Weekend Recap

Oh man. I hope there are people still reading this thing. I have fallen quite behind on blogging. It was a very busy end of Summer/beginning of Fall, and I can hardly believe it's mid-October already!

What's happening now is exactly what happened the first time I attempted blogging. I got behind...and then further behind...and then it was too overwhelming so I just stopped altogether. I still really want to "catch up" on the last couple months, but I've decided that I have to just move forward, and accept that some stuff may get missed.

So here's an attempt to get back on track...a recap of my weekend. It was a great one - lots of fun!

On Friday, I was invited to play bunco with a neighbor friend and her monthly bunco group. I had played once before with the group, and it was a lot of fun. So I knew when I got the opportunity again, I wanted to go. Each month they have a theme of sorts. This particular time was a book exchange - so (in addition to paying in $5 for the prizes) everyone brought a book to exchange with someone else in the group.

It was a lot of fun - lots of fun women, good conversation, and laughs. I didn't end up winning anything, but I still had a great night. Fridays are usually big time lazy nights for us, so it was kind of nice to have something different to enjoy.

On Saturday morning we enjoyed our traditional snuggle in bed while watching a show with Linnea. Admittedly, this is probably a bit of lazy parenting, but it's nice to start things a little slow on the weekends. After that we got up and got ready for the day. The weather was perfect - iconic "Fall in Minnesota" weather. We stopped for a couple caches - we are still on the hunt towards 1,000 by the end of the year. We're getting close! (930s right now).

I LOVE those leaves against that bright blue sky! Perfection!

Linnea is getting to be QUITE the little geocacher. She can find them on her own now.

Yay for perfect Fall days as a family!

Of course Linnea needs to check out the swings whenever there's a playground nearby!

After geocaching/playing in the park, we made a stop at what has become our apple orchard of choice, AppleWood Orchard in Lakeville. We don't like the chaos and craziness of some of the larger orchards in town. This one is a bit off the beaten path - much quieter and less commercialized.

As we arrived, we checked out the pumpkins (we're planning to go to a pumpkin patch next weekend, so we just looked this time).

We made a stop in the apple barn to try some apple samples to see which ones we liked best. It was a unanimous decision which apples we wanted to pick - Sweet 16! Jeromy and I have the same taste in apples. Sweet and crunchy. Yum!

Linnea was eager to pick some apples!

Much like years past, Linnea couldn't WAIT to dig right in to the apples. She finished this one in the matter of a couple minutes, and was begging for more!

Cuties!

Seriously. SUCH a perfect day.

The orchard has lots of old tractors to "drive." Girlfriend LOVED it.

After checking out the tractors, some apple donuts, and playtime on the orchard's playground,we headed out. We had a slight mishap in the parking lot... Linnea tripped, and while trying to do the "mama snatch and grab" I accidentally caught Linnea in the nose...with my knee. Poor girl had an instant VERY bloody nose... but nothing a few kisses and Kleenex couldn't fix.

I made a quick swing through home, before getting back on the road to go out to lunch. I met up with my mom, and our friends Holly and Stacy. Holly (the mom) and Stacy (her daughter) were long time neighbors of ours in Brooklyn Park. Stacy, who lives in North Dakota, was in town for the day. She's expecting her first baby next month, so we were excited to catch up and hear about the impending arrival of her little guy.

After lunch I headed home. We enjoyed an afternoon at home. It was really nice. It made me realize just how busy we've been, because it felt odd to just be around the house. But it was great.

We had dinner, and then headed out to a special geocaching event. The event was an annual Halloween-y event (though it was a first year we have been there). It was really cool - very creative and fun. Basically they set up a "crime scene"of the "murder" of a scarecrow - a very elaborate scene that was almost like a real life search and find - lots of details. Then there were 15 geocache "clues" hidden all through out the area. Each clue had a question about the crime scene, and provided two possible answers and a number that went towards the final coordinate. You had to get the right answer to all 15 questions, unscramble the letters to get the name of the scarecrow's killer. You then had to find the final location, and when you provided the right answer, you got a prize! Whew, did you follow that?

Although Linnea had a little less patience with this event as she did the last time we went caching at night, she did well. The fact that she got TWO cookies, and TWO prizes (a big light-up bouncy ball and a slinky) definitely helped. :-) We really love the places we've seen, people we've met, and fun we've had with this special hobby!

