Sunday, February 28, 2010

another tournament

friends

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face-offs

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stick handling

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skating

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a win

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All make for a fun tournament.

(Drew's tournament last weekend.)

Thursday, February 18, 2010

a homework assignment

About 3 weeks ago Drew came home from school with a homework assignment that he was to work on with a parent. We were to choose a book to read and then discuss~ a two person, mom and son, book club.

It took as a little while to decide on the book that we were going to read. But we finally chose the book: Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell.

This is a book that Drew had never read before and one that I had read once previously, when I was about his age. In fact, I still had the very book that I had read as a kid with a little name plate inside the cover and everything. :) So this is the version that I read.

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(And check out the great price on this book, $1.25!)

While Drew read it on his Kindle.

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It struck me how much times have changed with the different versions that we each were reading; but yet we were both still reading the same book, a book that was written back in 1960.

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We ‘met’ three times to discuss the book, answer questions and share our thoughts. We both really enjoyed this book and working on the assignment together made it that much better.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

weekend recap

Friday night, we had a hockey practice, Pete was out at a Wild game with a friend, and I hunkered down to watch the Olympic Opening Ceremony all cozied up in the big chair in our great room with the fireplace going. I absolutely love watching the Olympics (especially the winter) - and the Opening Ceremony was fabulous- all 4 hours of it!

Saturday was spent at hockey and more hockey. One boy had a practice and another had a game. And sandwiched in between, I baked and decorated some valentine sugar cookies.

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Sunday was of course Valentine’s Day. I made a big breakfast for the family and helped Tyler gather everything he needed for his day. He was going over to his girlfriend’s house to surprise her with breakfast. So sweet!

Drew took his girlfriend to a movie to celebrate Valentine's Day. So sweet!

And we had two hockey games- one in the afternoon and one in the evening. ‘Cuz nothing says Valentines Day like being at the hockey rink! :) Pete joked that he would buy me a hot dog at the rink and maybe a slushie. :) Actually, after the game, we ordered some takeout from one of our favorite restaurants and came home and watched a movie. So sweet!

Monday, the boys were off of school so we were treated to a long weekend- which is always so appreciated! We headed over to my parents house to celebrate my Dad’s birthday and also my nephew’s.

Happy Birthday Dad and Thomas!

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(This photo is a couple of years old- but I think it is such a sweet one of the two of them.)

I finished the long weekend last night by having dinner with some friends at a fun little French restaurant called Salut. It was a perfect way to end a great weekend!

Friday, February 12, 2010

snowmobiling

Last Saturday, after spending the night with ghosts, :) we did some snowmobiling at the North Shore.

Let me start by saying that neither my husband nor me have really ever done much snowmobiling before.

My one and only snowmobiling experience happened when I was about 5 years old. I remember wearing my favorite purple snowsuit (because doesn’t a girl always remember what she was wearing:) and riding on the back of a snowmobile while my aunt drove us out to a field. And then we broke down. I can’t really remember how we got back and this was the day before cell phones, so maybe we just walked back. But I do remember having a lot of fun!

My husband only has been on a snowmobile once before as well, so needless to say we were both novices when it comes to this sport. But the place we rented the snowmobile from was absolutely wonderful and explained in detail everything we needed to know.

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We hopped on the groomed trails and spent hours just tooling around and enjoying the beautiful winter day.

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(adorable helmets :)

 
It was so picturesque out on the trails; the trees had heavy snow on them and these pictures can not even begin to capture the beauty.

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(a shelter)

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(me driving)

We had such a great day and immediately upon finishing; started talking about when we could go again!

Thursday, February 11, 2010

20 years

Yesterday we celebrated our 20th anniversary! I truly can’t believe it has been 20 years since this day~

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On some past anniversaries we have vacationed in some beautiful locations like Florida, Hawaii and Paris. This year, we decided that since we are soon headed on a cruise, we would take a weekend and go up north. That was fabulous!

