Celebrating Easter 2017

Andi found some crazy-good flight deals to Mexico, so we decided to book a last-minute trip to Sayulita over Easter week. Sayulita is on the Pacific Ocean about an hour north of Puerto Vallarta. We've been there once before, and we loved it - it's one of our favorite places we've traveled, and we're excited to go back again.

Since we'll be in Mexico on Easter Sunday, I thought it'd be easiest to celebrate Easter before we left. Timing-wise, this past weekend worked best for our schedules so I invited Andi's mom and dad to the cabin on Saturday and planned to color Easter eggs, have an egg hunt, and a nice dinner for everyone.

Andi's parents arrived around Noon Saturday and we started with a lunch on the deck. The weather was absolutely beautiful for spring, so spent most of our day outdoors. Andi smoked a tri-tip on the grill and we paired it with a spinach salad and roasted asparagus. I also made scandinavian deviled eggs and Janie and Jim brought a veggie platter.

 

After lunch, we colored eggs. Aden wasn't interested in this activity in the slightest, so he laid down in the bedroom and watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (in his defense, I don't think he felt 100%) while the rest of us sat on the deck and decorated hard boiled eggs. Janie said it was the first time in her life she can remember coloring eggs for Easter outdoors! The weather was too beautiful not to be outside and enjoy it. 

 

Tory couldn't remember dying Easter eggs before, so we gave her a quick refresher course. Of course, she was upset later when I peeled an egg to eat it. "I didn't know you were going to break my beautiful egg!" she declared. Oy. Everything is a priceless piece of artwork to this girl.

Andi bought Tory and Aden a BB Gun last week, so while Jim, Andi and Tory were target-shooting on the side of the cabin and Aden was still inside watching TV, I took advantage of the kid-free moment and hid Easter eggs around the backyard. Last year, we hid plastic eggs in the woods which made more like a scavenger hunt, but Andi had double hernia surgery last Tuesday and wasn't able to walk very far. The backyard was equally exciting for Tory who ran around like a crazy lady collecting eggs. Aden eventually joined us in the backyard, but he had little interest in hunting for eggs. Whipping around the cabin in his John Deere tracker was far more interesting.     

Speaking of the BB Gun -- I think it was a dream realized for Andi and his dad to teach Tory how to shoot for the first time. Andi said he has many fond memories of shooting targets with his dad when he was a kid, and they both beamed from ear to eat while they watched Tory do the same. She was proud of herself, too, and seem to take the whole thing very seriously.

To me, it doesn't matter if the celebration of Easter happens on a specific date on the calendar. It was just as special to honor our family traditions a few weeks before the official holiday, and I've been making a point to talk about the meaning of Easter with Tory all month long. We had a great day celebrating with Janie and Jim at the cabin.

Valentine's Day Chocolate Superfood Bites

I'm always on the hunt for healthy sweets and treats I can feel good about eating and with Valentine's Day around the corner, I thought I'd share one of my favorite indulgences -- chocolate superfood bites.

One of the first things new fitness challengers usually say to me is, "I have a sweet tooth, so I need to find a solution for that." The awesome thing about the 21 Day Fix / Portion Fix Eating Plan is that you can still have chocolate, cookies and muffins - you just have to plan for them! Also, it's important they're made with the cleanest ingredients possible and these chocolate superfood bites fit the bill.

These treats taste sinfully delicious and satisfy that craving for chocolate we all get sometimes. They're also easy to make and look so fancy! Here's how to make them:

Start by assembling your favorite nuts, seeds and dried fruits. You don’t need much in quantity for this recipe, so hit up the bulk food section of the grocery store or scour your pantry to gather ingredients. I used pistachios, cranberries, dried blueberries, slivered almonds and unsweetened coconut flakes. For the chocolate, I used a bar of Ghirardelli Intense Dark Chocolate (look for chocolate with 70% cacao or higher).

Heat chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl on 50% power in 1 minute increments until melted. Then spoon melted chocolate onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and immediately top with chopped nuts and dried fruit. Pop the tray in the refrigerator when you’ve finished to let the chocolate harden. Store leftover chocolate superfood bites in the refrigerator.

