What a weekend!

First of all, I want to start out by thanking my amazing husband for such a fun and amazing weekend. And Carolyn and Lionel for sharing in the perfect weekend as well. I couldn't have asked for a better 29th Birthday.
We started out on Saturday morning around 9:30am for the cities to participate in the Great Urban Race. It was so much fun. The race started at 12:00pm at the Town Hall Brewery in Minneapolis. We had 12 clues, of which we had to complete at least 11 of them by 5:00pm. All tasks had to be found by either using public transportation or by foot. We completed the race in 3 hours and 10 minutes. As of now, we are unsure what place we came in at, but it should be posted on their site in a couple of days. All I have to say, is it was a lot of fun and I definitely had a good workout. Baby Ava probably wondered what they heck her mommy was doing! Below are pictures from the clues we had to solve.

Clue 1 was a riddle....Mr. Jenkins is odd. He likes balloons, but doesn't like parties! HE likes books, but doesn't like reading! He likes weeds, but doesn't like flowers! He likes swimming, but doesn't like water! He likes letters, but doesn't like words! He likes Dr. Pepper, but doesn't like Coke! He likes noodles, but doesn't like pasta sauce! He likes berries and apples, but doesn't like plums! He likes coffee, but doesn't like tea! According to what you learned in the riddle, take a picture of both teammates in front of any street sign Mr. Jenkins likes. Carolyn solved the riddle that all of the things that Mr. Jenkins likes have double letters. This one we would have never been able to solve without her.

Clue 2.....we had to make our way to Elliot park sometime between 12:00 and 1:00pm for both of the teammates to walk from the start of the cones to the finish cones balancing and apple on our head.

Clue 3.....we had to solve cryptic riddle which stated that we had to take a picture with both teammates in front of the parking ramp in a scene in the movie Fargo.

Clue 4.....we had to unscramble the following words (ampllpbe imunth) and take a picture in front of the name and address of this tower.

Clue 5....Take a picture of four or more people total doing a cartwheel in front of the sign that says Candyland.

Clue 6....take a picture of both teammates in front of the statue of a person mentioned in the Weezer song that hit as high as #2 on the 1995 US Modern Rock tracks. (Mary Tyler Moore)

Clue 7......We had to return to the finish mat with 3 tickets from GameWorks and take a picture of both teammates in front of the game Monkey Ball.

Clue 8.....Find Golooney's Pizza. When you arrive take one slice per team and take a photo of one teammate feeding the slice to the other teammate. Ooops...I just noticed, Dave and I took 2 pieces of pizza.

Clue 9...take a picture of both teammates in front of the Smith Triangle sign holding up the proper amount of fingers that correlates to the number of benches within the Smith Triangle.

Clue 10....Take a photo of both teammates in front of the real sculpture that's pictured somewhere on the Great Urban Race website.

Clue 11...return to the finish line with a set of chopsticks. Or...a 1 dollar will with at least 5 6's anywhere on it. We brought back chopsticks.

Yippy.....We completed all our tasks and crossed the finish line!!!!

As you can tell from our clues....we had to rely on good old Google, in order to figure out where we were going. It was SO much fun....and will be a memory we will never forget.

After the race we ate a small meal before heading out to our final destination. At this point, the rest of our plans were still a surprise for me.

As we were driving through down town Minneapolis, Dave, Lionel, and Carolyn were all teasing me that we were staying at the $2.00 Motel...next thing I know we pull up to the Chambers Hotel. We check in and arrive in my room where I find rose peddles from the doorway to the bed. About 15 minutes after we arrive the deliver champagne and some OJ for me. It was all part of the Romance Package (a.k.a the Hanky Panky package). From there we relaxed and rested a little on the AMAZING bed. I fell completely in love with it. There was a feather bed and down comforter covered by at least 1000 count Egyptian Cotton duvet and sheets. I could have stayed there all night, but I was told we had dinner reservations at 7 so after a little R&R I showered, in the also amazing glass and tile shower with very sensual rain head. I was again in heaven!

