Apple Day - Year 27!

This weekend we gathered for the 27th annual LeClere / Ewing Apple Day! It was by all accounts another huge success! Friday evening we (Scott, Micki and Gracie) shared a fun dinner with Grandma, Pop, Uncle Matthew, Joe and Leanne. We also enjoyed a few nightcaps in the hotel lobby...thanks to some VERY upscale wine glasses courtesy of Leanne :) Saturday morning we were up bright and early...the men all met at 7:00 a.m. to set up the tailgate. The rest of us joined them at 8:00 a.m. to continue the fun! Joe made his famous egg sandwiches, bloody mary's and sausage balls! Grace was ADDICTED to the sausage balls - I guess I'll have to get that recipe! We really enjoyed the rest of the day...it involved lots of friends, family, corn hole, flippy cup, beer pong, food, beverage, and birthday celebration (happy 26th birthday Jenna)! Dad, Matthew and I headed into the game for the second half. It proved to be a lot of fun, and we watched the Hoosiers pull out a big win against # 22 Northwestern! After the football game we watched the Cream/Crimson scrimmage of the basketball team. It was fun to watch them practice and got everyone ready for basketball season!

After a few hours on Kirkwood, we headed to Bw3s to watch the Notre Dame / Washington, Penn State/Ohio State, and Alabama/Tennessee football games. We were all relieved to see the Irish pull out an impressive win, and Penn State prevail in the final minutes versus OSU!

We always enjoy Apple Day and every year are reminded of the wonderful tradition!! It has certainly changed from the days of picking apples, riding mechanical horses, and even picking pumpkins at Huber Winery. I'm anxious to see what the years ahead may bring...future spouses :), children, and who knows what adventures! Regardless, we're guaranteed that it will always result in fun!!! Here are lots of fun pictures from our weekend!

I also would be remissed if I didn't congratulate Matthew and Vanessa. This definitely deserves its own entry (which I will do), but wanted to send them a special congratulations on their engagement!! We are so excited to welcome Vanessa to the family and love her very much!! Congratulations you two!

Fun at the Cabin!

We spent a great weekend at Kidders Cabin in Baldwin, Michigan. We started our adventure on Friday afternoon with Scott, Micki, Gracie, Sydney and Toby all piled in the truck. After an evening catching up with Tuff, Alys and Buddy, we retired for a wonderful night of sleep (I slept better than I have in MONTHS). Not sure if it was the new mattress, crisp fall air, or silence of the Michigan environment, but I awoke more rested than I have in a very long time! Saturday was filled with long walks around the lake, watching the dogs run and swim, walking through the woods, and observing the beautiful deer. We built a great campfire and played a serious game of scrabble! Gracie also shared her school toys with Papa Tuff and Grandma Alys. The kids take turns washing the toys over the weekend, and it was Gracie's turn this weekend! It was very cute! Sunday we went for a boat ride and explored the Pine River.

It was a wonderful weekend at the cabin, and we hope to go back again very soon! Below are some of my favorite weekend photos, and click here for many, MANY more photos. Enjoy!

Congratulations Sarah and Chris!

Last weekend we (Micki, Scott, Gracie, Clay and Barbara) traveled to Naperville, IL for a shower in anticipation of the births of the Nickoloff twins! It was so wonderful to visit with Sarah, Chris, and lots of our friends and families! Sarah looks amazing and it was so exciting to hear of the progress the babies are making, and to see and feel them move...independently yet so in sync with each other. We are incredibly happy for them and can't wait to meet little Baby Boy and Baby Girl Nickoloff!

It was great for Gracie to meet and see some of her friends as well...Keegan, Avery, Ethan and Libby! She hopes to see them again soon!

One quick and funny story about the babies...I asked Gracie the other day if her teacher, Ms. Cripe, had a baby insider her (she does). Gracie simply responded, "No Mommy...Cooper has babies inside her!"

Click here to view more pictures from the wonderful shower!

On a separate note, two of our close friends (Heather Glynn and Wendy Angst) are running the Chicago Marathon today. Good luck to both of you - we know you will do great!

New Home Update

The framing is moving along very quickly, both the first and second floors are almost complete. Here is a picture of the front as well as a picture from the inside looking from the family room to the stairway. Grace was acting up so I sent her to her room and the third picture is her crying in her new room.

We have been very busy making selections for the house. For a color scheme we have chosen a dark greenish siding with a cream colored trim.

For the front door, we selected this craftsman style wood door.

Inside we are going with white trim and this three paneled door.

To keep with the early 20th century craftsman style of the house, we are hoping to incorporate as many vintage features as possible. Here is a sample of the interior door handle we are considering.

Next up we will be working on the kitchen cabinets and hardwood flooring.

Here is a nice video that depicts the type of cabinets and features we are looking for.

