Last weekend...

Dave and I took Otis and Cooper down to Minnesota City to see some of our family and visit John's farm. The farm is nestled in a valley surrounded my lush tree-covered hills. It's so peaceful and beautiful. Since it's fall harvest time (yes, FALL), we got to enjoy the fresh produce that John's been growing all summer. We had tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, grape tomatoes, ground cherries, and red and yellow raspberries. I had never even heard of ground cherries, but they were good! We got a preview of the pumpkins and cantaloupe that are growing. We walked around the hillside and toured John's prairie gardens.

While we had an awesome time eating and spending time with family, the dogs had one of their best days ever. They got to run around free for hours and hours. They got to explore the garden while Dave picked us some food. They played with Ann's dog, Minnie. You could see smiles on their faces -- not kidding. When they were tired of running, they'd take a break and lay by our feet. Then after a while, they'd get up and run around all over again. We all can't wait to make the trip again next year!

Here's some pics of our day. I already posted them on FB, but wanted to blog about our day too...since it's a fun one that I want to remember! And I got to play with our new camera!

Cooper squinting in the sun -- he's got those sensitive blue eyes.

Otis resting in the shade -- he gets hot so easily with his thick black fur.

The view from the prairie garden on the hillside.

Cooper, Otis and Minnie -- the three amigos.

Cooper resting with Dad.

Dave successfully picked an ear of corn!

The big spring break trip

Many weeks ago, Dave and I went to Lake City, Minn., for our spring break trip. This year, our spring break budget was limited, so an overnight road trip was all we got. And unfortunately, the "spring" weather hadn't quite made it's way to Minnesota yet. It was rainy with snow flurries. Fun, huh?

Lake City is like one of many small, vacation destination towns in Minnesota where it triples in size during the tourist season. Well, a Sunday in early March isn't exactly tourist season. So many of the gift shops weren't open. But I can see why this would be a fun place to visit in the summer. It's situated on Lake Pepin, which is a big lake in the Mississippi River. (I don't really understand how you get lakes within rivers -- since it's all one body of water, my simple mind would think that Lake Pepin is really still the Mississippi River -- but I won't get into a geography debate here.) Lake City is famous because it's the birthplace of waterskiing. It's also the town that my father-in-law grew up.

Here's his old house

Dave and I thought Pappy would appreciate the big Obama poster that's still hanging in the window four months after the election. ;)

Here are my grandparents-in-laws. We searched through town to find the cemetery, where we searched a little more to find their grave. After a phone call (or two), we finally found them! It was my first time visiting their gravestone.

Those are Dave's feet -- not mine.

Lake Pepin is also famous for all the bald eagles the live there. Here's a real geography lesson for you. There is a river that flows into the Mississippi just south of Lake Pepin. The heavy current that occurs causes the water to be open all winter long (it doesn't freeze over with ice), and therefore the eagles can stay in the area all winter and don't have to fly south to a place with water. Dave and I drove down to Wabasha (where Grumpy Old Men was filmed) to visit the National Eagle Center. This place was awesome and one of the highlights of our trip! (yes, we're dorks.) We got to get our photo taken with a real bald eagle and we learned a ton about eagles, so I'm going to dedicate a future blog post to the National Eagle Center. (Yes, I know you can't wait to read all about it! But it'll be worth the wait.)

That's a real eagle. It's not a parrot, and has super-strong talons...so they don't go on the shoulder.

The other highlight of our trip was the b&b we stayed in, The Frog and Bear Bed & Breakfast, specifically. It was such a cool old house filled with antiques and frogs and bears everywhere. My sister, Stevie, would love all the bears! We were the only guests, so we had this big house to ourselves. I dream of living in a big old house someday -- with a big front porch for my rocking chair -- so this was like living the dream (except it was a little cold to be sitting out on the front porch). The innkeepers where spectacular and so hospitable. The actually live in the basement, although we didn't see them at all. They took care of the details, which made us feel like we were special guests. When we came back from dinner they left us a bottle of wine and chocolate truffles right outside the door to our room. Which we consumed while watching "Three Men and a Baby" -- they had a bunch of movies to choose from downstairs and that's the one we choose. haha.

