Give the People What They Want...

Okay, so I haven't been as good as I promised in regards to the blogging thing. I could give you a bunch of the typical excuses - we've all been sick since Thanksgiving (true); we're uber tired chasing around our uber active toddler (true); we've been swamped with work (true, true - hey, SAHM mom's work too you know!) but there is a time for excuses and a time for action. Tonight, I'm opting for action. Soo...here's some pics. I'm not going to waste anymore space with text, I'm just gonna give all of you what you came hear to see - some pictures already! Enjoy!

The first two shots are from the weekend before Thanksgiving. The third one is from Thanksgiving which we spent with friends. The second row are picks from just before and during the Normandale Community College's Annual Breakfast With Santa. Cole enjoyed his first candy cane so much we had to lose the sweater. The photo of Cole with Santa was Scott's handiwork - my earlier shots (pre-candy cane) didn't turn out nearly as well. I don't know who looked more disinterested, Santa or Cole. I think this photo shows the power of sugar for both young and old since it was taken at the end of the event. Row Three is from that same day, the one of our first blizzard and the outdoor shots that follow show some of the trips Cole made outside to help his dad shovel.

Row Four is from a couple week's ago when Cole and his friend Simon went to their first-ever movie in a movie theater. They saw The Bee Movie and had loads of fun. The last pic in that row illustrates one of Cole's favorite past-times, walking around in his sleeper and slippers (sorry didn't include those - will later) AND his dad's bike helmet. Row Five are pics that we took after returning home from Scott's work party at his boss, Monica's house. And the final set of shots is from a couple week's ago when Cole's first present for his second birthday arrived. It was a toy school bus from Great Grandpa Bob and Alyce - the very last shot is him saying, "Thanks!"

Hope all of you are doing well and enjoying this holiday season!

Fresh Start with the First Snow!

It's the first of December and the mad dash to the grocery store happened last night all over town in preparation for our first blizzard. We started a couple drafts about October and November but December snuck right up on us. Sooo, I decided to right a brief update and resolve to be a better blogger from now on.

Today, Coley got his picture taken with Santa (for free!) at Normandale Community College. We went there for their annual Breakfast with Santa along with our other MOMS Club family friends. Cole was very happy to see his best bud, Simon, who was too sick to play earlier this week. They matched each other lick for lick on the suckers they were given and had fun following their papas around the different stations showing how Christmas is celebrated throughout the world. Cole's other new friends are Sebastian (Simon's younger brother), Alistair and Siena, Henna, and his newest friend is named, Maria. We've been having a lot of fun going to playdates and even the dad's got to go out for one a couple weeks ago. Scott and I are happy to have found ourselves a nice little community here in Minnesota.

Cole is loving the cold weather and even today with all the snow - all he wants is to be outside where he can stick out his tongue and 'taste' the weather. We hope all of you had a great Halloween and Thanksgiving. Cole trick-or-treated through the Mall of America and we spent Thanksgiving with our new friends, the Duffys (Simon & Sebastian's family).

Bye for now! We'll try to get some updated photos posted asap!

Twins v. Sox

So, I won tickets at work to the Twins game against the Sucks,

I mean Sox, and I took a couple of short vids of the boy at the game. The one I've loaded is of Cole pretending to toss stuff on his Mom from the empty cup holder.
That's it for what I was posting about our outting. I'm sure Cole's Mom will have more to post later.

Okay, so picking up from where Scott left off.
Last weekend, we went to another Twins game.
This time, they were playing the all-too familiar
White Sox. I think you all might be interested
to know that our next door neighbor covers the

White Sox for the Chicago SunTimes. Wild, huh?
They have the home next to us, and also one in
the Lincoln Park area of Chicago.
Anyway, the game is already blurry in my mind.
I can tell you the Twins did better this time,

but I also have to tell you that the Sox still won.
But none of that matters because we had a blast.
The seats Scott won from work put us in the sixth row,
instead of the six-thousandth row,
and positioned us right behind third base. Awesome!
Knowing that, I'm sure you are all expecting
some great shots of the game, right? Well,

not so fast. Our camera's batteries kept dying

on us, and even though Scott talked the guards
into letting him leave the park and come back
in, the camera problems continued. However,
despite our technological difficulties, I think
we still have some great shots to remember
our day at the ballpark. So enjoy.
And on a side note - I changed the configurations
for our site so now anyone who wants to can leave
a comment. (hint, hint)

Lake Calhoun: or Melanie's Happy Place!

