Naturally Optimistic

Well, I didn't really take any pics of Steve opening his gifts ( Hullo Pillow , Brewhouse t-shirt, wood burning tool) and I am only now making his bday dessert (pumpkin bars) AND we didn't even MAKE IT out for dinner last night....so we're headed to the Brewhouse tonight. Launching the boats. We stopped at "our creek beach" and launched some boats. It was quite hilarious to hear the kids scream in terror as if the boats would be lost forever (the creek is very slow going this time of year...all were rescued). My handsome husband. We did take a lovely hike. Well, mostly lovely. Dahlia crabbed & screamed & whined most of the way until I bribed her with snacks & then she had fun. Oy vey. Heartbreaking when she says she "doesn't like hiking" any  more. She's going to be in for a rude awakening when that's what we're going to keep doing! Me & my little cutie (photo by Dahlia). We stopped in the middle of the c...

Today is the Solstice...I believe at 5:16pm or something. Exactly. But it's not very summery. With highs only in the 40's & 50's (WHAT?) & rain & wind, it's pretty hard to be in the spirit of the season. On our longest day of the year when it *should* be light until 11pm (well, light-ish), we won't be able to enjoy it because it'll be cloudy & dark. Hmph. AND we had a babysitter lined up for tonight - had her in place for probably over a month...but I sort of dropped the ball & didn't talk to her until last night & now she's not available. Argh. Well, we're going to make the best of it. Steve & I are going out anyway! Carolyn's going to come down to watch the kids, we're going to have happy hour & then possibly go to a movie. I'd love to be hiking out West on the SHT, but it's just not going to happen this year. Ah well, next year? Luckily we took a little family hike to the creek after supper last nigh...

The long, cold dark is steadily approaching. While I appreciate the cozy nights, a fire in the fireplace, dark skies which make bedtime easier & thoughts of baking pumpkin, I do dread the cold cold coldness of it all. The isolation that comes with it. The LENGTH of winter. So, after a bright beautiful morning, followed by dark ominous skies & pouring rain, followed by near 70 degrees & sunny, I decided I had to get out of the house. August was fussy (as per his norm) but he loves to be outside, so into the Baby Bjorn he went & off we went. This is truly one of my favorite parts about where I live. It quite literally takes me two minutes (less?) to be here:

Steve & I always like to try to get up the shore around our anniversary. We often dream of a multi-night getaway from everything (kids, house, mice, house projects, etc) but those don't always happen. This year we drove up for the day & it was spectacular! We hiked at Oberg Mountain which is a spur trail off the Superior Hiking Trail. It is just a few miles north of Tofte. 2.3 official miles (although my pedometer tracked us for just over 3 miles), it's a rocky & rough trail (in places) with dramatic views of Lake Superior & the surrounding forests. Maple, aspen, everygreen - they're all present & we hit it on the peak weekend. It was stunning. Simply stunning. The trail was packed with others out enjoying the beautiful fall day & colors. In fact I'm not sure I've ever seen so many people on the trail. It makes me quite happy to see so many out enjoying the beauty of the North Shore. Dahlia & August were constant recipients of comments re...

My very dear friend Sudhara visited me this week. She was in St. Paul visiting another friend who had a baby in March, & drove up to Duluth to spend a couple days with me & my babies too! She had never met Dahlia OR August so that was a real treat. Dahlia warmed up to her very quickly - which I was very happy about. Mostly we sat on the front porch & talked. We probably could've sat there for days just catching up. The weather was beautiful & we enjoyed a margarita before walking down to the Burrito Union for dinner. On Wednesday we lazed about, went to Jimmy John's (her first such experience) for lunch & then for a hike on the Park Point nature trail. Dang it was HOT. That evening I made dinner & we mostly tried to keep August from screaming. We weren't successful. So much so that I FB'd my pediatrician at 10pm on Wednesday night. She rocks & helped me set up an appointment for the following day with a NP as she was out of town. Thursday mor...

Whew - busy weekend.... Saturday I drove down to St. Croix State Park. I was meeting my Mom, my sister Kathy, my aunt Ronnelle & my cousin Lindsay for a "Girls' Night" in Hinckley so I decided to go down a little early so I could go for a walk at St. Croix. The park is really nice - it's huge. I think it would be really good for taking Dahlia too - there were a lot of good activities...playgrounds, the Munger Trail goes through the park, canoe shuttle, etc. It was packed, but I still think it looked like it would be fun. I enjoyed my picnic lunch & my walk. Then I met my family at the hotel in Hinckley. Kathy, Lindsay & I all have August birthdays so traditionally (growing up) we would celebrate all together...so that's what this was! Our birthday celebration! After meeting up with them we settled into our suite, then walked around to check out the casino. None of us are big gamblers but it was kind of fun. We ended up having Happy Hour in our room and...

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...

The photo shoot for Miss 10 Months Old didn't go so well today.... She's been a little uh, crabby as of late.... I'm wondering if she's actually starting to (finally) teethe...? Smiles are like gems! A little hike in Chester seemed to calm her down. Whew!