Snow Day and Catching Up

For those of you who live where weather does not impact if you go to school or not (a.k.a. all you California coast people that we love so much)...

Snow Day - a day where the snow is so bad, or makes the roads/traffic/driving/bus routes so terrible that school is cancelled that day.

One Snow Day = Fun.
Multiple Snow Days in a row, such as last winter, have lived up to the stuff of urban legends and are know as the "Mother Killers".

Two weeks ago we had a snowday. Now really, Grant goes to school 2 days a week, and this wasn't on one of his days, so technically, it was just a day with snow. Snow days are usually set-up the night before by the 10 o'clock news saying words such as "freezing cold", "large amount of snow after midnight", "driving sleet", and "icy roads". These are words you do not want to hear. These words are usually followed the next morning by a 5:30am phone call from a recording telling you that your child's school is closed for a snow day, and you probably could have all slept in, except that they call you early so you can arrange for work/daycare and really because your kids will wake up on their own earlier for a snow day than they ever would for school anyway.

Yes, just a day with snow, except that the snow was so much so quickly, that we really couldn't go anywhere safely. Now we have a child who is not sure he wants to play in snow, one dog who loves the snow and is probably a miniature St. Bernard wrapped in a Cavalier suit, and one dog who actually just sat and peed on the mat in front of the back door because there was no way he was going out. I'll leave you to guess who is who. It is one thing to spend all day inside playing. It is another to know at 6:02am that you WILL BE INSIDE ALL DAY PLAYING. You start planning.

Here are a few shots of the snow first thing in the morning from our front door. When we went to bed, there was no snow on the ground.

 And it was quiet. Non-normal quiet. Like a Hallmark card, or an errie wilderness movie where you know a bear or a pack of wolves are going to jump out from behind a tree and get you. Luckily, the wind picked up after lunch and blew most of the snow off the tree limbs, or else most of those branches would have broken off from the weight of the snow and ice.

What did we do? We got excited! We got amped up! We got dressed in full snow gear, complete with the snow pant/suit with suspenders thing that only top-notch skiers wear, and we went outside!

Then we realized it was cold. And wet. And still snowing. And getting in our face. And on our shoes. Someone kept pointing to the snow on his shoes saying "off".

And then the crying started. With the frozen runny nose. And the cold hands because he won't keep his gloves on. So we went inside. 20 minutes to get dressed for 10 minutes of fun. Oh well. It was a good attempt. And now it is at least 7:30 in the morning, so an hour or so has gone by since breakfast.

(In your head, you start counting down the hours to lunch, and then nap, and then dinner and bedtime. Seriously, this is how you survive a snow day.)

Yes, I know one day Grant will spend all day outside and it will be different, but for now, and many years to come, snow may not be as awesome as we had hoped.

Grant's room and the office share a bathroom. We played in his room and the office most of the morning. Lots of fun things to do in the office, like pretend you are one of the dogs and lay in their bed with your stuffed animals. Strangely enough, the dogs like to sleep under the desk, so that bed never gets used anyway.

I mentioned the bathroom - we like to wash our toys in the sink. We liked it so much we got water everywhere, hence the missing shirt. We also found the comb and decided that combing your hair on your own for no reason at all is much more fun than combing your hair for school.We also learned how to use the spray bottle of water. We then learned how to use a towel to dry off the counter, walls, cabinets and floors.
Let the fun begin!

 All in all, it was a good day. The irony was that the best time to go outside was during naptime, as the weather got a bit warmer, the sun came out and it stopped snowing. But there is a special punishment for people who wake up napping toddlers, and I don't want to find out what it is.

Catching Up

Hey! Grant turned two recently. Oh really? When? Ummm...back in December. Here are a few pics.

For Grant's birthday, we went to the zoo...on his actual birthday. That means we went to the zoo on December 15, in 42 degrees. You dress warm, you live through winter, you get used to it. I'm reading a book I love on Danish life right now and they have a special theory on life on how to enjoy the snow and the cold. Otherwise you'd spend 3 months out of the year trapped inside the house.