After the game, we felt the need for fresh air and a good stretch. We made our way over to Lake Calhoun to show Aunt Jill one of the many gorgeous lakes in this state.

I have to say, when I am feeling incredibly stressed or blue, I want to make my way over to Lake Calhoun.

I like it's sister lake, Lake Harriet, as well, but there's something about Lake Calhoun.

It's name is fun to say, there's a beach, a great cafe with some tasty ice cream, and a nice winding path - one for bikers and one for walkers - hey, get off my path old lady! - and lots of boats, which means, of course, I'm a happy shutterbug.

Lake Harriett, not one to be outdone,

can be depended upon for a seemingly spontaneous street fair or a very entertaining free concert at the Bandshell.

Lake Harrieter's all seem to know each other whereas across the way at Lake Calhoun you can be more introspective and anonymous if you so choose.

Both lakes provide ample areas for picnicking and great impressive trees - perfect to read under. Even as I'm attempting to highlight some of their best features I know I'm not quite nailing it.

I guess you will all have to come discover these and the many other lakes yourselves. Truly, they are everywhere. Otherwise, you just can't comprehend how clean and clear the water is.

Just how fresh the air is or how remarkable the sky above looks with not a hint of pollution. Oh, and then there's the night sky and the fantastic view of the city (just across the lake really).

Ahh, okay, in the meantime here are some of my favorite shots (so far) from Lake Calhoun and Lake Harriet. Enjoy!

First-Ever Twins Game

Well for us anyway. On the second day of our long Labor Day weekend we made our way downtown (for all of you Chicagoans - it takes like fifteen minutes for us to be downtown - nice, huh?) for the Twins game.

They were playing against Kansas City that day and Aunt Jill is a huge baseball fan. It doesn't matter whether her favorite (Cubbies, duh) are playing or well if it's the Twins vs. Kansas City.


Even with Coley screaming in terror from our nose-bleed seats, her

concentration was not to be broken.

Too bad I can't say the same for the ever-many annoyed Twins' fans sitting all around us - even across the aisle to the left and to the right.

I have to admit, I was experiencing a bit of vertigo myself. After rejecting food and drink and darn near everything else we offered him (we even broke our own rule and offered him soda - I hang my head in shame even as I write this), Cole finally found his groove.

Just as the eighth inning was coming to an end. Here's some pics from that peaceful time during which Scott pulled out all his tricks to keep our boy entertained!





At the end of the game (for those who'd like to know the Twins lost - after having scored only once though Kansas City didn't do much better - 6-1), some people from the other end of our row and down a bit, paused as they noticed Coley still sitting there. The woman looked amazed as she wondered aloud, "He made it through the whole game?" I sighed and said, "Yep." She continued, "Did he ever nap?" I sighed again and said, "Nope." Her eyes grew huge and then settled into an expression of great sympathy. Scott said, "Wait, you could hear him from all the way over there?" She and I laughed and then I said, "Honey, everyone from two aisles over could hear him." And the lady along with the elderly man she was with laughed heartily as the unspoken thought of so many passed, "I heard that." But kidding aside, we were proud of our son for completing what we thought would be an impossible mission: he survived all nine innings of his first-ever MLB baseball game from a death-defying height no less. Way to go little man!

Guess what, Daddy won tickets to another game this Saturday. Don't worry Cole, we'll be much closer to the ground this time!

