Lights! Camera! Action!

Traverse City, Michigan, for fame and fortune! Not really-just work! Gave an award to one of our members and did some video filming for a marketing video. Too bad Travese City was so ugly. Okay, not really again! Fantastically beautiful. It's a tough life, but someone's got to do it! ... Same story going home, though-stuck in the airport with lots of delays, and didn't arrive back home until 1:30 a.m.

From the Wedding

Photos Courtesy of Shelly!

The couples are Shelly and Jason Hernandez, me and Mike, Megan and Tom Knight.

Mike and I are also shown here with his parents.

Headed Home

We're driving home from Pittsburgh today, which means back to reality for a bit! We had a successful trip in Western PA, I think. The pooch was well taken care of, we met new babies, I had my best round of golf to date, and we had a nice chance to visit with Mike's parents. We're pretty exhausted, but it was hard to complain to anyone, what with most everyone in McKeesport being new parents!


One of my favorite moments of the weekend came on Friday, when we ordered take-out from Luciano's. I hadn't exercised on Friday (riding in a cart playing golf doesn't count), so I wanted something healthier than pizza or chicken parm. I went with the entree-sided house salad with grilled chicken on top. No one thought to tell me that in Western PA, those salads come standard with french fries on top. Yup, french fries. And since it was take-out, it was a whole 15 or 20 minutes before I opened up the container and could remove the fries... meaning the grease had soaked all through the lettuce. Can you tell me why one would put french fries on a salad??!!??


We didn't take a camera to the wedding, but I hope to snag some of the photos others took and post them up here. Mike did a fantastic job singing - I'm proud of him!


Wish us luck on I-70 today...

Delayed Photo

From Sarah's Wedding... the girls from Fulbright Hall! (I can't remember our room number!)

Maureen, Sarah and Melissa

Leg Two Down

I’m writing this post on the flight from Las Vegas to Pittsburgh, but I’m not sure when I’ll be able to post it.

So sad to be leaving Vegas! What a blast. No other way to describe it. Only could have been better if Mike actually won any money while gambling! But why sweat the details?

We went to Nobu for dinner on our last night in Vegas. Mike had gone there on a guys trip in February, had expected to hate it, and loved it. Debbie set up the reservations as a surprise for us, since Mike had talked about it so much.

Mike did all the ordering, all family style. Tuna to start, then black cod and miso over lettuce wraps. Filet and mushrooms, chicken teriyaki, tempora rock shrimp, and two sushi rolls – tempora shrimp and spicy tuna.

Who would’ve thought – Mike Petron ordering THAT?!?!

Played craps just before dinner at Nobu (at the Hard Rock), then BlackJack after. Mike finished the trip with his customary all-night poker session.

So the most anticipated leg of The Anticipated Best Summer Ever comes to a close. And in a not-great way. Don’t get me wrong… our flight was on time!! There’s a first! But Mike possibly has the worst seat ever. He desperately wants to sleep. But we’re on US Air to Pittsburgh, on which neither of us has status. So we are way, way in the back, close to the restrooms. Lots of movement going on back here. He’s on an aisle and his seat mates have been talking the entire flight. He hasn’t been able to sleep at all!

Mike’s mom and friend will pick us up in Pittsburgh tonight, and we’re staying with Tom, Megan, and baby Jacob for the weekend. Goldie’s been entertaining the McKeesport crew for the past two weeks, and I’m anxious to see her!
Golf tomorrow in Pittsburgh with Tom and Jason, Tia’s wedding on Saturday, and then back to home – remember home? – on Sunday! I’ll be home for four days, until I fly to Michigan for work. But, that’ll be another post…

It's Been A While!

Sorry for the few posts since we started on this Phoenix/Vegas/Pittsburgh leg of the summer. But I hope you've been following the WSOP blog!

We've been having a fantastic time in Vegas with Debbie and Keith. The guys have played tons of poker, on top of the World Series of Poker tournaments that they registered for. We're staying at the Mirage. Debbie and Keith set it up so we have a suite where all four of us are staying. It's really been a stroke of genious - the guys are playing so much, that it's nice to have a central spot to come back to and meet up.

We saw Love on Monday night, and have been eating our faces off. Spa-ed twice! Mani, pedis with Debbie on Sunday when the boys started the first WSOP tournament, and again yesterday morning for a massage.

Experienced a little of the Venetian spa this morning, too. We tackled the rock climbing wall! I'm sore already, and can't imagine what tomorrow will feel like!

Off to Mike's favorite restaurant, Nobu, tonight!

Woops!

I just realized that my World Series of Poker posts sent from my phone yesterday posted to this blog instead of that one! I'll leave them up... but jump on over to http://insidewsop.blogspot.com for lots more from Mike's first day at WSOP!!

We're obviously in Vegas! But the fun calls ... so more later!