Linnea and I, ready to find some clues!

We're totally sleuth-y, right?

It got a little late, so by the time we got home and got Linnea ready for bed, it was time for us to head to bed too!

Sunday morning we headed to church. Linnea started Sunday School this Fall (what happened to my baby?!). Last Sunday did not go well (which was a little weird cause she did great the first week). I ended up having to stay with her the whole time, and there were still some tears. So I was nervous how it would go this week. Because she's more clingy/attached to me, we decided that Jeromy would drop her off. He was texting me (is that's totally sacrilegious?) during the service to let me know she was doing really well. No fight or tears. He stuck around her room for the first half of the service, but was able to come in near the tail end.

The BEST part was that there was a little Preschool/Kindergarten performance in church by the Sunday School kids! It was CRAZY! I remember watching these types of performances for the last several years, so excited to watch MY kids be up there some day. Tears filled my eyes as I watch Linnea...my baby!...up there singing. You could tell she was a little overwhelmed, but she did great! Proud mama moment! We went back to pick her up and she was a happy girl! Win!

After church we went to Dunn Brothers with our friends Jackie, Tom, and Gavin. We had a great time! The kids played games, and the adults got to chat. We are so thankful for these awesome friends! We ended up deciding to have lunch out, since it was lunch time by the time we finished our coffee. We stopped for a quick bit at Which Wich, and then went home.

Linnea napped, and Jeromy and I did some yard work. The weather was once again glorious, which made it easier to be motivated to do the work.

When Linnea woke up we put together a puzzle she got from a dear elderly friend from church. Linnea LOVED it! I wonder why? (she's still quite obsessed with Frozen)

We had another nice afternoon just hanging around the house. Linnea played on her swing set and Jeromy and I finished up some of the yard work. It was so nice out that Jeromy grilled chicken for dinner. It was SO good. We are definitely soaking up all of the moments of nice weather we have left this year!

It was a fun weekend! I hope you had a fun one too. 

The Grief That Worsens

Shit's about to get real, my friends.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and am taking to my blog to "talk it out" a bit more.

As a side note, I'm so behind with blogging. This is what happened before with my failed blogger attempt - I get behind, and it becomes overwhelming, and I just stop trying to catch up...just stop altogether. I don't want that to happen.

Anyways... as I've discussed on this blog, I miscarried in May. It still pains me to type that. And as I said early on, it feels like a bad dream.

When it first happened, I was surprised with how well I handled it. It was a painful (to say the least) blow, but I felt hopeful. And why wouldn't I? The doctor gave us no reason to assume that there is anything wrong. Miscarriages (sadly) are quite common, so I figured we'd get past it and be pregnant again fast.

That was 4 1/2 months ago.

Now I've been through a decent amount of grief and loss in my life. I lost two grandpas, two grandmas, a very close family friend, my sister, and a few other close family members before I was in junior high. Since then, I've lost others, and walked with friends as they've lost close family and friends. In other grieving experiences, it gets better. Of course the loss is always there...it never goes away...but time heals and you learn to live again and move forward.

Miscarriage is different. At least for me. Like other grieving experiences, some of it gets better. The trauma, shock, and pain of the loss lessens. But in many ways, it gets worse.

Each month that passes is another month that I'm not pregnant. Each month that passes brings more insecurity and fears (What if something's wrong? What if I can't get pregnant again?). Each month brings more announcements of other pregnancies. Of babies that would have been born after mine. Each month brings me closer to my would-have-been due date...such a dreaded day now. How can it be just a few months away?

By now I would have been in my 3rd trimester. We'd know if it was a boy or a girl. We'd be feeling kicks. Linnea, I'm sure, would be brimming with pride about being a big sister. The nursery would be near completion. All our friends and family would know, and strangers would know too because the bump would be obvious.

But instead... no baby. Fears. Uncertainity. Smiles through the pain when people who don't know ask about future kids. Private tears when I find out that someone else is pregnant and it's not me. Insecurities about any pains, oddities, symptoms that might mean something. Months that cycle obsessively from "waiting game...to trying...to waiting game...to "I not pregnant again?! FUCK!"...to waiting game).

I read a quote on a related blog that has really stuck with me... "Hope is hard." Amen. When the months pass, and there's less and less to put your hope on it is hard. Damn near impossible sometimes.

