Just The Three of Us

Andi went away for a boys' hunting trip in Canada this past weekend, so I decided to embrace the calm and stay put for a change vs. driving to our lake cabin. I bet I could count on one hand the number of times we've spend a Saturday or Sunday in the Twin Cities ... which is crazy since we live here!

I typically dread the weekends Andi's traveling because it seems like everyone in the world has their own family's plans. Saturday and Sunday drag on forever; it's different from the weekdays when the kids and I have our regularly-scheduled activities to keep us busy. This weekend though, I welcomed the chance to chance to take things at our own pace. Now that Tory's in school half-days, we've got somewhere to be every morning by 8:25am. I made a list of things to do this weekend, but loved the idea of picking and choosing where we wanted to be.

Friday afternoon, I took the kids to Westwood Hills Nature Center for an outdoor scavenger hunt. Going for a nature hike has become one of my favorite pasttimes, though admitedly, not much ground is covered with four little legs along. Before we left home, I printed a nature scavenger hunt in hopes it'd spur Tory and Aden to walk with a purpose. It definitely worked for Tory! We had the entire grounds to ourselves and enjoyed an absolutely perfect fall evening outdoors.

These two make my heart burst with happiness! I hope they'll always be the friends they are today.

We made homemade pizza for dinner, ate popcorn, and watched Curious George Halloween Boo-Fest that evening. I don't personally love how dark it gets at night now (the sun sets at 6:30pm!), but I do love how easy it is to pull the wool over the kids' eyes and make them believe they stayed up super late when it's really their regular bedtime. Movie night at 6:30pm, bedtime at 7:30pm and Mama's time by 8:00pm = winning for everyone!

Saturday, the kids decided they wanted to see the Thomas the Train exhibit at the Minnesota Children's Museum. We haven't been to the museum in ages (like, three years at least!) so I thought it sounds like the perfect plan. Plus, Aden loves trains these days so I knew he'd enjoy it.

The Children's Museum is currently under construction so it was a little underwhelming compared to the past, but Tory and Aden didn't expect anything less. They had a great time!

 
Later that day, the three of us walked to a nearby park and played for several hours. We had a great time.

One thing I love about the lake cabin is the way it feels like a mini-getaway every single weekend. We always have something fun planned, but fun takes planning and preparation. This weekend, it was nice to stay home for change and enjoy some local fun and relaxation.

Minnesota State Fair 2015

Tory's birthday always falls during the Minnesota State Fair, and I thought it'd be a fun way to celebrate by visiting on her actual birthday this year. Tory's fourth birthday happened on a Sunday and since we'd be driving past the east side of the Twin Cities on our way home from the cabin anyway, it seemed to make perfect logistical sense.

Of course, on the day of her actual birthday, Tory was exhausted from a weekend of non-stop birthday partying. Classic example of me trying to shove too much excitement into one day which inevitably ends with a child meltdown. Andi and I hemmed and hawed over going, but finally decided to go for it last minute when the kids fell asleep on the car ride home to the Cities. We pulled up to the State Fair around dinnertime -- perfect timing to stuff our faces full of fried foods.

For the record, we always park directly across the street from the fairgrounds in someone's yard. It costs an arm and a leg (typically $20 or so) which seems absurd for a few hours of parking, but it's well worth it not to battle transportation or a long walk back to our car when the kids hit their breaking point.

We walked into the fair around 6:00pm, and found the streets surprisingly empty for a weekend evening. The air temperature was perfect (low 80's) as the sun began to go down. I'm so glad we visited the fair this day vs. later in the week when temperatures proved much hotter and more humid!

Our main fair objectives were to find some good food to eat, visit some of the kid exhibits, and to leave before the kids reached lost their minds from exhaustion. Andi and I were both a little uneducated when it came to "new foods at the fair" this year, or "new exhibits." We just walked along and stopped by whatever found our fancy.

