Glensheen Mansion

last week i took a bunch of church ladies up to duluth. we toured the Glensheen Mansion on the shore of Lake Superior, lunched at Red Lobster, and poked around Canal Park. the weather was beautiful, and so were the ladies.;) i'm so glad we went!

little miss miller's, and playing catch-up

i'm playing catch-up. i have a whoooooole lot of photos to post to my blog. these are from the last visit of my sister and her girls. tomorrow i leave with jack to go visit them!:P what a goof. anyway, we had a blast when they came -- going to the beach, paul bunyanland, lighting fireworks, and hanging out. can't wait to go see them tomorrow!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! i'm sure the 8 hr. drive (stretched to 9 by the usual food and potty breaks) will just fly by.:)

Christmas '09 at angie's, or...i can't fit in my pants anymore

dad, mom, jack and i took a little roadtrip to be with angie and family for their first Christmas in Minot, North Dakota. it was such a blessing to be able to have the time available to do it! 5 days of fun fun fun!:)

the road trip could have been more fun. did not see a single culver's, starbucks, or caribou coffee from baxter to minot (we didn't go through bemidji, mn. there may have been signs of civilization there!). i was dying for a coffee on the way out and did find a very nice mom-n-pop joint in devils lake, no dak. on the way back it was sunday and it was closed. well, Praise the Lord and boo hoo!:) oh, and did i mention jack's blow out diaper? and the burger king that didn't have a changing table? not fun.

Christmas at angie's was fun. we had to open gifts the first night because the kids were wound up out of their minds and we were going out of ours.:) jack was as excited as predicted about his "d-tar" from auntie angie and uncle matt. jack loves to play his guitar and make up songs. the girls seemed very pleased with the headbands, and doll hats and scarves i knit them.

the Christmas food was our usual feast of naughtiness: swedish tea rings galore, huge taco dip, egg bake, homemade pancakes, french dip sandwiches...where's the veggies?! who cares?!:) ha ha! i think there were a few eaten in the five days. and some fruit. oh, and i am sure there were some diced veggies in the food the night we went out for chinese. i am sure that counted. anyway... Merry Christmas it was!

IKEA

went on a road trip with my mom and auntie lana last saturday. we went to trader joe's, a fabric warehouse, IKEA, and the albertville outlet malls. that's a lot of shopping! it was fun and exhausting. we arrived at IKEA just in time for lunch at the cafeteria. i had the stuffed salmon with sides, and a princess cake! if you know me at all...you will know that this was very very exciting for me.:) the sunny cafeteria had a view you don't get every day -- the mall of america! which we didn't even consider as a shopping destination for the day.

auntie lana hadn't even heard of trader joe's. she didn't know what the fuss was all about. but, she was a bit impressed, i think. she and mom were both very excited with the french baguettes they bought.:) i was excited about everything and i vow to bring a cooler with next time!

i am a big fan of IKEA. i started clapping with glee when we got near. which amused my auntie.:) it wasn't just IKEA that i was so excited about, or the lovely meal, it was jack's Christmas present. i had spied an easel in the catolog for only $15!!! chalkboard on one side, dry erase board on the other. it has a tray down below and i bought the roll of paper so you can use the easel to paint. i can't wait to put it all together, wrap it, and put it under the tree. there's nothing like a huge Christmas present! jack will be so excited.

valleyfair

went to valleyfair with my family, dan's mom and stepdad, and dan's sis, bro-in-law and niece. had a lovely time. jack was very brave about the rides. he went on the mini carousel all by himself! he also went on the regular carousel and ferris wheel w/me, the antique cars with daddy and i, and he went alone on the kid's train and semi-trucks.

i rode on the ferris wheel, carousel, antique cars, excaliber, renegade, and thunder canyon. we spent a lot of time at the water park. a lot.:) jack took almost a 2 hour nap laying on me. i was pleasantly surprised that he got such a large and painless nap. i am sure the day would have been a disaster without it.

andy, jack and claire had their photo taken at an old timey photo place. i will have to scan the photo and post. it is pretty fun. speaking of fun... valleyfair still had the ben & jerry's shop and they still had "coffee coffee buzz buzz buzz". yum! but i almost got "chocolate therapy". :) glad we don't live anywhere near a b&j's. too much temptation. and who needs that?

como zoo/como town

sunday we went to the como zoo. the butterfly exhibit was actually really really great because there were butterflies everywhere -- as it should be!:) one landed on my forehead and i took two photos of myself with a little natural bling. we saw all sorts of really cool animals in very nice habitat and the weather was great. went to the little amusement park attached to the zoo. jack drove these little corvette-like cars 3 times, and then he drove a little horsecart. andy rode on the swings with claire. it was such a nice vacation.

marshall family reunion

went to the marshall fam reunion saturday. the party was very nice: in-ground pool, yummy food, dice game, family. dan, andy, jack and i spent about 3 hours in the pool. the food was plentiful, and featured the family's required porketta. my pound cake was a hit.:) the dice game went well. i brought 3 gifts and ended up with 5. double:).

