Beat the [Grand]Parents

One more post to close out March's activities ... then it's just April, May, and half of June to catch up on. Blergh!

Anyhoo ...

We did a little grandparent switcheroo on the Saturday of Fiona's Lady Pirates play. Gpa V came down for the matinee and then headed back north. Shortly after he left, Gma and Gpa J and Auntie arrived for the evening performance. Since we had a bit of time to kill, we decided to play the board game Beat the Parents. The teams were divided into Auntie + 3 mini Vs [kids team] vs Mike, me, Gma, and Gpa [parents team]. You guys, chaos ensued!

Highlights were the sock fight between Dec and Gma. He picked her as his opponent and underestimated her sock fighting skills! The game was neck and neck throughout and game down to a final challenge to determine the winner. The challenge: fastest person to roll across the floor. The kids picked Quinn as their representative. Then Quinn picked Gpa as her opponent. 

They were supposed to roll simultaneously, but our living room isn't big enough (#furniture) so Mike timed them instead. Q went first and was fast. Grandpa was nervous! But anyone who knows Gpa knows he was not going to go quietly into the night. Despite having vertigo and having his feet clip the wall, he squeaked out the win! 

The kids were not happy to have lost (mostly because the "no fighting" wager they had made was probably less than achievable). But we all had a really fun time and it was a great way to fill the time before dinner and performance number 3.

Big Games and a Visiting Cheering Squad

The big games continued at the end of Presidents' Day week. Quinn's team had only lost one game so far in the season and the big rematch was coming up on Saturday. Because of this - and Uncle Kyle being out of town, Auntie Tracey and Nate came down to spend the weekend with us. We were so excited to have them, show off our new house, and have some company in the bleachers!

Before Auntie and Nate arrived, however, we had games on Friday night. Mike and Dec headed up to Eden Prairie for Dec's game while I took Quinn to the rink in Shako. Her team was playing Minnetonka, who they had handily beat earlier in the season. Of note: in the prior Tonka game, Quinn was in net. This game, we had a pretty inexperienced goalie playing and Tonka showed up to play. Q's team came out flying, grabbed an early 6-2 lead, and then thought they would coast for the final period. 

Minnetonka took advantage and tied it up about halfway through the third. Having won (by a lot!) most of their games, Q's team was pretty unaccustomed to having to gut it out. Lucky for them, Quinn is a grinder. She never got into coast mode during the game and played like a beast! The best part, Mike and Dec walked into the rink about 20 seconds before she chipped in the winning goal on an awesome shot. Quinn is normally the steady, non-showy player. But in this game, she stood out big time. Super fun to watch! [Dec's team did not win, but he scored a goal, played well, and was happy as a clam!]

On Saturday, Auntie and Nate got to experience the full range of weekend activities. They got to make a trip to our favorite local donut shop, Auntie ran lines with Fiona after morning play practice, and off we went to the rink to catch the end of Dec's practice and snag good seats for the BIG Edina game.

Last time Q's team played Edina, we had one of our best skaters in net (she did fine, but she's one of our best defensive players and is a top scorer) and were missing another one of our best players. So the team was confident with Quinn in net and Ariya and Kate on the ice, they had a good chance to win. And they did ... have a good chance, that is. Win, they did not. It was a very close game (until the end when the defense gave up). The girls were devastated after it and the locker room had a lot of tears. The coaches (the next day) used it as an opportunity to highlight why you have to play to the very end of the game.

In case you are worried about Q after a tough game like that, don't. I asked her how she felt about the loss and she looked me right in the eye and said, "I'm fine. I did my job." Way to call out your defense, Quinn! Auntie Tracey was more worried about one of her two favorite nieces, so she and Nate grabbed a DQ cake on their way to our house. It is the continuation of a tradition they had with Ben when he was a swimmer on the HS team. Whenever he got DQed (or had a really bad race), there was a family DQ cake. We all happily ate the consolation prize!

[Side note: I was really excited to have company, so made my homemade enchiladas - that my whole family loves. Nate doesn't eat enchiladas, so Tracey grabbed him a frozen pizza at the gas station. Because my enchiladas required the oven, Mike popped Nate's pizza on our Traeger grill. And then when it was dinner time, everyone drooled over how delicious that dang pizza looked and my enchiladas felt like the consolation prize. Nate kindly shared a few slices with his cousins and apparently smoked pizza is delicious!

That Weekend We Hosted All the People

After our afternoon full of hockey, we had a fun evening planned. Auntie was coming!! We ordered pizza dinner, listened to music, and watched Quinn terrify Em with her emotionless stare. At one point during dinner, Emmy started calling Q "the tiny mob boss." Quinn was enjoying the game and really played up her role. The rest of us could not stop giggling!

Emmy joined Mike and me for our evening walk and we had a great evening, just catching up over drinks after the kids went to bed. It has been so long since I have been able to hang out with my sister that it was just the perfect time to reconnect. We also all needed a low key night because Em was heading out fairly early in the morning to meet some friends and Mike and Quinn were heading out even earlier for hockey practice. 

Then Sunday, after Quinn got home from a very early practice (they left at 6:45!), the girls hosted a Valentine's Day party for a few girlfriends. I had made funfetti and strawberry lemonade cupcakes, mixed up four different colors of frosting, and had bowls full of sprinkles and cupcake toppers. The girls invited Declan to join and they had the best time decorating Valentine cupcakes. [I had also bought containers so I could send the bulk of those cupcakes to other houses!] 