First food stop was for a Pronto Pup which, I have to say, doesn't stretch as far as it did in the days of just Andi and I. By the time Andi fed some to our famished kids, he and I only got a bite or two for ourselves. Aden, particularly, was a big fan of this fair food item.

Next, we stumbled upon the Nickelodeon booth and saw the Little Charmers characters there for a meet & greet. Tory wasn't sure what to think about seeing some of her favorite television characters up close in person. She didn't want to wait in line to have her picture taken with them, and sort of stared off into space until we eventually walked away. Then, for the next 30 minutes or so, she repeated in a trance... "They were bigger than I expected them to be!" I think she couldn't quite believe her eyes.

We stopped by the Alphabet Forest to spell our names in laminated letters. Taking Aden out of the stroller to play at the other stations seemed like too much of a gamble, so we continued onward.

The Little Farm Hands exhibit is a must-do for the kids, so we stopped by there next. Aden was OBSESSED with the kid's tractors and ran around the place like a toddler maniac. Tory took things much more seriously and collected each item from the farm stations, then carefully planted vegetables in the pretend garden.

Aden started to get restless after we left the farm, so we set out for some roasted corn on the cob. Give Aden a cob of corn this summer and he'd sit quietly for at least 30 minutes gnawing on it. We didn't see the infamous corn roaster anywhere nearby, so Andi stopped by a random bbq food stand and bought one. He split the ear in half and gave each kid a piece. 

By this time in the evening, the sun was already starting to go down and I knew our time at the fair was limited. We passed by the kiddie mid-way and Tory started to beg to go on some rides. I really wanted needed some deep-fried pickles -- a Minnesota State Fair must for me -- but I put aside my own desires for those of my kids' when we saw the Butterfly Habitat.

The kids love the butterfly habitat at the Lincoln Children's Zoo, and I knew they'd like this one, too. Except, instead of the beautiful, lush gardens like at the zoo, the fair set-up was akin to a sweaty tent filled with hundreds of people and lots of poor, trampled butterflies. Luckily, Tory didn't seem to notice the dead insects spread around the floor.    

We were running low on daylight, and it was clear we'd have time to do one more thing. Tory chirped away about going on some rides and I still hadn't had my fried pickles. I was truly hungry by this point since I'd only eaten a nibble of a Pronto Pup right after we arrived. I think I might be the only person to ever attend the fair and actually LEAVE hungry! 

Like the good mom I am, I decided to make my daughter's day and skip the pickle stand (which was on the other side of the fairgrounds) so Tory could ride the ferris wheel. It was her birthday, after all. I stopped by the closest stand nearby to buy some french fries and Andi got some cheese curds. We gobbled them up and headed over to the mid-way.

The ferris wheel glowed against the dimming night's sky, and she was sure that was the ride for her. Andi and I agreed he'd ride with Tory while I waited on the ground with Aden and the stroller. It seemed to spin on forever -- both Andi and I agreed later. Andi said to Tory as they rotated up and around for the sixth time or so, "I think they probably let us go a few more times around since it's your birthday." Tory responded flatly, "I don't think so, Dad. That's how many times it goes around." She told him. Humph.

I think we could've stayed at the fair for a few more hours as we never even made it over to the farm animals, any of the business vendors, or to my beloved fried pickles. Once nighttime fell, Andi and I decided it best to head home to avoid ending our day with kiddie meltdowns. Next year, maybe we'll make a whole day of visiting the fair ... it sure was a lot of fun.   

Minnesota State Fair 2014

Well, this is a bit after the fact but I just realized I never recapped this year's visit to the Minnesota State Fair. I can't not write about it here because then it's like it never happened, and that's just sad. Really, I'm wondering where the end of summer has gone. Didn't we visit the fair, like, yesterday? It sure feels that way. It's been one thing after another with Tory's 3rd birthday, the start of preschool and our new fall routine, a bridal shower for Lindsay last weekend and a string of long days of work and travel for Andi. Life has been busy, and it's left me doing a double-take at the calendar. Anyway, somewhere in there, we made our annual trek to the Minnesota State Fair.

