A Long Overdue Post About San Fransisco

It's hard to believe we've already been back home for two weeks.  Kari and I took a wonderful spring break trip out to California to spend time with Mark and Meredith.  It was jam-packed and relaxing all at the same time.  I think that's one of the things that's so great about California- there's always something to do, but it can always be done in such a laid back kind of way.

We arrived Saturday the 23rd sorta late in the afternoon and went straight to Alice Lane.  M & M surprised Kari with a belated birthday gift.

I'm not one to brag, but Kari did pretty darn well for being on roller blades for the first time.  Within only a few minutes, she was going up and down the street  with Mark and me jogging alongside her.

We knew we had a lot to see and do, so Kari very reluctantly left the rollerblades behind and we packed up the car and headed to the cabin for two nights.  Meredith's parents have the loveliest cabin in the Santa Cruz Mountains and it was high on our priority list to get there during our visit.  We stayed at the cabin four years ago when we all went out for Thanksgiving.  It was quite a different experience this time, not having to chase a 15 month old around!  

We had an excellent brunch at Linda and Kelley's favorite restaurant, Casa Nostra.

Ask Kari who she went to visit, and she'll probably first tell you Mark and Meredith, but it will quickly be followed by also mentioning she got to visit with four dogs and a lot of chickens.  Collecting the eggs was definitely one of the highlights of her trip!

From the cabin, we took a short drive to Santa Cruz.  This is a really interesting city on the beach.  It's a college town and beach town all wrapped up into one.  It's also one of those places where you know there's going to be some really unique shops.  We were not disappointed! 

We all got such a kick out of the vintage glasses at the antique shop.

Meredith and Kari had to come up with their own fun as I browsed and browsed at the Sockshop. This was one of the coolest stores I've been to in a long time.  Hundreds and hundreds of socks!

We also went to one of M & M's favorite beaches for a picnic.  It chilly and windy, but that didn't stop Kari from getting her feet wet.  She got a little more than what she bargained for, though, and a wave totally caught her by surprise and knocked her down.  

 This is called Hole In The Wall.  We had to walk through this to get to the part of the beach M & M like so much, but you've got to be careful to time it right during high tide or else you'll get trapped!

After our picnic, and mostly Kari's clothes had dried, we climbed back out to the top for some great scenic shots.  Here, we're essentially standing on top of Hole in the Wall.

Kari and Meredith were almost inseparable.  And when they weren't together, Kari was hanging out with her awesome Uncle Mark.  

A recurring theme of the week was telling jokes.  Knock-Knock jokes.  M & M properly equipped Kari with some fresh ones to bring back to Indiana.  If you haven't heard her tell them to you, ask!

Another highlight of the trip was private ice skating lessons.  Kari had such a fantastic time ice skating this winter on our local seasonal rink, so I arranged for two afternoons of lessons.  

I think this is where Mark got the idea for the rollerblades, which Kari pretty much had on anytime we were back at the house.   We headed over to Stanford and she got to practice there a bit too.

We also ventured into the city for a day.  Highlight of the trip was finding the Fortune Cookie factory after a friend recommended it.  It was a bit tough to find- tucked in an alley and super teeny tiny once inside!

 We had lunch in Chinatown too.  Kari had potstickers and her first taste of green tea ice cream.  She was reluctant at first, but the ice cream looked too much like mint ice cream to not give it a try.  Winner!

We went to Golden Gate Park after lunch, but Kari was so pooped, and I think the three hour time difference was finally catching up to her too, that we never made it past the first park bench at the entrance to the park.  We had gorgeous weather, though!

We had purchased a couple of kites in Chinatown and Mark knew of a kite park in Mountain View.  It was perfectly windy there and tons of open space.  

Eating seemed to be on the agenda quite a bit!  We ate some fabulous food while we were there.

Burritos at the kite park!

 Fro Yo at Fraiche in Palo Alto.  Started by a couple of Stanford grads.  Really interesting flavors such as lactose free soy.  It totally would not fly in Indiana :)

 Lunch at The Creamery in Palo Alto.  We split a cookie dough milkshake.

 Pizza and a few rounds of Bananagrams at Applewood.

On our last night we headed back over to Palo Alto's University Avenue.  It's Stanford's downtown area with a ton of neat little shops and restaurants.  During Kari's skating lessons I started chatting with another mom who recommended we said we had to check out Cream.  This was a new place, even to M & M, so they were excited to check it out too.  It was over the top, really.  Pick your cookie and then pick your ice cream and then they'll make your customized ice cream sandwich.  I chose snickerdoodle cookies with salted carmel ice cream.  I can't even remember the other combos we shared that night.  We had a great little table on the second floor balcony overlooking the street.  Perfect for people watching on a mild March evening!

We could not have asked for a better week with Mark and Meredith.  We only hope they'll plan a visit to Indiana soon!

Spring is Coming! Spring is Coming!

I'm thinking I'm going to be on the losing end of this bet.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Kari and Bryce both made their t-shirts themselves.  I found this super simple idea here.

A Little Outside Creativity

This has become Bryce's new favorite thing to do on his bike:

Cold Winter Nights Have Brought Us To This.

It's snowing right now.  Again.  Bryce is happily playing outside riding his bike in the snow.  This winter we've predicted that he not only has a future career in a Department of Public Works, but one located on a cold Northerly latitude, like Fairbanks, Alaska, perhaps.

