Hiking on Labor Day

On Monday morning I loaded the almost healthy kids and a spare into the car for a trip down to Frontenac State Park. We stopped at this bakery in Red Wing for sandwiches and pastries before hitting the trail. We may have returned to the bakery after the hike to pick up more pastries for a friend who was spending the day taking a nasty virus off of my laptop (thank you Nic!). If you are ever in Red Wing - do not miss this place!

We chose a 3.5 mile loop which was shorter than my original plan, but the trail meandered along the tops of the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River and then quickly descended down to the water. The climb back up was quite a work out! The weather was crisp and beautiful and it started to rain right after we finished our hike. We need to go again very soon when we can find a Saturday without three soccer games!

What I Want To Do This Weekend

A Day At The Fair

I can handle going to the fair about once every three years. The crowds, the noise, the crowds, the expense, the crowds, the scary rides, the crowds . . . it's not really my favorite place on earth. Plus, usually if I am at the fair, I am pushing a stroller and trying not to lose any children in the aforementioned crowds. However, this year, my mother was in town and my children needed a big distraction that day so on Monday, we took 7 kids to the fair.

It turned out to be 95 degrees on Monday. We borrowed an extra car from Deb (thank you!) and parked at a church, taking the free bus to the fair grounds. We saw all of the animals, watched some talented dog herders, watched some piglets being born, make free buttons and did the fine arts scavenger hunt, rode on two rides each, ate cotton candy, frozen lemonade, fried dough, snow-cones and endless cups of chocolate milk, watched sheep being groomed, played a game of chance (Calvin won a huge stuffed banana!) and generally walked around a lot. We left the fair exhausted and filthy, but the kids had a great time. See you in three years!

My Youngest

My youngest child who is not allowed to get any older has defied me again. Despite my wishes to the contrary, this week he turned six years old.

I am going to admit a really bad Mommy moment here.


I missed his birthday.

Yep. It's true. The kids came home on Tuesday night, my mom is in town, all three kids are in soccer, Max has scout camp, there have been a lot of issues and changes with their Dad and I am working full-time. I had it in my head that his birthday was on Saturday - most likely because I thought that's when we would try and have a party. So, it was not until Friday that I realized his birthday had in fact been on Thursday.

Bad Mommy. Bad.


I tried to make it up to him with cupcakes on Friday afternoon with the daycare kids. He received a big box of new school clothes from my in-laws, a big activity book from the Quicks and school supplies and clothes from my parents. This year I let him choose a gift from me - he chose a new Wii game and is happy as a clam.

I'm still going to try and have a little party for him and his friends sometime soon and I'm really going to try and be a better Mom!

Sophie is Definitely Home

Sign found on my front door the day after Sophie returned (click to enlarge):



ABSOLUTELY NO BUG HATERS ALLOWED

To get in you must love:
insects
arachnids
myriapods
arthropods
entomologists
entomology

To get in you must hate:
insect killers
poisonus gas
insect repellent
entomologist haters
entemology haters
flyswatters

My Eyes Were Bigger Than my Biceps

Last week we met for playgroup at Jensen Lake. After playing at the park for an hour, I decided we should walk around the lake. The path is one I've enjoyed running lately and it is approximately 2.4 miles. We had three 9 year old boys, one three year old boy, a 14 month baby boy and a 11 month baby girl - and one stroller.

It is a beautiful walk and we started out well . . . except fat baby boy has really short legs and was taking forever.


It became clear very quickly that I was going to have to carry him - all 26 pounds of sweaty baby. We walked fast.


This baby thought the walk was great fun . . . and then she fell asleep.


We stopped for water breaks and time to try to skip rocks in the lake.


My arms started to burn. It was humid and I was drenched in sweat.


We marveled at how overgrown and green the plants have become.


We lamented the changing leaves - a sign that summer is ending.


Though the older boys swore they were going to die every 10 minutes, it was a beautiful walk and good exercise.

Fat baby boy took a really good nap.