Our dinner reservations were in at the Hotel restaurant called the Chambers Kitchen. When we sat down to order I opened my menu and to my surprise it was personalized to say "Happy Birthday Theresa"...it was such a special touch. Following our meal they provided me with a copy of the menu that was also signed by the Chef.

The next 2 1/2 hours we spent enjoying one of the best meals I have ever had. We started with appetizers and ended with desert. As the main entree I had the Lobster Mane and David had the Lamb shank. We both sampled each others dishes and loved every bite. For desert I was again treated to a special birthday desert....it was white chocolate and chocolate mousse cake with Happy Birthday written in chocolate on the plate. It was oh so heavenly!







After the meal we headed to the Red White and F-ing Blue lounge for some music and even a bit of dancing. I am sure many of the people in the lounge were thinking that the pregnant woman should really not be dancing....but I had fun anyway. : )


We headed to bed around mid-night and slept in as long as we could the next morning. Neither Dave or I ever wanted to leave that bed.

From there we headed to Panara for lunch before heading back to the Hotel to check out.

We were to meet Carolyn and Lionel at 1 and had some time to kill, so we decided to take a look around the hotel at the different art exhibits. As we were headed back to the elevator, we just so happen to run into Dustin Hoffman. He was standing by the front desk and then walked towards us. All I could think was...OMG it's the Rain Man! I was completely star struck and so was Dave. He stumbled on his words but then said, "Mr Hoffman, could I get a picture of you with my wife?" He was caught a little off guard, but of course said yes. After Dave took the picture we thanked him and told him we enjoyed his work and he went on his merry way.


Once in the elevator we freaked out and Dave said that it took all he had not to start quoting some of his lines. It was very cool to see him, and as we were leaving he was still in the lobby area getting ready to eat lunch with his wife and family. It was definitely an exciting end to our great weekend.

I am so happy!

Over the weekend Dave and I and his parents worked really hard on our garage to finally get it organized and put back together. Ever since I moved in over a year ago our garage has been either full of moving boxes, or in the midst of construction. I can finally say it is finished. I am VERY excited about this and proud that my husband finally has it finished. It looks great! BTW....you can tell from the picture that we can finally fit both of our cars in there! This makes my day every time I drive in!!!!! :)

Out of football for another week.....what a bummer!

Well, yesterday I took Kyle to the doctor to have his hand re-checked. They did another x-ray just to see if it was broke. Thankfully it isn't and I really didn't expect that it was. So, the doctor figures that he may have tore or strained a ligament in his hand. Since it is still really painful and bruised, they gave him a hand brace that he will need to wear for the next week. Which means he will also be out of football at least until then. He thinks this is the end of the world, but as the doctor and his coach explained, it is better to be out for a couple weeks now and let it heal, than to hurt it again and be out longer. So, after next week he can try playing football again unless it is painful. The doctor also suggested that he should probably wear the brace during games and at night for awhile, just to help the healing process and to prevent future re-occurrences of the injury.

Update on Kyle's hand....

Today was the day that we were supposed to remove his soft cast/splint, so tonight when the kids came home from having supper with their Dad, we removed it. WOW! I was amazed at how bruised his hand is. He is still having a lot of pain as well. So I will be calling our family doctor tomorrow and possibly taking him in. I'm not sure what the outcome will be, but as of now, I am thinking he tore the ligament in his hand. Both the doctor and his coach told us that this would be worse than if he had broke it because he would the possibility of reoccurring injuries through-out his life. Let's hope that it's not that and something that he will fully recover from.

Weekends are never long enough!

What a nice weekend we had. It was full of fun activities and relaxation.

Saturday morning Allicia and I spent the morning canning spaghetti sauce with two of my co-workers. We had a lot of fun and can't wait to spend another Saturday cooking again soon. Our next attempt will be applesauce.

From there we met David and my parents at Kyle's football game. It was his second game of the season. Last week they won 34 to 6. This week they were up against a team that has been undefeated for the last 3 years. They did really well but couldn't pull off a win. The final score was 16 to 36. Kyle spent most of the game playing with an injured hand.