zooing

went to the pine grove zoo in little falls with jack and dan the other day. great time. jack loves bears. the bears were in very nice habitats with large windows. they came right up to the window and jack was in heaven. i had such a great time.

in case you are looking for an animal in this photo...there isn't one!:) i was trying to get the timberwolf in the shot but that didn't happen. it's a great shot of us anyway!:)

chocolate and vanilla take a road trip

we went to an ethnic festival last weekend (blog post to come). the car ride was long, but it gave us time to bond with the family. forced bonding, i'll take it. andy would have much rather just stayed home, but i think it is valuable to spend time together. i think it is what keeps a family close.

road trip -- star wars exhibit

well, this post gets a lot of tags. photo, yes. nora, yes. DUMB STUFF I DO? yes!!! oh, i made such a mess of this one. nora (super awesome friend from pcc) and i planned to meet at the Science Museum of MN to see the Star Wars Exhibit. we were so excited. well, i was horribly late. i got lost and my phone needed a top-up. disaster. well, we both tried to keep a stiff upper lip (love that brit expression), but things continued to trip us up. nora's kid didn't like his lunch. there was a ton of people in the exhibit so it was hard to do any of the activites... oh yes, and we both had our toddlers along.:) bless their little hearts. they were good little boys. jack sat very nicely for the robot theatre with c-3po. they liked the wampa from hoth. maybe they thought he was a teddy bear? with a hunk of fake bloody meat?:) i think i might bring jack back there someday... like when he is 10. at least i got jack a cool souvenir tee shirt.

note: that is THE landspeeder from star wars episode 3. cool.

jack's first carousel

saturday i took a road trip with jack and my mom. we went to maplewood, mn to get lovely portraits taken of jackers. he was a super star. he is very photogenic. the photos turned out gorgeous. i can't wait to get them.

the maplewood mall where the photo studio was is nice. there was a charming little play area that jack really tore around in after being cooped up in his stroller. the best thing there was a beautiful 2-story carousel for jack to take his first ride on. poor me, i did not enjoy it much. i almost had to yell to the carnie to stop the ride. jack loved it and made lots of soft "weeee" noises. i could tell he thought it was amazing.

road trip to albertville mall cont.

jack's first birthday is in 2 weeks. i am throwing a large family party. there is a cowboy theme. the gymboree outlet had some cute cowboy clothes and this adorable cowboy hat, but my mom had already given him a cowboy hat... so we didn't get this one. i don't know. i kind of regret it. he was so cute in it. she did get him a cowboy shirt. it has horseshoes on it and white pealized snaps.

road trip to albertville mall

friday i went on a road trip with my mom and jack. we had a terrific time. we spent a lot of money. we had a lot of good food (panini, hostess snoballs, pastries), good drink (iced vanilla coffee, green iced tea with passion fruit, chocolate shakes), and jack and his mommy got to ride in a firetruck with ernie and bert.

jack was going nuts on this thing. he was making all these motor noises and was spinning that steering wheel as fast as he could. poor dear cried when he had to get off to let the next child play. jack has a thing for steering wheels.

a walk with jack

today is gorgeous. jack and i went outside. jack has been walking about 2 1/2 weeks now. he started down the driveway, pushing his tonka truck. we got about halfway to grandma's and jack was tired of walking. so, i sat with him in the dirt and we petted the dog and kitty.

i spotted some mayflowers in the woods and i took jack to see. we picked 3 for grandma. when i was leaving the woods, i stepped in a hole that was camoflaged with dead leaves. it was about up to the top of my calf deep. i fell to my knees. i felt like my vertebre were seperating and smooshing together again! it kind of hurt. jack was scared and cried a bit. we weren't really hurt. we continued on to gram's.

at gram's we sat on the patio, then we had some cake and coffee. i borrowed some sugar and promised i would bring gram some of the carrot cake i am going to make from scratch. then, jack and i went home for lunch. it was a tiny little adventure. just another great day in paradise.

supercross

march 15 i saw a supercross! our friend doug got us free tickets. it was just doug, dan, andy, and i. we left jack for his first sleepover at my parent's house. the supercross was at the "metrodome" in the cities. it was a great one. the races where very exciting. there were a lot of crashes, and upsets. it is so exciting when racers are battling for position. (i know some of you might be in wonderment that i actually like this sport, but i do.) at one point chad reed was 2nd and he just fell off his bike. he managed to make it back to 7th place. i will be posting picts when i get them, but here is a scan of my ticket. woo.

i almost caught a tee that was shot in the crowd. i wonder if i got on tv. also, i got to do the wave at a televised event. that's pretty cool. what wasn't cool was the view dan and i got of a hot pink thong from a few rows down. we saw EVERYTHING. none of that pantie was in that chick's jeans. we also saw a lot of crack from another girl. i swear, i saw so many hoochies that night. and BABIES! lots of babies younger than jack! one was wearing a very cute little jersey and riding pants... and it was so cold. and the kid didn't hardly have hair. BAD PARENTS. made me very sorry for the little guys.

