North Shore Trip 2020

The end of June we decided to take a trip up to Duluth with our good friends Jim and Melissa (The Rothsteins) and we could not have asked for a more perfect trip!  The weather was unbelievably gorgeous and everything truly was just perfect.

We left Thursday morning around 9 and made it to Duluth right at noon.  I called around to see if places were making reservations and we decided to eat at The Silos right off of Canal Park.  The restaurant is attached to a hotel that was built a few years ago.  We were able to sit outside and it was actually very hot!

After lunch we walked around Canal Park and stopped at Grandmas Saloon for a drink.  We decided to head to our resort which was about an hour and a half away,  We stopped on the way at Larmont Cottages resort for a drink.  We loved this place, the views were gorgeous and so were the cottages.  We decided to mark this resort down to come back possibly next summer.

We stayed three nights in Beaver Bay at Cove Point Lodge.  This pic was take from a point that we hiked to every morning.  We really liked this resort, but with COVID, things were definitely different.  There was no housekeeping service, so we took all dirty towels and garbage into bins in the hallway.  They would leave us a bag of toiletries and fresh towels every morning.  There was also no air conditioning, which normally would be ok since you typically get a cool breeze from the lake.  Not this week, it was HOT and not much of a breeze. 

Every morning Brad and I would be up around 5:30-6, we'd make coffee and head out to sit by the lake.  You can see the point that we would hike out to in the mornings.

The sunrises were amazing.

The North Shore is my happy place.  I would rather come up here than anywhere else.  This is where we vacationed when I was growing up, where Brad and I honeymooned, spent our 10 year anniversary, a couple trips with our girls and when I surprised him with a 4 day trip in January a few years back.  There is something magical about the North Shore and Lake Superior.

Of course I found my heart!  Not sure if I've blogged about this before, but a few years ago I was having one of those "weeks" where everything seemed to go wrong times ten.  I finally sat in my room and cried out to God asking if he ever listened to me.  I walked outside and right in front of the door was a leaf in a shape of a heart.  Ever since then, I find hearts EVERYWHERE!  And the best part is that the girls and even friends will find a heart and text it to me.

On Saturday we decided to drive up to Grand Marais and do some hiking/shopping.

We took a 2 mile hike to Devils Kettle just beofre Grand Marais, and it was incredible!  The hike there isn't too hard, but there are about 200 steps, so the way back was ROUGH!!

Devils Kettle is 2 waterfalls, the one of the left actually goes into a hole that I believe empties out in a river down the road and into Lake Superior.  It's so freaking cool!

Melissa and I got lots of compliments on our "MinneSorta Nice" tshirts!

After the hike we drove into Grand Marais and had lunch at the Gunflint Tavern which we had eaten at in the past.  This time was a bit different as there weren't any waitresses, so we ordered food online and had to pick it up.  It was a bit of a cluster, but the view made up for it!

Coming back from Grand Marais we found a winery in Lutsen, so of course we stopped!  You did need reservations, but we were able to grab a table for 45 minutes.  The wine was delicious and again sat outside and it was just gorgeous.  After the winery we stopped at the chalet in Lutsen for a drink, but service was terrible, so we left after one.

We got back to our hotel and ordered pizza and ate in the lobby by the fireplace and enjoyed a few glasses of wine.

These 4 days were absolutely incredible, and I'm SO grateful we were able to make it work!

Fathers Day 2020

We had a beautiful day for Fathers Day and celebrating Brad's birthday (which was on the 19th).  In the morning Brad and I took Josie to the lake down the road from us and Brad enjoyed fishing and I read.  Josie was mesmerized by the water haha!

Rachel ended up meeting us at the lake and coming in the boat for an hour or so.  Brad was in heaven!

We got home and started getting ready for his family over to our house and stayed outside for the most part.  My great niece's enjoyed the pool and hot tub and it was just nice to be around people.  

Everyone left shortly after supper and the girls wanted to have a photo shoot with their dad, I just love how these turned out.

What We've Been Up To

Well, I really thought with being in lockdown for 180 months I would have really upped my blogging game.  Apparently I was wrong.

I think we're feeling what everyone is feeling right now which is a lot of this:

  We're all hanging in there, but it's definitely changed since my first few posts when COVID hit. 

The pool went up the beginning of May which has been nice, I'm pretty sure the water temp in this pic is about 65 degrees.  Yowsa.

We've been spending lots of time with close friends of ours, taking turns making suppers which has been fun!  We haven't really been going out to eat or bars much.  I think we've been to the bar twice and were able to sit outside.  It's all just so weird...

My birthday was April 15th and since we were in the heart of quarantine, Brad made burgers at home.  Right before we started eating, the Rothsteins showed up to surprise me, it was such a great surprise!  

Brad got me this insulated wine glass for my birthday.  It's 1000% me.  I am all up for people coming over and having drinks, but they all know that mama will be in bed by 10 haha!

Cinco De Mayo the Rothsteins (our quarantine friends) came over for supper, I made a huge Mexican spread and she brought ships, salsa and margs from our local Mexican restaurant.  

Still gotta decorate!

Mother's Day was awesome!  Typically we have my mom and her husband over for brunch, but, COVID.