So what do you do?

Well, if you're me...you take baby steps forward (pun not intended...). You try to put things in perspective. You let yourself be happy for your friends who have babies in their bellies. You work on being thankful. You say (a lot) of prayers. And you get through it. Day by day.

If you are a believer, please say a little prayer for me. Most days are okay, but there have been some rough ones.

Hope is hard.

14 in 2014 - #10 (Recipes 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16)

It was a busy summer of new recipes! I last posted a recipe update near the beginning of the summer, and now I've adding 9 recipes to the list! Woo hoo! I have no doubt I will hit (and exceed) my goal of 20 new recipes in the year. Although there have been a few easier recipes, I've had a good number of substantial ones too. I'm happy with my progress. Each recipe I do makes it a little easier. I continue to learn new things, and get more comfortable in the kitchen.

Without further ado, here are the recipes I've tried since the last recipe post.

8. Egg and Brie Strata
I made this recipe for WOWZA cabin weekend, and it's one of my favorite recipes taste-wise that I've done this year. I found it in our favorite cookbook (that I also referenced in my previous post), Cooking Light Comfort Food. You can find the recipe here. It was a bit putzy to put together, but it was nice because I could prep before hand, and then just pop it in the oven.

It was really, really tasty - I'll keep this one around!

9. Greek Orzo Salad
I got this recipe from Andrea at the MN Blogger's Favorite Things party. As her favorite thing, Andrea gave away the recipe, along with a box of orzo and a fun salad dressing bottle that has recipes for various dressings with the measurements built in (does that make sense?...I'm not sure how to explain it.

Anyways, I made this for a Faith Group picnic. In hindsight, I realized that I got the measurements of the dressing a bit off because I made 1 1/2 times the recipe. So the flavors were just a bit off, but it was still really good. It was a really nice alternative to the "typical" pasta salad. (Note: I left out the olives, because I don't like them.)

You can find the recipe on Andrea's blog here.

10. Enchilada Stuffed Shells
I made these one night when Jeromy suggested either enchiladas or a pasta bake. I searched both on Pinterest, and low and behold there was a recipe that was BOTH. I think if you asked Jeromy, he'd say this has been his favorite recipe I've done this year.

I had a bit of a mishap and added way more cheese than it called for...but there are worse things, am I right?

The recipe (found on Eat Cake for Dinner here) was pretty easy, and with pretty basic ingredients (both important credentials for recipes I like to do). And it tasted GREAT...one of those recipes that almost tasted better when reheated! We'll definitely do this one again.

11. Blueberry Lemon Bread
If you are a regular reader, it'll make sense to you that I have a couple blueberry recipes in here. If you'll remember, we went blueberry picking as part of my Summer Bucket List.

We had a lot of blueberries, and we were not going to make it through them just eating them plain. So I searched out good recipes and found this one. I didn't do the glaze, but followed the rest of the recipe (though didn't use nuts).

The bread (though almost more of a cake!) was really good. I had several breakfasts consisting of a small slice, topped with yogurt and some fresh blueberries. Yum. Very summery.

12. Blueberry Breakfast Bake
We didn't make it through all of our blueberries with the above, so I needed to find another good recipe to use some up.

I searched Pinterest again, and found this one. Admittedly, I made it a little less healthy, as I didn't use whole grain bread (used more of a French bread), and I used regular cow's milk instead of almond milk.

The recipe was good...not fantastic, but one I might try again. It's nice to have a tasty breakfast casserole that makes for easy, hot breakfasts during the week.

13. Caprese Pasta Bake
Pasta bakes are something Jeromy makes quite regularly. It's generally the same "equation" with just slight variations.

To mix things up a bit, I tried this recipe from a college friend's blog. This bake did things differently than Jeromy does - instead of cooking the pasta first, you cook it in the oven.

We both agreed that we liked the flavor - the fresh basil and mozzarella was yummy. However, we didn't like the consistency of the whole wheat pasta, and felt like it was more hassle than it was worth to bake the pasta. It didn't quite cook right, and it took way longer than if you just cook the pasta, and then bake it after that.

I would make it again, but with regular pasta, and cooking the pasta first, and then baking.

14. S'more Muddy Buddies
As I've said before, Jeromy and I both love s'more flavored stuff. Marshmallows, graham crackers, AND chocolate?! Perfection.