We've got a pretty good sized snow pile in front of the house, thanks to living at the end of a cul-de-sac, any snow removal attempts get pushed up right next to the mailbox.  A couple of weeks ago the pile -probably about 3.5' high at the time- generated a friendly bet between the Mister and the Missus.  I mentioned that there will be some trace of the snow pile remaining on Kevin's birthday.  He gladly took me up on the bet and we determined the winner will get a weekend away.  (The loser, in case you're wondering, does not get to go along.)  When is Kevin's birthday, you ask?  April 26.  Needless to say, I have not made any new friends with my prediction of a long slow spring thaw.  Stay tuned for a late April announcement!

Until then, Kevin continues threaten to move to a warm weather state and I continue keep an eye on the weather forecasts.

Stay warm, all!

Klondike Carnival

The elementary school cake walk, as Kevin and I are just realizing, is a cleverly disguised gateway game into roulette and gambling. We couldn't be more proud. Bravo, Klondike. Bravo!

S-N-O-W.

Snow.  And we've got lots of it.  Purdue has a history/tradition/reputation of not shutting campus down just because of some measly sub-zero windchills or snow.  Until today!  We woke up this morning with the university shut down until 1 PM and then another text came through mid morning saying all university operations had been cancelled until 6 AM tomorrow morning.  Yay!

We only got about 8" of snow.

Yesterday, Bryce and I got home in time to meet Kari and Nolan at the bus stop.  Bryce seemingly has a future working for the Department of Public Works in the city of his choice after receiving a pint-sized shovel for Christmas.

Just a few minutes ago a grader passed through the cul-de-sac twice to move the snow.  In our 14 winters, this is a first!  Evidently this is how we get things done out in the country.

**Update!**
Just a few minutes ago a Bobcat came through and did an excellent job clearing the entire cul-de-sac and making way for the mail carrier.  Yay!

Hello Kari!

Another birthday party went off without a hitch.  I was secretly thrilled when Kari changed her mind from an M&M theme to Hello Kitty.  Hello Kitty was, ahem, the cat's meow when I was her age, and the merchandise was a hot commodity. Pulling off a HK party back in my day would have been a near impossible feat.

Nowadays, you just pull up to your local party store, and BAM!  HK party.  Pretty simple.  I did, however, make the invitations.

Since this was a girls only party this year, we did all things girly and pink.  First up, as soon as everyone arrived, each young lady chose a headband with kitty ears and then selected their choice of a bow- a Hello Kitty headband!  Once everyone was adorned with HK ears, we did a small photo shoot with the big pink frame.

A few weeks ago I was up at IKEA with Natalie and Pam and came across this big, huge, UGLY picture frame.  I had an idea so I took a chance and splurged.  It was a good gamble that only needed a small can of spray paint for its makeover.  The girls absolutely loved posing and hamming it up for the camera!  We did this early on during the party so that I'd have time to upload the pictures to Walgreens and for Kevin to pick them up in time for each girl to take home a couple copies.  Party favor?  Check. Yay!

We followed up with decorating cupcakes (thanks to Aunt Laura for the endless supply of sprinkles!!)

We primed everyone's appetite pump with the cupcakes and figured we better move on to the little meal.  Since the party was between meals, I didn't prepare anything fancy.  Hot ham and cheese sandwiches on Hawaiian rolls, fruit and veggies.  Easy.

We wrapped up the afternoon with painting fingernails which was another big hit.

The two hours went by quickly, that's for sure!  We continued the theme of giving to others in lieu of gifts.  Figuring out who and what to donate was easy this year.  After this fall's devastating tornado only a few miles south of us and displacing an elementary school in our district, we opted again for school supplies.  Kari's friends were overwhelmingly generous and we can't be more excited to make arrangements as soon as possible.

Happy Birthday!

To our favorite little seven year old!

More pictures to follow after this weekend's Hello Kitty party.

What -19 Degrees, Windchill -36 Looks Like

Pretty much all of Lafayette and the county was shut down today.  Purdue even closed down regular operations (classes don't start until the 13th, so the majority of students aren't here yet.)  Because of the declared weather emergency, no one is allowed on the roads, so we created our own fun at home.  The kids and I watched from the relative safety and protection from the wind in the garage.

This was nothing more than throwing cupfuls of boiling water into the air!  It was pretty spectacular to watch.

We've got snow...and we know how to use it

Depending on which weather channel you listen to, we're to get anywhere from 5-12" by the end of the day.  Regardless, the forecast was bad enough that church was cancelled and so we had a chance to sleep in for the first time in many Sundays.

With all that extra sleep and stored up energy, we headed out shortly after breakfast to take advantage of the new falling snow.  Snow (and temperature), surprisingly, are tricky things!  While it's perfect packing snow, it's probably just a degree or two too cold for rolling and making snowmen.  We had to resort to building our snow fort by hand- literally handful by handful.  It was an arduous task but well worth it!

Bryce on Kissing

Saturday night we were at a wedding reception up in Fort Wayne.  Bryce was contently sitting on my lap watching all the activity going on around him and I intermittently snuck a kiss or two on his cheeks or forehead. All of a sudden he sat straight up, pushed me away and said, "Mommy!  This is not a kissing place.  We only kiss at Barnes & Noble."

The funny part is that the little bugger has never set foot in a B&N.  We had only walked by one earlier in the day at the mall and heard Kari read the store name out loud.