We're one of 'those people' who make it a point to visit the State Fair every year. I really enjoy it -- the awesome people watching, the food, the atmosphere -- and, it's so fun to watch it unfold through the eyes of our children. Typically, Andi scoots out of work a little early one week day during the fair's 10-day span and we spend an evening there. This was also Aden's first visit to the State Fair, so I was extra excited to take him.

One afternoon, I loaded up the kids after nap time and drove to Andi's office to pick him up. Traffic was horrible and it seemed to take forever to drive all the way across the Cities to get to the fair. By the time we arrived it was 5 o'clock-ish. We paid for our tickets, walked into the entrance and ran right into our friends Josh and Krista from the lake cabin. Krista and I talked about our families going to the fair separately, but we didn't coordinate the date/time so it was funny to run into them first-thing upon arrival ... especially amongst thousands and thousands of people. We decided to join Josh, Krista and their little girls in walking around for a while. I spotted the Alphabet Forest right away which was on my State Fair bucket list, so we stopped to check it out.

Here we go!

Spelling the kids' names at the Alphabet Forest

The Aphabet Forest was so cute! Tory loved the word activities and they were perfectly targeted for her age. Even Aden enjoyed picking up rubber duckies swimming in 'word find' tub. We spelled the kids' names with foam pool noodles and laminated letters of the alphabet, and had our picture taken together. Cute, cute cute.

Next, we visited Krista's sister at a nearby booth and watched Hannah and Tory dance to live music playing on the Front Porch stage nearby. The girls loved the music and attracted quite the ooh's and ahh's from passerby's. 

Josh, Krista, Andi, the kids and I continued along toward the Little Farm Hands exhibit. This was another 'must do' on my State Fair bucket list because it's so gosh-darn adorable seeing the kids wearing little aprons and pretending to be farmers. I knew Tory would love it even more this year since she's finally old enough to operate her own tractor and "plant" her own seeds in the soil. I assumed correctly, and Tory had a ball acting out the farm activities.

At this point, Andi and I decided to split off from Josh and Krista so we could visit some home improvement booths. Our kids were fading fast, and it was suddenly apparent we needed to get some food in their bellies - STAT. Such a rookie move on my part loosing track of time. It was already 6:30pm which is way past Tory's dinnertime and nearing Aden's evening bottle and bedtime. I think we stopped for a Pronto Pup which Andi and Tory shared and then we booked it through massive crowds of people to get over to the home improvement booths before our kids lost it completely and we were forced to leave the fair alltogether. We walked around the grandstand FOREVER trying to find a stroller-friendly entrance to the second-floor of the building. Finally, I realized it was on the outside of the structure and, unfortunately, directly in the mix of people queuing up for the Tim McGraw concert that night. Super bad timing, so many people to push the double stroller through and Tory was losing her mind by this point. All this chaos to visit the Lumber Liquidators booth for a state fair discount they ended up not even offering - GAH! At some point I shouted for Andi to toss me some money and I bought Tory some popcorn to shut her pie hole fill up her belly and stop whining like a wacko preschooler.

We booked it out the busy grandstand vendor area in search of more food, and ended up stopping at a carousel along the way. This was the one thing Tory said she wanted to do at the fair, and as soon as she saw it she exclaimed, "I want to go on the merry-go-round!" Andi stayed back with Aden and Tory and I rode the fastest-moving carousel I've ever been on. Seriously, so fast - I was dizzy by the end. Tory loved it though and properly named her plastic carousel horse "Sparky." (Of course.) State Fair highlight for Tory, for sure.

Next, we stopped by the Blue Moon Drive-In Theatre to try the new SnoRibbons fair food I'd seen advertised on the news (disappointing; such a weird texture) and also for some Korean Pork Tacos (also disappointing; they were cold). While Andi ordered food, Aden decided to absolutely lose his mind right then and there. It was 7 o'clock, sure enough. I'm sure we were quite the sight as I scrambled to mix and feed Aden a bottle (OMG at 20 lbs., he is so super heavy to hold in my arms for long periods of time) while also corralling Tory in the stroller / beside me. It was ... stressful.

