Fall at Lutsen

Today we went north to Grand Marais and Lutsen. It is gorgeous up here this time of year. See for yourself:






(see the hawk, smack dab in the middle of the above photo?)



These photos were all taken in Lutsen. It rained all morning in Grand Marais but we did grab lunch at Sven and Ole's!

The View From Here:

(MN's Sawtooth Mountains)

What Have We Been Up To?

I haven't had Internet access for almost a week because I use my parent's wifi and they were having issues installing their new Apple Airport (router) so those of us with PCs were without Internet access since mid-last week. It's all straightened out and working again so here I am!

What have we been up to? LOTS!

Last Wednesday we took Amelia to the Mall of America to Underwater Adventures. Jason had never been there so it was an extra special trip! We didn't take a ton of pictures but here are a few:




After Underwater Adventures, Amelia took a little snooze in her stroller while Jason and I (mostly window) shopped:


We had a really great day together which I think we all needed!

Another fun thing we did just yesterday was going to the apple orchard! We went to Aamodt's Farm in Stillwater. Our first stop was yummy apple treats:


(apple cider, apple oatmeal cookies and apple crisp with cinammon ice cream!)

Amelia had a blast in the hay maze:




They even had apples low enough for Amelia to reach!


Yesterday was another great day for us!

We have been soaking up fall days this past week and it has been so awesome! I LOVE this time of year :)

Security Item

Amelia has never had one specific security item. Lots of kids have a blanket or stuffed animal or something soft and cuddly that they need to have with them at all times. Since we have been living with grandpa Amelia has taken a strong liking to the remote control. Lucky for us he had a spare which is now "hers."

I went into her room the one night last week and found this:




Jason still doesn't think "her" remote is her security item. I think it is. What do you think?

Out of the Darkness 2010

(Liz, I swiped this from FB...I thought it was a good picture to start off the post with!)

This past Sunday, Jason's sister, Liz, participated in the 2010 Out of the Darkness walk at Como Park. Two members of Jason and Liz's family, including their dad, have taken their lives so this cause is something very important to her and hopefully Jason and I can participate next year with her!


Jason and I were unable to join her and a few other friends who did the walk but Amelia and I went over to her house in the evening for some dinner and fun!

Amelia got spend some more time with the puppies which aren't really puppy size anymore! She even shared her drink with Pecan:


It was pretty cute :) Even when it was kennel time for the puppies she was with them!


She also tried to bring them with her everywhere:


As you can imagine, she didn't get too far with them ;)

We had a great night and the food was awesome! We are proud of Liz for fundraising and getting involved with this foundation and also for Marie, Molly and Katie who did the walk with her!



Hopefully we will be able to participate next year!

Consignment Sale Find

This weekend there is a huge sale going on at the county fair grounds and my parents and I went to check it out this afternoon. I didn't really want to go because I've always heard the "hot" items go fast at those things and we had a particular item in mind. Well, I was wrong...


We now have our very own Little Tikes slide for about 1/3 the retail price. That is a great find indeed! Getting it home...that is a whole other story! In the end Auntie Liz and Grandma Rude drove into Stillwater to pick it up and bring it to Nana's house. We'd all like to say, one more time, thank you! It saved us the trouble of going to Home Depot to rent a truck, which would have brought the cost of the darn thing higher than my mom would have liked!

Now we just need to teach Amelia that once she climbs into it she can go down the slide on her own! Instead, she climbs up and into the "hut" part and then goes back down the stairs. Like this:


It's ok. We'll work with her and hopefully she gets it soon! She loves slides and now she has her very own!

Thanks Nana and Grandpa for getting it and thanks (again) Auntie Liz and Grandma Rude for delivering it!!!

Friday Fails - Shoe and Child Supervision Fail

When you see this...


...with a curious toddler on the loose, it can't be good! Our darling daughter likes to help herself to the basement to play with, what else, cat carriers.


We really can't figure out the fascination but she loves those things like they are the food she eats!


We really need to be more careful as the stairs to the basement have no railing or side and a little slip or fall could be very serious for her! Sometimes we forget that the door is open (it has to be from time to time since the cat food and boxes are down there and they need access!) and this "fail" happens! We are lucky that she is so enthralled with the cat carriers that she pays no mind to all the other stuff down there she could get into that would be very bad for her!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last weekend Amelia and I went out to dinner with my family. We were walking in and my mom said to me, "why do her shoes look weird?" I looked down and saw this:


No wonder she seemed so unhappy with me whenever I made her walk! I just figured it was because we were already having a rough day and she was just giving me attitude. I was wrong. Good thing she has a Nana who looks out for her ;)

For more "fails" visit myblessedlife.net!

A Real Bed

We finally upgraded from this...


...to...


...this!

From the looks of it, we will be at grandpa's house a little longer so we put together Amelia's crib. Her pack 'n' play has seen better days after being used as a crib for 3 months. The base of it is warped into a "u" and it just looked uncomfortable for her.

It feels nice to have her back in her real bed and she just looks so much more peaceful when she sleeps :) I wish I had a picture to share of her all snuggled up with all of her blankets in her real bed. It is precious! I'll have to try and get one sometimes soon!

Relaxing Night at Home

Last night we stayed in and did nothing. It was much needed! We both had a frustrating start to the week at work and it was nice to just be home, together, with nothing that needed to be done.

Jason took Amelia around the yard in her wagon via tractor:



She loved it and just relaxed:



Clearly she understoof the theme of the evening!

We tried out Digornio's pizza and breadsticks for dinner and really enjoyed it!


Amelia had a tasty dinner too!


Amelia was just a little joy last night.


We had so much fun the three of us.

After Amelia went to bed we watched The Cove with grandpa and he pretty much slept through the entire thing! If you haven't see it, you should! It is a great documentary and people should be informed!

Daddy's Little Viking

The Vikings season opener was last week and Jason had Amelia all decked out to celebrate:



She even watched a little of the game:


Too bad they lost!!!

Busy Week

We have had a pretty busy week. Jason and I have both been putting in extra hours at work this week and there hasn't been much time for anything! Instead of trying to re-cap our week I will just post some pictures and let them speak for themselves:

Amelia went to the fair for a third time with my family...








I am hoping to be online more this upcoming week! I can only use Jason's computer at grandpa's since his Broadband doesn't work with my computer without the software being directly installed and his computer can't upload pictures without some equipment that we don't have! You can see the predicament this creates! Oh well. I am finally weening myself from the Internet which probably isn't that bad of a thing :)