Then Mike and Declan headed out for a snowmobile ride on Prior Lake while the girls (and a tray of snacks because cupcakes were not enough junk food) watched a movie in the basement. I had talked Fiona into watching 10 Things I Hate About You and she didn't love it as much as I wanted her too. Maybe she needs a couple more years to realize how wonderful it truly is. Luckily I am more than willing to watch it with her as many times as it takes!

I made an early-ish dinner of homemade mac and cheese and then the girls (and Dec*) decorated shirts. We had made little party favors of a plain white shirt, a gold heart necklace, and a Valentine scrunchie. The girls decided to make shirts to all wear the next day to school for Valentine's Day proper. After they were done decorating, they also signed each other's shirts. It was super fun to watch their creative processes. 

Once the shirts were done, we brought everyone home as it was both a school night and the Super Bowl. Then the kids helped me clean up from the party and we watched the half time show [because that's the only part the kids and I care about]. We were so grateful to have a house big enough to host a few friends and the girls were very pleased with their party. 

*Dec finished his shirt pretty quickly, so he and Mike made a trip to the pet store to buy two new fish to join Harry and Hermione. Ron II (III? we've lost count) and Draco are happy to join the fish family in D's room.

Enjoying a White Christmas

Christmas morning was fun, relaxed, and delicious. As we opened stockings and presents, Gma had an egg bake cooking in the oven. That was a fantastic treat once we had finished the presents portion of the morning. We cut back a lot on presents this year across the board - and no one seemed to mind a bit. In fact, everyone seemed to be able to enjoy what they did get a little more. 

Fiona was thrilled by the white board and dry erase markers she got for her room; Quinn immediately wrapped herself up in her new tie dye blanket; and Declan made good use of his new Battleship game. 

They had opened their big presents from us before we headed north because this year, they were actually big. Declan got an air hockey table that has proven quite popular and Quinn got a balance beam. We got Fiona a chair for her desk, but I fell victim to the risks of online ordering and it was waaaaaaaaaay too small for her! Post-Christmas break, it was returned and a new chair has appeared in its place. 

After we all thoroughly enjoyed Gma's egg bake, I pulled out the gingerbread house kits that I had bought for Thanksgiving that were never used (ahem, covid). I put together two gingerbread treehouses and then divided the family into two teams. It was Mike, Gpa, Q, and Dec vs Fiona, me, Gma, and Auntie. 

We had 20 minutes to decorate our treehouses and it was, of course, a competition that was taken VERY seriously. The end results were pretty impressive. 

Early afternoon, we headed out to Auntie Tracey's house to see everyone, including Gpa Vanneste. It was a beautiful day, so our gang spent most of the afternoon outside. Auntie Tracey and Uncle Kyle have a rather death-defying drop-off at the end of their hill, which of course meant we needed to sled it. There were a lot of wipeouts and bailouts - combined with a ton of laughter. Gpa watched from the window and thought we were all crazy!

Declan (and the girls) also spent plenty of time checking out Nate and Ben's new slot track. There were some serious races. Auntie and I spent our time placing cars back on the track. I think their favorite part was making the cars fly off around the corners. And, of course, there was playing with the cats too. That was probably Fiona's favorite part of the day. So when we got back to Gma and Gpa's, no one was allowed near Gpa until they were showered and wearing clean clothes! [And a convenient reason for me to require the showers that they very much needed]

We had a wonderful dinner back at Gma and Gpa's, played a few more games of Battleship, and started a movie to end our night. The day was a perfect balance of activity, downtime, outside time, and fun. We never felt rushed, but the day have a good amount of things to look forward to. As we tucked the kids in that night, they all agreed it was a very merry Christmas. 

Annual Moonlight Walk and Auntie Dates

Thursday morning, we loaded up and pointed the car north. The kids happily watched their favorite Christmas movies in the car (the Disney Christmas Sing-a-long lives on! At this point, it doesn't feel like Christmas until three of us have watched it and two of us have listened to it from the front seat!) and we made good time. Always grateful for decent traffic and no one puking (Dec did feel a bit carsick for the ride because he overheated early on. But we managed it). 

We unloaded the car and then I brought Quinn to meet Auntie at her work. Part of Auntie's gift to the kids this year was 1-on-1 dates with each of them. Q's date was first and was a total surprise ... Auntie had arranged for Q to help in the kitchen for a couple hours. Q was delighted! After a kitchen tour and some cooking, they took a break for hot chocolate. When they were done, Mike, Fiona, Dec, and I met them for a little happy hour and apps. 

Then after dinner, we bundled up and headed out for our annual moonlight walk in the woods. We brought the sleds with us for the hill, but for the most part, small humans were self-propelled! The sledding hill was DARK (not a lot of moonlight), so Gpa stood in a strategic spot and shined a flashlight. Nonetheless, we hit a few trees and broke a sled. We figure that means it was good fun! We continued across the swamp and then walked back home on the lake. It was just a beautiful evening and we had so much fun outside! 

