The Taiclets Vist Chicago!

Last weekend, Rich, Mindy, Isaak, and Natalie trekked out to Chicago to visit Trent and Jeanne! It was sooooooooo fun! I don't have a ton of pictures from the weekend, but here are some from my phone:

weekend starts with some Fritz Pastry!

Then a little golf:

Mindy, Natalie, and I went to a super cool craft show where Mindy got to meet some celebrity stampers and Natalie got a tattoo! And she got to jump in a bounce house! Rich, Isaak, and Trent golfed the day away...

Then some fun at Navy Pier on Saturday! Natalie and Isaak got to play in the fountain!

Then I ran a half marthon on Sunday!

Followed by the beach! So fun! We also got to have pizza movie nights! And we laughed a lot. Drank beer. Colored. Had Charbucks coffee... so much fun.

Race to the Taste

Mike and Erin were in Chicago this weekend!

We tried Cemitas Puebla (as seen on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives), went to the Frank Lloyd Wright Museum, went to the Lincoln Park Zoo, ate at Hackney's (also on DD&D and one of Trent and Jeanne's favorites...), and had tart yogurt from Berry Chill!

Also! Mike, Erin, and Jeanne ran a 5k Sunday morning!! So fun! It was HOT and HUMID. After we showered, we took a lap around the Taste of Chicago and tried a Chicago favorite or two.

Biking to work...

Easter in Chicago

Tyler (Trent's brother) came out to visit us over the weekend. And the Easter Bunny came!!


And we even had a rice krispie treat lamb! :) But we did allow any knives to be stuck in its head...

We really missed being at Gramma's, but we'll see you soon. In May!

He is risen!!

Golf in the snow!

While you all had lovely weather on Saturday, Trent and Jeanne had snow. Lot's of it. So what did we do?? Golfed! :)

It was a super fun driving range where they serve you drinks and food while you are golfing. Next time you visit, we'll take you!

walk at lunch. :)

Beautiful day for a walk in Chicago! You should all come visit and walk with me.

view of the lake!

Sunny day!

Sklyine!

OPRAH!

Hey Musil Family!

I went and saw Oprah today! It was pretty fun. I don't think that you'll be able to see me, but if you'd like to try, it will air on February 22. :)

Panamanian Deliciousness

Trent and I went to a Panamanian restaurant earlier in the month. It was so great. Great atmosphere. Great food.

This picture is Jeanne's delicious coconut chicken with plaintains. The picture does not do the food justice.

Traditional Panamanian coffee. Wonderful!

We also had fried yucca (our favorite), fry bread, some hibiscous drink, salmon (Trent's dinner), and soup!

So fun!

Maybe the next time you come you can try it too!!??!!

A few marathon pics.

I haven't developed the disposable camera yet. These are the pictures Trent took:

High fives at 18th Street!

Walking with an injured student.

high-five!

Mindy joined in for a minute! :)

This is the beginning. I'm in the center, behind the lady with the red sweatshirt...

It was such a great experience! So fun! Such a neat way to experience the city I live in. :)

Almost time for the marathon!

It's pretty crazy. If you had told me back in 1999 that I'd be running a marathon in 2009, I would not have believed you. But here I am, training for it. The most I've run has been 22. INSANE!

I'll be completing the 26.2 miles (hopefully!) on October 11, less than two weeks away! I'll be running a slow and steady pace (12 min/miles) (and, really, I'll be walking too - we run 5 min, walk 1 min and so on...). I'm running with a mentoring program. It's pretty neat to run this with at-risk high school students. The program is run through the MGR Foundation.

I made a footprint!

you can too! http://footprint.chicagomarathon.com/ A few hours after you make it, it's available on the site, then you can upload it here too, if you'd like. You can select different charities that Bank of America will donate to when you make your footprint (I suggest the MGR Foundation).

This is me and my friend Shannon after our half-marathon in August.

I'll keep you updated!

28 years young...

I had a great birthday. Got lots of calls, cards, texts, emails, etc. It was great. My work even had a cake and balloons for me. Then Trent got me this cake:

Delicious! It was a really fantastic day. I missed my Musil clan, though.

Love you!

Jeanne

Costa Rica!!!!!

Trent and Jeanne headed to COSTA RICA for some adventure and relaxation. We had lots of fun. Here are some pictures:

Poas Volcano - view from our hotel

The top of Volcan Arenal - that's smoke coming out!

Volcan Arenal is super active. At night we saw lava coming out of it.

We couldn't get a good picture of that.

Super rainy sometimes.

We visited a coffee farm while we were there. Here is one of the stations, drying.

Doka Esate (the farm we visited) sells 65% of their coffee to Starbucks!

Baby Coffee plants. These guys are about 1 month old. It takes a few years before they produce coffee beans.

So green. Everywhere.

These little guys got super close to us!

Treetops in Manuel Antonio

Cool lizard!

Beautiful beach in Manuel Antonio!

We waded out to the rock area in Uvita.

We had a wonderful time! We can't wait to tell you all about it!! :-)

Barack-O-Lantern

Trent and I carved our pumpkin last Saturday. We decided to carve Obama's campaign symbol into it. We love it! Hope you enjoy it too...

Trent carving away

Jeanne gets a turn

all glowy

yay!

Make sure you all get out and vote this year! Ohio is super important - make sure your candidate gets all the support he can.

much love,

Jeanne

Misc. From Chicago...

Rather than just complaining about not having pictures from the rest of you, I thought I would upload a few from Chicago.

Trent coaching soccer:

Trent's parents came to visit in mid-September! It was Mama Charles' first visit here. She was very nervous, but it was a great time!

Lake Michigan and the little light house. View from Navy Pier.

I had a garden in my side-yard. It produced ONE eggplant! It's of the "neon" eggplant variety:

The garden also produced plenty of tomatoes, here are just a few:

Eggplant on it's way to my tummy:

Love you!

Jeanne