posting.  If these pictures or verbiage are used by any other person or entity, legal action will be taken immediately.