Fiona and Dec had their dates after Christmas. On the morning of the 27th, Auntie and Dec decided to eat popcorn, play games, and watch Encanto. Auntie said that they had a blast and remarked on the level of energy D brings to everything he does. Then that evening after dinner, Fiona headed down the road with Auntie for popcorn, girl talk, and a movie. This time, Auntie got to watch Princess Protection Program, which she remembers watching when she was a teenager. They both returned to Gma and Gpa's with smiles on their faces [although they did show up 7 minutes past curfew, for the record!].

They still talk about their dates with Auntie and how much fun they had!

Went North: Part IV

Monday morning came with more hot weather and blue skies. Which obviously meant another day in the lake. [Day 4 - if you are counting] This time, however, we headed out to see Auntie Tracey, Uncle Kyle, and Nate. With a bonus visit from Gpa V. 

Monday was also my night to cook dinner. The family voted for brown sugar ribs (I'm turning into quick the one-trick pony. I swear I can make other things), mostly because we figured we could trick Gpa V into coming for dinner if ribs were on the menu. We even sweetened the deal with Grandma's potato salad.

Spoiler alert: it totally worked! So before we headed to Auntie Tracey's house, I got everything prepped and left instructions for my mom so she could toss the ribs in the oven for me. 

I can't decide if it was more fun watching the kids play in the lake - or listening to Nate laugh while he watched the kids play in the lake. Mike and Dec couldn't wait to play on the jet ski and then Q happily got in on the action. In typical tween fashion, it took Fiona a bit to warm up to things ... but once she did, she was all in and had the best time playing with her sister. It's a fine balance these days - between respecting her opinions and feelings. And gently pushing her to do things that we know she will enjoy. It's possible that I forced her to get on the jet ski with her dad. And it's also possible that she loved it. 

[It's also possible that Mike and I went on a wild jet ski ride together, caught some air off the wake, and both said "ow, my hip!" when we landed ... allegedly] 

Auntie Tracey is pure evil and gave Dec a gigantic squirt gun that he tortured everyone with for the afternoon (except for Auntie Tracey. Come to think of it, maybe she's an evil genius). Gpa V was just as entertained as Nate, watching the squirt gun dodging and the dock jumping. So much fun to spend a few hours together. We just wish we could have seen Ben too!

Near dinner time, we headed back to Gma and Gpa's house with Quinn riding with Gpa V to help him navigate. Auntie Emmy joined us for dinner and it's safe to say we all ate way too much. So the only obvious thing to do after that was to go down the hill to Auntie's for s'mores. Gpa came with and we got to visit with him around the fire. We were also joined by my cousin Parker and his wife Maggie - and Parker's dad Brad and his wife Cheryl, who were all up visiting from Texas.

After we put Gpa on the road back to Duluth, we walked back up the hill for bed (and left the party going at Auntie's). Four days in a row in the lake was exhausting!

Went North: Part I

Here we go - buckle up for a series of 4th of July posts. The 4th was on Sunday, which made figuring out low traffic travel days very tricky. We eventually decided to head up Thursday night after work. And didn't come home (well ... most of us) until the following Friday. We made the most of our EIGHT days up north. So the next few posts will be a nice flashback for you to a month ago ...

If we needed additional proof (we didn't) that Mike is the best, we got it up on our trip north. Like I said, we headed up Thursday night. Both Mike and I had to work on Friday and my sister was lined up for a Nanny Auntie day with the troops. However, Mike had to work on location at the theatre. But because he didn't want me to have to deal with the drive and the kids by myself and so as not to have two cars up there, he drove us up Thursday night, got up early Friday morning and drove 4 hours back to the cities ... and then came back up Saturday. It's worth saying again ... Mike Is The Best.

I set up shop in the basement for a few meetings and a lot of work - and Auntie came right around 8:30 to take charge. They spent the morning down at her house (I did take a short break to walk down with some sweatshirts for the kids) and then they went to the cabin for a picnic lunch and the afternoon in the lake. All the cousins were there and according to my sources - and the pictures - they had the best time. Meanwhile, I was on a call with an animator at the vide agency I use. He was telling me that he was going north for the 4th. As we discussed further, we found out that he was going to his sister's house - who lives 4 blocks from my parents. Crazy small world!

I finished up work just before 4:00. Even though I knew the kids and Em were heading in around 5pm, I really wanted to go to the lake. So, out I trotted to the garage to ask my dad if I could borrow his car (teenager flashbacks). He did not appreciate when I told him I would drive fast and recklessly so I could get out to the lake more quickly. The kiddos were excited to see me and I was happy to jump in the water and make a quick swim across the bay.

After six hours in the sun, the kids were tired. Q and Dec had decided they were going to do a sleepover at Auntie's for the night. So I delivered them down the road, gave the kisses, and came back to my parents' a little sad that no one seemed to miss me. About 45 minutes later, Auntie returned both non-sleeping Vannestes and they decided they'd rather stay with me for the night. It was awfully hot in the guest rooms and they may have also simply been over-tired. [And maybe they did miss me just a little bit!]

I was glad Auntie returned them when she did - as I was about to call the experiment anyway and retrieve them. I wanted everyone to get enough sleep that we didn't ruin the rest of our trip. As expected, it took a little bit to settle in once they got back to Gma and Gpa's, but it wasn't bad at all. And we all got a good night's sleep. So I can't complain. And ... honestly, Auntie probably slept better too. Because I suspect she would have been on high alert if her houseguests had stayed!

