Day 3 and 4 Adult-only MN, Jackolanterns

I woke up to a text from Wes in the morning that let me know what was going on for the day... [paraphrased]... due to the brew tour and bourbon sampling, during our trip to Albertsville, we will be visiting all the stores.  BAHAHAHAHA!

We got ready, packed up and headed down for breakfast. We had noticed a place that served breakfast attached to the hotel we were staying (the W at the Foshay OR the Foshay at the W, I can't remember). We thought we'd try it. We let Wes and Kristi know where we were at and then we say the menu. The cheapest breakfast listed was a $17 omelet. A side of bacon was $12, unless you wanted the special bacon, that was $27. I determined that we couldn't eat there. I bought a 1/8 of a pig for that price. Instead we went to Kramarczuks for lunch.

So we did go to Albertsville, while Matt and I didn't take in all the stores, I appreciated the tenacity in which Kristi shops. She is a machine. She had a plan and has a helluva pace. Wes had to tap out for a nap and a few reparks. Matt and I skipped around but our big finds were probably snowpants, that I determined were my birthday gift, from Columbia and Van Heusen shirts.

We headed back to Fargo and stopped for a bite on the road. The restaurant, Steel Wheels Dining Car
#432, didn't seem to understand what kind of place it wants to be. Between the gyros, shrimp po'boy, fried green tomatoes, Cincinnati chili, their bartender was a mixologist and the served tap water was lemon and orange infused.

When we got into Fargo, we did a brew stop at Fargo Brewing Company and then went to the Cider bar for cider and shuffleboard before heading to the hotel for the night.

We took in a not-so-quick trip to costco before hitting the road and headed home. It was a great trip... was so glad they asked us to go to the game with them and that we could get away for a bit.

Was happy to come back home to the kids! We ended the weekend carving pumpkins with them. We only did 2, Ainsley will haftah wait for her first pumpkin. I think they loved it. In the end, Matt cleaned all the goo and goop up.

GRR drops something: Gosh Dang it.
MJR looks at ALR: When did that start?
ALR: I don't know. But it's coming out clear as day huh?
MJR: You know he got that from you.
ALR: I know.
MJR: We probably need to let daycare know.
GRR runs into ARR: Gosh Dang it.
ALR: Yeah, probably.
from the other room, GRR: Gosh Dang it!
ALR: Grady, say Shoot! 

Wimming and Day 1 and 2 of Adult Only MN

We had a great week! It started off with a high. I promised E that when she was potty trained, I would sign her up for swimming lessons - well, with a 95% success rate (even at night, even though we haven't been brave enough to try it without a pull up) we signed up for swimming and started our first class of a 8 week class. She was excited, I was excited. She's the youngest in the class and we don't know what to expect but the girl loves water and we are ready for her to start learning. She had a good time! She goes on Monday and Wednesday each week. She has asked every night, "Mama, you take me to wimming lessons?"

On Thursday, we did a daycare drop and then got in a car with my cousin, Wes and Kristi and went off to an adult-only weekend to the cities. AHHHH, we had been looking forward to this since they asked. SO what we needed. The kids were split - the girls stayed at the house with Michele and Randy and G went out to the farm. I'm sure either set could have handled all three but this way it's way more digestible!

It was a quick ride down with conversation and fun. I will say I was glad it wasn't me behind the wheel, especially in downtown Minne. I appreciate Wes's tenacity and whocares attitude driving down the bus-only street! We went to the Redskins/Vikings game at the new stadium. This was the first football game that I've been too - was different than I was expecting but had a great time seeing things, asking questions, and watching the game. I rooted with Wes and Kristi taught me how to throw flags. I also enjoyed a purple passion drink. It was the most expensive koolaide I've ever had in my life! After the game, we walked for drinks and then back to our hotel.

The next day, we started it off right.... breakfast at Hell's Kitchen. Matt had Bison benedict and I had the huevos rancheros... because of the rave reviews. It wasn't anything like other huevos rancheros I had.. I liked the crispy tortilla that it was dropped on. I say the highlights of the meal were Matt's Mahnomin Porridge and the toasted sausage bread... wasn't like anything I'd ever had. The server said try it with the peanut butter and some jelly - didn't even need it. We also had some breakfast beverages to start us off right.

From there, we ran a few errands but ended up shopping... Trader Joe's and Wine Warehouse.. how can you go wrong? We probably should have grabbed lunch at that time but we hit up Dangerous Man Brewery before finding my new favorite spot, Socialables Cider Werks. I am hoping Cider Bars are the next big thing. I'm probably holding on a bit too tight to the England trip but I can't take the sweet syrup ciders since our trip and if these taprooms catch on, I may be in trouble!

