Naturally Optimistic

I had a great idea for today. We have a gift certificate that my folks gave me (early) for our anniversary for a "Rose Garden Picnic Basket lunch" from Valentini's (located, right by the Rose Garden)....AND we have passes to area attractions which expire tomorrow. I asked Steve if he'd like to go to Glensheen with me & the kids & do the picnic thing and he said - yeah, sure! So, the plan was go park at the Rose Garden, bike with our picnic lunch to Glensheen, tour the mansion & gardens and then head back for our picnic along the Lakewalk somewhere. I called the restaurant this morning to see if we could get a basket, what comes in it, etc. They're not open on Sundays. WHAT? I checked their website...they're not open on Sundays at all in the Summer (hi! They're RIGHT on the LakeWalk....) or in the Winter (makes more sense). I would've never thought a restaurant would be closed on one of the busiest Sundays in Duluth! Ah well...on t...

Steve & I decided it was a day for family fun. We knew that Saturday would be cooler & Sunday more lovely - so we picked Sunday (also, I still had that stupid garage sale going on on Saturday)...initially we wanted to drive up the North Shore to drink in the beautiful colors. But we ended up opting for a shorter drive. Out 'west' to the Munger Trail & the Ely's Peak area of Duluth. It was so lovely. However, it wasn't that *fun* of a day. We are cursed with trying to get out of the house these days. It seems to take for EVER. There's the cleaning up after breakfast, the dressing of the monkey-children. There's packing lunches, snacks, milk, water. There's the OH MY GOD YOU GAVE ME THE WRONG SOCKS tantrums to deal with. There's hooking up the bike rack and loading on the bikes & trailer. It takes all dang morning. But finally we left. Late. I wanted to leave at 10, we left at 1. So be it. So while driving out to the Munger Trail, bot...

This weekend went too fast, as usual, but what can ya do... On Friday I found out that not only does Dahlia have a cold, but she also has an ear infection in both ears! Ugh! She's now on her first dose of antibiotics. Hmph. I think she's starting to feel better, although yesterday she was CRABBY. So.....who knows. Hopefully it'll continue to get better. We went for a hike in Hartley which was nice. I hadn't hiked that section of the Superior Hiking Trail for quite a while! Saturday we biked down to watch the marathoners come in. It takes about 5 minutes for us to get to London Road where we watched most of the half-marathoners come in, the wheelchairs and the elite runners. It was HOT out. I felt really bad for those runners. It hasn't been hot here YET and that was the day. They considered canceling the race because of the temps & humidity...but they temps leveled off and the humidity dropped. The half-marathoners took the brunt of it. It was cool to see the el...

Last Sunday we took a family bike ride on the Munger Trail. It rocked. We had a picnic, we biked about 10 miles in the perfect biking conditions - sunny, warm but breezy (cool) and a great trail. The bike trailer really evens out Steve & my abilities which is awesome. It gives him a extra workout (maybe I should be hauling the trailer) that's for sure!

I spent most of the weekend in Willmar, MN filming a wedding for a friend but yesterday after I returned to Duluth, I was able to enjoy a lovely spring bike ride with my newly shaven husband! Rest break on the Munger Trail just south of Duluth. Our new matching bikes! (Yes, it feels like kissing someone else. Weird!!!)