That Time I "Forgot" the Swimsuits ...

As I mentioned in the last post, we headed north last weekend to avoid the house insanity - and to help my sister move into her new house. She had closed on her new house earlier that week and was in the process of settling in. Her house happens to be right down the hill from my parents' house and we had walked by it with the kids when we were up for Easter. 

Unsurprisingly, Quinn remembered exactly where it was. So when we passed it on the way to Gma and Gpa's, Q noticed everyone's cars were at Auntie's. Therefore, the second we got out of the car, she was begging to head down the hill. We agreed and Quinn legitimately ran the entire way there. Em said she looked out the window, saw a hot pink blur with a blonde ponytail, and announced "Quinn is here." The rest of us arrived about 3 minutes later.

On Saturday morning, we took advantage of the fact that the park is a block from Auntie's and met all the cousins there. Which meant we got to meet Baby Arlo!! All the disappointment of missing him at Easter was soothed. He is just as sweet and delicious as expected and everyone took a turn holding him. When they weren't holding Baby A, the kids were running around wild with their cousins. So many happy happy children. Even sweet Beau warmed up to the V gang and joined in.

After lunch, Quinn continued to live her very best life - getting Auntie unpacked, organized, and on track. The bookends had the best attitudes, but unpacking and organizing is not their best life. It was also incredibly HOT for May 1. By mid-afternoon, we were not much help anymore and the kids were getting squirrely. I had mentioned going down to the boat landing, but Dec and Quinn begged to go up to the cabin. We figured they could put their feet in the water and play in the sand, so said okay. However, we also brought a bag of extra clothes because we have met Vannestes and lakes and pretty much knew where the afternoon would take us.

We did not realize that the cousins were going to be up at the lake too. So we got bonus time! Hux and Beau were already there, in swimsuits, and wading out into the water. Our kids were in shorts, so could easily wade out too. And Dec was in athletic shorts - basically a swimsuit. Nonetheless, Dec was scandalized that I "forgot to pack the swimsuits." I did not forget, Sir. It was April when we packed the bags! I would also like to point out that Otto and Milo were in shorts/underwear thankyouverymuchdeclan!

Mike dared Declan to jump off the end of the dock. He thought about it several times, but wouldn't commit to the jump. Then suddenly, Dude took off running down the dock and leapt in! Far! Then came up shrieking because the water was somewhere between 49-53 degrees (depending on which of my cousins you ask). We wrapped him in a towel, let the sun do its job, and he was back wading around in the water with the cousins in minutes. Then, believe it or not, he jumped off again later. Crazy kid!

We had the best time at the cabin and this is officially the earliest the kids have been IN the lake. But only by a week or so. A few hours in the sun (by the water) was also the relaxing break we all needed after the last two busy weeks. So glad the kids insisted!

Quinn got ready early Sunday morning and had Gpa and Gma drop her off at Auntie's on their way to church so she could continue to be Auntie's right-hand Q. The rest of us loaded up Auntie's dresser and brought that down once we were ready. Then we helped with a bit more unpacking, loaded up our stuff, and headed toward home. We were back by early afternoon, picked up the grocery order I had placed during the drive, and even got Q to hockey practice on time. 

I'd say it was a fully-successful quick trip north. Except Declan has told me two dozen times since we got back to "make sure [I] don't forget the swimsuits next time." 

Spring Break: The Grandparents Tour (Auntie's Birthday)

Not only did we get to celebrate Easter while in GR, we also had an early birthday celebration for Auntie. Quinny and Gma made cake and I cooked up ribs and we made sure that Auntie's birthday was far better than her isolated quarantine birthday of 2020. But before we stuffed ourselves silly at dinner, we had some Bunny business to attend to.

The kids were up fairly early and started hunting for their baskets and eggs. Finding baskets was a whole new ballgame at Gma and Gpa's. So many new spots to search! Fiona eventually found hers in Gma's sewing room, Q's was in the washing machine, and Dec's was on top of the kitchen cupboards. He thought it was so funny because he couldn't reach it AND it was where great grandma's urn used to sit. At home, the eggs and baskets are usually on separate levels of the house. But in GR, it was a free for all. The final egg was one of Declan's and everyone was looking for it. Turns out, it was on the floor right next to the couch. We laughed that our last egg was in such an "easy" spot.

As Q started to piece together the clues in their shared eggs for the big surprise, Fiona solved the puzzle and announced where it was located. Quinn was super annoyed, told F to "hang on," finished putting the words together, and then made the same location announcement. F rolled her eyes, but ran off to the oven of the toy kitchen in the porch with the other two. Where they found three walkie talkies! 

Without batteries. Silly bunny! Thankfully Gpa had enough batteries to test out a couple of them.

By the time Auntie arrived, everyone was excited to show off their Easter basket treasures. The girls are enamored with their new hair towels and Dec could not stop laughing about the wind up bunny that poops jelly beans. Once Auntie finished admiring things, the gang headed down to the playground to get out some energy and test out D's new frisbee [I was sent by Q to take a shower after my run so met them later]. Even though the water was still freezing cold, the kids couldn't help but to be right at the lakeshore - even dipping their toes and fingers into it. 

The rest of the afternoon was both busy and relaxing. We had a lunch picnic in the yard (such a beautiful day!), went to the skate park and watched some definite increases in skill and bravery across the gang - until a whole bunch of big kids showed up, and then went for a hike in the woods behind the high school. It was so pretty back there, but the day was quite hot and by the end, everyone was a little melted. 

