Fall around here

Before we get too far into winter, I better recap fall or I'll forget what happened. We are moving at light speeds lately, and I don't want to forget anything. 

It's not a true change of season unless we get over to Como Conservatory and check out the sunken gardens. This time, I told the girls maybe they should have a wedding in that beautiful place some day. I got a few sideways smiles. But it's just so pretty! 

We had our first fire of the season in our fireplace. Man do we love that thing. It's so toasty warm and everyone usually cuddles around it at some point in the day. We sure get good use out of it. 

We taught Lincoln how to ice skate, in 10 minutes flat! Honestly, that boy picked it up faster than I ever anticipated. He used a walker for a very short while before announcing he was ready to let go. Ryan took him back a few days later and he did great. Thinking Santa has some gifts in his bag for our new skater :) 

Sidney painted Lincoln's face like a tiger.
 On more than one occasion. 

Sadly, they neglected to use Crayola brand markers and he was left with streaks across his face for days. Opps. 

Regan and I ran another turkey trot on Thanksgiving Day, pretty sure this is now an annual event. It was much colder than last year, and my "snot catcher" sure came in handy!

We celebrated Grandma Jan's birthday with gifts and a trip to town to help her decorate for the holidays. 

And upon buying our own Christmas tree, we had our first visit to the big guy (who wasn't such a great big guy since his daughter was hollering "HI DADDY" from around the corner). Yikes!

Now onto the holidays! 

Halloween 2018

The week of Halloween was a bit of a whirlwind around here. Maybe it's because it was in the middle of the work week or maybe because Lincoln's birthday is smack dab in the midst of that hustle/bustle, but it feels like we hurried along to fit everything in this year. 

We managed to carve pumpkins, this year Sidney surprised us and wanted to do everything on her own. From the gut-digging to the carving, she was my little helper. 

We ventured over to a little Halloween party at a nearby vacant store, where the best thing about it was a cute picture :) Ok not entirely true, we enjoyed a horse/wagon ride and the kids played a few games. 

I got to volunteer at Sidney's class party. 

And then finally, it was time for these three to hit up the neighborhood for treats. Regan is teetering on outgrowing this annual tradition, but I was happy she decided to hang out with some friends and still enjoy the treats from their neighborhood. 

The other two and I met up with some friends and walked door to door to their hearts' content! It sure was a successful Halloween! 

Happy 5th Birthday Lincoln Ryan!

This handsome little devil turned 5 at the end of October. 

He was beyond excited for his big celebration. Like jump out of bed at the crack of dawn (wait, he does that everyday!), run down the stairs and beg to open his presents. 

Just look at that little ham of a smile :)
Oh how I love him!

A whole hand! Check out that concentration to put up 5 fingers. 

Five things I love about him: 

* his energy. He can go and go and go, and talk and talk and talk

* how he loves his family. He gives the most amazing hugs and tells us all how much he loves us. 

* he is polite. Don't you dare miss an opportunity to say "thank you" with him around. He will remind you. 

* his animal impersonations. Especially the tiger! ROARRRRR. 

* he's wicked smart. He's mastered writing his name and numbers up to 10, and most recently, told Regan she needed to turn left while we were out walking. And was correct in his directions. she looked at him in shock, joking that she still has to use her hands to show which way is left :) 

Happy 5th Birthday Lincoln Ryan! We love you :) 

Duluth October 2018

Last month we were able to spend a few days in Duluth where we ate, shopped, played and enjoyed some overdue family time. We lucked out and scored a room in Canal Park where the kids had a great time in the outdoor rooftop pool! Although air temps were chilly, it felt more like a hot tub than a pool. 

With a recent massive storm, the lakewalk was pretty torn up, but that didn't stop us from exploring every day. We climbed on rocks, did gymnastics on rocks and built with rocks. And let's not forget that Regan taught all of us how to skip rocks, she's quite the pro at it. 

Sidney spends more time upside down than she does right side up on most days. 

She is constantly with her hands on the ground. 

This photo cracks me up. While these boulders look easy to climb on, they are beyond unstable and wobbly. Regan and I were trying to capture the beauty of nature in a mother/daughter photo using my camera timer. She was set up nicely and my job was to set the camera on a rock and then run to pose next to her.....except I ended up stepping on a wobbly rock and went down quickly, flat on my back. See me laying down there below?! 

Regan took full advantage of my mishap and gave the camera a thumbs up just as the photo clicked! Thanks kiddo :) 

Although Lincoln was begging to get out to the lighthouse, when it finally came down to the walk, his legs were suddenly tired and he wanted very little to do with getting out there. It probably took at least 45 minutes to make that 2 block walk.

But he sure had fun chasing birds around along the way.

Ryan took us to one of his former stomping grounds across the border. He scored the most ridiculous sized beer for roughly $5. What?! 

We all giggled when reading the menu saying that children under 21 are allowed to drink alcohol with their parents permission. Don't get any ideas kiddos. 

After a stop at the college, and spending a crazy amount of money on new UMD clothes, we headed over to the Amsoil Arena. My cousin happens to play hockey for UMD so we showed our support cheering her on, and getting some fist bumps from the Bulldog. 

One evening I made a suggestion to check out Enger Tower at night. Shockingly something Ryan had never seen before. When we travel abroad (and even out of state, I have a thing about always finding the highest point in the city for a view). We had never seen this view at night, so it was an easy sell. 

The kiddos were hilarious running around up inside the tower (we had it all to ourselves), screaming about the boogeyman coming to get them! 

Isn't it pretty? 

I have to admit, I was a little scared to be walking around. It was dark up there. Like pitch black dark. And I have a silly mind that always thinks the worst. 

It's not always easy to convince Ryan that we should take a long weekend trip, but whenever I mention Duluth, he jumps on board faster than I can say the dates.
I'm so glad we had an opportunity to sneak away and explore Duluth once again.