the zoo.

We took Adelie to the zoo for the first time yesterday. Sadly, we picked the wrong zoo to visit. The Minnesota Zoo is lame!!!!!!!! There are 2 zoos in Minnesota: the Minnesota Zoo & the Como Zoo (which is between Minneapolis/St Paul). We picked the wrong one. The Como Zoo has WAY BETTER animals! The Minnesota Zoo is lame. lame. lame. No elephants. No giraffes. No zebras. No penguins. Aren't those standard at any zoo?? Nope. Not so. I was really excited yesterday when I saw a picture of puffins...I thought the exhibit we were seeing next was a puffin stop...nope...just a nice photograph. The Como Zoo has puffins. Next time (and probably from now on, unless they do some major renovations & animal additions at the Minnesota Zoo) we will be Como Zoo visitors. I love seeing giraffes and penguins and elephants...

Anyway, Adelie liked the aquariums. I think she liked seeing the fish swim by & all the colorful coral. Other than that, the zoo was disappointing. Next time will be better!

our sweet "LITTLE A MONSTER"

We gave Adelie a nickname shortly after she was born: "little A monster". Of course we have many loving, tender nicknames for the little peanut, but "little A monster" describes her ferocious little appetite/attitude that she likes to display lately. She will eat (correction...TRY to eat) anything these days!!!! HILARIOUS!

Here is a post dedicated to her aggressive eating techniques.

Watching her try to eat the tissue pom-poms was outstanding! So entertaining! And I personally LOVE the photo of her eyeing up my ice-cream cone.

(and, NO I did not let her test out the ice cream...just in case any of you were worried)

Happppppppy birthday!

happy happy happy birthday to my adorable husband!! 

Nate turned 32 on Sunday & we spent a long weekend up north at the cottage on Pelican Lake. The weekend was perfect!! We loved spending time in the sunshine and it was so great being up at the lake. We saw some beautiful sunrises & cool sunsets (full moon over the weekend, reflecting over the water...so pretty!). We grilled out on our little smoky joe each night (I am SO grateful to be married to such a great cook! we had some DELICIOUS meals!). We had a bonfire each night (loved cuddling up with Nate by the cozy fire!).  We went out on the paddle-boat! So fun. Nate golfed 3 times while we were up there (Adelie and I golfed with him once!). He's such a good little golfer. I love watching him!! I decorated for his birthday with these fun tissue pompoms - super cute! Adelie loved them! 

My favorite part of his birthday celebration was breakfast on Sunday morning. I bought a really cool new pan for the birthday celebration at Williams-Sonoma which I plan on using as often as possible...it's an Ebelskiver pan - so sweet!!!!!! Any guests visiting MN anytime soon will be spoiled by me with some Ebelskivers!!! It's my new favorite breakfast dish. Actually, I've never been a huge breakfast fan...but these Ebelskivers are delish! So so so yummy! We bought a Ebelskiver cookbook as well - so I'll have to test out some new recipes! They were really fun to make & even more fun to eat, sitting on the deck by the lake with the sweet birthday boy!

Nate's testing out a new hobby: fishing. He has been unsuccessful up until this birthday weekend (when I say 'unsuccessful', I mean...he has cast his fishing pole at least 50+ times and has NOT caught anything!!). He finally caught a couple fish up at the lake (most of which were about 3 1/2 inches long! ha!). The pictures of him fishing crack me up! Such a silly guy.

It so fun celebrating Nate's bday. I sure love that boy!!!

OHIO!!

We were so happy to spend a week in Ohio over the 4th of July. We loved spending time with Nate's family!! It was so great to relax & spend time with everyone. Adelie went swimming for the first time (she loved it but she got cold pretty quickly...her little feet and legs were turning purple, so we had to call it a night a little early, but she still was happy!). We went to an Indians baseball game with Nate's parents & Catalina (our adorable niece). It was super fun. Great seats! I'm glad to be a Twins fan...those Indians fans don't even show up for the game. A HUGE part of the stadium was empty...so strange. Anyway, it was a great game, followed by a 4th of July firework show which was so much fun! Adelie was awake for the entire baseball game...and then slept through the postgame fireworks. The fireworks were awesome!!! Huge fireworks right over the outfield! So cool! We had a lot of great dinners with the family & loved catching up with everyone. My favorite part of the week was hanging out on the front porch on the porch swing. So relaxing & happy. I loved it! Oh...and the WORST part of the week was being in Ohio with a family full of Cavs fans who had to listen to Lebron's decision. Awful. Terrible. Horrible. We were bummed.