[By the end of the walk, I'd tied off Q's t-shirt into a crop top and handed over my hat to help shade her from the pretty intense sun. She was not in the best mood about overheating.]

We ended the day with Auntie's birthday celebration. Quinny proudly gave her the present she had picked out and purchased with her own money. I shared with Auntie how Q was so methodical in her gift selection process that it took all my willpower to not lie down on the floor of Target in exasperation. Since I have actually sat on the floor of a store in exasperation because of Auntie (as did Mike. And the sales person), it truly seemed a fitting detail.

Last year, we spent Easter alone in the middle of an April snowstorm. This year, with our people and overheating in the woods. We certainly like one of those options better than the other - even though Easter sledding was pretty cool ...

Riding Becky the Bull

We had super exciting plans for Friday. We were going to see Auntie Tracey and her lake. And her bull ...

Oh, and Grandpa!

We got to Auntie's house shortly before lunch and were treated with rides in Nate's graduation gift - an off-road go-kart. Grandpa took the kids out on the wheeler and Mike and Tracey took the kids out on the go-kart. Then Uncle Mike got a ride from Nate - including a full-speed turn!

After our off-roading, we all happily headed down to the lake. It was a billion degrees (it was 90 degrees. But in northern Minnesota, that is equivalent to a billion), so being in the water felt like a necessity.

Quinn was super excited when she saw the new inflatable tied up to the dock ... a bull. A bull that rocks when you jump on it, basically making it like a mechanical bull for the water. Fun fact: Quinn tamed that bull. Fun fact #2: Fiona named that bull. Becky. Uncle Kyle tried to point out that perhaps a bull would not be a girl. Fiona had no time for his facts. Becky the Bull it was.

Mike took the jet ski out for a few spins - and had several volunteers to accompany him. I even got a ride! Then we hooked up the tube to the jet ski. Quinn was not sure about it, so she and Dec jumped on first. She did not like it. Dec loved it. Then Fiona and Quinn switched spots. Fiona and Dec were the perfect partners. They both loved it so much!! They even did really great when they almost fell off!

Dec did some fishing with Nate and added a couple fish to his weekend total. They were small ones - but he was really proud nonetheless. Especially since he caught them off the neighbor's dock! [He was relocated so as to not "catch" one of his sisters]

We swam and jumped on the bull and snacked on the beach for six hours. It was so great. And so hot that every time we got out of the water, all we wanted to do was get back in. Quinn and Dec ended up with some pretty impressive sunburns on their faces. Poor Q even burned her eyelids! But thanks to some magic coconut oil lotion from Auntie, we were in good shape by the morning.

We headed back to Gma and Gpa's for dinner - where the seven of us cleaned every speck of food off the dinner table. Apparently six hours in the lake make people extremely hungry!

This is what they looked like on the drive home. Perhaps a bit tired!

Holiday Weekend Fun

Last Friday, the kids' school had a Beach Day spirit day. They used the opportunity to sport their new clothes that Grandma brought them from Hawaii. That worked out perfectly because we also got to see Gma and Gpa!!

My parents were making a trip down to the Cities to visit my grandparents' graves at Fort Snelling. They come every Memorial Day weekend - and Mom was not about to let a pandemic stop her from putting flowers out. They had originally planned a quick down and back - but haven't seen the kids and Mike since January (I got a quick lunch in early March before everything shut down). So we agreed to a socially distant drop in visit.

My parents decided to stay for a couple days at Emmy's - so she went to the cemetery with them too. AND THEN CAME HERE. You guys, we have not all been together since Christmas. That has not happened since ... ever. That has never happened. It's not how we roll. We are entangled, co-dependent people and are really okay with that. It was so good to see them and my socially distant resolve faded rather quickly (that and Gpa simply ignored my rules to walk right up and hug Dec). Between that, missing everyone, and the pathetic looks on Gma and Fiona's faces, there.were.hugs. We all needed them!

Gma, Gpa, and Auntie joined us for Ice Cream Friday (that's a quarantine thing that I'm pretty sure the kids hope becomes permanent) - and then a pretty epic baseball game broke out in the back yard. Everyone played - even grandma. Dec and Gpa bonded over their sweet left-handed swings. Auntie and I showed some serious skills. Dec even pitched. We had such a fun time and for a few hours, life felt normal again. 

The rest of the weekend was fun and low-key. We weren't too sad to be home because we typically don't travel for Memorial Day weekend. We were very sad about the forecast for three straight days of rain. Saturday morning, I ventured out to get vegetable plants and flowers for our new garden and my pots. It looked like my best chance to get everything planted while staying dry. The kids helped me plant the veggies and then I got the pots done right before it started pouring. Whew!

But thankfully, while there was rain every day, it ended up being mostly at night. So Sunday afternoon, we headed out for a 3+ mile family bike ride. We followed the bike trail over to our original Ms. A's and had a lovely socially distant visit with her and her family. Dec even got to issue a personal invite to his buddy Jack for his birthday parade. Those two and their sweet friendship is the best. And it's so fun to see how excited a 16-year-old boy is to come to a six-year-old's celebration. 

