Anniversary and Marriage Year II, Day 1

We had a fabulous evening last night!

We checked into the hotel at 3 and they upgraded our room to a king suite! We got ready and went to dinner at Manhattan's downtown. It was delicious - we shared a caprese salad and each had a steak. My filet just melted in my mouth...

Phantom of the Opera was good!

We got back to the hotel around 11 and were awoken at 3:30 by the fire alarm. Ryan would have kept sleeping but I didn't want to die in a burning building. I finally convinced him to head to the lobby. Halfway down the hall, the alarm stopped. It took us a while to get back to sleep but we slept til 9 this morning - that's a record for us!


Not a great shot, we didn't have our good camera and the hostess didn't really know what she was doing. Either way, proof of that we clean up ok!


This is the sewing project I've been working on - custom burp cloths! I bought a bunch of cute flannel and attach it down the center of a cloth diaper. I can post the pictures now since our friends Marshall and Sarah received theirs in the mail. Their new baby, Norah, is pretty perfect - wish they lived closer so we could meet her.


I found this picture when I loaded the ones from last night. It's my gluten-free cake from my birthday in San Francisco - yum!

Today, the first day of Marriage, Year II, has been filled with gutter cleaning, Twins watching and reading on the deck! My arms and face got lots of color! YAY! It must be almost summer!

We're off to grocery shop and then dinner and walking with friends.

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Happy Anniversary to US!

I can't believe we've been married a year!



It has been a WONDERFUL, adventure-filled year!


I love Ryan for:

- his ability to make me laugh

- emptying the dishwasher, usually before I even ask

- tolerating my crabiness, even when he doesn't understand what caused it

- his deal hunting skills

- holding my hand whenever I want

- the way he warms up my side of the bed before I get in

- buying mushy cards because he knows I love them

- his go-with-the flow mindset

- chauffeuring me to and from the bus stop

- making me laugh

- the way his neck smells

- his beautiful blue eyes

- loving me despite my lack of singing and dancing skills, and laughing with me when I do either

- making me laugh (did I already mention that?)


Thanks for an amazing year, babe! XOXO

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No More Lake Bohlen

It's been a productive and fun weekend here!

Friday night we went to the Twins game. There were 6 of us (me and the guys). It was our first live game of the season - it was great!

Saturday Ryan worked and I cleaned the house and then worked on a fun crafty sewing project. I may post pictures later (its a gift for someone who reads this!)

Early Saturday afternoon the [small] crew came to work on our backyard. They worked for a few hours yesterday and came back to finish today. The yard has been re-graded to slope away from the house. We've got a swale leading around to the side where things can drain off into the street. We also had them remove a ton of rock that was along our driveway and sod everything. It looks great! Plus, we got to use the leftover sod and it was the perfect amount to cover our "garden". Now we just need a few bushes to plant at the edge of the garden for some privacy.


The pictures aren't that exciting (if you want exciting, scroll down to look at San Francisco if you haven't already)...but we think it looks great and are glad to have it done! We're especially glad it doesn't look like this anymore. Our next project is cleaning up the front yard.


The first stage



During


The area that used to be all rocks along the driveway


All done!

Behind the garage (it's hard to see the new swale in the pictures - it's nice and gradual)

The newly sodded garden. We have a lot more square footage of lawn to mow with the garden sodded and the replacement of the rocks along the side of the house.

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On a side note, I baked some yummy GF bread today! I used a different mix than usual and I liked it even more. (Dad, its Whole Foods own brand - 365 Sandwich Bread Mix). I snacked on buttered bread all afternoon and had a turkey, guac, cheese and mayo sandwich for dinner - YUM!

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San Francisco!

We had a fabulous time in San Francisco! Lea and Brian were such great hosts - they chauffeured us around and showed us some of their favorite places.

Day 1 - Thursday. Lea dropped us in the city. We picked up our GO Cards (one flat price got us into a lot of attactions). We saw the sea lions at the pier, took a trolley bus tour, wax museum, went to the aquarium, went to the Exploratorium (hands on science museum), walked all over Fisherman's Wharf, saw Ghirardelli Square. For dinner we went back to Lea and Brian's and cooked fish tacos - California style (cabbage, avocado, pico de gallo). It was our first experience with fish tacos - delicious!

