Scenes From Our Week - Week 23

I had an absolutely amazing weekend.  I had 4 days to get back on track after returning for Florida before I left for my annual weekend in Minnesota with my mom for her birthday.  We meet up with my mom's sister, Susan and her daughters and just had a blast the whole weekend.

We started the weekend by wedding dress shopping.  My cousin, Gayle is planning to get married next year and this was her first dress trying on session.

Aunt Susie, my mom and I were so excited to see Gayle in some wedding dresses.  We all had our favorites but, nothing really jumped out at Gayle.  At least she was able to decide the styles she liked and didn't like.   It was so fun to be a part of it!

By the time the wedding dress session was done we were starving and thirsty.  We headed to CRAVE at the Mall of America for dinner.  I was anxious to knock one of my 40 By 40 items off my list....eating Sushi!  So with a Crave Martini and support from family, I tried several kinds of sushi.  Don't ask me to name them, but I tried traditional rolls as well as sashimi and all were delicious.   

It really wasn't as bad as I had feared all these years.  Adding the soy sauce, wasabi and pickled ginger helped too.  It was such a fun evening and I am so glad I stepped out of my box and tried it! Thanks cousin Melanie for sharing your sushi with me!

Gayle, Susan, Melanie, Mom, and me

We started off our Saturday at the Como Zoo and Conservatory in St Paul, Minnesota.  We love their flower show and walking through all their rooms.  No matter the temperature, you feel like you are in summer.  It was still their Winter Garden Show and as always, it was gorgeous.  Check in tomorrow for photos of flowers. 

Melanie and I

Mother and Daughters

My mom and I

Sisters

After the flower garden we went in search of lunch.  One of the things I LOVE about this weekend is all the wonderful food we eat.  We don't usually go to the "usual" places and I love finding neat places to try.  We found this lovely little place called THE BARBARY FIG on Grand Ave in St. Paul.  They serve Mediterranean cuisine and it was delish!  Check out their Facebook page HERE.

Spinach and Artichoke Gyro

Dessert, don't remember what it was called....but like Baklava with lavender and honey....sooo good.

This sign was in a shop window on Grand Ave.  The other window said Peep Hole for Girls.  A great way to get people curious about their new shop.  Inside the peep hole, it said "Shame on you! Stay tuned!"

Then we went to the Mall of America and shopped for the rest of the day and then enjoying some delicious food at Kokomo Island.

Sunday, after 1 less hour of sleep thanks to Daylight Savings and sad hearts knowing our time together was almost over, we headed to UPTOWN CAFETERIA AND SUPPORT GROUP in Minneapolis for breakfast.  The best part was the Bloody Mary bar!

Check out my bloody mary!

Sunday was my mom's birthday and even though we took advantage of it all weekend, Sunday was her real special day.  The waitress brought mom a stick of cotton candy to go along with some delicious banana cream pie....note all the spoons....of course we shared!  So fun!

We had so many laughs together and added more memories to our memory bank.  I can't wait to do it again next year!

And....while Mom was away, the kids got to play.....

They took advanage of this crazy, warm weather to play outside.  The bats and gloves were brought out and so were the bikes!

They even got the kites out and did some kite flying!

I think we are sticking close to home for awhile know.  Who needs to go anywhere with the Ah.Maz.Ing Iowa weather?!?!

Saying Goodbye to a Friend

Our cat, Buddy, needed to be put down this morning.  Buddy has been sick for a couple months and test results showed that he had feline leukemia.  There was nothing that could be done and he was pretty sick.

 Buddy came into Pat's life 16 years ago as a stray and has been here ever since (except for 1 month when Buddy ran away).  Buddy was a very loving cat and became "best buds" with my cat, Baxter when I came into the picture nearly 14 years ago.  Buddy and Pat were the best of friends and wherever Pat was, Buddy was usually close behind.  Buddy loved to get outside everyday and lay in the sun and roll in the dirt.  He was also a lap cat and could easily be found laying on someone's lap each night.  Every time we would play a board game on the floor, Buddy was always right there, trying to lay on the board.  Buddy LOVED turkey, tuna, and chicken.  Whenever Pat would bring home KFC, Buddy would soon be right next to the table trying any way to get at the chicken on our plates.  As soon as the bones would go in the trash, Buddy was trying to get at them and most times he was successful.  One time, we had McDonald's for supper and Patrick wasn't paying attention and Buddy jumped up and grabbed one of Patrick's nuggets.  Patrick said, "Dad, Buddy stole my nugget!" That is still one of our favorite sayings!