@ The Frog & Bear

But of course, the highlight of the b&b was the breakfast! We awoke to a five course breakfast in the dining room with a fire in the fireplace. And it was all served to us course by course. Fresh juice and tea. Delicious popovers with homemade jams. Fresh fruit with whipped cream. Waffles. Wild rice sausage. And a sundae!!! For breakfast!

Our stomachs were full for the rest of the day. We left Lake City in the late morning and walked around Red Wing for a little while (another small town with lots of antique stores...and famous for its shoes and pottery). Then we missed our dogs a lot, so we picked them up (Otis was at my sister's and Cooper was at my parents') and just relaxed with them at home with everyone taking a nap on the couch.

Visiting a bed & breakfast was #98 on my list of 101 in 1,001. We had a fun time and it's something I definitely want to do again.

We did it!

We survived our first family trip! It actually went much better than I anticipated. I was worried that the dogs (especially Otis) would keep trying to climb in my lap during the car ride. I was worried that they would bark when we left them in the motel room. I was worried that the barking would cause other guest to complain. I was worried that they were going to spend too much time alone in the motel.

But none of that happened!

Well, Otis did try to climb into my lap in the car, but we invested in a travel hammock to try to keep him in the back as well as keep the car a little cleaner. It didn't work perfect, but it slowed Otis down enough (although he could still jump over).

I was most pleased the the dogs seemed to behave when we left them in the motel room. It probably helped that there weren't lots of people staying there, so it was pretty quiet. I'm sure the enjoyed watching CSPAN while we were out (had to find a channel that didn't have dogs which Otis likes to bark at).

The motel also had a great path that went down to a beach that we could let the dogs run free on.

The whole purpose of this trip was to celebrate Jim's 30th birthday. It was our first time at Jim and Aimee's house in Frazee, Minn. It's a really small town outside of a little bit bigger (but still small town) town called Detroit Lakes. The town is so small that the restaurant in town is called, "The Restaurant," because it's the only restaurant in town. You may have heard of Frazee because it's home of the world's largest turkey....lol. Yeah, probably not. But it was a very nice small town, indeed.

After seeing the turkey (and Jim isn't the world's largest turkey), we went bowling with a bunch of friends that were all there to celebrate Jim's big 3-0.

That evening we went to the Easter Vigil to see Aimee get baptized, confirmed and have her first-communion, which was followed by a late-night venture to Perkin's (drove up to Detroit Lakes).

In the morning, we went to brunch with Jim and Aimee and their family at The Restaurant and then drove back home to go to my parents' for Easter dinner.

There wasn't any drunk stupidity, wild, crazy, party happenings to report. Guess that's what happens when one turns 30. Things slow down a little. Yet, it was great to see friends celebrating life, Easter and faith.

Hope everyone had a great Easter!

Chicago and Baby Jack

Two words can summarize by recent trip to Chicago: Jack and food.

The trip occurred last weekend when Melissa and I flew to Chicago to visit Erin and John and their new baby boy, Jack.

The last girls' weekend in Chicago was only 1 1/2 years ago, but apparently we've matured a lot since then. Last time we could be seen hanging out in downtown Chicago until the early morning. Not this trip. When John suggested we go out, we didn't want to go anywhere. We just wanted to stay home and watch movies, eat brownie sundaes and take turns holding Jack.

Although, not-so-coincidentally, we did take Jack into a few Irish pubs for lunch. One time a large pub crawl crew came into the bar as we were finishing up lunch. Apparently, having a baby a bar is a great way to get attention from guys (actually they were giving attention to the baby, not us), and it's also a great way to get some nasty looks from girls.

And a trip to visit Erin couldn't be complete without going downtown to Michigan Ave to go shopping. We went to the Coach store, we apparently the sales people were attention starved from lack of shoppers. I've never seen so many people help me find something that I'm not looking for. Like Coach rain boots. The girl says, "Aren't the C's cool. They're inspired from some art movement and they look like they're moving... blah..blah...blah. What size do you guys want? You all have to try them on." So we obliged and tried on the boats. I couldn't see the C's moving until I put the boots on my feet and looked in the mirror while I walked around. Then I got it.