On Memorial Day proper, we needed out of the house. Mike decided we were going to check out the hiking trails at Carver Park Reserve. It was a 30 minute drive to get there and we were all so excited to be outside Shakopee city limits. I was a little concerned by the number of cars in the parking lot, but there are enough trails and woods that we felt very spread out and didn't see many people at all. 

We hiked about a mile - stopping many times to check things out. Mike pointed out deer tracks and showed them what a deer trail looked like. We saw a lot of birds and Quinn even found a chigger on the ground! I suspect we will be back there again to check out other trails this summer. Mike and I are already brainstorming other places to explore. The kids are campaigning for a place with more rocks to climb!

One of our favorite parts of the weekend was enjoying the strawberry lemonade poke cake we made after each of our adventures. It was a fun cake to make and Quinn and Dec even got to practice piping with the poke hole filling. Mike learned how to make pizzas on our new grill and we experimented with grilling ribs too. Our bellies had a delicious weekend!

Under Pressure

Once upon a time, when I started with Emerson, my group had the company season tickets to the Minnesota Wild. And with that came season ticket holder access to concerts at the Xcel. It was a wildly amazing perk to occasionally win really good tickets to really good concerts. Then, sadness befell the land and the tickets (and their cost) moved to a new and bigger group and the perk that none of us took for granted went away.

Then, not so long ago, I took a job with a new group. A group that now possessed the tickets. And access to the occasional free concert returned to my life. Complete with sunshine, rainbows, and Adam Lambert. It takes a lot for Mike and I to get a babysitter and drive all the way to St. Paul. So other than deep painful despair that we missed Weezer because we were on spring break, there haven't been any concerts that we were terribly interested in. Until I saw that Queen (+ Adam Lambert) was coming to town!

Mike claimed it was just an expensive cover band (Freddie Mercury snob), so I asked my sister if she wanted to go if I won tickets. She did. And I did. So we made a girls night plan for me to drive up to her house, we'd do dinner, hit the concert, I'd spend the night, and then drive home in the morning. Such a nice, tidy, easy to execute plan ...

Except my departure timing could not have been worse and I got stuck in the middle of a monsoon-like rainstorm. People were hydroplaning on the freeway, there were inches of standing water, and I couldn't see more than a few feet ahead of me. So I pulled off to wait it out. Then caught up with the storm and repeated. Thank goodness I had my book with me - to keep me company in the line up of cars waiting it out in the Cub Foods parking lot. What is usually a 45 minute drive took me just over two hours!

So we scrapped going out for dinner, drank a couple vanilla whiskey drinks and shared a goat cheese frozen pizza at Emmy's place, and headed toward St. Paul. We were about 20 minutes late for the concert, but we don't think we missed any "critical" songs. Our tickets were in the Emerson suite and being late forced us to "sit" at the drink rail rail instead of in the main seating area. This really was for the best - as we promptly moved the stools out of our way and stood, sang, and danced to our hearts' content. Without making my co-workers hate us!

The concert was really great. They played all our favorites. Mike may have been right that Adam Lambert is not Freddie Mercury. But he didn't try to be. And Brian May is still freaking phenomenal on guitar! We did lose interest for a bit during the psychedelic rock period (and the loooooooong guitar solo) - and were quite unhappy that we missed last call ... at 9:30! Bohemian Rhapsody was their final song and the encore did not disappoint either - with We Will Rock You and We Are the Champions sing-a-longs.

Em's friend had suggested a good parking ramp and it was easy out of downtown. Because we were both amped up from the concert, we made a pit stop at the townie bar by Em's house for a night cap. As we walked in, I could hear the jukebox playing a Queen song. So funny!

It was such a fun night with my sister and something we hope to do again soon! Although next time, we are thinking movie night in where we don't have drive somewhere and we can wear comfy pants the whole time ...

I was up and on the road home shortly after 8:00am. The drive home only took 45 minutes - as it should. And they all lived happily ever after. 

Grandparent Camping at Bent Trout

We just got back from our annual camping trip with Auntie and the grandparents. I'm basically dumping duffel bags into the washer, pulling stuff out of the dryer, and putting it back into duffels because we are heading north again this coming weekend. I currently feel like my second jobs are laundry and packing. I'm quite the pro.

However, all that packing and laundry is well worth it because we are having so.much.fun this summer. Our camping trip with the grandparent segment did not disappoint and we have the bug bites to prove it! Everyone needed a shower (or two) when we got home - including Yogi - so you know we did it right.

See the OG of these three here

We left around 10:30 Friday morning and with a few minor delays for traffic, lunch, and DVD player repairs, we arrived at Bent Trout campground early afternoon. Gma and Gpa N, Gpa V, and Auntie were already there. The kids happily ran around checking things out, playing with the puppies, and exploring the playground and beach area. Once everyone was settled and Auntie's tent was pitched, we put our suits on and headed for the beach.

Last year, our camping trip was soooooooo hot! This year, the kids only lasted about an hour in the lake before they were ready to go because it was kind of chilly - and definitely windy. Auntie and I did get all three kids to swim out to the swim raft with us and they all were so brave and jumped off. After three perfect jumps, Dec suddenly got the yips (and subsequently learned what "the yips" are ...) - but I managed to coax him in one last time. After the beach, we played some games, did some batting practice, ate dinner, stayed up late, and capped off the night with rainbow flames and s'mores.