As you can see from the picture below.....Kyle's hand was injured more than we thought. After the game it continued to swell, even after we had been icing it. We ended up taking him into the ER where they did an x-ray to see if it was broke. Unfortunately, because of the swelling they couldn't really tell. So they put a soft cast on it for the next 3-4 days. They are hoping the swelling goes down by then, and if he is still in pain we will need to go in to have it re-x-rayed. He is not excited about not being able to practice for the next couple days. He is planning on being back on the field by Saturday for his next game.....but his Mom said that we will see how his hand is doing first.

Sunday we spent the morning doing chores around the house until the big Viking game. As you can see from the picture below, Kyle was all decked out in his Viking gear and even put a jersey on his little cousin Beau.

After the close loss by the Vikes, we headed over the Quarry Hill Fall Festival where the kids enjoyed good food and fun activities. Allicia is below doing some rock climbing. Kyle was so bummed that he wasn't able to do that this year.

After the Fall Festival we headed home and ended the evening with a nice family meal with Dave's family and my nephew Beau. I'm not ready for the weekend to be over!

3 for 3!!!!! I am SO good!

Yesterday we had our 2nd trimester ultra-sound. It is the big one where they see how the baby is developing, in addition to telling you the sex of the baby, if you would like to know. Well, if you don't already know, David was insistent that we HAD to find out if the baby was a boy or girl. He is horrible with surprises and couldn't fathom the idea of waiting until January to find out. I on the other hand, I really liked having that moment of surprise when the baby is born. But, since I had already done that twice and already have a boy and a girl, it really wasn't that big of a deal found out. So, yesterday was the big day. There was much controversy over if this baby was a boy or girl. Dave and Kyle were convinced that it was a boy, Allicia wanted a boy, and I on the other hand, had a strong feeling it was a girl. In addition to that, with both of my kids, I had strong feelings that they were the sex that they were. We never found out before they were born what their sex was, but I knew throughout each pregnancy that Kyle was a boy, and Allicia was a girl. Well, again I was right......when the ultra-sound technician was looking for the sex, I was not surprised when he told us it was a girl! So Ava Helen it will be. I should also mention, everyone is VERY excited that she is a girl. Kyle thought I was lying at first, and although he REALLY wanted a boy, he said it was fine that she was a girl, as long as she doesn't act like Allicia. Nice, huh?? As for Alli and Dave, they are both very happy. So check out her first real pictures below.

Check out those eyes...she is kind-of freaky looking, don't you think? :)

Here she is talking to us...she was opening and closing her month a lot...it was so cool to see.

Here is the indication that she is a girl...how they know she is a girl from that, I do not understand.
These are her feet.....I think they look huge!

And last but not least, I had to share this one. If you can't tell, she is poking herself in the eye. It was hilarious to see!

10 years!

Last night was my 10 year class reunion. I can't believe that it has been that long. We had a nice night. We rented out the comedy club, here in Rochester. There was a meal from 5-7, followed by a 7PM comedy show. The show was very good and I think everyone enjoyed it. Then we spent some time in the bar below the comedy club before we headed down the street to Kathy's. It was nice to see everyone and catch up with what they are doing. We did take some pictures, but not with my camera. I will post a few once I get them.

First attempt at canning pickels.

Tonight Nancy (my mother-in-law) and I made our first attempt at canning pickles. We grew the cucumbers in our family garden, which I have to say were the only productive thing in our garden this year. Since that was our first attempt as well, we are planning on doing a few things different next year. Anyway....I will keep you posted on the pickles. It was actually an easy process and as of now, they look beautiful. We will see in 8 weeks how they taste.

Firsts!

Well, today was the first day of school (Alli 2nd, Kyle 6th) in addition to Kyle's first football scrimmage. Needless to say it was an extremely busy day.

Both kids said their first day of school went well. I am very thankful that Kyle had a great first day of Middle School. He was so nervous last night that he ended up in our bed around 2:00 am because he couldn't sleep. The rest of the night he tossed and turned until around 4:30 am when he finally moved to the couch. So not only was Kyle exhausted by the end of the day...but so was Mom. I never imagined he would be that nervous for his first day of Middle School.