When out running some other errands I decided to mix up this recipe as a treat for Jeromy to bring to work. It was a little dumb that this recipe, the easiest one in the bunch probably, gave me a bit of trouble. The chocolate seized (I didn't even realize this was something chocolate did until Jeromy told me), so it didn't coat the cereal as well as it should have.

So when all was said and done, there were a bit more clumps than there should have been, but what I tasted of it still tasted good. In hindsight I should have saved a little bowl for myself. Jeromy took it to work to share, and I never saw it again. I guess I'll just have to make it again!

15. Mexican Street Corn Salad
I saw this recipe on a blog I follow, and was really intrigued. Fresh sweet corn is pretty much the best ever. The ingredients sounded like a really good mix, and it was just a bit different than everything we've tried.

While I didn't use fresh sweet corn, I was able to use frozen sweet corn that Jeromy saved from last summer. The recipe was quick and easy. Jeromy was a little unsure of it at first (I have no idea why, since it seemed right up his alley), but I immediately liked it. It was really yummy on our tacos, as a chip dip, or just plain. As Jeromy sampled it more he liked it more and more - and since has requested that I make it again. I'll keep this one on "the list."

16. Crescent Roll Egg Bake
This was another recipe I found randomly on Pinterest. I've had it pinned for a bit, and finally decided to try it out. It was originally found here on Bran Appetit.

This was another recipe that fulfilled the criteria of simple ingredients and easy to put together. Egg bakes, like pasta bakes, are something that Jeromy makes quite regularly. However, we haven't done one with a crescent roll bottom.

The flavor was good, and it was a nice to have something a bit different than what we usually do. We'll keep this one around I think.

So there you go! Only 4 more recipes to hit my goal of 20 new recipes for the year!

An Interview with a Three-Year-Old

I'm super behind on my posts...especially in regards to my new three-year-old! I'm working on a few more posts...and update...a recap on her party, etc., but thought I'd start here. I did a little interview with Linnea. I hope to ask these same questions each year around her birthday to see how things change.

The perfectionist in me got a little frustrated that some of her answers weren't quite what I would think is the "true" answer, but I went with what she said, and I think overall it's a very accurate peek at our sweet little girl. Here we go...

1. How old are you? Three!! (pronounced "fweeee!")
2. What is your favorite color? Pink! No! Purple! (I think purple is the more accurate answer.)
3. What is your favorite toy? My Thomas Train. (Then I got the cutest little expansion on that answer...) Well, I don't have a Thomas Train. Just a biiig Percy train and a red one I can use too. (Totally accurate. She doesn't actually have a Thomas train. The ones she has are Percy and whatever train is red.)
4. What is your favorite food? Grilled Cheese and Mac and Cheese (Girlfriend loves her cheese...)
5. What is your favorite snack/treat? I like chocolate! (That's my girl) And ummm...graham crackers and Cheerios.
6. What is your favorite TV show? Super Why
7. What is your favorite movie? Frozen!
8. What is your favorite animal? (Lots of thinking on this one...) Bullseye!! (The name of the pony she rode at the Renaissance Festival this past weekend.) 
9. Who is your favorite friend to play with? Raia (A neighbor friend) 
10. What's your favorite thing to do outside? Play sidewalk chalk
11. What is your favorite thing to drink? Milk and water (True story. She doesn't drink anything other than white milk and water. She really doesn't care for juice.)
12. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Teddy. And blankie. And Murphy.
13. What is your favorite song? Let it Go. Jesus Loves Me.
14. What makes you happy? Wearing my Anna dress. (This makes me laugh. She got an Anna dress - from Frozen - for her birthday a couple weeks ago and it's been a daily thing for her to request, plead, beg...to wear it.)
15. What makes you sad? (Got very serious) "For you to saying no to wearing my Anna dress"
16. What is one thing you love about mama? Playing with my Anna dress (I think she misunderstood it to me one thing she loves to do with me.) Kissing you!! (I'll take that!!)
17. What is one thing you love about daddy? Eating crackers. Doing puzzles. (Again, I think perhaps she misunderstood the question. This also made me smile because it's what they were doing that afternoon. It tells me she loves doing everything she does with her daddy!) 
18. What do you want to be when you grow up? Anna! And a "fighterfighter" (firefighter). And play the bells (at church). 

