Vacation - One of Life's Luxuries

We just returned from a short vacation in Pennsylvania. D's sister lives in a small town about an hour outside of Harrisburg. Since it was our second trip there, I had some idea of what to expect, but what I was most looking forward to was spending some quality time with my guys. (In fact, I love that K is sitting next to me right now just chilling with his DS as I type away.)

Traveling to our destination was, for the most part, uneventful. K talked a lot, O fell asleep on the first lag of our flight. (I think I snuck in a nap on the second lag.) And then we arrived. I adore PA. There's all these great old brick houses, and the geography is so much more interesting than the great plains of the Midwest. It's fun just to sit and look outside the windows as we drive to our destination.

The thing I think we were most looking forward to was hanging out with D's sister and her family and just relaxing and being away from the regular routine of our lives. It's hard to believe K starts school again in two weeks. We want to savor every minute.

The first day of the trip, we hung out by their pool and just relaxed. It was perfect. K practiced his swimming skills, I did a few laps. O was quite tentative about the water, which was a bit surprising ... and makes me a little nervous when we enroll them in swimming lessons this winter. I'm hoping that he'll get over it. He did great last year during lessons, so I was so surprised.

The next day, we explored an underground cave at a placed called Indian Echo Caverns, and then we went to Hershey Gardens and walked around before going to Chocolate World. K loves chocolate world ... and I have to admit, it's one of my favorite stops. We did a chocolate tasting, watched a 4D movie and, of course, made our personalized chocolate bars. After a very busy day, we ate at a placed called the Bonefish Grill ... for a chain restaurant, it was quite tasty fare!

The next day we made our way down to Baltimore, Maryland to check out the National Aquarium. K has, unfortunately, inherited my irrational fear of escalators ... and the aquarium has a lot of them. But if you can get past that, it's a pretty cool haunt to check out. It was crazy busy, but then I realized for a lot of folks in the area, this was their weekend before school, so people were squeezing in end of the summer activities. O was not on his best behavior, so we ended up cutting the day a little shorter than I think we would have normally, but it was still a great time.

I haven't downloaded photos yet, (will wait until after this week's trip to the State Fair!!!) and then I'll post a few photos of our wild and crazy adventure. It was great, the kids already miss their cousins ... and keep asking when is the next time they'll see them ... so I think this PA trip will become a regular affair.

When 7 ate ...

Yes, it's that time of the month again where I share our latest Wine Club outing ... This month, we broke course a bit and instead of eating in a small Minneapolis neighborhood (where all of our restaurants have just happened to be ...) we were in downtown Minneapolis, dining at Seven Steakhouse and Sushi Ultralounge.

A few words about Seven (or 7even) ... it's sort of known as the "celebrity hangout" or the "spot to be seen." In other words, it's where the cool kids hang out. Which helps somewhat explain the food. The menu is definitely on the high end. And hey, I am a girl who happily pays for a good meal, so I am okay with a higher price tag ... if the meal warrants it. Due to Seven's reputation, I wasn't sure if the meal would warrant it, since I think the price was merely reflective of the reputation.

They were nicely accommodating with a gluten-free menu. Unfortunately, I think some of their raves have been pasta, so that was a little sad. What they are known for are these monstrous steaks, but alas, the smallest one was 8 oz, and I wasn't going to pay $40 for a steak that I would only eat half and then I would want the other half because I like my steak medium rare, so reheating it would just ruin it for me.

So ... first course. I went with the golden beet salad. Actually all of us went with the golden beet salad. We're beet ladies, we love them. We indulge.

I love arugula, and balsamic and goat cheese, so frankly, the only way the salad could have been bad is if the food wasn't fresh. The first course was off on a good start ... maybe Seven could deliver?

Next up the pan-seared Salmon:

It's salmon with a lobster sauce on a bed of spinach and mashed potatoes. I have decided I do not like lobster. Or at least lobster sauce or lobster bisque. It sort of tastes like throw-up back in your mouth. The salmon itself was cooked very nicely, but as you can see, it was drowning in the sauce. The sliver of lobster itself was good, if only it also hadn't been coated. The spinach was fine, nothing special. The mashed potatoes ... well there kind of a mound of too thick cement.

I thought dessert might be able to save the meal ... but the only gluten-free dessert was lemon sorbet with berries. I wasn't in the mood for lemon sorbet, so I passed on dessert. I think I've gotten to the stage where I want to enjoy my food, and not settle just to have dessert.