Chicago!

I did not take many photos in Chicago - which as you know is strange for me. Our trip really was a very quick one - we took my car and left at 5am. Our group consisted of three grown women - all of us work full-time and have families. Leaving town at 5am was perhaps a little ambitious but we were all ready for a girl's weekend.

I stopped for 3 of the largest diet cokes I could buy at that hour and we headed out to Chicago. I'm pretty sure we laughed the entire way there when we were not singing along to tunes from our high school days. Deb refuses to pee at any public restroom despite the fact that we all drank insane amounts of diet coke and munched on peanut m&ms for 6 hours. We made her stop though as Kelly and I do not have bladders of steel. There were also outlets - the perfect excuse to stop and stretch!

Here are the Chicago highlights:

• We stayed in a swanky hotel on The Miracle Mile. Swanky hotels are pricey. They valet parked my minivan and did not mention the fact that the trunk had buckets and sand toys rolling around.
  
• We shopped - I came home with two new shirts and a very sexy pair of shoes.
• We ate deep-dish Chicago pizza - twice. It was delicious (see photo above).
• We bought cupcakes because they are trendy: Sprinkles and More Cupcakes (reviews below)
• We ate Garrett's popcorn - soooo good and sooooo buttery. Long lines too. Deb and Kelly went back for more on day #2 - it's that good.
  

We went out for Tapas - see that dish in the center? Honey goat cheese fried and served with bread and a balsamic reduction - I'd like to eat that every day for lunch please. We sent tha calamari back because it was not fried and tasted like dead fish.

• We saw lots of homeless and street performers who would actually refuse to perform until you gave them money. Break dancers, silver painted men and tap dancers were popular. My favorite guy was this one who had a bull horn and stood on the street corner advising us all to have our DNA tested to make sure we were not Russian. I'm not sure why he is dressed like a highlander.

We visited my favorite chocolate shop - Leonidas. I only bought seven of their amazing chocolates, and they are already gone. I miss you Leonidas.

• We walked all over the place and came home with a few blisters.
• We saw the bean. I love the bean.
• We ate mango gelato. I love mango gelato.
  
• I saw a concert in Millennium Park - the sound was amazing and the location is just beautiful especially when it starts getting dark and the lights of the city start to really glow.
• I met a friend from online for the first time.
  

We shared the cupcakes from More Cupcakes on the drive home. These were a little more expensive than Sprinkles, were bigger ($22.00 for 6 cupcakes!!!) and prettier too. We picked up some forks at McDonalds (along with more diet coke) and sampled them as we drove.

Nasty.
NASTY!!!!

There's my review - but let's get specific. All of the icings tasted like they were made with shorting. I hate that. The key lime had a meringue topping that tasted like - nothing. the cookies and cream had too much icing with little flavor, the key lime had a nice filling but the icing and the actual cupcake did not have enough zest. The chocolate hazelnut had a good base and a really tasty filling but awful icing. The worst one of all? The salted caramel. It was so salty and strong that I spit it out. Inedible.

More Cupcakes - you disappoint me. I can bake you under the table any day.


We were all a little tired on the way home - even while blasting the Glee soundtracks.


I invited a couple of friends over for a taste testing of the Sprinkles Cupcakes on Monday. Here are our thoughts:

We loved the clean, modern presentation. The key lime needs more zest - both in the icing and in the cupcake. The bits of green are missing. The cake has a nice crumb. The black and white had a delicious chocolate cupcake (the same cake in the double chocolate) but the icing was bland. The carrot cake was excellent. Paula thought the icing needed a dash of salt. The marshmallow was good if you like the hostess cupcake thing. The lemon needed more lemon flavor and I would have preferred some lemon curd inside. The cake was dense and moist. The double chocolate was our favorite. None of the icings tasted like Crisco.

Overall - pretty good, but I could make every one of these and I would not charge you $20 for 6 cupcakes.


I've decided girl's weekends in Chicago need to happen a bit more frequently. Who's with me?!