Day 2 - Friday. We got dropped in the city again and took a ferry out to Alcatraz. We walked around the island and took the audio tour of the prison. After that we had lunch and took another trolley bus tour. I may or may not have fallen asleep onboard! After a quick stop through the Ferry Building (way cool!) we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing/napping in a park. We met Lea and Brian for happy hour near their office and then did some shopping at the Gap (with Lea's discount!). Dinner at PF Changs and back to their house for a low key night.


Day 3 - Saturday - my birthday!!!! We had a slow start to the morning and then went to the San Mateo farmer's market (fresh kettlecorn - yum!), hiked a couple miles at a beautiful state park (huge redwoods!), visited a really cool beach and then stopped along the water for a late lunch. After that we headed back into the city. Brian and Ryan hung some shelves while Lea and I relaxed. For my birthday dinner we went to Kingfish - one of their favorites. We shared some sushi rolls as an appetizer and all had great entrees - jambalaya, steak, shortribs, sea bass. Lea had even called ahead to arrange a special gluten free cake! A perfect day!


Day 4 - Sunday. We started the day with a visit to the Golden Gate Bridge. We walked partway across and got some great pictures. Then we headed through Sausalito and had brunch in Tiburon. After bruch we headed north to wine country. We visited a few vineyards in Sonoma - beautiful! On our way back through the city we drove down Lombard Street - the curviest street in the world (followed by Snake Alley in Burlington, IA!!) Then Lea and Brian dropped us at our hotel for our last night. We grabbed dinner at Uncle Vito's and had a low key night at the hotel.

Day 5 - Monday. We had breakfast at the hotel and then went out exploring Union Square. We did some real shopping and some window shopping (Tiffany, Gucci, Prada). We checked out of our hotel at noon and then went for lunch at a 50's diner. Our shuttle picked us up at 1:30 and we were headed back to reality.

A WONDERFUL trip!

The pictures are in approximate order. And, as always, click to enlarge.

ENJOY!

Fisherman's Wharf

Sea lions at Pier 39

Soaking up the sun as we waited for the bus

Jellyfish at the aquarium (Ryan is a talented photographer!)

More jellyfish

On the trolley bus

Chinatown

The Exploratorium

At the Exploratorium

Boats in the bay

Alcatraz from the ferry

On Alcatraz with the city in the background

Full House (just kidding...typical SF street - hilly and the houses are so close together)

Our fabulous hosts

Hiking through the forest

Do you see me!? The tree was HUGE!


L & D

The blustery beach

Trying to hide from the wind

Golden Gate Bridge

This is for you, Val.

At B.R. Cohn Vineyard

Our hotel.

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Spring in Minnesota!

This is what we woke up to...

This was early this afternoon...

Only in Minnesota in April.

If you ignore the fact that it snowed in April, it was pretty!

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We had a good weekend. Shopping for stuff for our trip, then dinner, watching basketball and playing dominoes with friends. Today I got to visit a friend and her new baby. Then, on my way home, my good friend Lea called to say she had a long layover at the airport. I grabbed Ryan and turned around to head back towards the airport. It was really fun to see Lea - a nice spontaneous end to the weekend.

Have a good week! :)

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Madison Adventures

We spent this past weekend in Madison. We stayed with my sister Kelly but had plenty of time to see other family and friends. We visited Ryan's cousin Rachael and got to see two of her little girls, got to meet our friends' new baby, and had brunch with Ryan's aunt, uncle and cousins.

We spent a lot of time relaxing at Kel's watching basketball. And Ryan was nice enough to watch Twilight with us.

Saturday we went to the gluten-free bakery - YUM! I got lots of treats! Then Ryan, Kel and I went to the Madison Zoo. It's free and it was much bigger than we expected. It was pretty chilly but there were enough indoor exhibits to keep us warm. Ryan spent the entire time with our new camera and he got some great shots of the animals.

Enjoy! (as always, click to enlarge)


Us in front of the lions

The giant tortoise

The polar bear was really active - pacing back and forth

Pretty tiger

Doesn't this look fake!?


Posing by the tiger

I have the wingspan of a chimpanzee

Really cool!

Sisters!

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Watch for fun things to come:

- April birthdays BBQ - we decided to combine the celebration for 4 of us with April birthdays. We'll be grilling at our house. We're hoping for nice weather so we can break out the bocce set and new firepit.

- San Francisco - just over three weeks!

- Softball starts!!!! I think I'm more excited than Ryan.

- Ryan's parents are planning to visit in May - just in time for spring garage sales!

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Happy 1st Birthday, Quinton!

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