How sweet would it be to receive these handmade chocolates for Valentine’s Day?

Recipe adapted from the Beachbody Blog

Halloween 2016

Halloween, and the days leading up to it, were pretty fun this year. When the calendar flipped to October, I started playing Curious George: A Halloween Boo-Fest for the kids on Netflx because it's one of my favorite holiday movies. Seriously, it's so cute! I just love Curious George and all the mischief he gets himself into because he reminds a lot of Aden. Ha!

This probably isn't parenting PC to admit, but the kids and I watched Halloween Boo-Fest a few dozen times over the month. Eh- don't worry, kids! TV won't rot your brains! Eventually, Aden started to act out a few scenes in the movie like the "Halloween Boo" song at the beginning of the show. He'd hide behind the sofa, then jumping out and shout "boo!" in an effort to scare us all. It was seriously so adorable.

Over the course of the month, Tory and Aden also changed their minds about Halloween costumes about a dozen times. Tory has a Halloween-themed Disney princess book we'd read together most nights, and the last line says something like "What will you dress up as for Halloween this year? A princess?" to which Tory would flatly respond, "Oh, definitely. I'm just not sure which one!"

Her top choices were Elsa from Frozen, Jasmine from Aladdan or Cinderella ... then one day, out of the blue, she came to me and said she wanted to be a witch for Halloween. I found a pointy witch hat in the Dollar Spot section at Target and some orange and black-striped socks. I wasn't about to invest more money on an outfit given the rate she changed her mind, so I paired the hat and socks with a Trick or Treat t-shirt and skirt she already had in her closet. It came together perfectly in the end.

I thought Aden might like to be a fisherman since he loved fishing at the lake this past summer, so I bought him a toy tackle box and fishing vest to use. I planned to make fishing lures to attach to his vest and find him a fishing hat and boots, but lost steam when we booked tickets to Palm Springs over Halloween. I knew the weather would be warm and I didn't want to travel with a bunch of props in my suitcase, so the few he did have had to be good enough.

Andi had a work event in Glamis, California the week before Halloween, so I decided to take the kids to Palm Springs about 1 1/2 hours away while he worked, and then Andi joined us in Palm Springs when his event wrapped up on October 30.  

On Halloween Day (our only day in Palm Springs with Andi), we decided to take the kids into Palm Springs proper for the day. (The house we stayed in that week was in Indio, CA, about 20 minutes outside of Palm Springs.)

Andi, our expert travel guide, was obviously back in the mix as our day quickly filled with plans. Andi selected a restaurant for brunch in downtown Palm Springs called FARM - an adorable French bistro tucked in an alleyway with lush greenery and climbing vines. Janie and I cooked our own healthy, homemade meals all week so this was the first time we'd ventured onto the Palm Springs restaurant scene. We splurged and ordered several plates to share - a goat cheese and pear salad, strawberry and Nutella crepe, croque madame, a mushroom and goat cheese omelet and a plate of bacon (which was mostly for Aden). The food was indulgently delicious!

Next, we made our way to the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. The tram begins in the Coachella Valley and glides along Chino Canyon to Mt. San Jacinto State Park. Tory was nervous about the tram ride initially, but then literally jumped with glee when we departed the tram on the top of the mountain. She thought it was the neatest experience EVER!

There are two restaurants, observation decks, a natural history museum, documentary theaters, a gift shop and miles of hiking trails at the top of the mountain. It was as if we'd been transported to a different zip code within our 10 minute tram ride -- the air temperature dropped to 60 degrees and we were surrounded by pine, fir and oak trees (no palm trees in sight)! I immediately regretted not researching the state park before we'd left our rented house in Indio as I was wearing a dress and the kids were dressed in shorts. Andi had warned me the temperature might be cooler at the top of the mountain, but it was hard to believe him when the temperature was in the high 80's on the desert floor. I would've love to hike around all day in the state park, but unfortunately I was cold and wearing flip-flops; not ideal. We did a short loop through the woods and then headed back to tram when the kids said they were tired.

