Weekend at Okoboji, Part 1

The Fam took a little trip to Okoboji this weekend, and we are still up here for a couple more days. Olivia, Daisy, Nicole and I came up thursday. Jeremy, Gina and Jordy joined us friday. We have been taking in all 'Boji has to offer and having a blast. Yesterday we went to Arnolds Park and Olivia rode the merry-go-round. She had a grand time on that, lots of smiles hollers of glee.

WATER BABY! Friday afternoon we got in the indoor pool at the water park here at Bridges Bay. Olivia loved it. She cruised around in her little floatie turtle, splashed and couldn't get enough of it. She also swam the lazy river with us in her turtle and was smiling the whole way. Clearly got mom's genes for the water, as her dad is sort of a sea cow.

Joe Liewer let us use his boat for the weekend, (thanks Joe!), and so we went did some cruising on East and West Okoboji. Here's Jordy loving it.

The Sitzmann Family

Daisy loves the boat, as she always did in Iowa City, too. By the way, try getting a dog and an infant to look at the camera on a boat at the same time. Good luck.

Jordy and Daddy

It didn't take long for Olivia to be put to sleep on the boat. Loud white noise and rocking? She was cashed.

To end off Saturday night here's Jordy serenading us. Mainly she was rocking for her mom, which at 11pm after a long day Gina was really enjoying. We were ready to go to bed, Jordyn was ready to head down to Bracco's and party.

**Update**: Today I turned 30! Goodbye 20's, it was fun. Today I celebrated my thirtieth birthday by: 1. Running 15 miles this morning 2. Boating in Okoboji 3. Stuffing myself like a pig 4. Hanging out with Mom & Dad here in Okoboji 5. Going to stuff myself a little more before I go to bed.

The Real GenCon post

This last weekend I went to GenCon in Indianapolis. Complete Nerdfest fun. Here are five of us that went, all friends from undergrad in Cedar Falls: Paul Gorecki, Cory Scanlan, Chad Delp, Michael Devin and I.

For those of you that don't know what GenCon is, it is a big gaming convention. Everything from D&D to Halo to Board Games. Many are played with a 20 sided dice, just a wee bit smaller than the one Chad is showcasing here.

Paul.

Here's Hans House, he joined us for a few gaming sessions. This was the Tower of Gygax, DM'd by Cory, and in honor of Gary Gygax, the creator of D&D who died this year.

This is the infamous COUGAR. Much different than the cougars Devin fancies in California, but equally open to trying new things. He was a bit creepy. I initially feigned fright and asked:

"Are you a bear?" ...His response, best put by Cory over on Scantabulous, was this:

The Cougar responded in a thick effeminate southern accent "Nawww, Ah'm a Cougar, can't ya tell from the looong taaail?""

I no longer had to feign my fear. A real furry.

GenCon, New Pics of Olivia and Stormtroopers.

I have a couple of GREAT pics to share. Tate, you wanted a new post. Here it is. Better than you could have ever imagined. I made it special for all the devoted Peltgrande followers out there. Here it is: CLICK HERE!

Rustic Run and Mighty Mo 1/2 Marathon

Here's Chad and I after the 23rd annual Rustic Run. I didn't have a great race, but it was a good day, finished 3rd in my age group and I beat Jeremy Dunlavey. Of course, he didn't run, so I had a pretty good shot to start with. Chad nailed 2nd in his age group, hence the green mug prize.

My first meeting of Maura Kay. She's a peach. So is Cullen.

Last weekend I decided to run the 17th Annual Mighty Mo' 1/2 Marathon. It was in South Sioux City, Nebraska. Pretty flat course, and AllSport was there with chip timing which was nice. I kept a pretty decent pace, and finished with a 1hr 45min 13.1 mile run time. It got me 3rd in my age group and hopeful to break the 3hr 45min 26.2 mile time mark this fall.

I called Mike friday afternoon after registering him for the 8K and told him he was running. He was glad he did. He set a PR for the 5K (at the 5K mark) and finished the 8K in 38 minutes. Good for 2nd in his age group, nice work!

In completely unrelated news, George Noory spoke with SkyCar creators at 4 am this morning on my way home from work. The M400 goes around 200mph at economical speeds and can hover and take off straight up. Moller, the company that produces them also has a M200 model which they plan to have released with at least 40 available in 2009.

Paris, Britney and Obama? Really? McCain, REALLY?

Ok, somehow I don't think Obama is quite in the same celebrity ballpark, or universe for that matter, as Britney and Paris. (Fun Fact: Hiltons donated to McCain. What does Paris' daddy think of that commercial?) Obama, celebrity? Sure, I guess. But a little different celebrity than Paris and Britney. And McCain, why did you pick two white girls to compare him to? What about Ashanti or Lil' Kim?


I have a hard time understanding how there is even a presidential race at this point.

As if I wasn't already excited about GENCON. The Catwoman is a Libertarian!