Linnea is so much fun, and there's no telling what will come out of her mouth next! It was so fun to do this interview, and I look forward to hearing what she says in coming years (although at the same time I don't want the time to go too fast!).

Summer Bucket List Wrap-Up

I can't believe it's Labor Day weekend- the official end of summer. It's the last day of August. Tomorrow is September! I'm a little sad (the summer went quickly, and when summer is over it's hard to not think about how frigid cold is just around the corner), but I think I'm ready for a change of season. I definitely helps that I LOVE fall.

As you recall, I set out a Summer Bucket List at the beginning of the summer. I don't think I mentioned it at the time, but the list was certainly not an exhaustive list of all the must do things for the summer (if it was it would have included a trip to the State Fair, Renaissance Fest, a trip or two to our favorite lakes, etc.). This was simply a list of NEW things to do...things I haven't done in a long time...or haven't EVER done that I've wanted to do for awhile.

As much as I HATE to say this (overachiever here), I didn't quite finish my list. I missed two items...one completely...one less so (keep reading). Here's where everything ended up...

1. Stand-up Paddleboarding Hooray! This is in the green. I tried stand-up paddleboarding with the WOWZAs as part of our cabin weekend. Even with a little "incident," I had a great time. I hope to try it again next summer...and maybe even get my own some day!
2. Go to AT LEAST one parade Another one in the green! We went to two parades this summer - the Edina parade on the 4th of July and the Art Car Parade by Lake Harriet. Read more about the experiences here and here. 
3. Eat at Sea Salt This one made it into the green, but just barely. Stay tuned for a full report.
4. Eat at Sand Castle We enjoyed a rather impromptu family dinner at Sand Castle a few weeks ago. Read about it here. 
5. Family trip to a Twins game This was a highlight of the summer for me. We took Linnea to her first Twins game in the middle of July and we had so. much. fun. Linnea exceeded our expectations of her, and genuinely enjoyed the whole experience. Here's a recap. Here's to many more years of family trips to the ballpark!
6. Bike to ice cream - at least once or twice We made it twice, I believe - both times just to Dairy Queen. I wish we would have gone further...or to someplace a little nicer, but we still had fun. And hey, there's always next summer, right? Read about one of our trips here. I hope to post about the other one at some point, but haven't yet. 
7. Go to at least one Tuesday Music Nights at the MN History Center  Here's where we go a bit down hill...and I'll explain why I'm marking it as yellow. So mid-August the Okee Dokke Brothers were playing at the History Center. The stars aligned...I had switched my late night that week because of Linnea's 3-year doctor's appointment...meaning that a little later Tuesday would be okay because we'd have a little more time the next day. We ate an early dinner, and got into the car and headed over. I was so excited. I had wanted to check out the Okee Dokke Brothers, whom I had heard good things about. I knew Linnea would love it, and it would be a nice night outside. Except that as we drove towards St. Paul the sky got darker...and darker...and darker. And by the time we pulled into the History Center it was raining. And it was mobbed, meaning we would have had to park a ways away and then walk...in the rain. So we scrapped it. I was really bummed, but I'll just have to add it to the list for next summer!
8. Mini-golf at the Walker This one is just in the red. No excuses. We were just too darn busy for too many weekends. We might have been able to make it work today, but we didn't try. I hope that they will recreate it next summer...add it to the list for next year!
9. Go berry picking Another one in the green! The three of us had a great time picking blueberries at Blueberry Hills of Stillwater. And I'm happy to report that we managed to use ALL of the blueberries we picked. Stay tuned for a couple blueberry recipes (that are part of my endeavor to make 20 new recipes in 2014). 
10. Go to the beach Although I haven't recapped this (yet), Linnea and I hit the beach together for her birthday. It was a shorter trip than I would have liked, but we had a good time. Add "more beach trips" to the list for next year!

So there you have it. Mostly a success...but not quite. We still have a really great summer accomplishing the above (and doing lots of other fun things). Now...bring on fall!! (Maybe another list is in order?)

Weekend Recap (and #4 from the Summer Bucket List)

Following my much belated recap of last weekend, this is the recap of this past weekend. It was a much lower-key weekend, which was needed...it's been a busy summer!

