Weekend in Peru

We spent the weekend in Peru, Indiana. The annual Peru Maconoquah Challenge golf tournament was today (Sunday) and Matt likes to go back and play every year in it.

He drove there on Friday morning and met up with Ryan to play golf at Wolf Run. Before I left, Matt called and said, "hey, bring some camping stuff, we are going to be sleeping in a tent!" Um, ok. The Bontragers' were doing a campout in their backyard to celebrate the grandkids' birthdays.

On Saturday, they put up a few tents. Strangely, one of the tents only had instructions on how to fold up the tent and put it in the carrying case, but there were no instructions included on how to get the tent up! So, that one was a bit of trial and error.

Matt and Dale trying to figure it all out

Chris puts on the final touches!

One of the tents collapsed due to all the wind. So, we "volunteered" to sleep in the house. : ) It was COLD out there! Of course, as part of the deal, we got to sleep in the same room as Ryan's little boy, who is 1. (Luckily, he slept through the night and we didn't have to figure out what to do with him if he woke up crying.)

We sat around the campfire and had hot dogs and chili. We also roasted marshmallows and made s'mores. I love campfires and s'mores!

On Sunday, we went up to the golf course early so Matt could get a few practice holes in before the tournament. Apparently, there are a few foxes on the course. And Kent feeds them dog biscuits so they will walk right up to you!

Kent named the fox "Muni" after the Peru Municipal Golf Course

He walked right up to me looking for more biscuits

We couldn't believe how bushy it's tail was

Matt and Kevin (another Maconaquah alum) played against Bob (the course's pro) and Scott (a Peru alum). They played best ball and were pretty close the whole day. But, Matt's team just couldn't pull ahead at the end. Even with the last minute rally jersey. They ended up down 1.

Time to rally!

There was a cookout afterwards and they announced Peru as the winner this year.

Ahh... maybe next year Braves.

Trip to Peru

Peru, Indiana... that is.

This past weekend, Matt and I went to his hometown of Peru, Indiana. The main purpose for the trip was Scott and Cory's wedding. (Scott played golf with Matt and worked at the golf course.)

We got into town on Friday night and met up with Ryan's parents at the school gym. They play volleyball with a bunch of friends on Friday nights there. I jumped in and played for about a half hour with them. Matt supervised. : )

Afterwards, we went to a friend of Ryan's parents' house for dinner and to celebrate Ryan's aunt's 60th birthday.

On Saturday, we drove through town and Matt showed me the house he grew up in.


On Saturday night, we drove to the middle of nowhere for Scott and Cory's wedding. I forgot how dark it gets driving out in the boonies!

This is the best picture I got of them getting married


A pic of Scott and Matt


The only pic Matt allowed us to get together... I took it myself.


On Sunday, we stopped off at the hospital on our way out of town to visit Bob. He went into the hospital late Friday night, so he missed Scott and Cory's wedding. He had something called diverticulitis. Apparently, it's very painful, but he seemed to be doing well.

Then, we drove back to Chicago in very dreary, rainy, crappy weather. Hello, spring!

Weekend in Peru

On Friday, I took off a little early from work to head to Peru, Indiana (where Matt had been since Wednesday practicing up on his golf). I had done the Heart Walk at lunch time and it was H-O-T!!! I wasn't expecting it to be that steamy.

I stopped off at Best Buy on my way out of town to pick up one of those car convertor things that programs your IPOD to an FM radio station so you can listen to the songs from your IPOD while driving in your car. I thought I got a pretty good model, but that thing is not worth the money. It did not work well at all anywhere within an hour of Chicago. It did work ok in the areas of Indiana that are all cornfields, though. But since I really don't drive through cornfields that often, I don't think I'll be keeping the stupid transmitter.

And while I am on the subject of that transmitter... it totally made me miss my exit and get lost! The drive was going really smoothly, I got out of Chicago without much hassle and got to my first exit in good time. Then... somehow... I totally missed my next exit. I was trying to get the transmitter to work and could not, so I was reading the instruction booklet while also keeping my eyes totally fixated on the road (of course! ; ))... but apparently, that failed.

After a little while I realized that I was definitely not on the correct path. I hadn't seen a town in miles and I felt like I was WAY out in the country. On a side note, the transmitter started working really well, so at least I had some good tunes! Then, the highway I was on ended... a big sign said "Highway 49 Ends" and you have to go left or right. I knew that this was going nowhere good really fast, so I called Matt to get some revised directions. Luckily, he had a map of Indiana.

I made it to Peru about a half hour later than I had hoped. We had some Brunos pizza with the Bontragers and watched Vantage Point. Good movie! I thought for sure I would fall asleep (as I usually do during most movies I watch at home... plus I was wiped from the drive and not getting enough sleep the night before... damn karaoke), but I stayed awake until the end.

Saturday morning, we went to pick up all the ingredients so Matt could make his favorite peach BBQ sauce he learned to make at one of our cooking parties. We made a few stops around Peru and finally had all the things we needed. Matt did his best Julia Child impersonation in the Bontragers' kitchen and just about dirtied every bowl they owned! : ) But, the sauce turned out great as usual!



The Bontragers' got a couple new kitties and they were adorable!


After that, we grabbed lunch at the hot dog stand. As it turns out, Saturday was the last day it was open for the season. Lucky for Matt, he got one last fix of their spanish hot dogs and root beer.