Andi came back with our food and I shouted, "Help me with them! I need a beer!" all at once. Oh, the fun of being a parent sometimes. Miraculously, Aden fell asleep in the stroller (first time ever, I think) and Tory turned back into a normal child after we fed her some pork tacos, SnoRibbons ice cream and popcorn. (Parent of the year award for healthiest dinner, right there).

All was right with the (State Fair) world then, so we decided to stay a little longer and enjoy the evening. It was a gorgeous summer night - sunny, no wind and in the mid-70's - and once again, being at the fair felt electric. The nice weather brought people out in masses, so every food stand was packed. Finally, Andi found a vendor with no line and I got a tasty beer. Ah!

No trip to the Minnesota State Fair is complete without a stop by the deep fried pickles stand. We made our way over to the food vendor and purchased an order to share. Tory loved the fried pickles this year, and gobbled them up right along with me. A weakness for all things deep-fried; just like her mother. There were so many other things I wanted to see and eat at the fair, but it was nearly 8:45pm and we knew we'd better hit the road for home.

Even though this year's fair experience was a bit stressful at times, I'd do it all again in a heartbeat. Most of our kid-drama was due to poor timing on my part. I should've realized the kids were hungry for dinner shortly after we arrived and any evening activity these days is difficult with Aden's early bedtime. The State Fair is all about making memories as a family for me, so experiencing it without my kids just wouldn't be the same. I wish there would have been a time Andi and I could've gone a separate time to eat all the adult food and beverages we wanted, but I'll settle for one crazy, fun, sometimes stressful visit with my family any day. Maybe two trips in 2015 ... because we'll definitely go back again next year.

And now, our annual Minnesota State Fair video. Enjoy!

Fun Fridays: Farm Babies at the Minnesota Zoo

My friend Lindsey and I threw together a list of toddler-friendly things to do around the Twin Cities and plotted them on our calendars twice a month. We call them "Fun Fridays" with the intention they'll give us an excuse to get together and be less stressful than hauling our kids to one more scheduled class or activity. So far, we've met at the Hopkins Library (which is one of my favorites around the Twin Cities because it has a decent kids play area within a semi-enclosed space) and a week ago Friday, we ventured to the Minnesota Zoo's Farm Babies exhibit. I finally had a chance to sit down and write about our day!

I've only been to the Minnesota Zoo twice in my seven years living in the Twin Cities, and both times were to see the Farm Babies. The Minnesota Zoo is quite the drive from my house and seems absurdly expensive in comparison to Como Zoo which is smaller, closer in proximity to me and FREE. Nonetheless, a day at the "big zoo" was something different to do. Plus, the kids got up-close-and-personal encounters with baby farm animals.

This particular Friday morning was the perfect spring day. The air was cool, but the sun shined brightly and it made all the difference for walking outdoors (especially while pushing a giant double stroller). I packed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the toddler girls and Lindsey and I planned to make a day out of our visit.

Impossibly difficult to get four kids to look at the camera at once.
This was the only one where Aden wasn't screaming.
Ashley (2 1/2 years), Taylor (10 months), Aden (5 months) and Tory (2 1/2 years)

Our kids love getting together just as much as Lindsey and I do. Tory and Ashley hugged tightly as soon as they saw one another (and Tory cried "I miss my Ashley!" all the back to our parked car on the way home). As soon as we paid the entrance fee, we booked it toward the Farm Babies. First up: the goats. Ashley (Lindsey's daughter) loved the kids (that is, the baby goats, as not to be confused with the real kids running crazily everywhere). Tory, on the other hand, wasn't a big fan and I was so surprised! She loves the donkeys we visit every weekend at the cabin. This cute black and white goat sure loved Tory though, and tried licking her hand. Girlfriend wanted nothing to do with him.

