I heart you!

Still stealing photos from our trip from Delaware...cool rock, eh?

And who do I heart?

This guy --

Do you see the genetic connection?

In our last adventure with the O'Neals, we headed to Rehoboth Beach, Del-a-where. Though there was much excitement for the beach and Atlantic ocean, my husband was extra thrilled about going to DFH - his personal Beer Mecca. Arriving promptly at 11:30, we were greeted by the closed front door stating "Open Noonish daily". Luckily, for us, the place where you can purchase DFH merchandise was already open --
After forking over the cash for all of our new DFH gear, we enjoyed a very tasty meal off DFH's wood fired oven, a sampler of the beers on tap, and a few more after this.

Beers that began with Raison come highly recommended!

Oh...and we did make it to the beach (do NOT look too closely or you will be blinded by the white-ness!)

ANOTHER Buckel Graduates!!!

While Chris and I have been enjoying our time in Del-a-where?, my sister Lora has officially graduated from Roncalli High School ! This is monumental not only for her, but for my parents as well since this means they only have ONE MORE KID TO GET THROUGH HIGH SCHOOL! Lora was kind enough to send a few photos highlighting her graduation (since her punk older sis was not present to take tons of photos). As I blogged previously, she will be heading to IU in the fall for an incredible four years! (read between lines: I am WAY jealous!)

Ice Cream Taste So Good

...especially on a hot, hot day!

A Day at the Beach with the Nephews

Chris and I are having a great time in Del-a-where! We took full advantage of the small size of the state to travel over to Maryland today to check out Elk Neck State Park, here is a few of the MANY pictures that were taken...

...at the beach...

...at the lighthouse...

...and the loooooong walk back to George the Green car, which led to an early nap for the nephews.

Chris made it home safe!

Thanks Andy, Brett, and Barry for getting him home safely!

Now off to see some nephews...

Crinkly Nose Smiles are the Best

And to prove it to you...here is Graham --

Pick the Perfect Porter

Last night Chris cracked open one (of the 16!) Dark Lord's we have hanging in our closets, and to accompany the Dark Lord were 6 other porters...
At the last minute, Chris decided to throw together a blind taste test to see if the Dark Lord would be ranked the best beer (since it is #1 beer in the world). Though it was quite obvious which one was the Dark Lord (the one with the motor oil consistency), it did not rank #1 on any of the guy's lists, but it was consistently in the top 5. As an added bonus, a few of Chris's friends we haven't seen for a bit of time came. I am truly envious of Chris, he is still friends with the four guys he went to grade school and high school with - so I think it is always so cute when they get all together and start re-hashing their past funny stories. Here are a few more pictures from last night:

Luke (the new dad in the group!)

Barry all the way from Bloomington

Buckel #3 with a College Degree

Another member of the Buckel family has walked away with a college ed-u-bi-ca-tion:

CONGRATULATIONS, CATHY!!!

Of course, EVERYONE wants a picture with the graduate, especially when your older sister is present forcing you to take pictures with everyone! I give you...

The Graduate and Mom:

The Graduate and Dad:

And finally, The Graduate and her boyfriend:

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Us kids love you VERY, VERY much!

Though you don't want any party to celebrate your 50 glorious years on Mother Earth, I had to do SOMETHING public to recognize your birthday! So here is Bob Buckel, through the years (or as many as I had in my photo album - you are sooo lucky I did not have the high school picture with your fro'!)

Bob Buckel... a man of many trades, many siblings, a whole heck of a lot of nieces and nephews, one superwoman wife, and five loving, appreciative children.

He is a man that used to own a motorcycle...

Though you may picture a rough looking motorcycle dude, our dad cleans up quite nice...









Not to mention he is a bit of a tree hugger, always planting trees even though he'll tell you it's for the shade, we all know he's trying to clean up air pollution one tree at a time:

On our many trips to Myrtle Beach, he always looked so natural in the lifeguard role:
Though in my adolescent phase of life it drove me crazy when my dad would play the "cool" guy, but with the years between this phase and now, I have to admit he does it so naturally...



And you always knew growing up in our house, that dad haz gotz yo' back:











My dad went back to obtain his college degree when I was born. He worked in a factory, and went to school part-time for 10 years. I went to my dad's graduation, which is probably one of the most influential things my dad has ever done to me - walk across a stage to get a diploma. While working and going to school, he was also a part of a husband-wife duo that raised five kids...
So, he needed some extra sleep here and there...
I cannot quite believe that this photo was taken 20 years ago to the day celebrating my dad's 30th Birthday at the time...






...but it was, and I myself reflect how much has been accomplished in the past 20 years. I am so proud of you dad in all that you do for us kids, mom, the house, and yourself. You have been an incredible role model for us, and we all are very aware of how much you love us all. Keep running, riding your bike, changing your hearing aide batteries, and smiling! Love you!

Brugge

On the way back from the pub night last night, caught this on my camera...thought it pretty groovy.
The Brugge is one of the many places we dine at in Broad Ripple prior to tasting the cold, yeasty, malty drink of beer at our favorite pub.

Shelby & Sparky

Sparky has a new girlfriend. Unfortunately, she lives in a suburb of Chicago so they are trying out the long distance thing for a little while to see how it works. Here they are hanging out:
They have a lot in common - both their mothers were beagles, similar tastes in dog toys, and very similar play tactics. I think they are totally in love. Thanks, Becca & Drew for stopping by to say hi!

2:08:36

Mini-marathon re-cap:
Kendra and I made it through the first mile in 10:42 mainly due to weaving in and out of 35,000 runners! After the first mile, our time kept dropping and at the 5 mile marker when Kendra read our time, I had calculated in my head that we could potentially beat our 2:15 time from last year...not that this was important (but anyone who knows "ULTRA Competitive Jean" side understands what a big step it is for me to say "not that it's important...").

We stayed with our fast pace, and, though our bodies screamed with pain towards the end, WE DID IT - we got a 2:08:36!

Thanks, Kendra - I would have let my knee win if it wasn't for you running by my side to keep me going!! Here is stolen picture #3 since I can't seem to remember to bring my bulky camera with me anywhere (tell Brent excellent pic!):
An update on the knee - I am pretty sure I have some tendinitis though this morning I mostly have pain in my gigantic calves which must have done most of the 13.1 miles. I am walking a little better, so I am hoping with a little rest, I can get back out there soon to continue the training for Chicago Marathon in early October!

As for my family - my brother Chris got a 1:31 time - his goal was 1:30 and to place in the top 500, but he made 561 - still pretty darn good out of 35,000 runners! My dad toughed out some pain, too, and ended up in the 1:50 range - not bad for a guy turning 50 in a few days!
WAY TO GO GUYS!

Me and My SIL

I have been known to be a photo-stealer before so with that reputation secured, let me show stolen-pic #2 from Kendra's blog:
This is Claire, my SIL (sister-in-law) looking way cute next to metal mouth. She came along for pub night, though her uterus glowed the entire time due to little-boy deprivation, I think she had a fun time with us!