But we still wanted to do something special to celebrate our anniversary. Yesterday, Pete 'kidnapped' me and we headed to the town that we met 23 years ago. We met a month into our freshman year in college and have been together ever since.

So yesterday we spent the day reminiscing and visiting all of our college spots. It was such a fun day and I am so glad that we took the time to do this.

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We have come a long way~

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it has been a wild ride~

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And I wouldn’t change a moment!

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

wishes

Happy birthday to my sweetie~

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May all your wishes come true!

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Monday, February 8, 2010

ghost stories

Pete and I headed up to the North Shore this past weekend to celebrate a big anniversary that is approaching in just a few days.

We headed out soon after the kids left for school on Friday and stopped in Duluth for lunch at Grandma’s Saloon. This is a fun place and it is a favorite to stop at whenever we are in or passing through Duluth.

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We had reservations to stay at the Lighthouse Bed and Breakfast for the weekend in Two Harbors, MN.

This was a beautiful, historic building built in 1892 and is still a working lighthouse. Very cool!

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We were greeted with some freshly made scones by a friendly lady who works at the lighthouse. She gave us a tour of the rooms, showed us how the old phonograph works and told us some history of the lighthouse.

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She told us that because of a cancellation, we would have the entire lighthouse to ourselves… and that she would be back in the morning to make us breakfast… and she told us that people have seen and heard ghosts and that there was even a log book of all the ghost experiences!!!! And it was a big book with a lot of entries!!!

Now I was starting to freak out a little bit! We were going to be in a “haunted lighthouse” all by ourselves…for the weekend!!! Yikes!!!

After she left, we decided to go out for a while. Ok, I decided this- because I didn’t want to be in the Lighthouse all evening and I needed to get my mind off of "ghosts"! We headed down to a little corner bar to get some dinner

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We saw a winter parade, got to be part of scavenger hunt, listened to a great little band and saw these guys come into the bar wearing some homemade '5 person skis’.

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So funny and something you would only see up in a small northern Minnesota town! We had a fun evening and most importantly, I did manage to forget about the ghosts for a while. :)

But then we had to go back to a fairly dark lighthouse!

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I turned every light on and made sure to leave them on over night!!! It was definitely a light house!

Needless to say, I did not get much sleep that night. And Pete (being the sweet, understanding husband he is) said we could stay somewhere else for Saturday night!!! So I could sleep (and therefore he could too!) Yeah!

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Seriously though, this was a beautiful building, it was incredibly clean, the views were amazing, the antiques were charming, and the staff was so friendly and accommodating. And if you don’t mind the ghost stories- it is a great place to stay! :)

Friday, February 5, 2010

sweets

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A sweet friend brought me these beautiful sweets yesterday.
They sweetened my day! 

Thursday, February 4, 2010

quiet

Life has been pretty quiet this past week or so. And I have to say I kind of like it!

I love the quietness, especially after the busyness of the Christmas season. We have settled into our winter routine of school, hockey, indoor soccer and other miscellaneous events. And although we have been busy, there really has not been much to blog about. Which is ok, and actually it has been kind of nice to have a little break.

And besides, all of my computer time lately has been on Facebook... playing Farmville. :)

Drew got me started on Farmville...just to become his neighbor...because he needed just one more neighbor...and now I am hooked! And  I can't stop!

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But, I did finally pick out a paint color for our living room!! We bought the paint and  I am going to start painting in the next few days. :)

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We also bought a new chair for our Great Room and had some great 'delivery men' bring the new chair in.

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But the chair was too small for the spot so the new chair was returned and a different chair was purchased.

And the new, new chair was brought in and set up.

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And I like it much better! :) It is a recliner and it is heavenly!!

And something just for fun~ that makes me laugh... this is a video of Tyler and a some friends, earlier this week, at the pep fest at school..



(Ty is the one somersaulting over all his friends and the one being thrown in the air!!)

And, um, ya, I think he is having a little bit of fun his senior year!! :)