How to pay for pizza...

The weather slipped back into the end of winter chills this past week. There was some peppering of sun but as I write there is a fine layer of winter covering the earth.

This past weekend we took a trip up to Lansford to see Kevin and the in-laws. Was a great trip to catch up. Am glad that his company is based out of Bismarck, gets him up here once a year. We saw Grandma Lee who continues to fail. She continues to have a loose grip on reality and is barely recognizing people. Aging can be such a scary thing and there is no way to do it gracefully. I know this has been hard on many people to be part of her slipping.

There was a few moments of Matt’s past that came out this past weekend and brought a smile to his face of recollection. One was seeing his grandfather’s tackle box, which had been immaculately cared for and many things were still in the box even. The other was his Ninja Turtle back pack. Funny story is that him and I had just been talking about this but he had sold it to his Grandma for $5 and she carried it around when her and Bob traveled and carried a small coffee pot with two cups in it to start their day. It is still in fabulous condition, complete with Matt’s signature and information in the inside cover. Was fun to see him watch the memories resurface.

We were able to treat the family to Sammy’s Pizza in town. Was nice to see everyone get out and visit a bit. I know there was some disappointment in the meal but I wish I could duplicate their cheesy bread, that may have been one of my favorite parts!

On our way home, Matt got to spend some extra time with Kevin. I had a quality companion of my own to hash out the problems of the world. Was good for me as it was for Matt. We took Kevin out that night to Lucky Ducks, unique eatery that plays on having duck incorporated into their menu as well as lobster, elk, and more.

Kevin and Jake weren’t our only guests of the week, my maid of honor made a visit for fajitas early on. I think my favorite quote from her was, “So what are you doing with this empty room? You should at least throw a yoga mat down, it’ll look more intentional!”

Best meal: It’s tough…the fajitas were very good, I enjoyed Sammy’s, but maybe Randy’s leftover breakfast pizza, even though they don’t put it in the fridge.

Michele: We always win. We pay.
Randy: Ha, so there!
ALR: Yep, you always win.
(10 minutes later)
Randy: Damnit, you!
ALR and MJR (smug look)

I found a pile of wedding programs in box and to extend the love I've decided to give them away as parting gifts to our house guests. I was successful in giving away three this week, one to each guest that visited.

How to tell if it's spring

We had a beautiful weekend. I'm not even joking. 70's on both Saturday and Sunday. Seriously, beautiful. What happens on a beautiful weekend, you get sick. Ugh! Coughing, sniffing, sore throat. ick. I did decide to push through it just because it was too beautiful and I had too much going on.

Some of the weekly highlights include:

A joint trip to the capitol. I was there to observe testimony and a bill, Matt was there to testify on a resolution. It was fun to watch him and listen to the questions that they asked while knowing that his answer was respected because of his experience plus since he shaved his beard, he looks so good in a suit.

Matt and I made a trip out to the farm. Dad wanted to make it to a sale in Stanley and asked Matt to do chores so he could go. I was just along for the ride and to also celebrate my mother's birthday. Was good to visit with her a bit too as things have been crazy with her in the middle of calving and Matt and I swamped between settling more into the house and traveling. Was fun to see the calves too, they were zooming around and jumping, and had tails in the air. That's my favorite part of spring. We did make a birthday supper for Mom's day including pork belly, grits, chutney, and chops with a chocolate, strawberry cake to follow. I only wish I would have remembered candles.

On Sunday, we sorted the house. Felt good to sort. Matt finally put together a few presents of ours including the firepit for our wedding as well as my Christmas pation heater. Was fun to sit with it a put and enjoy the yard. 

We've had a slow week, which is good for recovery. The temps have dropped again but I'm hoping we don't have another big bang snowfall again.

Best meal: For St. Patrick's Day, Matt cooked a corned beef, potatoes, creamed cabbage, and steamed cabbage. He did a great job. I will admit I was impressed.

ALR: Hey, want to split this thing I bought? Mediterranean Halva?
MJR: Sure.
(both bite)
MJR: You can have my half.
ALR: I don't think you gave it a good try.
MJR: It's what I imagine the sand from Cabo to taste like.
ALR: No, I think you're wrong, I think it's like flavored insulation.  
MJR: Freeze-dried?
ALR: I don't think it's too bad. 

How to get through a time change...

Are we in spring yet? Can we be in spring yet? Wait, we are already so busy and summer hasn't even hit yet...maybe I'm not ready for spring yet.

I can tell the days are getting longer and our energy is going up. I'm not sure if it's out of necessity or the warmer weather. We actually have had windows open this past weekend and the cats are loving it.

But let's back up a bit to the weekend before last. We went to Fargo for UMAS but we couldn't go to the Eastern side of the state without attempting to make a trip up to Grand Forks and take in a hockey game. So before leaving town, we made crepes, I enjoyed my latte and we got in the vehicle to road trip. Felt a little reminiscent of the Florida driving.

It was an amazing game against St. Cloud. Here's the interesting part, I'll admit I'm hockey'd out. I internally (and maybe externally) cringe when I see it come on the TV and I know now that we are getting into playoff season for both pros and college and that means more hockey because they play like best of 9 million games. But this hockey was different. The game, the sound, the atmosphere. We had amazing seats. Matt did some reminiscing of his younger rowdy college days but it was amazing.

My most vivid memory of the game was during a 3 on 5 St Cloud power play and one of the players (MacMillan) took a puck block shot to the leg and it was all he could do to try to stand up let alone skate over to get off the ice. Was heartbreaking to see the commitment he had yet the pain that he went through. After this happened the Ralph became engaged. So loud in their cheering and encouragement of the team. I don't know if I can forget that. Matt recorded the game to see if we got on TV (he did, I didn't) and the announcers said that what we experienced was the loudest that the Ralph had ever been.