protection from the rain

this is a photo i snapped on jack's first haywagon ride at camp chetek. we were going to stop at a pumpkin patch to pick out our own pumpkins. after a bit it started to rain just a tiny bit. what a precious moment between grandmother and grandson.

the ladies retreat

a while back i went to my first ladies retreat with my mom, jack (of course) and denise rosenbaum. we had a lovely roadtrip to camp chetek in chetek, wisconsin. we stopped along the way in northbranch, mn to go outlet mall shopping. we had another stop in barren, mn where i suggested we check out the amish furniture and art shop. my mom bought jack some amish furniture -- a rocking chair and a wooden toy. lucky little man.

at the retreat we had a lot of fun. wish i could say i learned alot, or that i had a religious heart-touching breakthrough or something. i didn't. better luck next year.:) really, i actually feel guilty. i was supposed to have a learning experience and instead i had a lovely time making flower pens and taking rides on a haywagon and pontoon. i was all primed for some deep intellectual growth and some serious Bible pounding and instead i got a lot of nice talk. it's not fair, really. the men's retreat is going to have an actual speaker who is going to speak on finanaces. i bet they get syllabuses or even cd's. that's what my husband comes back with. i want to go again next year... but i am going to make sure that they have a real speaker, not a very nice wife of a man on the faculty at maranantha baptist Bible college.

nole's birthday and a visit to the orchard

nov. 2 was my mom and my niece enolea's birthday. nole turned 2. jack and i took a road trip with my parent's in their van to go visit my sister and her fam.

note: jack was once again a fabulous traveler. no diaper blow-outs or leakage. he took a nap most of the 3 1/2 hour trip and went about 5 hours without a feeding. then, when he was fed, he nonchalantly took a bottle from my dad whilst strapped in his carseat. what a treasure.

it was a typical visit to my sister's. the kids fought to the death over toys, stripped naked, danced around (dare i say "like indians"?) knocking into furniture and each other, and made enough noise to wake the dead.:) but, they are still sweethearts. eme asked to hold "baby jacky" about 4 times i believe. nole made funny faces for jack. ele gave me a big hug unasked for. and that's why i subject myself to visiting them.

on saturday, after eme's gymnastics class, we went to an apple orchard in northfield, mn. it was absolutely everything an orchard should be. even small children can pick apples from the short, plump trees. in a little building there are apple and mn tourist-y foodstuff to buy. i bought 1 dozen hot-off-the-oil sugared apple doughnuts and a carmel apple with fudge. we all wandered out again to where there was a small manmade river and pond among the trees. we sat on wooden benches and ate apple doughnuts and watched the naughty children throw apple cores into the water while seeing how close they could get to the water before my dad and i blew a fuse. :) before we could, in slips ele's foot. oh well, back to the car. on the way i noticed that the rose bushes were still in bloom.

(photo of nole this summer at a park)

munsinger clemens gardens & naked baby

here is a photo of me at the munsinger & clemens garden in st. cloud, mn. i was on a church ladies outing with my mom and jack. that's one huge hibiscus. it was the coolest flower there.

here are photos of my practically naked baby. i actually sketched him that day, too. i think he was sleeping. yes, i was watching him while he was having his "tummy time".

road trip for elerene's 6th b-day

i bummed a ride with my parent's friday to go see my niece on her 6th birthday. on the way we swung by panera bread so i could indulge in a sumptuous lunch. heaven. then we went to the carter's outlet store so my mom could buy jack some more clothes. like he needs them!:) i love carter's baby clothes. jack is so lucky to have so many sweet clothes. he got 2 puppy-themed bodysuits.

my sister's girls were freaking out they were so happy to see us. eme called dibs and she got to hold jack first. we went out to a chinese buffet for dinner because that's ele's favorite. she loves those noodles. i had some salmon and my sister said that i was brave. WHAT!? i thought she had just said the food was good there. thanks a lot, sis.

saturday we went to a farmer's market. i bought jack a hand-knitted blue skull cap. i tried out my loaner baby bjorn and jack wasn't too keen on it. i guess it isn't for us. i also got to see a gorgeous art deco bank and bought a few handmade knit dishcloths.

elerene's party was crazed. it was a princess party and almost every one of the 12 shrieking female guests had a princess costume and jewelry. i had a costume, too. i wore my "paper skirt" (as teddy used to call it), my wedding tiara, gloves, and my faery wings. jack wore a polo onesie and his black velvet suit jacket. too bad angie didn't have time to get him the white tights for his outfit. he would have looked just like prince charming, right? the little girls smeared on purple lip gloss and ran back and forth through the house for 3 hours. i just kept thinking, "at the end of this i get birthday cake and i get to go home to dan.". it kept me sane.