Chris & Nikki

Movin on up…

Chris — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 22:23:47 +0000

…or out or over or something. We’re moving to a new blog. A free one. NikkiLynn.net & my photo gallery will continue to be up & running for another 6 months or so but no new posts are planned over here.

Where are we moving to? Great question! We have started a blog that I’ve currently got titled “The Jensen Family” but we’ll see - that may change. The blog will mostly focus on Travel & Twins games along with other random things we partake in. Click here to find the blog. Once you get there you can get an RSS feed for the posts or sign up to receive new blog posts via Email too!

Also, we’ve got another blog that’s specific to Date Nights that we’re trying out for 2010 called “52 Dates a Year” and that can be found here. The idea is that we have to find at least 52 different things to do throughout the year…preferably one per week. The Date Night blog also has RSS and Email options.

Check them out & leave a comment if you have anything to add to any of the posts! Thanks ~ Nikki & Chris

Honeymoon in Costa Rica - Part 2

Chris — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 00:48:56 +0000

RAFTING!!! The Rios Tropicales Pac-3 trip was PERFECT for us. We rafted for a few hours on two different days with a day at the Rios Lodge in between.

We got picked up at our hotel and then bussed an hour or so to a base where we had breakfast and then took another bus to the place where we started our rafting journey.

The river was beautiful:

We stopped for lunch along the river & ended up at the lodge in mid-afternoon. Our room was a cute cabin-feeling room with a private bathroom and a waterfall just outside our window!

During our time at the Lodge we did some hiking with the group and some relaxing in hammocks:

We also did some exploring on our own:

On our last morning at the lodge we got to do the Canopy Tour. This included not-comfortable, yet safe harnesses, helmets and gloves.

Here we gooooooooo:

And finally, more rafting. This time we did level III and IV which were pretty exciting! In the raft with us was our guide, Diego, and our new friends from TX, Cliff and Pam.

Honeymoon in Costa Rica - Part 1

Chris — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 22:08:29 +0000

We went on our honeymoon way back in December & since I’m so far behind, I’m going to keep the recap brief & full of photos!

We flew into San Jose, CR late on Friday 12/18 (like, midnight) so all we did that night was sleep. The next morning we woke up bright & early to catch a flight to Drake Bay for a few days at Rancho Corcovado.

Rancho Corcovado is a family run resort on the beach. We were served homemade meals every day and we had a guide that took us on our 3 tours along with 3 people from Brussels, Belgium! This was the view from our room:

We visited the Corcovado National Park to hike:

We talked our Belgian friends into having a couple beers at the local bar:

We went snorkeling at Cano Island:

Chris & I got to see these Macaw’s in the tree on the beach in front of the resort!

Our last day in Drake Bay we went on a Mongrove Tour where we saw many birds:

And caiman (like crocodiles!):

We walked the beach on the last night and got this beautiful photo of sunset:

The next day we flew back to San Jose:

We spent one night in San Jose, walking around the Central Market & eating a nice dinner before we were picked up for our Rafting adventure…stay tuned for Part 2!

Beer Tour: Summit Brewery (St. Paul, MN)

Nikki — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:49:17 +0000

The final brewery tour of 2009…Summit Brewery on November 14, 2009!

We went with Tia, Nate and Josh and I think we are all happy we went, but the tour wasn’t anything amazing. We all enjoy Summit beers & it was neat to be surrounded by kegs & cases of deliciousness though!

One neat thing we found out is that Summit does about 50% Kegs & 50% Bottles which is very rare. This is because there are SO MANY bars in the Twin Cities that carry Summit on tap!

And, of course, there were samples which are always enjoyed!

12 Bars of Christmas

Nikki — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 03:08:38 +0000

On Friday, December 4, 2009 Chris & I participated in our very first 12 Bars of Christmas! We got red shirts that named the bars included on the back. We could visit any of the bars listed without paying cover charge and there were drink specials too!

We first hit up the Lyon’s Pub and then moved on to Gluek’s where our friend Bill met up with us.

Next we hit up the Annex for a little bit of dancing and then moved on to Chammps where we had some appetizers.

We hit up Rosen’s fifth and finally Bootleggers where I did some pole dancing!

It was a really fun night, even if it was SUPER cold out.

All the pictures I took can be found here.

Road Trip to KC! Twins vs Royals

Nikki — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 02:46:52 +0000

Waaaay back in September, when it was beautifully warm (or at least not freezing), we drove down to Kansas City, MO for a weekend with friends. Liz & Casey headed out Friday morning and cheered the Twins on to victory on Friday night while Shelly & Jeremy and us drove from our respective cities. We met up with Liz & Casey for a couple drinks after the game Friday night & then crashed pretty hard afterwards.

Saturday morning we met Liz & Casey and decided to walk around the Plaza which happened to have an art show which was interesting to see. Shelly & Jeremy had arrived much later than the rest of us (thank you, construction!) so they slept in a bit and we all met up for lunch. Jeremy recommended Houston’s (known for KC BBQ) and it was a hit. You can see Chris here - sporting a napkin/bib.

After lunch we walked to a park/museum that Liz & Casey had read about before the visit. The main attraction (for us anyway) was a huge shuttlecock on the lawn. That’s Casey standing in front of one…

While walking around, we found some other very interesting art.

We headed back to the hotel & changed into appropriate Twins attire before taking off for Kauffman Stadium.

It was a perfect night for outdoor baseball. Crisp & cool but very comfortable.

And, it was made even better by a Twins WIN!!

On Sunday, before heading out of town, we took the Boulevard Brewery Tour with Shelly and Jeremy.

It was a great weekend to celebrate my birthday!