The next morning, we ate breakfast at our favorite place - Gpa's deck. The kids ate bagels and fruit. Then Gpa gave them a donut for their second breakfast. Then they went and had scrambled eggs with Gma and Gpa for breakfast three. If you think that lunch was then a bust, you are wrong! Gma and Gpa J arrived shortly before lunch to day camp. Gma brought her famous potato salad and between lunch and dinner, she left with an empty bowl and we all had happy tummies!

After lunch, it was back to the beach. We were so hot at our site and looking forward to getting into the lake. Then, we got to the lake, the sun hid behind a cloud, and the wind picked up. We had fun - but everyone got cold pretty quickly. The kids did enjoy the wooden swing with Grandma while Auntie and I swam across the lake ... which was almost exactly the same size as the bay at the cabin (x3). Before we called it a day at the lake, Auntie and I took Q and D out in the paddleboat. They both desperately wanted to pedal - but weren't quite tall enough.

The big treat for everyone was Saturday's snack. The girls had taken a cupcake decorating class earlier in the week and we had two dozen exquisitely decorated cupcakes to share. They were a huge hit and all the grandparents were sufficiently impressed by their skills. And they should have been - the girls did a great job!

After snack, Dec asked Mike to take the training wheels off his new big bike. So Mike did. And the rest of the camping trip found Auntie, Mike, or me walking the loop with various bike riders as D practiced and practiced. And practiced. And practiced. He only hit one tree and a handful of people ... and now is quite proficient and will from now on be training wheel free (we hope)!

Between the late night before, the swimming, and all the bike riding, the kids were tired and asked to go to bed fairly early. I was happy to oblige. It was a pretty low key evening and we all turned in pretty early.

Sunday morning, the kids again enjoyed three breakfasts (swapping out eggs for oatmeal) and continued their bike riding adventures. At this point, Dec could pretty much do the loop himself and by the time we left, he had also mastered the downhill trek to the playground. This was just perfect as all the tall people were busy breaking camp. We were able to leave shortly before noon, got stuck in a bit of traffic, and were home by 3pm to start the showering and laundry cycle. We are already talking about where to go next year! Such a great tradition and the best memories for the kids.

Look at these beauties!

The Winner Takes It All

Subtitle: The Night My Sister Lost Her Sh*t

On Saturday the 13th (oh so behind on the blog), Mike, my parents, my sister, Cheryl, and I headed out to the theater for the current production of Mamma Mia. We have been looking forward to this since it opened in March. It's been a loooooong wait! Fun fact: I'm pretty sure that Mike did not know a single ABBA song until rehearsals started. This has been a good learning experience for him!

Fun fact 2: I am not known for my skills at keeping secrets. So ... when Mike started months ago on an arrangement to have one of the actors (Tony) pull my sister up to dance (Tony is her very favorite actor ever - in case you guys don't remember February) when they go out in the crowd for Waterloo at the end - and he told me that I could not breath a word of this to a single soul, it was incredibly HARD work! So needless to say, we have all be waiting with bated breath for this weekend!

We were back to the super premium seating that we know and love. Mike's acting contacts told us which seat we needed to have Emmy in ... which became my job. Oh my heavens, the stress! Then Mike told me that there was a virus going through the cast and we were going to have the understudy to the understudy for Donna. Womp womp. I was a bit bummed out as we had been waiting so long for the show.

You guys, I retract all concern I ever had and extend my apologies to the understudy of the understudy. She was hands down PHENOMENAL. When she sang "The Winner Takes It All," I was willing to forego the rest of the play if she would just sing it again. The show was incredible and I'm pretty sure we are all trying to figure out when we can go again (made easier by the fact that they just extended the run for another six months because it is selling so well!). Fun fact 3: if you are local, do not pause. Buy tickets to the show. Not just because Mike needs a paycheck. But because you will not regret it!

Through cunning, lying, and straight up luck, I finagled my sister into the correct seat. Then when I noticed that some of the other tables were standing up for the "sing a long" finale ... Em and I stood up too. And then Tony snuck up behind her, grabbed her hand, and she lived her best life dancing and singing in the aisle as a real life part of the show! Mike is so great for arranging this for her ... and I was so relieved that I no longer had to keep that secret!

Tony returned Emmy to us, winked at Mike (I love them both so much), and Em proceeded to laugh/cry/sweat and lose her dang mind. It was fantastic! For beginning to end, we had the very best night together and I don't think we stopped laughing the whole evening.

Inaugural Color Run

Mile day at school is generally Fiona's second least favorite day of school. Topped only by track and field day (unless this year's field day put mile day in the lead). [Worth noting, mile day is Quinn's second favorite day of school. Topped only by track and field day ...] A few days after mile day, a flyer came home from school about a 1 mile color run in June at the school. I thought about asking Quinn to join me, but asked Fiona instead. She thought about it for a minute, set her chin, and said "mom, I'll do it." I was so so proud of her. The mile is very difficult for her and I love that she was willing to push outside her comfort zone. We discussed and drafted the other three Vs as well.

Then life happened and Mike ended up being out of town for the weekend. Because she was coming down for Q's field day, I put my marketing skills to work (and maybe a guilt card or two) to convince Auntie to take Mike's entry and do the mile with us. Auntie's least favorite things are mornings, people, and running. So a mile run at 8:30 am with other people sounded like just the perfect fit for her ... Because Auntie is the best, she agreed to join us, despite hating everything about the plan. She's a good Auntie!

