"I don't want to hurry it. That itself is a poisonous twentieth century attitude. When you want to hurry something, that means you no longer care about it and want to get onto other things." - Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
heyo blog followers! so, this blog is different from our normal latin american posts. instead of treks, new cervezas, and beautiful south american landscapes, you'll be seeing some of our friends, family, and dogs that we have been missing while away. we got to spend a whole month in boston, the past three weeks in chicago, and we've got a few more days living comfortably here, then it's back to south america to continue the journey.
hope everyone had a great holiday and a good start to the new year. we've loved being home, but soon, we'll be on the road again :)
gotta keep up with our hiking while home! we got a couple weeks of fall weather before the cold really came, so we made sure to fit in some time for some good new england hikes :)
our friend amy holding up the results board for our 3rd annual christmastime cookoff! joe made it to second place this year with his awesome swedish-style mulled wine - glรถgg. yummmmmers
another must - foxwoods casino with some friends. it was a good night for us ;)
joe rocking his little nephew, gus, to sleep. what a peaceful little dude
gus loves his swing!
gus in his sweet baby alpaca poncho. a little big, but it works as a mini sized snuggie for now!
he loved it!
go B's! getting in some hockey time was a must
joe's feelin' it on top of ward hill. checkin out the beautiful view of the city...
this view.
hiking with kyle and his zombie-killing walking stick
who needs amazonian jaguars when you can hang out in the panther cave!?
a few winter scenes for you...
psychedelic leaf :)
frozen bubbles
dig it, its cold out
snack spot for squirrelies
dig it, its icy out
a great cardboard mercenary show at church, featuring MistOr Blizzard. these guys rock. almost didn't happen because of a couple fights breaking out at this normally chill bar - kinda crazy...
linky-dink with his favorite orange frisbee! lincoln is officially the dog that has the most blog appearances
to chicago we go! lauren's mom's retirement cake number 1...
number 2! you can see the excitement level is just a bit higher, because this was her official last day of work
bright lights, big city. downtown chicago at the german christmas market. had some brats and gluhwein, the german version of glogg - kept us warm on a chilly night...
bum pigeons, sitting around a toasty fire :)
chicago and christmastime goodness
molly showing off a new stylish snuggie-type blanket thingy - it looks good, but really restricts movement :)
lauren's army of chocolate covered cherry mice. delicious
up to wisconsin! our niece haley ready for some serious sledding
suka, their giant alaskan malamute, doing his job by pulling haley up the hill.
snow beard! this is what happens when you fall face-first into the snow at the end of a sled run
day one of snowshoeing up in wisconsin with lauren's dad, brother, and the pups
shoe-ing it up
it was time for a change, and that means a trip to my new stylist. she does wonderful work - i highly recommend her...
as you can see - quite stunning
lauren's brother with marshall, the newest addition to the tikusis family. he's at just about 2 weeks here and he's awesome :)
not much to say here except - dig it :)
suka in his retreat underneath the tree
papa and little marshall, taking a snooze. complete with an interested suka
seriously cutest picture ever.
tikusis family!
lauren getting in some good auntie time
happy 2011 to all! we celebrated the new year with a "new years eve eve" concert in chicago (yay to rock concerts sarah!) followed by hanging out with great friends in the good land, me-lay-walk-eeeee (i.e. milwaukee for you non waynes world fans :)
salty, cold winterscapes of chicago
a hockey game at a whole different level. we saw the chicago wolves, a minor league (AHL) hockey team. the focus here is totally not on hockey but rather on the pre-game fireworks and flamethrowers. i guess it's fitting because i'd say 75% of the people at this game were under the age of 12 :)
best advertising ever. during a game break, the announcer asked everyone in the audience (note, it was girl scout night at the game :), "ok kids, how many of you have a dog at home?" (screaming then began). then... "and now kids, how many of you WANT a dog at home?!" i could envision a lot of disgruntled parents at the game that night...
well... it's almost that time. time to get back to the world of hostels, white rice and beans, filtering water, and our good old travel clothes. we LOVED being home. it was nice to have a break from our travels, so now, when we get back, we'll appreciate all our experience a lot more! i guess that's what we've learned to take out of everything, whether it's really appreciating brushing your teeth with sinkwater in the states or getting a $1 overflowing lunch in peru. love every second of life
ciao all! our next post will be from bolivia!!!!!!!!!!!!
tallyho,
lauren and joe