Brad and the girls still made a huge brunch and it was just a really great day of relaxing and reading.  Sure do love these girls of mine.  #howdemmagetsotall.

Work is still busy as ever, nice for me to have that normalcy even though I know Brad's going crazy.  Girls are still hanging in there, but this is affecting everyone.  Emma is now a senior, and we're so hoping she will have somewhat of a normal year, I'm just not too optimistic about it.

Some of these memes are hilarious.  And yes I know this virus is serious, but sometimes ya just gotta laugh...

Easter 2020

Easter this year was one for the books in many ways, and I've gotta say, I wasn't mad about it.  We had such a great weekend, lots of family time, lots of laughing and lots of game playing!

Josie got bribed to wear the bunny ears to wish everyone a Happy Easter, she might have been mad about it....



Good Friday Brad and I both took off, I had originally had it off as the girls and I had tickets to see Dan and Shay in concert, which was of course rescheduled.
Brad fried fresh fish for supper and while we colored Easter eggs, we watched mass online.

I told the girls that I was going to have an egg decorating contest, whoever won got $5.  Rachel worked a bunch so she didn't have time to make one, so I took her spot.  Alayna made the bubble gum machine, Emma made Spongebob Squarepants and I made the girl with a bikini, lol.  We decided Alayna was the winner!

Saturday was filled with the usual, cleaning, laundry, playing games.  Since we've been doing our themed meals, we made steak and chicken hibachi.  Oh my word, it was amazing!!!



Some things never change, no matter their age, so we still had an easter egg hunt outside.  When they were little I used to do it at dusk and put battery operated tea lights in the eggs and hide them, they loved that!

The best part of the hunt was that Rachel ended up with 4 eggs only, apparently she lost her ability to find things that are hidden!!

We always put coins in the eggs and then the girls count their money up.  After the hunt, Emma talked Brad into making a TikTok with her.  Josie was confused.

Easter morning we always make Resurrection Rolls as a family, so yummy!

We still made a big dinner: ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, raspberry bavarian jello (which us country peeps call chicken lungs lol) rolls, corn and a strawberry pretzel dessert. 





We were all completely stuffed, but it was so yummy!  The rest of the day we spent relaxing and napping, a perfect Easter!

Life Lately-COVID-19 Edition

Here we are entering our 80th billion day of the stay at home order.  I am SO fortunate that I am still working outside the home, Brad not so much.  I think he's seeing what I went through when I stayed home and did daycare years ago, haha!

Thankfully Minnesota has not seen a huge uptik in cases, I guess time will tell.

In the mean time, we've been making the most of it.  We told the girls that each one has to plan and make supper one night, and then on the weekends we've been doing "themed" suppers which has been so fun!

 One of Rachels nights she made Mexican, chicken enchiladas, Mexican rice and margaritas, it was so delicious!  Emma made one of her favorite meals, shrimp fettucine and garlic bread, so so yummy and Alayna made breakfast for supper, her waffles were incredible! We've been so impressed with their cooking abilities!

One of the themed nights we did hibachi with chicken and steak, oh my word, so good!

Last Friday we did bar food and made homemade mini tacos, mozzarella cheese sticks and wings.

We've also enjoyed some wine which was Josie approved haha!  

The girls tied up their enos last weekend and enjoyed some reading.

These are my FAVORITE memes right now, anything to do with a cat!!

Well Hello!

Well, well, well.  Look at me posting after what, 5 ish months?  I always had good intentions, but then, life.

So being that we are all quarantined, I figured no better time than now to start back up!

Here in Minnesota we are on a 2 week stay-in shelter order that started on Friday.  The girls have been out of school for 2 weeks already and Brad has been working from home as well.  I am fortunate enough that my business will remain open (we manufacture large asphalt plant equipment) so I get out of the house everyday!  I am truly so grateful for that normalcy.  This is our busy season right now so that paired with this pandemic (I work in HR), my days are flying by.

This weekend we tried to think of different things we can do to have some fun.  First off was bread making day.  I hadn't made homemade bread in forever, so it was fun to get back into it!

Old picture, but this is what it looked like, nothing beats homemade bread!

Saturday was supposed to be a surprise 50th for one of our good friends, but of course was cancelled.  We decided to Zoom him for a surprise virtual happy hour!  I miss my peeps.   On Tuesday us girls did a Zoom happy hour, so fun.  I think the best part was all of us trying to figure out how the app worked!!

For supper we made hamburger gravy, mashed potatoes, corn and homemade bread, soooo good.
After supper we decided to bring the bean bags in the house and play.  Outside was a mix of rain/snow and super windy, so no outside time for us.
We blasted the tunes and just had fun.

After bags we headed downstairs to play darts and ate our weight in goldfish crackers.  Why are those things so damn good??!!

As hard and stressful as this time is, I am really just enjoying every minute with my fam.  Being mostly an introvert, I just love this time at home to slow down.  
Maci is also enjoying us all at home, haha....

In all this chaos, we just need to remember that God's in charge.  We will all be affected by this in some way or another, but I cannot let fear take over this sweet time with my husband and girls.  One of my favorite songs right now is "Raise A Hallelujah".  It is so so good.

Be like Maci, stop and smell the flowers....