Our story to Grant about this day will be that we rented out the zoo, because it really looked like we did. There were far more zoo employees than patrons walking around. We had a great time, moved around the zoo easily, had fun having lunch together, and got to see all the animals we wanted to.

Watching the orangutans play inside and stay warm.

Sea Lions! You didn't think that hat was going to stay on all day, did you?

Polar bear! My favorite. I do have a love/hate relationship with the idea of a zoo in general, but if you read the story about this polar bear HERE, it makes me happy...well, not the beginning, but at least the end. And when did Grant get to be over half my body length? I'm going to be the shortest one when he's 10 I'm sure.

Kali the polar bear

Yes! Cupcakes after dinner. 

Little man is all grown up. He's got his blanket, Thomas birthday card, and resting on the couch after a long day of fun. Bring on the new year!

Until next time, keep exploring!

Love and hugs,

M, K, G, T, O and G calls him, "bebe"

Happy Birthday!

The minutes are long, the days are short, and it's been the quickest trip around the sun yet...

Big hugs to all our friends who came out to help us celebrate and make the day a very special one. Also a huge high-five to Mother Nature for the beautiful day! Last year at this time I was in the hospitall watching it snow, and this year we had windows open letting the fresh air in!

Happy Birthday to our little guy! It was a wonderful year of fun and laughter, giggles and hugs, and I look forward to our new adventures every day.

We partied, we sang, we had cupcakes!

 At first he wasn't so sure what to do...it's hard to figure it out with everyone staring at you.

 But then he got the hang of it...

 By the end, the cupcake was destroyed, our tummies were full, and a bath was needed.

To see a picture-by-picture story of the cupcake fun (about 30 pictures of total cupcake destruction), click HERE.

To see video of us all singing "Happy Birthday", click HERE.

Our little guy has grown up quite a bit in the last 12 months! Here are 13 photos to take us through the journey. 

 Just born

 1 month

 2 months

 3 months

 4 months

 5 months

 6 months

 7 months

 8 months

 9 months

 10 months

 11 months

1 year!

Big hugs from all of us to all of you! On to another year of adventures!

Fancy Dinners times Two

January is birthday month here in our house, as Kyle and I both celebrated birthdays in the past few weeks.  We decided to go big and spend a lovely evening with friends at a restaurant called Niche.  Niche is not really the place you go just to eat dinner or just because you're hungry. Niche is the place you go to when you want to get dressed up, hang out with friends, and have a fabulous dining experience.  The owner of Niche also owns 2 other restaurants in town, Taste and Brasserie, and is looking to open yet another one.

At Niche, you can choose your dinner off the menu, or your table can elect to follow the Chef's Tasting Menu, meaning you throw your hands in the air, give up all control, and eat the menu that has been prepared that evening. That is exactly what we did, with the menu shown below.  I must admit, I may not have ordered everything that we ate on my own, but somehow knowing what is coming next made it more exciting.  Everything was delicious, and it was a fun way to try new flavors and foods that you might not have normally eaten. Along with each part of the meal, they also served small glasses of champagne and wine, depending on what you were eating, to balance out the flavor of the food. By the end of our 2 hour adventure, we were pleasantly full, had happy tummies, and were ready to go relax.

After dinner, we headed over to the Ritz Carlton hotel, for a little lounging around.  They have an excellent lounge and live band.  We had a great time dancing, enjoying a few cocktails, and truly having a great evening with friends.  Definitely a must on the "do it again" list!

Another event we recently went to was the Robert Burns dinner, put on by the Scottish St. Andrew Society of Greater St. Louis.  A few of us from my fencing/sword fighting class all went together as a group, and enjoyed a formal traditional Scottish evening in honor of Robert Burns.  Robert Burns is known as the national poet of Scotland, and dinners are held around his birthday (January 25th) around the world every year.  He lived from 1759 - 1796.  Our lovely dinner started off with a toast of scotch, followed by haggis, another toast (more scotch), salad, toasting (more scotch again), dinner and dessert. We were also treated to traditional Scottish dancing from Dance Caledonia, followed by a wonderful display of bagpipes and drums from the Pipes and Drums of the St. Louis Caledonian Pipe Band. If you want to hear some great music, they are fantastic!