Minnesota State Fair

Whew! The time has just flown by. I barely know where to start in order to catch everyone up on what we've been doing with ourselves lately. Okay, I'll start with Labor Day Weekend. It was jam-packed in honor of Cole's Aunt Jill's visit. There always seems to be a lot going on in Minnesota so it's never difficult to entertain visitors (hint, hint). Going into the weekend, we left plenty of time for whim with only the state fair and a Twins game on the 'Must Do' list.

The Minnesota State Fair. Wow, I've never seen a fair get so much television coverage. Coley and I watched entire news broadcasts from and about the state fair for days. From our cozy view on the couch it looked exciting, huge, and at times mystifying. We couldn't wait to go but we were patient and waited until the last weekend so that Aunt Jill would be able to experience it with us as well.

First off, Cole was blown away by his first-ever bus ride. He didn't know which way to look. I mean there's the whole being up high and able to look down into the cars of strangers, and then there's the great diversity amongst your fellow bus riders, and there are all those loud, mysterious noises as the bus bounces along. It soon became apparent that Cole was partial to the enormous bus windows that provided him a cushy view of roads, overpasses, and the interior of all those cars. His Dad did catch him long enough to take snag this photo marking Cole's first-ever bus ride.

Once we were on firm ground again Cole was not about to sit in his stroller. He wanted to walk amongst the people and feel the gravel crunching beneath his feet. But that would have to wait until later. As we passed through the main gates, we were blown away by the sheer volume of everything. There were people for miles and miles no matter where you looked. There were the familiar, and not-so-familiar, scents swirling about to tease our senses with memories of past visits to fairs and new memories to come.

Then, of course, there were all those booths to peak our curiosity. Booths with brightly colors hats and noisy toys for kids. Booths and barns with information and freebies for the grown-ups. Barns full of animals - a chicken barn, a cow barn, a horse barn, just to name a few.

Absolutely amazing. Looking at it from Cole's point of view, made it seem all that more impressive.

He was tickled by the chickens and he was captivated by the horses.

That's his hand petting the horse's nose.

Scott pulled him back just before Cole stuck his hand up the horse's nostril. Good call.

I think the cows puzzled him more than anything - they were just sitting there quietly watching him as if he was the exhibit rather than the other way around.
Oh, but then there was the carnival area of the fair. At this point Cole's preferred mode of transportation was atop his dad's shoulders and his usual expression was open-mouthed awe as his mind was blown left and right.

Here are some more shots of things that caught our eye. Check out the french fry stand that's been serving fries to perfection for 35 years now from that very location.


Or, how about that slide ride? They say it's worth the hour-long wait. Guess we'll find out next year.
Now, if you were to look up you would see, from all corners of the fair, these colorful cable cars zipping along in order to give their patrons a real bird's eye view.

But you know what really makes a fair great? The people. The people you're with that's where it's at.

Scott's cousin Liz met up with us and gave us the grand tour highlighting her favorite bits like the Gizmo sandwich and the apple-cicle (I don't recall what it was really called) which was soo refreshing.

A real group favorite was most definitely the bucket of chocolate chip cookies being sold everywhere by Aunt Martha. Someone should give that woman her own day for all the goodness she packs into those sweet morsels. Everywhere we went you could see people toting their overflowing buckets of her cookies. Yum!

While we were partaking in our apple-based treats,

Cole surprised us all by falling asleep.

I thought for sure he would wake up as soon as we left the air-conditioned pavilion but no, that nap reached heroic heights despite noise, smells, flashing lights, and color. An amazing thing to behold.

But like everything else, it too came to an end, and Cole woke up wanting more. More sights, more smells, more people to stare at, and for sure more cookies.

So after a quick goodbye to Cousin Liz and a much dwindled crowd, Cole eagerly accepted Aunt Jill's hand and felt the crunch of fair gravel beneath his feet for the first time.
All that walking really must've taken a lot out of Cole. As the sunset, he began to act a little zany. He started humming, "I Wear My Sunglasses At Night," and asked us to take his picture. Now, believe me he is quite the ham but this seemed over the top even for him.

All in all it was a great time at the fair. Another big first for our Minnesota-honed family. See you all there next year!