Wow, it's Monday night and I have to say I'm pretty exhausted.  It's a great exhausted though because I know that Cat and I made the most of our Labor Day weekend.  Originally we were planning on going to Jim Thorpe, PA to do some biking and some hiking, but our habitual procrastination ended up biting us in the butt as we weren't able to get a place to stay.  We were determined to have a great weekend regardless and came up with some fun things to do.

 

On Saturday Cat and I went hiking with her parents up on the Appalachin trail.  Sweet, I can finally say I've hiked the AT...well three miles of it anyways.  Supposedly it takes 6 months to hike from Georgia to Maine so I think next year I'll quit the job and Cat and I will take a good long walk in the woods.  Cat doesn't yet know of this plan so please don't spoil the surprise if you speak to her.  Although the trail was beautiful with some great views, I really do miss hiking in the canyons that are so close to SLC.  I especially miss the hike that starts at Albion Basin at Alta and goes up to Cecret lake. 

 

On Sunday Cat and I decided (ok mostly I decided) we would play hookie from church and go to Six Flags.  We had bought season passes with the intent on going several times this summer but because of the craziness at work we found ourselves at the end of summer having not gotten the value of our passes.  Cat's really good friend from College and her Fiance (names witheld to protect the innocent) joined us for a day of fun.  The day started out beautifully with hardly anyone at the park so we bolted directly for El Toro.  El Toro is this amazing wooden roller coaster that has some super fast turns and big drops.  After the ride, the four of us were all smiling and looking forward to the rest of the day.  A few rides later we made it to Medusa which is the probably the longest ride at the park with a lot of loops and corkscrews.  Half way through the ride I looked over at Jim (not his real name) and he appeared to be doing fine but as we were pulling into the station I looked over and saw him cover his mouth with his hand and the next thing I saw was purple chunks.  Poor guy puked all over his seat, shirt, and shorts.  After hanging out for about a half hour he still wasn't feeling very well so we decided to call it quits and head home.

 

Later that night some of our other friends joined us for a BBQ.  I never thought I would be the type of guy who would get all into BBQing thing (thought it was for 300 LB. guys in Wisconsin who take their charcoal grills to the Packer games) but I have to say it's been a lot of fun this summer having friends over for dinner.

 

Monday morning I dragged Cat up to Queens to go pick up a spin bike that I saw on Craigs List.  This spin bike had actually been a huge fiasco as the guy was supposed to deliver it and after three days of complications I finally gave in and drove to pick it up.  When Cat offered to wake up at 7:00 am to go with me I was completely shocked for if you know Cat you know how much she loves to sleep in.  Finally I have the spin bike and am ready to get in shape. 

 

Later on in the afternoon Cat and I headed out to the beach.  Earlier in the summer we had gone out to the beach with the youth in the church and it made me remember all the good times I had as a kid at the Oregon shore with my family and grandparents.  One of the things we always did was fly kites on the beach.  So I decided to buy a trick kite.  Although I don't know any amazing tricks yet, I can fly the kite pretty well getting it to swoop down and nearly touch the sand before taking it back up in the air.

 

We had taken a beach umbrella and while I was flying my kite, Cat lied underneath and read her book.  The problem was she fell asleep and after a while was no longer in the shade but was rather in the sun.  Needless to say she is very burned and uncomfortable.  As I type she has a wet towel (that I had in the freezer) draped across her soon to be blistered back.

 

So all in all it was a fabulous weekend.  Work has been so crazy the last few weeks that this was definitely something that I needed to help restore perspective.  I know selling K-Y is of paramount importance, but let's be honest I'm not saving lives and it was important for me to step away for a few days.

 

Hope everyone also had an equally great Labor Day weekend.