Next, we walked a few pens over to the pigs and piglets. These little guys were my favorite farm animals to see. Tory loved them, too, and was very interested in how/why the babies were eating from their mama's belly (aka: nipples). Oh, toddlers and their never-ending series of questions. I tried to (quietly) explain to Tory how baby pigs drink milk from their mama, similar to the way Aden eats. She was a bit confused.

 
We saw more cows/calves and horses/ponies which are less exciting in my book because they're already huge even at a few months of age. These barns were super crowded and Tory was quite overwhelmed, so we didn't stay long. It was nice outside these areas though for the kids to run around semi-freely. 

Before we knew it, it was lunchtime and the kids were famished. We stopped at a picnic shelter and fed the little girls lunch while Lindsey drove circles with Baby Taylor in the stroller trying to get her to fall asleep, and I shushed and attempted to nurse a screaming Aden. Ugh. Somewhere between the barns and the picnic shelter he lost his fool-mind, which he rarely does. Thank goodness Tory and Ashley were fairly well behaved and interested in eating their sandwiches once we got them set up at a picnic table.

These are the moments when being a mom to small children (and trying to do something nice, like taking them to the zoo for the day) are so exhausting. Is it worth it? I think so, but I always feel like I've been put through the ringer by the end. After a quick spin through the fish area, we decided to make our way toward the exit as it was apparent all of our children were nearing meltdowns. Car naps for everyone! A "fun" Friday activity for sure, but a tiring one. I'm looking forward to more trips to the "little zoo" this summer.

Weekend at Home

Andi and I made the call last Thursday to stay in the Twin Cities this past weekend. We rarely miss time at the cabin if we're available, but the forecast threatened a foot of snowfall on Thursday night / Friday morning and with snowmobile trails closed for the season, there's not much to do at the lake this time of year when temperatures aren't nice enough to be outdoors.

We did get 9 1/2 inches of heavy, wet snow as predicted and the roads were pretty rotten to drive on Friday morning. But, by 2:00pm, the sun was shining and the snow melting. I suspect it's similar to living in Colorado, where it snows but temperatures make it manageable to live. Unlike you, Minnesota. Ahem.

Anyway, we totally could have gone to the cabin after all but by then, we'd made plans for dinner with friends Saturday night. Andi and I decided to make the best of a weekend at home.

Though, it turns out weekends at home are hard for us. It's sounds strange, but Andi and I are like passing ships during the week. He leaves for work before I even wake up for the day (lately, it seems like 5:00am - 7:00am is the only time my children actually sleep so I am passed out from exhaustion). In the evenings, Andi returns home from work and we tag-team the kids' bedtime routine until collapsing into bed ourselves. Since I stay home, I do almost everything to manage the kids and household so weekends at home feel like another weekday to me. Like when we went to the Science Museum of Minnesota on Saturday morning and I shouted at Tory to "freeze" by the car as we were unloading Aden and the stroller. Clearly Andi is very capable of removing his daughter from her car seat and ensuring she doesn't run full-speed into parking lot traffic. I guess I'm so used to doing everything on my own when we're running around town during the week, I have a hard time relinquishing some of the responsibility when Andi's along. Having all of us home together throws our whole system out of whack.

We had a nice morning at the Science Museum. Tory was a little young for all the exhibits but two year olds can enjoy themselves just about anywhere. I laughed when Andi weighed Tory on a giant scale comparing people to the weight of fish in the Mississippi River. The dial barely moved when she stepped on and Andi said, "You weigh as much as a carp!" Ha. So random.

We brought lunch over to Andi's grandma's house since we were on her side of the Cities and then went to dinner at our friends Lindsey and Dan's house Saturday night. We had a blast over there. The little girls played dress-up and watched Cinderella and never squabbled once over toys. The babies had fun jumping in their respective gadgets and the adults drank wine over stories and take-out. It was really nice to see some of our "in town" friends on the weekend.