On Friday I made dinner (which is admittedly rare). It was another of my 20 new recipes for 2014! I've had a lot of fun trying out new recipes. While I cooked, all three of us played board games on the kitchen table. It's really fun that Linnea is starting to be old enough to be able to play games. She's been playing Memory for the last several weeks (and legitimately beating us a lot of the time). On Friday, we also tried Candyland. That was a little trickier for her, and didn't keep her attention as much, but I'm sure she'll get it before long.

After dinner and bedtime for Linnea, I ran to Target to pick up a few things, while Jeromy rested (poor guy was getting a cold).

On Saturday we were up as early as a work day to get ready and get on the road to St. James, MN, where my grandma lives. We made a quick swing through the McDonald's drive-thru for breakfast (don't judge), and committed a random act of kindness that had my smiling all morning, and made it there around 9:30.

My grandma lives in an assisted living facility in the small town that my mom grew up in. She turned 93 (!!!) last week. She's doing pretty well - in good spirits, and pretty good health too. It's always nice to visit her!

Much to Linnea's dismay, Grandma did not have any books. So she settled for a magazine (seriously, Time magazine and National Geographic (and AAA Living) are legit favorites of Linnea's. I think it's awesome. She'll look through the magazines, talking about the pictures that she sees.

Walking (or running if you're Linnea) the halls and checking out the fish were fun parts of the visit as well...

It was a nice day, so we spent some time outside too...

There's a park/playground just a few blocks from my grandma's place, so we were able to have a picnic, walk, and play time on the playground.

How beautiful are these two?? Seriously, my mom is one good looking grandma!

By the time we were done with our picnic, it was time to get back on the road (after a stop back to Grandma's place for birthday cake and one last picture). We had such a nice visit. My grandma is the only living grandparent I've had for almost 20 years, so I'm particularly thankful that she's doing well, and lives relatively close. I love my grandma! I'm so glad she can be a part of Linnea's life. (It was so sweet when we were at the playground. Linnea kept yelling, "Watch this, Gwwweat Gwwamma! Look at me, Gweeeat Gwwwamma!" So sweet.)

Four generations of love...

We were on the road by 1:30. I drove, and Linnea and Jeromy were both asleep within 10 minutes or so. Linnea slept for about an hour (she never naps great in the car), but was in decent spirits when she woke up, which was nice. We stopped along the way to grab a few geocaches, and then we made another stop at Minnesota's Largest Candy Store!

If you are in the Twin Cities and have traveled south on 169 you've likely past it - it's that huge yellow building on the west side of the highway. We've always been curious about it, but have never made a stop. We decided that as long as we were there, why not stop?

This. Place. Is. CRAZY. First of all, it's huge. Like huge. It's one giant room, filled to the brim with candy, pop, puzzles, and other random items. When we stopped, the place was swamped.

We made our way through the store, taking in all there was to see. There was seriously every kind of candy you could imagine - all sort of specialty candies, and from all over the globe. There were tons of different kinds of salsas, spices, and pastas. A feast for the senses!

The picture really doesn't even do it justice...the place was HUGE.

We were talking and walking like robots... :-)

 This was about 1/5...if that of the pop display! Every kind of flavor and brand you can imagine!

Cute Linnea story...I was carrying her as we looked at all the different merchandise. We saw a display of stuffed dogs. Both of us were immediately drawn to a little chocolate lab stuffed animal. She grabbed it, and immediately wanted the tag off (she HATES tags). I was trying to explain that we needed to leave the tag on because we hadn't bought it, when she yanked the tag off. I usually would have scolded her, but Jeromy and I loved that she picked out a little Luther puppy so we decided we'd buy it for her.

Linnea and her new Luther puppy...

By the time we got home, it was just about dinner time, so we decided to have a little family dinner date. We decided it was a great opportunity to cross another item off my Summer Bucket List - eat at Sand Castle!

We walked right up and ordered our food...Jeromy got the Indian Fry Bread, that was stuffed with ground bison meat. I got the arugula mozzarella wrap, and Linnea got a hot dog. We got some fries and chips to share.

Admittedly, we were a little less than impressed by the menu - there were only a couple menus that grabbed our interest. But we all really liked our food - it was really tasty, especially considering it's just a little beach side place.

Linnea was too busy eating to smile...

Cute little restaurant!

When we got home it was time for bed for Linnea. Jeromy and I crashed too after a long day.

On Sunday, Jeromy was feeling pretty sick in the morning...I think the previous day had caught up with him and the cold he was fighting off. So Linnea and I let him sleep, and did our own thing.