All in all, there are a lot of people I know who enjoy Seven and who've eaten there multiple times. I just don't think I'll be one of them.

A Crispness in the Air

It's starting to dance on the breeze ... permeate the air ... and start my days on a high note. Yes, it's the autumnal crispness of Minnesota. Ahhhh ... it's a bit early, but I cannot complain. Maybe it also helped that Caribou coffee introduce a pumpkin chai latte and it made its debut today.

Yes, my favorite time of year is almost here, the MN State Fair starts next week and I like to consider that the slow entrance into the fall season. Oh, I can't wait! Pumpkins, apples, cider, the beginning of sweater season ... I get a big beaming smile just thinking about it.

The Awkward One

Earlier this week, I attended a parents meeting at K's school. His principal (who I absolutely loved) was appointed to a new role in the district and so the school is on the search for a new principal ... and fast ... since school starts in less than a month. As part of the process, the district held a parents meeting to hear from parents what we wanted in a new principal.

There was a decent turn out - or at least more people showed up than a typical PTO meeting. I am guessing there were maybe 20 - 30 parents (mostly moms, but there was one dad -- kudos to him!) The district's HR person outlined the process, and explained how everything would work. As someone who's experienced the hiring process multiple times from all different perspectives, I just politely nodded and listened.

Then she opened it up to the parents to hear what they had to say. First, I learned that apparently the principal before K's principal was a real piece of work. And apparently that is why many people showed up, because more than anything they want to make sure they don't get a principal like him again. I also learned previous to that principal, the principal before him had been there for 30 years and parents loved him. So when he retired and was replaced by this dolt, it sent the school morale crashing. The current principal had done a lot of work over two years to change the culture. It was eye-opening, because I had only experienced the great principal.

It was interesting, my contributions to the list of what we want in a principal ... innovation and someone with a vision for the school ... and hello, corporate world. But I guess in my mind, maybe that's why ... but I also think it was because the existing principal exhibited both these things. However, as I sat there, I realized I don't know if I'll ever be one of the mom's that hangs out and chat with the other moms. I felt that I didn't belong. I clearly wasn't the only working mom, because a few others chimed in about how they appreciated the principal's newsletter, because they were working parents who couldn't stop in during the school day.

I wish I could place why I didn't think I fit in. Maybe it was because we live in a neighborhood that has such a blend of households and no one near us has kids our children's age ... or maybe it's partly that we aren't the type to make a concerted effort to get to know our neighbors ... I don't know. K has friends who we drive to for playdates, a lot of them live on the other side of the main highway, and I know that neighborhood is teeming with kids his age and all the parents know each other ... so maybe we just picked the wrong neighborhood from a get-to-know-you perspective. Or maybe I am just so settled into who my friends are that I don't want to open the gate for a lot of new people to enter, because having to much of a social calendar is draining?

Who knows. What I do know is as I sat there (and when I sit in every PTO meeting) that I am there, but I am probably not going to make a bunch of new friends. But that's okay, that's not why I go. I go so that I can be informed and involved in my children's education.

Super Heroes

Watching the Olympics is a multi-emotional event. There's the intensity you feel as you hold your breath watching runners, swimmers, row teams race toward the finish line. There's the pain you feel as cyclists fall from their bikes, volleyball players crash into the sand and gymnasts miss their landings. There's the pride you feel as teams and individuals capture new world records.

It's a roller coaster, it's exhilarating, it's motivating ... and let's be honest, a little depressing. It sort of makes me say, why didn't my parents pressure me to finesse my (non-existent) athletic ability and encourage me to chase my dreams. Maybe if my parents had made me watch the Olympics as a child, I would have aspired to super human feats of the athletic ability. And then reality hits, and I must be honest with myself, that my parents did encourage me to participate in sports ... and my natural athletic ability ... well, frankly, it was nonexistent.

Now, tomorrow, when I run my short little 30-minute jog, I will reflect back on the amazing runners I watched tonight ... and maybe, just maybe, my speed will increase just a bit.

A Weekend of Nothingness

Oh, Friday, you could not get here fast enough. You felt so far away I thought perhaps I was in a bad dream where I kept moving time zones as punishment to avoid our inevitable embrace. Here's to doing absolutely nothing but drink some wine, watch some Olympics and hang out with my boys (maybe not in that order ...)