Buddy was a great cat and gave us lots of love and laughter over the years.  He will be deeply missed by all of us as well as Baxter.  Baxter will definitely have some lonely days ahead without Buddy.  Tonight we will have a little ceremony at Buddy's grave in our back yard and probably share some memories of Buddy.  The kids each wrote a note to Buddy to place in the box.  We also put a foil ball in the box, one of Buddy's favorite toys.  We can only hope, that he is in heaven, sitting on Grandpa Bill's lap like he used to do so many years ago.  

Thought for the Day

"Everybody likes a compliment"
Abraham Lincoln


When was the last time you received a compliment?  How did it make you feel?  Who can you give a compliment to today?  Your child, your spouse, a co-worker, your boss, a neighbor, the checkout clerk, the waitress, your child's teacher?  Getting a compliment can instantly give someone the lift that just might be needed for their day.  It makes them feel lighter and happier instantly.  It doesn't have to be huge...."That is a great color for you." "You have a great smile." "I really appreciated your help finding that item." "You really make working here fun." "Great job on that test."

Come on, you can come up with one compliment today.  Just do it!

Our Florida Getaway - Final

One of the mornings, Bennett and I got up early to walk along the beach and look for shells.  It was nice to have some one on one time together.  I caught him getting caught up in watching the waves like I do.  It was a great morning and one I hope he remembers for a long time.

While we were visiting the Lighthouse, nearly every other group that was there was from Iowa, but was wintering in the area.  So during our conversations, we asked where they suggested we eat.  One of the suggestions was McGuire's.  It is an Irish restaurant (duh!) and was a huge place in Pensacola.  The menu offered an array of Irish items including the $100 Grand Burger listed above in the menu.  We opted not to get that, but I got their special of the day, the shephard's pie and it was extremely filling and delicious.  They also offer 18 cent, yes, an 18 cent bowl  Bean Soup which both Bennett and Pat got and I tried.  All over the restaurant, if you look up all you will see is $1 bills.  The ceiling is plastered with them as you can see below.  The sign says they are $1 Million dollars worth and counting on the ceiling, given by patrons over the years.  Pretty amazing!  

We spent some time walking along the pier and in downtown Pensacola.  This pelican was quite friendly and let us get quite close as you can see.  Not much zoom needed here on this one.  I guess they are used to people!

We also visited The Oyster House in Gulf Shores, Alabama for one of our meals.  This photo above is of Alligator bites.  Pat, Bennett and I all tried them.  They were ok.  Kind of tasted like chicken, but a little chewy.  At least I can say I tried Gator!  Pat and I also stepped out of our comfort zones again there and tried some new fish.  He had Amber Jack and I had Trigger Fish.  Both of these fish we had never heard of but they were both quite delicious. 

The Holiday Inn Resort in Pensacola Beach was wonderful.  We had a great stay there and the staff was excellent.  One of the kid's favorite things was the lazy river.  They didn't seem to mind that the water was FREEZING because it had been so cool there lately.  They did have an indoor pool, but it was rather small.  I preferred the hot tub that was outside next to the lazy river and much warmer!

We were delighted to find a Krispy Kreme in Pensacola.  There are no longer any around us and so having a Krispy Kreme, especially a fresh one right off the line was such a treat! We ended up going there twice as well as bring a dozen home for us and for some family and friends.  

Pat had the idea of all of us putting our footprints in the sand and writing Pensacola Beach 2012 in the sand.  I think it was an awesome idea and I can wait to mess with it a bit and print it out and frame it....maybe with some of those shells we collected during the week!

We started heading home on Friday and since we were heading north, northwest from Florida to Iowa, we were going to be driving right through the storms that were predicted to come through.  My mom was really worried and was emailing me to keep track of our locations.  We were lucky to be able to stay up on the weather through our phones.  I was saddened to read about tornados hitting while we were driving, but thankful that we had missed them.  I just don't know what we would have done if we had come upon one.  The photo above was near Columbus, Mississippi after a storm had just went through.  I don't think this cloud ever turned into anything, but it sure look ominous to me!

We hit Memphis, Tennessee right about sunset and as we were driving into it, it looked like the whole city was on fire.  It was quite a sight. 

Well, that about sums up our trip.  We had a wonderful week together and  the kids were great during all the driving.  We kept them busy with Tim Hawkins DVD's, homework, and the iPad/iPod.  Even though the weather in Florida wasn't what we had hoped for, our family jumped right in a made the best of it.  The kids were just happy to be on the beach and it didn't matter if the sun was shining or not.  We experienced as much as we could and hope to go back sometime soon....maybe when it is a tad warmer and we can actually come home with a little tan!

Our Florida Getaway - Part 2

The beaches are amazing.  The sand is so fine and white.  It reminded us of the snow we left behind in Iowa.  The beaches were also full of shells.  The kids and I had so much fun finding the perfect shells to bring home.  We didn't have any luck finding whole sand dollars, but did find several good-sized pieces.