The Ryder Cup

This past weekend, we were fortunate enough to be at the final round of the 2008 Ryder Cup at Valhalla in Louisville, KY and to see the USA win the cup for the first time in nine years. Micki's Dad secured four tickets and took us along with Matthew. It was truly an awesome experience (thanks again Clay!) and unlike any other event in golf. As Matt put it... where else can you cheer with excitement when a European golfer misses an important put!? The crowd was very loud and rowdy!

The tickets were great and included access to the member's pavilion where we could cool off and grab a drink while continuing to watch on one of the many TVs. Unfortunately there are no cameras or cell phones allowed into the event so we have no pictures to share, but here are a few of the memorable moments and some pictures and videos I found...

• Boo Weekly riding his driver like a horse - video
• Kim not giving Garcia any gimmies
• Sergio Garcia's walk of shame after sinking 2 balls in the water on number 7 - video
• Local boy Kenny Perry's dad showed up to watch in overalls - Picture
• Meeting Fuzzy Zoeller - What a great guy!
• Fans of Boo dressed in all camo
• Kim's diamond studded USA belt buckle - Picture
• Kim's challenge of Garcia's unplayable lie..."Do what you've gotta do" - Picture
• Micheal Jordan
• The roar when Mahan sunk his 40 foot birdie put on number 17 (We were standing on the edge of the green) - Picture

Home Construction Update

The framing of the house is now well under way. They have now completed framing the entire first floor and will begin on the second floor soon. It is great to see it taking shape and to actually be able to walk into the rooms we have until now only seen on paper. I was very concerned about the 11 inches of rain we received over the weekend (The most ever in South Bend), but the drainage tiles they installed around the basement swept all of the water away great and by Monday it wasn't even damp in the basement dispite not having a roof over the house.
We still have to finalize the exterior colors and then we move onto the interterior cabinet design.

Labor Day Weekend

Grace's Grandma and Pop came to visit over Labor Day Weekend and we all had a great time. Micki, Scott, Clay and Tuff went Kayaking down the Christiana Creek on Saturday while Barbara and Grace spent the day shopping. Then on Sunday, we spend the day in beautiful St. Joe Michigan enjoying the beach-side playground area. Grace got to meet a parrot for the first time... she didn't like it! Monday we took in the Marshall County Blueberry Festival where Micki met this hunky cowboy.

Click here for more pictures from the weekend.

Pletcher Family Vacation

The 2008 Pletcher family vacation proved to be another fabulous trip to Kiawah Island. As always, it was great to spend time with family and to see Grace play with all of her cousins. The week was filled with fun times. We played at the beach, we played at the pool, we played sing star at night and even spent one day at a great water park in Charleston. Click on the images below for more pictures of this great week.

2008 Pletcher Family Vacation

Fun at the Water Park

Fun at the Beach

Fun at the Pool

Home Construction Update

The plans for our home were finalized in late July and we officially broke ground in August. They started by clearing the trees and staking out the house. They then dug the basement (shown left) and have since poured the basement walls. Framing is scheduled to begin next week and we are in the process of picking out exterior finishes such as paint, windows, door, shingles, and brick/rock. It has been very time consuming, but we are really enjoying the process so far. Here are the final floor plans and more pictures of the progress.

San Francisco - Shana and Scott's Wedding

With our good friends Shana and Scott getting married in San Francisco, we decided to take a couple of extra days off work and make a mini-vacation out of the trip. It turned out to be a fantastic weekend...

We spent the day Friday tasting wine in Sonoma. One of the Notre Dame Trustee's Stephanie Gallo surprised us with a fantastic private tour of the Gallo Fei Ranch Vineyard. The tour was amazing, we learned a lot about the wine making process and were evene allowed to theive wine right from barrel and taste it. After the tour, we enjoyed a fantastic gourmet lunch on the patio of winery's tasting room.

When we left Gallo, we found ourselves at Sbragia where the wine maker and the manager (who were huge ND fans) invited us down their cellar to taste right from the vat. As you will see in the pictures, the wine maker even hand blended us a glass of Zinfandel and Syrah. Click here for more pictures.

Saturday we spent the day touring San Fansisco before the wedding. We started with a morning with a boat trip to Alcatraz which was very interesting. Afterwards, we walked across the Golden Gate Bridge. To see the bridge in person is amazing. It was hard to see the entire bridge most days because of the fog, but this day was clear so we drove to the top of a mountain and got some amazing picutres. Click here for more pictures.

Saturday night was the main event... the wedding. The setting was amazing: in the middle of a park, on top of a mountain, the sun setting and the fog rolling in. Shana look amazing and Scott cleaned up pretty well as well.
It was a blast! The reception was held right in the park and filled with fun and dancing. Click here for more pictures.

We booked a late flight on Sunday so that we could squeeze in as much additional site seeing time as possible. Sunday morning, we headed out to the Muir Woods to hike and take in the views of the gigantic redwood trees with Heather, Bob, and Keegan. After quite a hike, we headed back to the city to take in a few more sites such as Lombard Street and Postcard Row (pictured here). Click here for more pictures.

It was a great trip! We packed a lot into three days, but we enjoyed every minute of it.