Crisis Averted

Last Sunday Jenny and I rode the Virgil Gilman Bike Trail from the Prairie Street parking lot to Waubonsee College.  On the way is Splash Country, located on the West side of Aurora.

It was a beautiful day... a perfect day for a picnic.  In fact, at Splash Country there was a family, of about 30 people, having a picnic on a few tables underneath a big strong oak tree.  It appeared they were celebrating a youngster’s birthday... a Cars themed birthday.


Upon arriving to Splash Country we heard some shouting and screaming coming from this “picnic area.”  At first Jenny and I assumed some children were playing a game.  But then we, and everyone else, heard a terrible snapping sound.  And the result was the limb, pictured above, falling directly on one of the two picnic tables.  Fortunately, everyone heard the limb snapping and was able to scatter in time... crisis averted.

Oh Hell!

It would seem that our Friday night card games have become a regular topic on here.  This is another silly video of us playing Oh Hell!  In retrospect, it’s actually pretty boring, but now that I’ve learned some more iMovie, it may have laid the ground work for some future videos.

And, if I were to stumble upon an iPhone 3Gs, I wouldn’t need to do stop-motion (although I’m kind of enjoying the stop-motion and plan to do more with it).


In the mean time, enjoy the video, and enjoy the Chemical Brothers.

Who's the birthday boy?

Today I celebrate my 32nd birthday.  And, last night I celebrated with friends!

We tried our best to take one good picture, but between feet sticking out and just plain silliness, we just couldn’t do it.  I’m kind of glad though, because then I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to create this silly video.


Thanks to our friends Trevor and Laura for hosting another fun-filled Friday night.  And thanks to Lynn and Elizabeth for the wonderful meal at our favorite Friday night hang out, Tap House Grill.

Welcome Home Ava Grace

Congratulations to Ben and Stephanie!  Little Ava was born on Thursday, May 14th.  She has all 10 fingers and 10 toes, and beautiful blue eyes!  And, as you can see she has quite a grip on Jenny’s finger.

We visited Ben and Stephanie at the hospital on Friday.  They were waiting for little Ava to pee... a requirement before being allowed to go home.  Apparently all she needed was Uncle Jarrod to hold her for a bit.  It wasn’t 15 minutes of rocking and she made a little mess in her little diaper!  And shortly after the nurse’s approval... it was “welcome home Ava Grace.”

New Ride

Check it!  We decided to enter the world of crossovers/SUVs with a 2009 Murano.  Now we don’t have to take two cars when we want to go biking, and we may have a chance at navigating back home when we get 50 inches of snow in an afternoon!  Well, at least Jenny will be able to.

We’re enjoying the new ride and look forward to planning our next road trip.  Hilton Head Island... here we come!

The New Lukers

The New Year has brought some much needed rest!  Today my new father-in-law reminded us that in just 28 days we got married, honeymooned on a week-long cruise, celebrated Christmas with our new families, and celebrated the New Year with our friends.

In the past 6 months we got engaged, moved her out of her house into our new house (my old house), prepped her house for sale, planned a wedding, planned a honeymoon, spent a lot of money, laughed a lot, cried a lot, and most importantly remembered how much our friends and family love us and how much we love them.


Above is a picture of the lobby of the Herrington Inn where our wedding took place.  I took this picture during a brief moment of rest prior to the wedding.  Between Geneva’s annual Christmas Walk and the Luker/Drake wedding that weekend, I’m willing to bet this was the only time that this lobby was empty and I seized the moment to remember that beautiful weekend.


We cannot thank our friends and family, and all those involved in our new life enough for your love and support.