I'm still not sure what we are going to do with all these shells besides a few picture frames/shadow boxes, so if you have any ideas, be sure to let me know.  I've found a few ideas on Pinterest too that I may just try out.

We drove a out of town a little bit and found this beach.  The first thing we saw was this heart made of rose petals on the beach.  How romantic.  It made me wonder if someone was proposed to just hours before.....

The kids didn't care how cloudy and windy it was, they were so excited to be ON THE BEACH!  I think these photos show their excitement well!

While Pat was meeting with some clients down the road in Gulf Shores, Alabama, I took the kids to the beach in Gulf Shores.  It was a pretty nice day and Patrick snapped this photo of me on the beach.

Once we returned to Pensacola Beach we took advantage of the sun and hit our beach.  The water was really cold though!

I enjoyed watching this man feed the seagulls and how they would grab food right out of his fingers.

Pat and the kids decided to hit the lazy river at the hotel and I was blessed with some solitude on the beach.  It was just what I needed.  I loved sitting there doing nothing but watching the clouds roll across the sky, the waves come in and go out, and the sun drop down under the horizon.  It was absolutely breathtaking.

We took a drive down the road about an hour to Destin, Florida.  Destin is known as one of the best Family Vacation Sites and also known for their awesome beaches.  What we noticed while there was the water was sooooo blue (this photo doesn't even do it justice) and since it was kind of a bay area, it was so calm.  Hardly any waves coming in.  It was sunny and just gorgeous there.  But, the town itself was much more "touristy".  Pensacola Beach has a few shops and restaurants, but for the most part is pretty quiet, where Destin is full of shops, malls, restaurants, etc.  So, just depends on what your family is looking for.  I would imagine this area will be very busy during spring break and the summers!

Patrick had a ball running down the beach and leaping for the camera!  He got some air!

My parents had been to Pensacola Beach several years ago to visit family that were wintering there.  She told me we needed to find the "spaceship house".  I was like, yeah, right, like we will find that.  But, as we were driving, would you believe it was right down the street from our hotel???  So, I don't know who lives here or why they have a house that looks like a spaceship, but here it is.

Our Florida Getaway - Part 1

We started out the trip at 6:00 on Saturday night after leaving the boys' band concert.  We were hoping to make it somewhere between St. Louis and Memphis.

We drove until midnight, finding a room at the Holiday Inn Express in Cape Giradeau, Missouri.  

We had some tired kids when we got to the hotel in Cape Giradeau, but as you can tell, they already had their jammies on and we just had to carry up a couple bags with the next day's clothes already set aside.  After a good night's rest and more hours of driving, we finally arrived at our hotel.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Resort which is right on the beach in Pensacola Beach, Florida.  To get to Pensacola Beach, you have to take a 3 mile bridge to Gulf Breeze and then take a toll bridge ($1) to get to Pensacola Beach. The Holiday Inn Resort is less than a year old and we stayed in their kid's suite.  The kid's suite has a nook area with bunk beds and their own tv and play station 3 as well as a microwave and fridge. I would try to get a gulf view next time, as cloudy and foggy as it was, the view really didn't matter much.  The hotel has their own restaurant and kids eat free ALL THE TIME.  We also got the package with free breakfast which was a huge buffet every morning.  We also had a few other meals at the restaurant since the kids were free and all were delicious.  I loved their burgers and Pat enjoyed their wings and grouper sandwich.

Pensacola, Florida has a Naval Air Base and is the home of the Navy's Blue Angels.  There is this working lighthouse on the base.  It was built and began operation in the late 1800's and is still operational today.  I wasn't sure I could make it up to the top (177 steps) once I saw the old iron stairs and spiral staircase, but we all made it and the view was amazing.  If you remember my height and closed spaces issue with our St. Louis Arch experience, you will know that this was tough for me.  But, I would do this over the Arch any day!

Going back down the steps was tougher than going up.  The kids were troopers and were patient with me as I took one step at a time with both hands on the railing.  Phew! 

After the lighthouse, we went to the Naval Air Museum.  The museum is HUGE and filled with lots of different types of planes.  

Future pilot Patrick enjoyed getting into one of the Blue Angel cockpits and giving it a try.

Reagan is giving a Presidential wave as she enters Marine One.  

One of the Blue Angels outside the museum.  

I highly recommend visiting both the Lighthouse and the Naval Air Museum if you are in the area.  The lighthouse does cost to climb up to the top.  You also must have proper shoes or you will be required to go barefoot.  The Naval Air Museum is free and has many Veteran volunteers who are happy to talk to you and your kids about the planes and you maybe will even get a few war stories!  If you ever have an air show come to your area with the Blue Angels performing, I would highly recommend that you go.  They come to the Quad Cities Air Show every few years and always put on a great show.