Thanksgiving #1 - Herrmann Family

We drove up to Two Harbors on Thanksgiving Day to celebrate with Jimmy's family.

We were tasked with bringing the pecan pie, and Jimmy knocked it out of the park.

Julie made a huge spread with turkey and all the sides.

Izzy helped Esme put the finishing touches on the chocolate pie.  Esme asked about this pie on the drive up and we had to text Julie to make sure it was available.

Apple and pumpkin joined the party for a PtP (people to pie) ratio of 2.75:1.

A Herrmann holiday wouldn't be complete without some board game battles.  This was Esme's first time playing Mouse Trap and it took me back to my childhood.  She beat Paul and uncle Dave straight up and got a little help to finish off Julie.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Beyond 100 Parks #109 - Aquila Park - St. Louis Park, MN

I totally forgot to post this s couple weeks ago, so here it is back dated.  It was the warmest day we'd seen in a while, so we grabbed our boots and headed to one of Jimmy's childhood parks in St. Louis Park.

Key Features

This was a pretty simple structure, but had several favorites still.

I waffled between 6 and 7 for this one, but multiple spinners pushed it up to 7.

Grandpa's Birthday Dinner

We gathered on Monday night to celebrate Grandpa Buxton's birthday.  We met up at a new restaurant in Rogers that my sister-in-law, Kelsey, works at.  R Social on Main is kind of an upscale sports bar.  My mom reserved the social booth which seats up to 12.  It was the perfect sport for all of us to squeeze in.

Kelsey and I ordered the same cocktail without realizing it, great minds think alike!  It was the Ginger Rogers, with gin, grapefruit juice, fresh lime, simple syrup, and ginger beer.  It was so tasty!  We shared some birria nachos and creole deviled eggs to start and I started snacking on Esme's french fries before our food came.

By the time my smokehouse burger came, I was nearly full and ended up taking the whole thing home. It made for a delicious lunch on Tuesday.

Jimmy got the curry rice bowl and gave it rave reviews.  We will definitely come back here again!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Downtown Date Night

Jimmy and I had what's become a rare night out on Friday.  Date night used to be a much more regular thing, but with covid and increasing restaurant prices, we haven't gotten back in to it.  The impetus for our date was to see a comedian that was coming to town.  I came across Pete Lee on social media and noticed right away that he had cleaner jokes than most that you hear these days.  I researched him a bit more and saw he's be coming to Minneapolis and decided to get tickets.  Jimmy took the kids out to my parents before we stopped by Acme Comedy Company to pick up the tickets.  Then, it was just a short walk to our dinner spot, The Freehouse.  They had so much good stuff on the menu, it was hard to narrow it down.  Jimmy got the gnocchi, which was a breakfast dish with basil pesto, bacon lardon, poached eggs, and balsamic reduction.

I ended up rocking the boat with my order.  They had a nashville hot chicken and french toast, but I am not a big Nashville hot fan.  I saw an off menu special hot honey chicken sandwich and asked if they could put that chicken on the french toast.  It was a a big winner!  Even the server said I was on to something.

We got back to Acme about 30 minutes before the show started.  Jimmy got a glass of wine while we waited.

We had great seats.  Just close enough to see it all, but not too close to be a target of a joke (which Jimmy appreciated.)

It was fun to try a new restaurant and a new activity together.  Hopefully this will become a more regular thing again.

October Hodgepodge

The autumn is always a pretty busy time for us and October was no exception.  Here is the rest of what we did last month.  We celebrated our nieces birthday at Honey and Mackie's on the 4th.  Esme really wanted to make her a card and it was so cute!

I love these little sampler packs you can get.  We can try new flavors and get something everyone will like.

We got our first bit of snow on the 14th.  Parker's been talking about snow for weeks and was elated.  We'll have to see how long it is before we get more.

Both kids has school pictures and I think they turned out pretty good.  I've mentioned Parker isn't always the best picture smiler, but I thought this one was great!

Esme added her head tilt flair.

I gave myself a little project in refinishing this coffee table.  I've been thinking about getting one for our family room upstairs and this was free!  I sanded it down, painted, and added new hardware.

Finishing touch was adding some new legs to the couch to raise it up a few inches.  This made it more comfortable with the table, will make it easier to clean under, and give more room for the air vent.

Jimmy's man cave got a couple upgrades.  We pulled out his custom made Louisville Slugger from little league and my dad made some brackets to mount it on the wall.

I installed the sports sign he got in Bayfield as well.  It's on the first wall you can see as you walk in.  We've decided to make this the kind of man cave with lots of stuff on the walls, so I am excited to see what else gets added.

The kids were at adventure club for MEA (annual MN teacher's conference).  They took a field trip to the apple orchard.  This is the only picture I saw from that.  I love that Parker found an activity he liked.

We had a play date with Esme's best buddy, Najee.  It was great for us moms to meet and chat as well.  He has a younger brother on the autism spectrum as well.

We finished the month with a church chili cook-off.  Mine didn't win an official prize, but did get 2nd place in People's Choice.

Halloween Hurrah - Neighborhood Trick or Treating

We capped off the Halloween season with neighborhood trick or treating.  We made it to about 15 houses before Esme said she was done, but Jimmy really wanted to see a decked out house down another street.

After a couple mild scares, we made it to that house.

They got quite the haul even though it was just a few houses.

Parker's favorite part of Halloween is when it's over and he can play with the costume.

Happy Halloween!