A Birthday Weekend

Tyler and Drew are exactly 6 years and 1 day apart in age and so come November we get to do a lot of celebrating.

Tyler turned 23 on Thursday! We did presents and donuts for breakfast and then for dinner I made his requested meal of Tortellini with Tomato Alfredo sauce.

We were so happy that Maria was able to join us for dinner. :)

Friday was a day of school and Drew's 17th birthday! He wanted Micky Mouse waffles for breakfast and then he was out the rest of the day with friends.

I made his favorite cake; a Cannoli Torte. (This is seriously one of the best cakes and one I always requested my mom to make for my birthday!) {recipe here}

Drew chose one of his favorites for his birthday dinner: Spicy Pulled Pork. Mackenzie joined us for dinner and cake; which made for a full table two nights in a row! My favorite! :)

Saturday night we had dinner reservations at Mediterranean Cruise Cafe which was a fun place to continue celebrating the birthdays.

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Sunday was spent getting the yard ready for the big winter storm that they are saying is coming on Monday (I am hoping they are wrong) and was a perfect day to make a big pot of {spaghetti and meatballs}.

Weekends are always good.

Halloween Weekend

Our Halloween weekend… started with a long walk outside enjoying the fresh air and sunshine.

Pumpkin shape pizzas and pumpkin beer.

Only 25 trick-or-treaters for us this year.

A game of Clue.

Jake texting us a picture from the Chicago Bulls game seeing LeBron James play from the Cavaliers.

Enjoying a pumpkin spice latte in the red holiday cup

and devouring the Sunday paper.

Our weekend ended with another long walk

before the early sunset.

{weekend lens}

Along with packing for our annual cabin trip, we managed to pack in a lot of fun things this weekend.

We enjoyed a dinner at Hola Arepa in Minneapolis. Hola started out as a food truck and just recently opened their first restaurant. I had heard a lot of good things about this place and I am so glad that we tried it. Great food and great atmosphere.

We shared two small plates: the 'arepitas' which were fried arepa stuffed with jalepeno and goat cheese and the 'vigoron' which was roasted pork, yuca, cabbage slaw and pico de gallo. Both were so good.

We visited Minnehaha Falls on a beautiful summer night.

Shared some fish tacos at Sea Salt.

The line to order at Sea Salt always amazes me.

We had a mischievous dog on our hands.

Pete's new grill was delivered which he promptly built and got set up on our deck.

We were back in Minneapolis to get some donuts at Bogart's.

We grabbed some doughnuts and coffee to go and went over to the Rose Garden at Lake Harriet for a doughnut picnic. I think this may be my favorite kind of picnic. :)

Our view in the Rose Garden which is always one of my favorite spots to visit and then we did a quick walk around Lake of the Isles to work off the doughnut. :)

Then we drove over to Powderhorn Lake to catch a glimpse of Minne the Lake Creature which was on my summer bucket list.

Busy making trays of cinnamon rolls to bring to the cabin.

Trying out the new grill with some grilled pizzas.

It was a good weekend!

weekend lens

One of our goals this summer is to try a 'new to us' restaraunt each time we eat out. We love trying new places and there are so many great restaraunts in the Twin Cities-- so it is the perfect combination. Friday night was warm and sunny and a perfect evening to find a spot to eat outside on a patio. We decided on Stella's Fish Cafe in Minnepolis.

We ate out on the roof top deck and enjoyed the sunshine, the food and the cocktails.

There was also a stop at Sebastian Joe's for a scoop of ice cream. :)

The rest of the weekend was spent getting my plants and herbs for my garden,

making a pan of a favorite springtime treat: {rhubarb torte},

finishing this book,

Pete and Drew going for a group Nissan/Z drive through Wisconsin and Minnesota,

and a quiet evening out on our deck.

It was another great weekend!