 
After riding the tram back down the mountain, we stopped for frozen yogurt at a place in downtown Palm Springs. It was close to 5:00pm by this point -- time for trick-or-treating!

We stayed at a house within a gated community in Palm Springs, and were fairly certain there wouldn't be many trick-or-treaters around that evening (the area was largely comprised of retirees and few children). To ensure Tory and Aden had a Happy Halloween, Janie purchased some candy earlier in the day and arranged to have a few of the neighbors hand it out to our kids. While I dressed Tory and Aden in their costumes, Janie buzzed around the neighborhood and "planted" the candy. Our plan worked perfectly, and Tory and Aden were SO EXCITED to trick-or-treat at a few houses on the block.

Minutes before we left to go trick-or-treating, Tory asked Andi and I what we planned to dress up as for Halloween. I didn't have a costume planned, so I told her I was going to be a mom. "You're a mom everyday," she responded in a disappointed voice. So, to be a good sport, I found a bathrobe in the closet and used Janie's hair curlers to throw together a last-minute costume. Janie got in the spirit, too, and threw on a sun hat to go as a "vacationer." Tory was quite pleased.

Aden said his favorite part of Halloween was the candy. He ripped into every single piece given to him before it made it into his bucket. To say he was hyped up that evening would be an understatement! One of my favorites memories of Aden and Halloween this year was how he'd walk around yelling, "Oooh!" as he pretended to be a spooky ghost. Too cute!  

It was so different celebrating Halloween in a warm, sunny climate. The evening temperature was a perfect 75 degrees during trick-or-treating -- far different than Minnesota!

Our Palm Springs vacation concluded the following morning, November 1. We had an amazing time during our stay there, and can't wait to go back again one day.

A Week in Palm Springs

The kids and I are having an amazing time in Palm Springs, California this week. Sunny days spent by the pool with nothing to do but swim and relax; yes, please!

Meanwhile, Andi is working at an event in nearby Death Valley, California. I feel a little guilty about having fun in the sun while he's working ... but then again, it was his idea for us to come. Andi's cousin owns a vacation home in Palm Springs about 90 minutes away from the event, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity for the kids and I to stay at the house while Andi worked, then have him join us afterward. I invited Andi's mom, Janie, to come along with us this week to keep us company.

Tory, Aden, Janie and I left Minneapolis on Monday, October 24. Our direct flight was an easy one; the plane was practically empty so Aden and Tory were able to move around to stretch their legs a bit during the three hour flight. Janie's been to Palm Springs (and to the vacation property we're staying at) several times before, so it helped having her along as she knew exactly where to go.

Our accommodations are awesome for the week! It's a three-bedroom, two-bathroom California ranch-style house with a big backyard and it's own private pool. Andi's cousin, Laura, has made this place so comfortable for guests. There's plenty of lounge chairs and towels for the pool, and comfortable seating indoors and outside. Aden likes this place so much, he refers to it as his "new house." (Poor kid is sill adjusting from our real move this past April).

We made it to the house on Monday afternoon in time to swim in the pool for a bit before dinner. Laura and her family had just been in Palm Springs, so there was enough leftover food in the refrigerator to piece together a meal. After we ate, the four of us took a little stroll around the neighborhood. It feels so wonderful to have another taste of summer weather, even if only for a week.

We were all exhausted after our walk, so we called it an early night. Fortunately, Janie doesn't mind sleeping with one of the kids, so she and Tory took the master bedroom and Aden and I shared a bed in one of the other rooms.

The next morning, Aden and I woke up early (4:30am // 6:30am Minnesota time). We laid around for  a bit until Grandma Janie and Tory woke up, then headed outside to swim. The weather is absolutely gorgeous here -- low 70's in the early morning, quickly warming to the high 80's by Noon. (Gorgeous for us, by the way; probably not so great for Andi who's camped out in the middle of the desert).

Pool time!

It's like our own private oasis in the backyard. The house is located in a gated country club community, but we've hardly seen any neighbors outside. And, the view is incredible! Palm trees and mountains as far as the eye can see. California livin,' for sure.

Eat. Sleep. Swim. Repeat.