It was a great trip. We miss the Cartwright family already...it's always so wonderful seeing everyone!

Oh...and check out Adelie's how strong Adelie is (holding the umbrella for daddy when on our Lake Erie walk...). Pretty cute kid!

yay for cute toys!!!

yay for new cute toys!!!!!!!! ok...so I realize that these toys will not be played with by little Adelie for a little while...but I couldn't resist purchasing these adorable little toys this morning!!!! I'm pretty picky with the 'type' of toys I am willing to buy little A - I just don't want a bunch of junk...and this is EXACTLY the type of toy I love!!! I can't wait till she can play with them. I am so excited to have a little girl to play pretend tea time & have pretend ice cream sundaes together!!!!!! So excited. Can't wait till the package comes in the mail!!!! yay! yay! yay!

Adelie...4 1/2 months...

look at this darling face!! I promise I did not edit her eyes - they really are that big & blue!! she is the reason we've been missing in the blog-world lately. sorry! I just can't help but spend all my time loving this little face!!!! I promise I'll post more tomorrow....we've really had an amazing past few months and I need to post more...but hopefully this cute face can keep you all satisfied for a little bit till I have more time! love you all & miss you! love, N&L&A

Adelie...3 1/2 months!

sneak peek into our 1 yr anniversary celebration...we'll post more soon....

Adelie's new favorite toy!

Thank you, Alice for the adorable giraffe!!! Adelie loves it!!!! It's definitely her favorite thing to snuggle with. Jim picked out the adorable outfit (in LA with Nate's cute sister, Alyssa)...so Adelie is definitely in style! These pictures don't do the outfit justice...obviously (since she's bundled in a blanket!) but it's super cute!! Thank you!

memorial weekend with the cartwrights!

This post is long overdue. We had such a wonderful time with Nate's parents over Memorial weekend.  It was their first time meeting little Adelie. I thought it was so sweet to watch them with her. We had a fun filled weekend with them....delicious dinner at Redstone, Adelie's first Twins baseball game (so so so fun!!!!!), Adelie's first movie (How to Train Your Dragon...a must see! I loved it!!!), bocce ball, putt-putt at the sculpture garden/putt-putt place, icecream cones by Lake Minnetonka (a treat from the putt-putt losers...thanks, Jim!), and lots of good conversation & laughter.

My favorite part of the weekend was the Twins game. Adelie's first baseball game couldn't have been any cooler...perfect sunny day at the new ballpark, great seats, Joe Mauer's autograph...and a spot on the jumbotron!! I really hope Adelie is a sports fan, because Nate & I both LOVE sports so much! She sure loves watching sports on tv - maybe she just likes the colors and lights, but she seems to be a sports fan at heart already. She was so cute at the Twins game. She wore a little Twins onesie that I made for her..and she was loving all the action! She spent most of the game just looking around at all the people & out at the field. It was really adorable. We were lucky to get some amazing tickets to the game & had perfect seats (9 rows up, right behind home plate!!!!). The view was incredible! And....Joe Mauer signed Adelie's sock before the game!!!! Obviously we would have had him sign something else if we had thought ahead...but, it was pretty funny having him sign her sock! During the 7th or 8th inning, our little cutie pie made her debut at Target Field on the high-definition jumbotron!!!! Nate was holding Adelie & they zoomed in on them for awhile...and the crowd went wild!!!!! Lots of cheers for my two sweethearts! It was so great! So fun. Best baseball game. Ever. So much fun!!!!

We really had a fantastic weekend with Nate's parents. We are both so lucky to have great parents. I consider it such a blessing to be surrounded by such strong family members. Nate and I both have awesome siblings who are such special friends to us. I am especially grateful to have wonderful parents. Being a parent myself now, I realize how amazing motherhood is, and also how much work it is to be a good parent. I am so grateful for my wonderful parents and also to be blessed with such amazing in laws. I love getting to know them better and spending time with them. They are so much fun to be with and both are such kind people. Can't wait to see them again in Ohio in July.

We love you, Jim & Alice. Thank you for making the trip up here & for the wonderful weekend!