We got ready and went to church. Summer has been so busy that we haven't been to church very much. It was so nice to be back. Linnea LOVED the music. Our friend Christina played a beautiful violin piece that Linnea full-on ballerina-ed to. She even asked my dad to dance with her! He declined, but did help twirl her while he sat. The contemporary band came in at the end and played a song, and once again she was up grooving. I love my little dancing girl!

After church we swung through Costco to pick up a few things before heading home for lunch and nap.

While Linnea napped, Jeromy and I cleaned the house. We had a good excuse - we had a couple of my co-worker friends and their families coming over. (Anyone else like us where having company over is our best way to get the house clean? Our house hadn't been cleaned so well in a long time!).

Shortly after Linnea's nap, our friends came over. Anne, and her husband Dan and son Miles, and Lindsay, and her husband Mark, and their daughter Maddie and twins Logan and Lauren. We certainly had a full house, but it was a ton of fun! The kids got a long well together. I was so proud of Linnea - she really did a good job sharing - it's hard to share your special toys with new friends! We had planned to have a picnic, but with the weather looking threatening we decided to do a indoor pizza picnic instead.

I'm so lucky to have really, really wonderful co-worker friends. It's so awesome to have them in my life - and even more awesome to have the opportunity to get to know their wonderful families as well!

We all had a great time, and I hope it won't be long before we have another get together!

Linnea, Miles, and Maddie

We had a really fun weekend - and hope you did too! It's hard to believe summer is coming to a close! I'm trying to savor all of the sun and heat we have now!

Weekend Recap (Duluth Edition)

Yeah, I'm totally late on this...since this was LAST weekend. But we had a fun weekend, and I want to document. So...better late than never right?

So LAST weekend we went to Duluth! Jeromy and I both took Friday off, so that we could make it a little bit of a longer weekend. We headed out mid-morning. We stopped for a quick lunch, and made it up there around 2:30 or so.

When we came into town it started raining, so we stopped at the mall quick, and then checked in at the hotel. Since it was still raining at that time, we hit the pool for a bit. I REALLY wish we would have taken some pictures, because Linnea LOVED it. Lots of happy shrieks and smiles.

After our splash in the pool we got cleaned up and went to Fitger's, one of our favorite Duluth restaurants. Linnea was a little squirrelly, but it was nice to enjoy a nice dinner out.

When we were done with dinner, it typically would have been about Linnea's bedtime at home. But we wanted to stretch the time a bit since we were staying in a hotel, and didn't want to be totally in for the night by 7:00. Additionally, when we were at the mall earlier we saw that Barnes and Noble was having a Frozen party. Our girl LOVES Frozen, so we decided to check it out.

The party was fun. They had a little storytime, treats, crafts, and a sing-a-long. They even had costumed characters! Interesting story though...is that the characters were not affiliated with Barnes and Noble, and weren't hired characters! I overheard them talking after the event, and they were just two adults who were Frozen fans who showed up! They turned out to be big entertainment for the gaggle of little girls that were there - they did pictures and meet and greet afterwards. Barnes and Noble really owes them one!

Linnea called them the "girl Elsa" and the "Elsa man." LOL!!

After the Frozen party, we made our way back to the hotel and got ready for bed. Bed time was one of the things I was most nervous about for the trip. Linnea was really little when we spent our last night in a standard hotel room, and it wasn't a great experience. I was running a half-marathon, and Linnea was up half the night crying. I was so on edge that she was going to wake other people up, and we had a really hard time getting her back to sleep.

I knew this time would likely go better, but I was still nervous about just how well it would go. It helps that Linnea is sleeping in a "big girl bed" now. So we got her settled in, surrounded by pillows. We had her pillow, blankie, and stuffed animals. We did our same bedtime routine. And headed out of the room. We were hoping to be able to hang out in the lobby, but the reception for the monitor wasn't good in the lobby. So Jeromy hung out in that area, and I sat outside the room. I got a few funny looks and comments, but it was actually okay. I brought my pillow and blanket out there, and just laid and read my book. There was a couple "Mama, I have to go potty"'s, but before long, she was out!

After a bit, Jeromy and I snuck back in, and went to bed ourselves. That first night, we all slept great! What a relief!