That's essentially been our life in Palm Springs this week. On Tuesday, we stepped away from the pool briefly to hit the grocery store. The house we're staying in has a full kitchen, so it seems silly to haul the kids out to restaurants for meals. Instead, we stocked the fridge with our favorite foods and snacks, and planned to make meals at home this week. Janie likes to eat healthy, too, so mealtimes have been simple and easy.

 

I brought Tory's hammock from the cabin and fashioned it between two fruit trees. It's the perfect shady spot to relax in the cooler morning hours. By the way, how cool would it be to pick fresh lemons, limes and grapefruits from your own backyard? Palm Springs is coming out of their hottest months of the year, so a lot of the vegetation is beginning its re-growth and not ready for picking right now ... but soon!

More relaxing by the pool ... with Popsicle treats, of course.  

On Thursday morning, Janie and I decided to take the kids to the nearby Living Desert Zoo. Janie and I could've laid by the pool all day again, but we thought the kids might like a change of scenery. Volunteers who greeted us at the beginning of the park were all so friendly and couldn't seem to get enough of Aden's cuteness. One woman suggested we check out a nature show taking place in the amphitheatre, so we grabbed a seat underneath big, spanning sun shades and learned all about animals who make the desert home.

Tory was particularly fascinated by the presentation, as she loves all things nature right now. At one point the commentator asked the audience if anyone knew what a herbivore was, and Tory reached her arm up in the air and answered the question proudly.

The zoo had a huge model train display set up near the entrance of the amphitheatre, which was easily Aden's favorite part of the whole experience. He would've stood there for hours watching the Thomas the Train car roll along the tracks.

The rest of the zoo was fairly lack-luster, unfortunately. For one, it was HOT. I didn't bring a stroller on this trip, so Aden and Tory had to walk (or rather, Janie and I carry them along the paths from exhibit to exhibit). Fortunately, we bought shuttle passes so we were able to hop on and off various golf carts as they cruised along. There weren't many animals at the zoo either, or not the ones you'd expect to see at a zoo. I suppose that's because it's a "desert" zoo and featured those types of animals (birds, warthogs, wild dogs, cheetahs and giraffes). Janie bought us tickets to ride the carousel, which the kids loved, and then we politely suggested heading back to the house to swim for the rest of the afternoon.

Much better!

This year we'll be in Palm Springs for Halloween, so I brought along the kids' costumes and researched a few Halloween events in the area. I'd be fine skipping Halloween all-together as it's not my favorite holiday anyway, but Tory is old enough to realize it's coming up on the calendar. I'm not sure what trick-or-treating will be like in this neighborhood; it is a gated community, but there aren't many children around. I suggested we check out a Halloween event at the nearby community center on Saturday to cover our bases.

After much deliberation, Tory is dressing up as a witch this Halloween (very surprised she decided against being a Disney princess as Elsa, Cinderella and Jasmine were prime contendors) and Aden is going as a fisherman (he also debated being Sheriff Callie or a scary monster). I packed their costumes in my suitcase, so final decisions were locked in when we left Minnesota on Monday.

The Halloween event took place from 1pm - 6pm on Saturday, and I had no idea what to expect. Since we're not from the area, I didn't know if it'd be in an unsafe part of the community or a total bust from an event standpoint ... fortunately, it was just fine. There were bouncy houses for the kids to play in, trick-or-treat stations set up around a grassy area with games and prizes, and live music and entertainment. Tory was fascinated by the magic show and was even asked to help the magician on "stage." Aden said his favorite part was the candy (and it's true, he ate every piece by the time we left that afternoon).

One thing I didn't count on at the event was how HOT it would be. Oh my goodness, we were dripping with sweat by the end. I was worried Tory and Aden would overheat jumping around in all the bouncy houses, but they didn't seem to mind -- they had a blast! I couldn't believe some of the other people at the event wearing masks and heavy costumes. Some kids were wearing fuzzy zip-up costumes you'd wear on a cold Minnesota night out trick-or-treating! How they didn't fall over with heat exhaustion, I don't know. I suppose you'd be use to the heat if you lived here.