Not a Spectator Sport

WSOP... not so much a spectator sport! Mike just won a good hand, now up over $6000.

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Bringing Down the House

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I'm Married to a 10 Year Old

At the pool, after one round of golf for me, and two for Mike today. The hotel staff are shoting water balloons into the crowd of kids...and of course, Mike! Me? I'm waiting for my glass of chardonnay...

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The Links Course at the Biltmore (2)

Mike on the 15th.

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The Links Course at the Biltmore

Mike on the 13th.

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We're here!!!

We finally got to the Biltmore at 2:45 a.m. on June 12th! Fast to sleep. Our bags are supposed to land at the airport at 9:35 a.m. Wish us luck with that - we could use it!

I don't know what this luck is

We landed in Vegas with 15 minutes before our flight to Phoenix was scheduled to take off. But we landed in terminal D. We needed to go to terminal B. As in, take the tram to the main terminal, leave security, walk (run!) a while, go back through security, and then to the gate. Low and behold we did make it... because this flight is now delayed ah hour! I can't tell if this is good or bad luck! I think Mike was hoping we'd have to spend the night here in Vegas & he could get some poker practice in! We are still without our luggage, but I think that's the last of our worries!

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Maybe we are lucky?

Missed our connection and routing through vegas!

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Not Starting Out Lucky

With a short connection time anyway we're really having bad luck tonight! Landed in Newark, but have been on the tarmac for an hour waiting for a gate to open up! Our connection leaves in 20 minutes, and we're still on the first plane!

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Beautiful Sarah

The bride, on a break between the ceremony and reception!

Cool Park Idea!

It's an old run-down mill that was turned into a park!

Walking Along The Mississippi

Great walking trails along thr Mississippi River, not too far from the hotel!

And The Delayed Flights Begin

I knew delayed flights would be a pretty big part of the Anticipated Best Summer Ever. Unfortunately, they started with only the second flight! Sitting on the runway at Chicago O'Hare right now, because Minneapolis shut down it's runways due to high winds.

I can't complain too much, though - Melissa's got it worse than me. Her flight path took her from Baltimore to Philly to Minneapolis. Only the Balitmore flight was delayed, so she missed her Philly connection. She waited around for the next flight, but they didn't get her on it. Now she's got to wait another six hours for the next possible flight.

So much for the start of our girl's weekend!

The Clubs Are In!

Great news - my new clubs are in! There's no stopping my golf game, now!

I Should Stress It's OUR Anticipated...

I think I should stress that this blog is Mike and my Anticipated Best Summer Ever. An obvious thought, but one that comes up because I heard from Paul and Keith this morning. Paul and Keith are the gentlemen that Laura and I became friends with on our cruise around Italy last fall. They're from Wales, and flew to the States for Laura's wedding on NYE. In short, they are a blast.

We received word from them that they are off to a cruise around the Greek Isles this week.

So, yes, that trumps probably anything Mike and I will do this summer! Perhaps living vicariously can become part of the Anticipated Best Summer Ever. Hey - there's a thought! Leave a comment about the fun things you're up to this summer, and I'll post them as a list to the right - an "Everyone's Having Fun" list!

The Anticipated Part

Why did Mike deem this our Anticipated Best Summer Ever? Mostly because of travel, and mostly because a lot of that travel centers around golf. I'm desperately trying to pick up the game, complete with lessons, and frequent outings on Saturday mornings and Thursday evenings at the driving range. I've even applied the theory of retail therapy to my golf game, in the hopes that new clubs will offer an improvement!

The Anticipated Best Summer Ever started (when else?) on Memorial Day weekend. That's when we golfed three times in four days, with a trip to the driving range on the "off" day. Two of the outings were with friends and/or colleagues, which made it all the better.

The real fun starts this upcoming weekend, and continues through August. Here's what's on tap:
- I'm headed to Minneapolis with Melissa for our college roommate's wedding
- Then we're both off to Phoenix
- Straight from Phoenix to Las Vegas (more on this later, but follow the link to our second blog, "Inside WSOP")
- From Las Vegas to the wedding of a family friend in Pittsbugh
- Some work thrown in there to take me up to Traverse City, Michigan
- Four days in Dallas before...
- Jackson Hole with my annual work retreat
- And of course, the Fleming Family get-together in Emerald Isle in August

Fun, huh?

Mobile Blogging

To make the most of this blog, I've set up mobile blogging for me and Mike. You'll see this annoying plug for Verizon after the post but I guess we'll have to just deal!

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The Beginning of the Blog

Mike and I have quite the summer coming up - lots of trips, lots of golf, lots of new experiences. Not that we're bragging or anything (although we kind of are), but we thought you might like to hear about it all. Mike deemed this his "Anticipated Best Summer Ever." And the name kind of stuck. So I'm going to play around with Blogging and see if it works out. Hope you enjoy!