Beer Tour: Schell’s (New Ulm, MN)

Nikki — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 01:27:04 +0000

The fifth stop on Chris’s Beer Tour was Schell’s Brewery in New Ulm, MN on November 17, 2009.

We drove down to New Ulm on Saturday morning so we arrived just before Noon and got tickets to the 1:00pm tour. The tours are first-come-first-serve and we wanted to make sure we got in on one sometime during that day.

The tour started out in the Museum (which we were also allowed to walk through on our own) and then we proceeded outside and over to the brew house. They have a lot of history included in the tour and it appears that Schell’s is very proud of where they have come from. This history includes the fact that Schell’s bought Grain Belt in 2002 and now brews those beers as well!

After touring the brewery we were taken to the “Hospitality Room” for some samples!

We started out by sampling bottled beer that was distributed by our guide while each one was explained.

After the bottles were emptied (sit near the center of the table & you will get extras…tip of the day), we were offered samples from the tap!

While Chris sampled some more beers, I switched over to 1919 Root Beer which is brewed there and VERY tasty! We eventually were asked to step outside so they could prepare for the next tour and the outdoor patio was gorgeous, set in the trees.

The land that the brewery is on is very nice, full of trees with wild animals running free. Someone said there were deer, but all we saw were peacocks.

One other piece of information that I thought was interesting was that the deer on the Schell’s labels comes from the family crest…not from our population of deer in Minnesota like I thought!

And, just for fun…I liked this guy who was greeting everyone who approached the mansion.

Beer Tour: Boulevard (Kansas City, MO)

Nikki — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 00:12:07 +0000

The fourth stop on Chris’s Beer Tour was Boulevard Brewery in Kansas City, MO on September 27, 2009.

We had plans to meet Shelly & Jeremy and Liz & Casey down in KC to catch a Twins game and so I decided to see if we could fit a brewery tour into the weekend as well. The tour was on Sunday at 1pm and Liz & Casey decided to head home right away in the morning rather than sticking around but Shelly & Jeremy were up for the tour so the 4 of us had lunch together before heading over to the brewery.

The Boulevard tour was unique. We had a guide that took us through the “company bar” (seriously!) and the brewery, but at different places along the tour we stopped and watched a video that explained the brewing process. I thought that was a cool idea & made sure everyone got the same information. When we were watching the video about bottling and packaging we noticed that the “drink by” date was Oct 2009 which means the video was relatively new. I’m not sure if they re-record them or if they are a new addition to the tour.

That picture is the main building (and bar) with new, state-of-the-art equipment that they only brew beer in for 6 hours a day. We came away from the tour thinking that Boulevard is about to explode and wishing they were publicly traded. They aren’t brewing even close to capacity and they are situated in a good location to distribute to both coasts & I wish them the best of luck! I think our guide said that Boulevard is the biggest micro-brewery west of the Mississippi River, or something like that.

After the tour we were shown to a tasting room and were free to have samples of everything they have on tap! Pretty awesome. While we were tasting, an employee walked in with a group of his friends and they all took a pint glass full of beer and headed back to the brewery…I think I need some friends in the beer business!

The tour was definitely worth sticking around for and it was fun to have Shelly & Jeremy help celebrate Chris’s 30th birthday as part of the Beer Tour!

Turkey Day 5k!

Nikki — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 00:38:29 +0000

On Thursday morning Chris & I got up early…he worked on getting the turkey ready and I worked on waking up enough to run a 5k! Christy came to our house and the two of us took the light rail downtown to the start of the Turkey Day 5k.

The area around the Target Center was packed with people…seriously, the sea of people didn’t seem to end!

Some people got dressed up, and other’s wore turkey hats while a majority of people wore their Turkey Day 5k shirt (I saved mind for after the run).

The weather was hoovering right around freezing so we both decided that we weren’t interested in a personal best - just a finish! The route was pretty cool, through the streets of downtown Minneapolis, past the Guthrie, along the river and back to the Target Center and we finished right around 30:35…not too shabby if you ask me. Especially since we couldn’t feel our feet for the first mile or so!!

In the end, we were both happy we did it…and next year we’re hoping our guys will run with us! Seems like a tradition just waiting to happen.

I’m thankful for…

Nikki — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 13:01:40 +0000

…my husband and our first Thanksgiving together
…my family, who I’m lucky to see year round & not just at the holidays
…my friends, some I see often, some not so often but all who are on my mind & in my heart
…the lakes near our house which have helped me get back into running
…Chris’s family, who we get to see more than once a year since they moved closer
…sunshine - more of which I wish was going to be around as I run this morning
…a job, especially working with people I like
…all the years we had with Toby, who makes me smile just thinking about him
…airplanes and pilots who allow us to see many parts of the world
…photos and scrapbooks which I love looking through and remembering great memories
…our house and the fact that Chris bought in such a great neighborhood 10 years ago
…a reliable, old car that I still love to drive
…blankets which will keep me warm in this old house all winter
…the MN Twins who keep me entertained 6 months out of the year, even if entertained = frustrated sometimes
…the fact that we can afford good food
…a renter in my condo
…favorite TV shows that allow me to escape from real life for a few hours a week
…good beer - and the never ending adventure to find more we like
…Chris’s willingness to embrace Baseball & visiting new stadiums
…Target Field…I cannot wait for outdoor baseball
…the Light Rail which provides quick, safe transportation downtown and home throughout the year
…our health and our new treadmill which will hopefully enable us to continue being healthy
…everyone who helped make our wedding day amazing & unforgettable
…memories of those people who are no longer with us
…traditions, both old and new

Those are in no particular order…and I’m sure there are many more. I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving today and great times throughout the end of the year celebrating whatever holiday(s) you choose!