We were up bright and early Saturday morning with our game faces on. We got to the school, got our white t-shirts (including a men's large for Auntie), and hit up the face painting line and playground. It was a little bit chilly, so we had layers on. We headed to the upper parking lot when we got our 5 minutes warning. Up there ... far away from our car ... we decided that we didn't want all the layers. So we stashed two sweatshirts and baseball cap in the bushes. About a tenth of a mile into the race, we stashed a third sweatshirt by a pine tree. Basically I got as much exercise after the race just retrieving all our stuff!

The color stations were so fun and spread out at good intervals. Every time Dec would start to run low on energy, he'd see the next station and find another wind. Dec ran almost the whole time. Quinn split the difference between Dec and me and Auntie and Bugs (I think she was pretty worn out from track and field the day before). Auntie and Fiona held hands the entire time and jogged most of the course. Our goal was to have fun and finish - we agreed that we weren't worried about our speed. And we accomplished both goals, while going at a decent clip for six short legs.

As D and I crossed the finish line, I heard big cheering for him. Original Ms. A was there to run the 5k right after the mile. So we got to hug her and have our own cheering section. The kids clearly still had energy because they headed to the playground for a bit longer. Then, I delivered on a promise and took everyone out for donuts. I figured if Auntie could run, I could buy treats! We tried a different donut shop in town and it was delicious. We will definitely go back there. While we ate, Fiona told me how much fun she had. And Auntie admitted it was not as awful as she had anticipated. I'm pretty sure that's code for "it was amazing and I can't wait to do it again."

After donuts, it was a five minute pit stop at home to drop off Auntie (she needed to go home and take a nap) and get Dec ready for soccer. It was his first soccer game of the year. We were all still colorful (Dec had pink hair and a pink line across his forehead), but off we went anyway. It was a 40 minute game of 3-on-3 soccer - and only 4 kids on D's team showed up. So the dude got plenty of playing time. About 10 minutes into the game, something clicked and Dec ended up scoring five goals. His team scored a total of five goals - so he definitely pulled his own weight. He was so tired, but proud!

We did all of these things before 11am. Then we hit up the playground near the soccer field. Needless to say, lunch was extremely quiet. As was bedtime.

Day 2: The Zoo

We started our second full day much the same as the first, with a trek down to the continental breakfast area. The demographic on a Monday morning is substantially different than it was on a Sunday morning. There were still a few families mixed in with the business suit set and the kids happily made as many friends as they could.

Then we got ready for the day, walked a couple of blocks, and hopped on the bus for the Lincoln Park Zoo. We were all excited because Auntie was going to meet us there. Mike, Auntie, and I were also excited because it is a free zoo! The ride to the zoo was uneventful and we got a beautiful view of Lake Michigan. The bus stop was right at the zoo entrance and we could see Auntie out the window.

You have to hurry when you get off the bus, so Mike and the kids raced down the aisle to get out. I grabbed the backpack to follow them. Except I didn't follow them. Because the backpack was stuck. Somehow the strap had gotten wedged between the seats and I could not get it out. I yelled for Mike, but he was focused on ridiculous things like not losing our children in Chicago. I was not making any progress, so I kept yelling for him (I was stuck, of course, near the rear of the bus). He finally was like "What?!?!" and I told him the backpack was stuck. He and the rest of the bus gave me quite the look(s). So I got off with the kids and he ran back, assessed the situation, yanked the backpack with all his might, crashed his elbow into the seat in front of him, and exited the bus (thank you very patient bus driver) with the backpack. Then we joined the rest of the bus in laughing at how entirely ridiculous that whole thing was. Apparently you can't take us anywhere!

You'd think the rest of the day would pale in comparison after that adventure, but it was just a lovely zoo. We had so much fun and spent the whole day there. Animal highlights were definitely the lions, the mongoose, the giraffes, the naked mole rat, and the bird whose feather mohawk matched Declan's mohawk hat. Maggie joined us for a little while too, which was a lot of fun, before she and Auntie headed off to some other Chicago adventures while we continued exploring.

The zoo gift shop benefited from the $10 the kids each brought of their very own money for souvenirs. Their backpacks were packed more tightly on the way home as Dec added Ellie the Elephant, Fiona added Samantha the Snake, and Quinn added Scarlett the Baby Seal to our family. Mike and I counted it a victory that none of those new stuffed animals were left at the zoo or on the bus!

We ended our day there by exploring the children's zoo area. We found an indoor climbing structure that is clearly the natural habitat for all three Vs. Then we found an outdoor "unstructured play" area that they also thrived in. Mike and I enjoyed sitting on a bench in the sun and watching them have a blast.

We were a bit worried about the bus and rush hour, so we loaded up after five hours at the zoo and headed back "home." We got there just in time for the complimentary social hour. We had wandered down to snag a free glass of wine, but found quite the spread - including salad, soup, tons of fruit, crackers and cheese, etc. So we loaded up plates for all five of us, let Dec eat his weight in berries and melon, and called it dinner. It was so easy and low key. And the kids loved it because it enabled us to hit the pool that much sooner.

We finished the day with our standard evening routine of pool, showers, and bed - with a few extra stuffies included.