We stopped off at a furniture store that was having a huge fire sale. I guess their store burned to the ground, but they had some stuff still left on a truck and they moved it to another building to sell. Matt was really just looking for a rug or some other small things to decorate at his condo, but we found a really nice bedroom set that he ended up buying (after Chris and Dale's stamp of approval!). He got the bed frame, dresser w/mirror, armoire and a nightstand... all for a really good price. The only bad thing is that it is still in Peru and is being delivered to the Bontragers' house on Wednesday. We have to work out a way to get it to Chicago.

I found a pic of the set online and I also took a pic at the store

After furniture shopping, we hit the golf course. I hit a few balls and got another quick lesson from Bob, the pro at the golf course. I actually did much better this time... well, at least I think so.

We played a few holes and I got a big blister on my thumb and lost a hunk of skin, so I sat out for the rest of the time until I could get a band-aid. Matt and Bob continued to play and I supervised. : )



Saturday night, Matt grilled out chicken breasts with his peach BBQ sauce. We also grilled asparagus the size of baseball bats (well, not really, but they were gigantic). Bob came over for dinner and we all ate tons! The food was really good!



I didn't last much past that because of all the running around during the day and the food coma I was in. I tried to stay awake to watch the Illinois game, but kept dozing off.

Sunday morning, Matt and I played a few more holes of golf. I drew a smiley face on my ball and I swear... that ball turned smiley face up almost every time. It was actually kind of scary!



Sunday was the day of the golf tournament we were in town for. It was Peru High School against Maconaquah High School and this was the 7th year of the tournament. Matt and Ryan (Macanoquah) played against Bob and Scott (Peru). Macaonaquah had won the past few years... there is a plaque in the pro shop which I forgot to get a picture of. I rode around with Scott's girlfriend and watched the guys play.


Matt and Ryan defeated Bob and Scott. But in the end, out of the 20 teams, there were 10 wins for Peru and 10 wins for Maconaquah... so the tie meant that Maconaquah retained their status as the champions.



Afterwards, we had a hog roast at the golf course. Good food!




Since we finished up pretty early with the hog roast, I went ahead and drove back to Chicago Sunday night. Hardly any traffic and a pretty easy drive and I didn't get lost this time!

I passed out pretty soon after I walked in the door... busy (but fun) weekend!

Now, I'm getting all packed again because we are heading to Utah for a long weekend to visit Matt's Dad and family out there. It sounds like they have lots of fun stuff planned for us!

Jam packed

My weekend felt more like four days than just a couple... even though it was really relaxing and nice to get away from the city, it seems like we were constantly busy.

On Friday night, I met up with Erin and we went to the nail salon by our house and got manicures/pedicures and then hit the Daily Bar & Grill for dinner. I ordered a total comfort food dinner, so after the combination of mani/pedi (which on it's own always puts me to sleep) and the big dinner... I was really wiped out!

On Saturday morning, I got up early(-ish) and drove to Peru, Indiana to meet up with Matt. I went straight to the Bontragers' house. They had made an awesome lunch, which was great because I was totally starving. After lunch, we headed to the Peru Municipal Golf Course. This is where Matt worked throughout high school and on his college summer breaks.



We played 9 holes of golf... my goal was to get under 10 on a hole. Yep, I'm pretty awful. I almost did it on the last hole, but of course, Matt gave me a "pep talk" right before my putt and it totally made me choke. So, alas... another 10.

A couple of action shots

After the golf, we headed back to the Bontragers' to clean up and got on the road to Indianapolis. We stopped off in Kokomo at Elder-Beerman to pick up a gift for Ruby Jane. Matt found some good deals on summer clothes (my mom would be proud). We found a cute little frog outfit and a green summer dress with a hat for Ruby. The hat looked super cute on her... but I think she was more impressed with the box! : )



A couple other pics that Jenn took.

Ruby and me


And Ruby in her outfit we bought her


We hung out with Ryan & Jen and Pat & Courtney on Sat night. Ryan grilled out chicken and Jen made mac-n-cheese and salad... all very good. We sat outside by the firepit drinking and chatting after dinner until we were all falling asleep. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pics of all of us from the night.

On Sunday, we got up and again sat outside and enjoyed the nice sunny weather. Matt and I decided to do a little shopping in Indianapolis before heading back to Peru. We went to Clay Terrace and grabbed lunch at Red Robin. They have free refills on steak fries... interesting concept, but our sandwiches were so huge, we barely finished the fries on our plates. After that, we walked around the outdoor mall and stopped in a few shops. Matt found some more shorts and I found some shoes... because I don't have enough already! I swear... I'm beginning to give Imelda Marcos a run for her money.

After the shopping, we went back to Peru... quickest trip ever (it helped that I totally passed out between Kokomo and Peru).

Again, we went to the golf course to play a few more holes. This time, I actually got a few 9's, but no 8's. It's a slow process.

Matt played a hole with his old JV b-ball coach/math teacher and his golf coach.



We played a few more holes with his golf coach and then the lightening started and the sky turned a nice shade of black... time to call it a day.



We ordered a pizza from Pizza King and went back to the Bontragers' for the night. There was a crazy storm with tons of high winds and rain. I was worried the windows were going to break in! This is why I decided to stay in Indy for the night instead of driving back to Chicago. I came back this morning (Monday) instead.