I think I gained at least 5 pounds from all the food we consumed. It was all well worth it though. When I only get to Chicago once a year or so, I have to go all out. Thai food. Irish food. Italian food. Mexican food. Delicious!

The highlight was definitely seeing the Luckey's. It's so exciting to see Erin and John become parents. Jack was born several weeks premature, but is thriving and growing quick! In two months, he's already tripled his birth weight! He constantly likes being held, so that was great for Melissa and I since we went to Chicago to hold the little guy. The second he was put in his car seat, he'd start crying. We cuddled with him. We sang him little songs. Kissed his forehead. Fed him bottles. Let Erin change his diapers. In a couple of weeks, Jack will be in Minnesota for his baptism, so I'll get to see him again soon! Although it'll just be for a little bit.

Here's some pics from the trip.

Me and Jack

Awake and playing with his Auntie Jenny

Playing with Auntie Melissa

The aunties wore Jack out. Can they make baby clothes any cuter?

Jack sleeping in his favorite spot -- on his mommy!

Melissa's mom made this bib for Jack.

Can you see the C's move? Of course, we took a photo of the Coach boots!

North Carolina Christmas pics

Katie posted photos of our Christmas in North Carolina on her blog earlier this week. If you're interested to see pics of all the fun stuff we did, check them out.

The Chicago Pics!!

The Balows Do Chicago

Last weekend, Dave and I had the best time visiting our friends Erin and John in Chicago. We drove down to the Windy City Friday morning. We had an absolutely awesome time. I really wished Erin and John loved closer to Shakopee, but Chicago is a really cool place to visit them. And next summer, Morrison, Ill., will be a cool place to visit too (The Luckeys are moving there next June). I've been meaning to write this post for a week...but the trip was so busy and wonderful that it's hard to put in words...and we did a lot, so I knew I had to wait until I had lots of time to write (so there's your warning this is going to be a long post!)

So what did we do? Lots and lots.

Friday night we went to dinner at a restaurant in Lincoln Square. Then we went to this cool bar that had billiards and bowling. They actually had people at the end of the lanes whose have to set up the pins. Then we went to another bar. We were tired so we didn't stay too long.

Saturday we woke up and went out to eat for breakfast at the Golden Nugget. The French toast I had there was the best ever! (Apparently, they have the best pancakes there too).

There was a Cub's game Saturday afternoon, so we walked to Wrigleyville to partake in the atmosphere. I must say that the atmosphere in Wrigleyville is so much cooler than the area around the Metrodome where the Twins play. There really isn't much that surrounds the Metrodome. There's one bar...then there's just parking lots and the light rail. The Metrodome has a roof on top, so you can't hear the crowd cheering the team from outside the stadium. Not so at Wrigley Field. The sound of the crowd and the announcer oozes onto the street. It think the neighborhood was built around Wrigley Field. There are bars and stores surrounding the stadium, where all you see are people in Cub's apparel. The vendors even make their way onto the streets around the stadium. Dave got a t-shirt from one of the vendors on the street. There were also people selling bags of peanuts. The tickets were too much money for us, so instead we went to a bar nearby and watched the game and some drunk Cubs fans. We had fun.

So much fun that we went back to the apartment to take naps. That evening we went down to Navy Pier. During the summer they have fireworks at the pier overlooking Lake Michigan. It was the coolest fireworks show ever (didn't I just say that about the fireworks we saw a week ago.) But the really cool thing about these fireworks was that the show was choreographed to music! And one of the songs just happened to be one by Justin Timberlake...and that made the show just that much cooler....especially since I was with Erin (the two of us were obsessed with Justin and *nsync during high school.)

Sunday...we just hung out at the apartment for the morning. We didn't eat breakfast, because we were saving room for our fabulous lunch. We went to Lou Malnati's, where we had the best pizza ever. Erin and John recommended the sausage with garlic, and so we all shared a large. I'm not even a huge fan of pizza (yes, I am weird), but this was the best. Chicago is famous for its deep-dish pizza...and this had to be the best ever. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!