From Cider we went Surly and took a tour of there brewery, which was huge! I was feeling buzzed by this time and on an empty stomach was glad we found some pizza for ourselves at the brewery. We did some splitskies. We split a pickle/harvarti pizza and then they got a custom pizza with a side of meatballs and Matt and I got a clam pizza and

After eating, we went to Indeed, which probably wouldn't have been a bad idea if we skipped BUT a couple drinks later we headed to Top Golf. This was a blast! It's like bowling but with golf. You are above the "course" and aim for the targets. Depending on where you hit, you can get score multipliers. I didn't do too bad and if I would have used my multipliers better may have amounted to something. Matt won, with Kristi right behind... Kristi who has never golfed. Wes brought up the tail but I think his game would have been fastly improved if it wasn't for Indeed and the double bourbons! HA!

We headed home and went to bed!

the star.

It has been a week. A fricken week.
It was all going fine until Wednesday night.
Michele and Randy were down and read the kids good night books. E just wouldn't settle down. Suddenly we hear a scream of pain come from her room. Matt and I had both been in there multiple times throughout the night so neither of us were happy about going back in their room.

EER: I puked in my bed!!
ALR: have a drink of water, let's get that taste out of your mouth.
EER takes sip, pukes it all back in ALR's hands.
MJR begins checking the bed, ALR takes EER into the bathroom to sit in front of the toilet.
EER: Mom, I swallowed a star.
ALR: What? (praying it's one of Ainsley's puffs and that maybe she's feeling guilty because she's not supposed to eat baby food) 
ALR: Are there more stars?
EER: Yes
MJR: There's no puke.
ALR: Can you show Dad where the other stars are?
EER and him go back into her room
MJR comes back out with EER and a bracelet: You ate one of these? 
EER nods

It was off my scentsy bracelet - a charm bracelet with various size and shape stars, a bracelet that the kids have been playing with for months. I wasn't sure what size the star was, maybe if it was a little one it would just slip right thru. However, after visiting with my sponsor/director who gave me the bracelet, we discovered that Eleanor had swallowed the biggest star on the bracelet and with the clasp was bigger than a penny. So we headed off to the hospital.

Three hours later with 2 x-rays and one quick visit from the on-call ENT, we were being prepped for surgery to remove the star. We stayed one night in the hospital and acquired one more Alex to cuddle with. I could tell the next day she was feeling much better - wolfed down the room service breakfast, found the play room, watched a movie, cuddled with me, colored, and reported back to Dad all the activities for the day. She handled it all in stride, hard to believe that this was the same little girl that was in so much pain the night before that she was scared to tell us. I'm so glad it all came out okay, literally. We even kept the star.

As the weekend kicked off, we snuck in one more trip to the pumpkin patch and then spent Saturday playing and working on projects as Matt went out to help at the farm.

Fall, Crawl, Winter

Well, this past week flew by... mostly because we prepared for snowmageddon. Ugh. Fall was short in North Dakota and winter set in over the weekend.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

We started the week with a visit to Papa's Pumpkin Patch. Our friends, Aasta and Quinn, have taken on the adventure of operations and we've been wanting to go out and support them but the wet and rain and uck and really put us on hold. It was a nice night for us to go. They had a blast in the corn and on the bales, we even brought Ains out for a couple pics and to help pick pumpkins. Was a wonderful time! We even go the pumpkins out on the steps that night, all decorated and festive.

I also got to be the parent-helper for E's daycare class, who took a trip to the pumpkin patch. It was a good time and I'm glad that I went. The group was busy and the teachers were constantly counting heads. I learned a lot and it was fun to spend some time with Eleanor and see her with her peers. I am becoming a bit more aware of how my little girl is an introvert. Part of me gets a bit worried but I need to remind myself that she's doing great, is ok to be by herself and when she feels loved, trusted, and comfortable in her surroundings will gab your ear off.

E is also having a major breakthru - potty training is finally getting some traction - don't get me wrong, we are not 100% but holy crap I may not have to change her diapers for the rest of my life! Winning! We've been having some panty success and I think we've rounded the corner.

Ains also accomplished a few things this week. Not only is she starting to get along with pinching foods now but she's got the fish crawl really down ... life will never be the same. Three has been a challenge and I'm worried that things just got more interesting because when all three are mobile and have a will of their own, divide and conquer becomes more scary!!

The week ended with 16inches or something like that of snow. I am not happy. They cancelled school, my office closed, and we bundled everyone up and sent them out to shovel and "play". Grady is not convinced and I had flashbacks of last winter too. He really doesn't like the sound the snowblower makes. He didn't haftah hear it long, this snow was so wet that it didn't even go through the blower. We did kick them out side each day. I think they had a good time when they made the snowman.

EER: Mom! I need a carrot!
ALR: Are you making a snowman? Let me go get one for you.
ALR hands EER a purple carrot.
EER takes a bite and walks off.

Later all comes in
EER: We made a snowman!
GRR: No man.
ALR: I saw him! He looks so good out in the yard!
EER: He is a boy!
MJR: How do you know?
EER: Because he's a snowman.