Here is a clip of them playing at last year's dinner, as clips from last night aren't up yet. Enjoy! You'll want to turn up your speakers for this one.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Saturday, May 22 was Dad's 61st birthday! 61, going on 25 I think. Dad can still run circles around us - and when I say run, I mean RUN. Dad still runs a few times a week and is in the best shape of anyone I know his age.

Mom was out of town for Dad's birthday, so we tried to think of something really exciting. Jason, Kyle and I decided it would be great for all of us to go to the indoor racetrack, and then off to a fun place for dinner. We drove over, picked up Dad and Jason, and headed out to MB2 raceway. Besides the fact that the staff there leaves customer service to the imagination, the four of us had a great time racing, bumping each other out of the way, and really trying our hardest to win.  The best part is that they keep track of your score, so you can continue to go back and improve on your best time, and see where you rank amongst all the other racers. I think we gave Dad the bug because he and Jason have been trying to get back there ever since!

After racing, we were all hungry, and headed over to The Lazy Dog Cafe. Beers were consumed, smiles were had, and tummies were filled with great food. After dinner, it was home for a surprise ice cream cake! We even sang Dad our best rendition of Happy Birthday, and watched him blow out the candle. All in all, we were full and tired, but had a great day. Can't wait to go back and race again! Now that we all know what we are doing, the fight is on!

In honor of Dad's birthday, here are a few pics from way back when...the top picture is Dad when he was 6 months old in Kansas.

Here's Dad in a suit - check out the eyebrows. You can tell he's getting ready to yell at someone for something - probably for taking his picture. We've gotten to know that look well over the years. 

Dad at his 5th birthday party, 1954. Dad is in the middle with the flat top haircut, holding arms with the boy in the suspenders.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy birthday to Mom!

Last Tuesday night Mom, Dad, Jason and I went out to dinner to celebrate Mom’s birthday. We went to Yamato’s in Camarillo, where they cook the food right in front of you. The fun part of the night was watching Jason do a tequila shot with our chef, and then Mom and Jason doing a tequila shot with each other. You know it’s a party when your mom does a tequila shot! While we and the waiters were singing “happy birthday” to Mom, Kyle showed up to join the party!

The food there is always delicious, but per usual, we ate all the food placed on our plate and wound up feeling overstuffed afterwards. After dinner, we all went home to eat the fabulous chocolate cake that Dad made! It was chocolate cake with chocolate frosting with chocolate chips mixed in to the frosting. YUM. Cake was joyfully eaten in Mom’s honor.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Thank You

32 years ago today, I surprised both my parents a bit and decided to be born a few weeks ahead of schedule. The extra fun part was that my mom was home alone, and my dad was in the Navy overseas. I don't know what I was thinking coming out early - wait, yes I do, it was small in there - but I'm sorry for causing a bit of trouble.

Mom gave birth to me January 5, 1978, and I met Dad a few weeks later when he came home. My mom worked very hard that day, and heaven knows how hard she has worked every single day since then. What I mean to say, correction, what I NEED to say, correction again, what I should be saying every day since then and every day for the rest of my life is this: Thank you.

Thank you for how hard you both have worked for both Jason and I since the very single minute we met you and you brought us into this world.

Thank you for letting us be ourselves, even when it didn't seem right to you.

Thank you for letting us make mistakes and sitting on your hands to not correct us, even when you could see the result before we could. That is the only way we will ever learn.

Thank you - sometimes - for letting us make the same mistake twice. (Maybe we didn't learn some things as fast as we should have).

Thank you for every wink, high-five, smile and laugh. It is from that how we learn to be happy.

Thank you for all the hugs, especially when we thought we didn't need them. Those are worth the most in life.

Thank you for everything. We can only do our best to spend the rest of our lives to try and repay you.

Thank you for Jason. He is the best brother ever and my life would not be the same without my favorite brother.

Love,
Mandi