Matt's most vivid memory was while we had the St. Cloud goal on our side, I looked at him and said, "I hope they score one more goal soon." Minutes later the puck sailed into the net in a clean undeniable shot. That took us into the third period, where we got to change seat and sit in his professor's seats, which are just rows from the home bench. Matt was in heaven. I was so distracted! I didn't know where to watch, who to watch, so much to take in!

Professor Kim: Yeah, we are close, you'll start smelling the players.
5 minutes later.
ALR: Oh my gosh, she's right. I can smell the sweat. Oh, ugh.
MJR: She is right! Isn't it wonderful.
ALR: (wrinkles nose)

The game finished in a win and it was also the last home game of the season. Which resulted in the videos of the seniors who will probably remember this win with a bittersweetness that I couldn't understand. It was a wonderful night to see the game and enjoy good friends and good conversation.

The next couple days were spent in Fargo. Matt spent it immersed in airport fun and jargon. I spent it with one my favorite people, Aunt Janice. Now her and I had great plans. We didn't get many of them accomplished. We went through her seeds, her scarves, and did some shopping. We also hung a picture, which was much more painful than I ever could have imagined. We got it up with 5 holes in the wall, mathematics, measuring, and stress. I am not the picture hanger in my family.

The rest of the week, we played catch-up. Matt was busy at work. I was busy at work. We even managed to run into each other at the Capitol and I got the chance to sit in on his testimony. Was nice to see the questions they asked.

The weekend flew by. We worked on cleaning, organizing, and actually doing some much needed moving in. We had a surprise on Saturday night with Brendan and Claudia dropping in as they are getting acquainted with the city. So I know Matt was excited to show them the house for the first time.

All in all, what a busy couple weeks!

Best meal: Little Bangkok....the 2 Hearts roll, with the amazing crunch!

MJR: Gosh, we got so much done today!
ALR: (Looks at him)
MJR: We didn't get everything done you wanted to, did we?
ALR: (sighs) No, I had such a good list.
MJR: What else was on your list?
ALR: I forgot it at work, so I can't remember.
MJR: (looks at her)
ALR: But I know there were things that we didn't do.

FL: How to put over 800 miles on a rental car...

Our last full day in Florida was the first day we took it slow. We had one goal for the day, get close to the airport so we could be on the plane home. 

So we started the day with breakfast on the beach. We had picked up an Ugli fruit at Robert's and ate that before getting into the water. I'll never forget the water. The tide was going out and the waves were so minimal, you couldn't even call it waves. They reminded me of a blanket just shifting along. I wondered where that calm was when I was try to snorkel the day before. We enjoyed the beach. Matt dove in while I combed for seashells and enjoyed the calm. It was a beautiful start to the morning. 

We both admitted that we could have sat there all day soaking in the sun and surf. The hotel was in a perfect location from the beach and the umbrella was providing the right amount of shade. I had to remind myself that Spring Break was coming and going to completely change the calm that I was loving.

When we got on the road, we were both a bit hungry and stopped off at a place called Hot Leggz, which boasted their crab legs. We settled for Ahi Tuna tacos and gator bites before getting on the road. We road US 1 through many towns. Finally, upon needing to get out of the sun for a bit. Matt had me look to see if we were close to a Diner, Drive-In, and Dive stop, which he loves. We discovered we were 3 miles from Havana Hideout-which actually filled Matt's quest for a good Cuban. He got the "What Guy Got" platter which was a great amount of food and I got the Taco Combo, taking the fish taco that Guy had AND adding an even more amazing taco, the Baja to it. Not only was the food absolutely amazing and we could have sat under the umbrella foreverish, but add an amazing hard Root Beer to it as well, I could go there every week. 

We got back on the road heading north, when we got into Jupiter, I decided I'd gone long enough without a piece of Key Lime Pie. We stopped in a little place called Little Moir's Food Shack. This place was beautiful. You watched the chefs make the food and I love when a line doesn't have a microwave. The food looked bright, wonderful, and I was debating about having another meal just to experience it. This restaurant inspired the food meltdown of 2015 as the "Blue Sheet Menu" is only the daily LUNCH menu for Tuesday. The evening meal has it's own menu, just as every other day of the week. The most expensive item, which was the daily special - encrusted salmon on a bed of greens, was $12.00. ARE YOU FRICKEN SERIOUS! I will go back and enjoy more than desserts!

The rest of the drive that day was to get us back to Orlando/Sanford. Matt wanted to drive by Tiger Wood's place. It was an immaculate neighborhood, which wasn't a shock. 

We also drove past the Kennedy Space Center, which we hope to take in at another time.

We stayed the night in Orange City, at the Holiday Inn Express, cheapest hotel of the trip. They recommend the seafood restaurant for the evening, the Swamphouse Riverfront Grille, which was right on the water. The decor was what you'd expect given the name, the food was fabulous. I had the grilled grouper, which was probably the best grouper I've had of my life! Matt had the fried mahi that was crab stuffed. But the favorite part of his meal probably was the jambalaya.

We took off early the next day to ensure we made it to the airport at 5:00. We said goodbye to the convertible and to Florida. It was an amazing trip. One that I won't forget anytime soon. I think I've described it as a beautiful whirlwind and given my mood when you ask, I'll come up with a different favorite each time. We will do it again.

ALR: How do you feel about this trip?
MJR: Well, we didn't plan much. All we started with was the flights and the rental car.
ALR: Yeah, but you are my otter. No matter where we go, as long as I had you, it was going to be a good time. 
MJR: It was a good trip.