Back to the pool we went following the Halloween event - phew!

Two more days left in Palm Springs, and happily Andi will join us on the last day. I didn't realize it, but this trip has been exactly what I needed -- it's been quiet and relaxing and fun to spend a week with the kids and no plans. The only thing that'll make it better is having Andi here with us on Monday.

Fourth of July 2016

Thoughts of Tory and Aden's "school years" are looming and more than ever, I'm realizing how fortunate I am to be in control of our day-to-day schedule in this phase of life. For this reason, I purposely "un-planned" our summer so Tory, Aden and I would be able to spend as much time at the lake as possible. Summer is, no doubt, the best time of the year here and I want to enjoy it!

Unfortunately, Andi's work schedule is busier than ever so he's been working long days and traveling a lot. He reminds me he's glad the kids and I are able to enjoy the cabin, even if he's not here with us and I try not to feel guilty about it.

Tory, Aden and I drove up to the cabin on Thursday, June 30 for a long Fourth of July weekend. Since we've been at the lake on Thursdays this summer, I've taken the kids to the Country Lane Farmer's Market in Barron, WI to buy fresh fruits and vegetables. This market amazes me every time I visit; it's bustling with produce and craft vendors, food trucks, a playground, and a huge bulk foods market despite being located in the middle of the countryside between cattle farms and corn fields. Tory and Aden love the face-painting station and the homemade ice cream. 

The kids and I spent most of Friday, July 1 on the lake. It felt top-secret to enjoy the lake before the holiday weekend craziness set in. We practically had the place to ourselves.

Andi joined us at the lake Friday evening, and we capped our night with a boat ride around the lake.

Early Saturday morning, Andi and I took Tory and Aden to Crystal Lake Berries for our annual berry-picking adventure. Strawberry picking is one of my favorite summertime traditions. I can't get enough of those delicious berries - there's nothing better!

Aden was surprisingly uninterested in picking berries this year. He picked and ate a few, and then stood by the field and whined the rest of the time. Tory, on the other hand, loved picking strawberries. She took the task of filling her pail very seriously.

 

We walked away with three pails of fresh strawberries filled to the brim. Lucky for me, Andi was kind enough to wash, cut and package them all in Ziploc bags for freezing.

Saturday night, we attended a Fourth of July BBQ at our cabin friends Joe and Lisa's place on the lake. They always throw a fabulous party with lots of food and live music. We chased the kids around in the yard and chatted with various neighbors on the lake. It was a perfect evening!

The next day, our good friends Nick and Julie joined us at the cabin with their boys Joel and Alex. We've celebrated many Fourth of July's together over the years, so it was great to have them. Sunday was spent lounging by the lake -- jet skiing, fishing off the dock and relaxing in the sun.

For dinner that night, Andi and I hosted several of our cabin friends at our place for a shrimp and sausage bowl. We've done this in the past a few times and it's always so fun and easy. I say easy because Andi is the one who does all the cooking! He boiled shrimp, Cajun sausage, corn on the cob and red potatoes, then we dumped all the food onto the table family-style for everyone to eat. It really is a fun meal for everyone, and different than the usual summer BBQs.

Another place on the lake did a big fireworks show that evening after dark, so we promised the kids we'd go watch them if they weren't too cranky by then. Fortunately, everyone was in great spirits and we made it to the show for the first time in our five years on the lake. Of course, not before we did our own little fireworks show (with snappers and sparklers) and s'mores by the fire.

 

We watched the big fireworks show in our friends' Oscar and Deanna's backyard on the lake. It's was in perfect view of the big show. 

Julie, Nick and their boys left the cabin mid-morning on Monday, July 4 so our little family of four enjoyed the rest of the day together. It was peaceful, low-key and exactly what we all needed after such a busy weekend celebrating. 

Tory, Aden and I were lucky enough to stay another week at the lake following Fourth of July while Andi returned to the Twin Cities for work. I'm operating in a constant state of "vacation mode" being here so long: no time tables or schedules to keep, no distractions of television or media. I feel like we're safe and sound in our little bubble here, and it's absolute paradise.