Then Erin and John took us one a walking tour of downtown Chicago. We saw the Chicago River, did a little bit of shopping on Michigan Ave, and then went to the Hancock Building. Erin and John took us to the bar on the 96th floor. Yeah, that's not a typo. It's the second tallest building in the city. We were lucky enough to get a table next to a window. Actually, the exterior of the floor is all windows, but not all the seats are by windows. The view is awesome (I feel like I am using too many awesome/spectacular/fabulous-adjectives, but everything was so great). There were hardly any clouds in the sky, the air was clear and you could see for miles. According to John, you can see three states -- Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana -- from the 96th floor. Erin had a nice surprise for us at the bar. She got Shannon to stop by and see us! It was cool to see her, since we were in the city.

Not long after we got back to Erin's house, we left again for our next outing. We went to the art and folk festival. John was volunteering at the medic tent. Dave, Erin and I walked around to check out the music, the food and the art. We got some dinner and then I bought my nieces the cutest Bohemian sun dresses ever! I can't wait to give them their dresses (but I have to wait because they're gone camping). Before we left the festival, we got chocolate milk shakes for dessert and then stopped by the medic tent to say goodbye to John. At the tent, we met another resident from Minnesota. Coincidentally, he went to Lourdes high school in Rochester, where Dave's mom went to high school and where some of his cousins go/went. His dad actually still works there. Then we walked home and Erin and I reminisced about stuff from high school. High school was awesome. I'm really lucky that I went to Vis and had such a great high school experience and made some great friends.

So after we walked back, we just hung out at their house for a little bit longer before going to bed. We had to wake up at 3:30 in the Monday morning so that we could get home because Dave had to work. I was happy that we got to stay Sunday night so we could have a little bit more time with our friends.

I will post the photos soon. Probably tomorrow. lol. I think I blogged enough tonight. And I still need to put them on the computer. And I think Dave and I are going to paint our bathroom! That's the first step in our plans to remodel our bathroom! I'll take pics of that too!

Family vacation

We just got back from our soggy family vacation. Yes, soggy. Only in Minnesota, would you go camping in August and it would be in the 60's, overcast and raining for three days. It rained every day on our camping trip. Actually, the rain wasn't too bad. Dave and I were still able to get our campfires started. I guess I'd rather take the cool, wet weather than 90-some degrees and humid.

Good thing we actually rented a cabin, so I'm not sure if you'd call it camping. Our cabin is best described as a shed with windows. Basically, it had bunk beds and a counter top, with a mini-refrigerator and a microwave. But we had to build a campfire, which was right outside our front door, to make our meals. (Rachel -- I know you've been anticipating the part where I talk about the food we ate.) The first night, we roasted hot dogs. The second night, we grilled steaks. The third night, we made poor man's dinner (ground beef chunks, onions, green peppers, mushrooms and potatoes wrapped in aluminum foil and cooked on the fire). We roasted a lot of marshmallows too.

We spent a lot of time reading our books. We also went rollerblading on the Paul Bunyan Trail one day. We also rented a fishing boat, so I could catch my first fish. (I've only gone fishing one other time in my life, and I have never caught a fish). Well, it turns out the fish weren't biting this weekend. I'm 0-for-2 on catching fish. The only thing Dave caught was a little baby fish off the dock. He didn't catch anything on the boat either. Otis was a little hesitant about his first boat ride, but soon enjoyed the breeze in his face as Dave sped our boat around. (FYI...that was a joke. Our boat did not speed -- we possibly could have paddled faster.) All in all, our vacation was a good time.

Otis is his name and camping is his game.

Road trip!

Today, Dave, Otis and I are driving down to Rochester for the night. We had promised that we would visit again before the end of the summer. About a month ago, I realized that we better plan something now, or else we'd never be able to go since Dave has to request the time off. So we've been looking forward to this trip for a while. We're going to Ann's house for dinner and spending the night at Grandma's. Otis is coming with us, because last time we were down in Rochester, everyone said we should have brought him. So this time, we are!

I'm sure I'll have more to say after the trip. This morning I have to pack and do some cleaning before we leave. We'll leave as soon as Dave is done with work. Hurray!