NOLA 2011

This past weekend I met up with some of my Northwestern friends in New Orleans. What a city! It was my first visit, and I already can't wait to go back! New Orleans has such a reputation for being a party city, but it is so much more than that. Great food, great music, culture, history - it has it all!

We did several typical New Orleans tourist activities: a horse-drawn carriage ride through the French Quarter, eating beignets at Cafe Du Monde, drinking Hurricanes at Pat O'Briens, and a walking tour through the Garden District (who needs a tour guide when you have Jill and a Blackberry?). In addition to the aforementioned beignets, we enjoyed New Orleans fare such as BBQ shrimp & grits, po boys, and king cake. Other highlights included jazz at the Ritz and a drink at Lafitte's Bar (the pirate Jean Lafitte's old blacksmith shop, which is lit entirely by candlelight).

I have fun with these friends wherever we go, but having our 2011 reunion in New Orleans made it all the more enjoyable. I can't wait to see where our next get-together will take us!

(thanks for the pictures, Maggie!)

Holiday Aftermath

As we prepare to take down the Christmas tree and put away the rest of the decorations, I can't believe the holidays are already over. Where did the time go?

We hosted Tod's family on the evening of the 23rd with a fun Feliz Navidad-themed dinner, and then headed north to my parents' for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. My mom's side of the family came to celebrate on the 26th, so it was a four-day Christmas for us! Milo and I were sick with the stomach flu on Christmas Day, so that was a bummer (it is really pathetic to hear a 3-year old say, "mom, I need the bucket!"), but we both recovered rather quickly and were able to enjoy the rest of our vacation. We stayed at my parents' for much of the following week, enjoying activities such as sledding, skiing, skating and playing hockey on the lake, going on winter walks, playing games, watching movies, and just relaxing. It was great!

We had Meghan and Alex over for a low-key New Years with fondue and a good movie. The perfect way to do New Years if you ask me!

We recently had Milo's 3-year portraits taken, so I have included some of our favorites below. I have also included some pictures that Milo took with his new camera!

Happy New Year to all of our friends and family! We hope 2011 is good to you.

This is Milo's favorite blanket (i.e. his "bockey"). He LOVES this picture!

Guinness from the view of a 3 year old...looking pretty terrified!

Murphy by Milo.

Milo's 3rd Birthday

Today was Milo's 3rd birthday. We started the day with a few gifts at home, met Milo's cousins for some games at Chuck E Cheese, and then came back home for lunch, cake, a dinosaur hunt, and presents. What a great day! Thanks to everyone who celebrated with us. Happy Birthday, Buddy!

Taking inventory of some of his gifts

Riding the Chuck E Cheese Bus with John

Milo and Ella concentrating on an important game

My very own Thomas cookie...yum!

Cousins lining up for the dinosaur hunt

Getting ready for the dinosaur hunt

Dinosaur cake

We were all curious about how the bakery made the

dinosaur body and the mountain...it was cupcakes!

Milo got big and little versions of Goldy the Gopher

He was particularly intrigued by the musical cards!

Auntie Ry and Uncle Sean were tossing him

around in his new fleece blanket. It did crazy things to his hair!

Hilarious!

Winter is Here!

After temps in the upper 60s last week, this is what we woke up to on Saturday morning. It appears winter has arrived!

Milo testing out his new snow gear.

Good thing I went shopping last weekend!

Milo and Auntie Ry making snow angels

A favorite activity of the afternoon was going down the slide and

flying off the end into the snow. The slide was so slippery!

Happy Halloween!

Picking out the perfect pumpkin at the pumpkin patch

Harvest parade at school. Milo (Mr. Incredible) just moved

up to preschool and he looked so little next to all of his new classmates!

Mr. Incredible

Milo and Mommy

Milo and Auntie Meg

Milo and Grandma & Grandpa

Cousins!

Getting ready to go trick-or-treating!

North Shore Scenic Railroad

Tod went on a golf trip with some buddies for the weekend so I wanted to do something fun with Milo. I have been missing Duluth lately, so I decided we'd take a trip up there for the day. We met up with my parents and took a ride on the North Shore Scenic Railroad. Afterwards we headed to Canal Park for lunch and just as we were getting there, a huge ship was going under the Aerial Lift Bridge and through the canal. Perfect timing and so cool to see!

Waiting with Papa to board the train

This is cool!

A treat from Gaga

On the train (with the Aerial Lift Bridge in the distance)

The bridge is going up to let the ship go under

Closeup of the ship.

People on the ship were waving to everyone on land

Heading out of the canal to the open waters of Lake Superior

Mommy and Milo