We woke up bright and early on Saturday morning, and got ready for our morning with Thomas! We grabbed a quick breakfast at the hotel (which was surprisingly really good), and hopped in the car to go to the train depot.

We booked our tickets for the first ride of the day, to beat the rush as much as we could. Even for the 9:00 ride, it was already a zoo!

We got into the gates and picked up our wristbands and event map (yup, there was that much going on!) and got ready to board Thomas! (Note: they had a professional photographer taking pictures. I had them take one, thinking it would be maybe what...$7, maybe $8 for a print? No. Try $19!! Needless to say, we just took our own pictures). Thomas was pretty cool. His eyes moved and he talked! Watching Linnea see that was really awesome.

Ready for the ride! Linnea was really excited to get on the train, but then was pretty underwhelmed (as were Jeromy and I) by the actual ride. It was about 20 minutes total, very slow, and mostly through the train yard. Wahhhh wahhh...

My girl and I on the train

After the ride, we checked out the train museum. Lots of old trains to explore, and a really cool, HUGE model train at the center of the museum. It was super, super, busy, but still had fun.

Once we made it through the museum (Linnea's favorite part was playing with the Thomas play sets), we headed back outside, where they had a ton more fun things to explore - bounce house, inflatable slide, face painting, bubbles, and more Legos and trains to play with. It was tons of over stimulation, but lots of fun too.

Linnea LOVED the bounce house and inflatable slide

My turn to pose with Thomas with Linnea and her painted face

By about 11:00 or so we had had plenty of Thomas fun, so we decided to leave, and find some lunch. We chose to head to one of our favorites...Betty's Pies! Yum! They have the best wild rice burgers! (It was my second wild rice burger in as many days, because I had one at Fitger's too. I think Betty's Pies version is my preferred one...so good!!).

After lunch we went back to our hotel. We were a bit late with Linnea's nap, but we were all so tired that it wasn't long before all three of us were crashed for a couple hours. By about 4:00 Linnea woke up, and we (FINALLY!) had the opportunity to go down to Canal Park and enjoy the lake!!

I think Linnea would have thrown rocks in the lake all day if we let her...

This is what we ended up with as our family picture, since Linnea was being such a stinker about taking a nice picture.

Linnea loved watch the boats, and seeing the bridge go up and down. We walked around Canal Park a bit and did some shopping, and then had dinner outside at Little Angie's.

We went back to the hotel, and did our typical bed time routine. Again, it went well! This night we did not sleep as well. For some reason I was up EVERY hour of the night. I couldn't get comfortable. Jeromy was snoring, and Linnea was talking/making noise in her sleep. That, and the hotel was so quiet. I sleep better with some white noise. All in all, sleep in the hotel went well, and for that I am relieved.

On this morning, Sunday, we once again had breakfast in the hotel (yay free, yummy breakfast!), and got ready for our boat cruise!

Jeromy and I had gone on this same boat ride during our babymoon trip, chronicled in my old blog here.

The weather was really nice. Pretty warm, but overcast with a nice breeze. The boat ride was nice. Our tour guide was better than the last time, and it's always fun to be on the water. Linnea was a little stir crazy, but did okay, all things considered.

We got to go under the lift bridge...it was fun to watch.

Such a pretty city...

This is how she spent most of the boat ride. Why yes, that is a teeny tiny little seam of the boat that she is insisting on standing on.

Don't worry, Daddy (or Mama) was always close by...

It's too bad she's such an unhappy child...

Family selfies... (us-ies??)

By the time the boat docked again, it was time for lunch. We debated for a bit about whether to eat in town before leaving, or to eat on the road. We would have preferred to eat in town, but when we wandered into Canal Park, everything was really busy, so we opted to eat on the road.

Random awesomeness - I ran into a neighborhood best friend from my childhood right after we got off the boat! She lives in CA, but was in Duluth for a family reunion! It was crazy, but great to see her, her dad, and brother (and his family). It had probably been at least 5 years...if not 10 since I last saw any of them!

We left Duluth just as it started to rain (good timing!). After a quick pit stop for lunch (and a few fun pictures), we were back home!

Although it was a whirlwind, we had a great trip. It was nice to get away, and always nice to be on our favorite lake. As much as we love Duluth, we are looking even more forward to our trip to Grand Marais at the end of September. It's much more our speed...quiet...relaxed... less than 2 months! Woo hoo!