Aden (4 months) and Taylor (10 months)

Tory and her best friend Ashley

The weather warmed up enough to go for a walk outside on Sunday (!!!) which was quite the shift from Friday's snow storm. That's springtime in Minnesota. We stayed up far too late on Saturday night (11:00 pm) for people who are up with kids half the night. Andi, Tory and I were all tired and cranky Sunday morning (again with the being at home on a weekend thing messing with our mojo) so we brewed some coffee, packed up the kids and drove over to our friends Krista and Josh's house to take a stroll around Lake Minnetonka. Tory and her other BFF Hannah splashed through puddles and we all got some much-needed fresh air.

Sunday evening, Andi's mom and sister volunteered to babysit for a few hours, so Andi went to dinner with friends and I had to stop myself from squealing my tires out of the drive-way for some alone time. I love my husband and my kids, but staying home for a weekend really flips life upside down for us. It was a good weekend, but a busy one and very similar to my everyday. I'm exhausted starting my week today and miss the quiet retreat and slower pace of life our lake cabin provides us every weekend. It's a gift; it truly is, and I think Andi and I take our magical place for granted sometimes. I'm already counting the minutes until our return on Friday.

Minnesota State Fair 2013

Andi, Tory and I made our annual trek to the Minnesota State Fair on Monday. It was a balmy 97 degrees outside and my tired pregnant legs have been giving me all kinds of grief this past week ... so it was basically the worst time to visit the fair with a small toddler in tow. But! We went anyway because it's a great little tradition of ours. We can't not visit the fair every year. How could we pass up the chance to make our annual State Fair Video?

Minnesota State Fair 2013 from Andi on Vimeo.

[video link here]

The fair was hot (very, very hot) and we were all a sweaty mess within five minutes after arriving ... but, there were hardly any crowds due to the heat and we still had a great time. I mean, deep fried pickles. How could you not enjoy yourself? YUM.

I made Andi pay for ridiculously expensive parking in someone's front yard across from the fairground entrance because I knew I'd be hobbling out of there by the end. Guess what? I was. MONEY WELL SPENT.

First stop was The Bailey House to see Andi's sister, Lindsay, who works at the fair full-time. She brought us some cold bottles of water and took her dinner break during our visit so she could walk around the fairgrounds with us. We stopped for honey-made ice cream (a new fair food for us!) which was a refreshing treat. We also cruised through the Food Building to eat fried cheese curds. They weren't very appealing in the heat, but they're a fair staple and always delicious.

Tory and Auntie Lindsay

Party of three (... next year it'll be four)!

Tory was in a bit of a funk since she didn't have much of an afternoon nap, so we decided to cruise over to the animal barns next to pep up her spirits. Surprisingly, the Miracle of Birth Center was practically empty and we were able to get up close to all the animal babies. Tory was beside herself with excitement once she saw the sheep, ducks, pigs and cows. "Mommy cow! See that! Baby duck!" she shouted over and over again. The fair was even more enjoyable this year to see the excitement through Tory's eyes.

Of course we stopped by the deep fried pickles booth (because, obviously no trip to the fair is complete without them) and enjoyed a hot, crisp Pronto Pup. We definitely ate less fair food during this visit due to the sweltering temperatures and the fact that Andi started a three-day juice cleanse this week. He's usually the food instigator at the fair, but I think he was a little nervous to pump his body full of greasy, fried food and then cleanse for the remainder of the week.

Next, we made the trek to the Little Farm Hands exhibit. Last year, Tory was just old enough to walk through the "farm" and I knew she'd really enjoy it now she could navigate it on her own. It was so adorable watching her ride the little kid tractor and carry "animal feed" in her farm bucket. At the end, she got to "buy" ice cream with her harvested produce at the market. It's safe to say the ice cream was her favorite part.

As we were leaving the fair, I asked Tory what she liked best and she said "farm." Though since Monday night, all she's been able to talk about were the sheep and baby ducks. Since our fair visit, we've read every farm book we have at home. Girlfriend loves barnyard animals!