Oh What a Weekend! Katie and Brian go to Galena

Saturday was my Best Friend, Jenny's 30th birthday. For months, she and a few of Jenny's other close friends have been planning a huge trip to Galena for more than 30 of Jenny's friends. She thought it was going to be just a nice, relaxing weekend away with her husband and friend Lena and her boyfriend. Brian and I dropped our kids off at Bri's parents house Friday afternoon and headed up to Galena. We arrived at 5PM and knocked on the door. She started screaming and shaking. We spend the next two hours lying to her about what the weekend would be like, making a grocery list of things we would never need, and trying to get her dressed and ready for the night before anyone else arrived!



Here were are soon after we arrived at the Inn up the street from their house. Jenny and her husband Joe had a spa day at the Inn earlier in the day.

After much lying and texting, the second group finally arrived. Lena entered the house first and Jenny was really excited to her who she thought would complete her weekend. She was wrong...

After Lena, a swarm of about 10 friends cam charging in behind Lena to surprise her ( they had all been gathering down the road for over an hour waiting for Lena to get there. The person entering the door in this pic is Jenny's oldest friend, Monica who flew in from Arkansas for the weekend. Jenny collapsed on the floor and started sobbing.
Then, her mom and dad came....more tears!

Then Alicia, Cathy, and Kelly....more tears!

Then, Mira, Dave, Rach, and Sam caught Jenny in the bathroom trying to clena her face after all the crying...more tears and more smudged makeup....
Next came Dee, Jeff, Kat, Matt, Ryan, and Tracy. Even more tears.
Finally, at 10 PM- the last of the surprised arrived- Jill and Tracy!


What we thought was supposed to be a low key night as people arrived in shifts turned into 31-30 year olds pretending they were still able to drink like they were 21. Shots, beer bongs, and excessive drinking followed.

Tim and Chris made cupcakes and more tears came.
Jenny's husband Joe showed his appreciation for everyone's help in planning the only way he knew how- by doing a special striptease- Thanks Joe!
Months ago, Brian agreed to make a special brunch for all the guests. So, we got up before anyone else and started cooking and cleaning for the 10:30 brunch. it was great. Bri made two kinds of quiches, roasted red potatoes with olive oil and rosemary, fresh fruit salad, spinach salad with mushrooms, pecans, strawberries and poppysead dressing, lox and bagels, ham, chocolate chip pancakes with whip cream, and mamosa's and belini champagne drinks!


After breakfast, we packed up our coolers and loaded on to a charter bus. Jenny had no idea what was next. This is our whole group with Mom and Dad Lahart before they left and we went to our next destination!

We went to Chestnut Mountain on the Alpine slides. Here is Bri trying to race.
True Love!
After the slides, we boarded the bus again and head to a second secret location- Galena Cedar Winery. We took in the amazing sights, had a private tour, did a wine tasting, and just relaxed!

Saturday night proved to be a bit more low key...circle games like "I've Never" and "I'd rather", hot tubbing, eating leftover brunch and pizza's and a new twist on a favorite game, Flippy Cup rounded out the night. Jenny was overwhelmed and the weekend was a blast! What a wonderful celebration of JEnny and all our friends!

On our way home to Galesburg to pick up the kids, we got word that Brian's grandpa had an accident and was in the hospital with a broken rib and fluid in his chest cavity ( what they thought might be internal bleeding) We headed straight to the hospital and spent the new few hours there. The original plan was going to be to attend Bri's cousin's Junior football championship game but when we heard about grandpa, those plans changed...until Grandpa heard the conversations about missing the game while laying in bed and woke up and said, "you will go to that game and watch Ty play". With orders in hand, a group of family, including Brian, Me, and the two kids headed to the game.
It was a great game and a nail biter at times but Tyler's team lost. You can see the heartbreak on Tyler's facce ( he was the QB) in this picture.
We fed Amara in the car, got McDonald's drive through and got home at 8:30PM. The kids went right to sleep and Bri and I were passed out by 9! We are still recovering today but it was well worth the hangovers and efforts! We had a blast!