On the Home Stretch

The new year marked the start of the third trimester for Baby Mac.  Baby is growing fast and strong, wiggling, kicking and turning all day and night.  The pregnancy continues to go well for both baby and me. This is week 30 and the baby can now taste, touch, hear, smell, and see everything going on around 'em. Roughly 3 pounds and 17 inches long.  Here are some recent belly shots...

Welcome 2011!

This New Years was very special... Scott and I got to ring in the new year with Dad and Debby!  They flew in from Cincinnati on New Years Eve and we immediately started the grand tour of our great metro area.  Our first stop was St. Anthony Main area on the banks of the Mississippi.  We enjoyed a late lunch at the historic dining saloon of Pracna.  Then, Scotty had oysters on his mind, so we headed over to Uptown to enjoy the specialties of Stella's Oyster Bar as our happy hour.  To wrap up the night we joined a lively crowd for a unique cuisine at Chino Latino.  We all were basically in a food coma heading home for the night.

Saturday morning we treated Dad and Debby to skillets at a local gem: Bunny's Restaurant. Nothing like filling our bellies with eggs and potatoes on a cold Saturday morning!  Facing the blustery 7 °F outdoors, we visited Minnehaha Falls in south Minneapolis.  The falls were actually forcefully flowing that day, despite the frigid air. Most likely due to the 43 °F heat wave that we had the day before. (Needless to say, this winter has been nothing less than bazaar.) We snapped a few quick pictures and ran back to the car.  In just the short time we were outside, our faces had turned red and our eyes were watering.

Dawn and Will had us over for an afternoon full of good company and conversation. It was nice to get our families together again. The last time was at our wedding! There was a lot of talk about the new addition to come this Spring.



28 Week Baby Belly

Dad and Debby, I hope you enjoyed a little taste of Minneapolis. Thanks for braving the cold to visit.

Christmas Cheer

Scott and I had a fabulous holiday this year. We were able to share it with so much of our family. Christmas Eve evening was spent at the Dragans house with the whole Dragan crew. We had a delicious dinner followed by holiday tunes and festive games!  All in all a great night.

Mom had us over for Christmas morning. She whipped up a scrumptious egg bake and cinnamon rolls for brunch.  Then we exchanged presents and cozyied up to an oldie, but goody... White Christmas.  Can't go the season without watching this flick! It was a very special and relaxing way to spend Christmas day. We even got to skype with Sarah, Greg and Norah out in Oregon to watch them open their Christmas gifts.  Norah sure was a busy girl. I love that we can still be virtually together, even though we are states away.

Then we ventured across town to wrap up Christmas evening with the McGregors.  This year it was just our immediate family, nice and quiet.  A traditional dinner of burgers and shakes was enjoyed by all!  Will was the malt master.  My favorite was chocolate chip cookie dough! 
Present opening was more entertaining this year, now that miss Gwennie takes the role of Santa's Little Helper! 
We are so blessed to have our loving family near that we can share these cherished holiday memories together. Here are some sweet Christmas moments...

Gwennie with her Uncle Scotty



Little Stud Callan hangin' with his Uncle Matty





Callan catchin' some Zs



"Nana.... toys???"

2010 Historic Blizzard

Winter has started early here and is in full force.  This weekend marked the third royal dumping we've got in the past month or so and takes the cake.  Friday evening the blizzard arrived and finally quieted down by Sunday morning. Runways at the airport and freeways were closed, the metro transit stopped, and several people left stranded, the blizzard made southwest MN stand still.

 I was snowed in most of Saturday and was able to make a short trek over to the Fuch's household for some holiday baking with Katie!  Scotty made it downtown for the Golden Gophers win over E. Kentucky.  He got a special treat after the game: he got to go in the locker room and saw Tubby and all the players!
When all was said and done, we got a roughly 20 inches!  This blizzard is easily piling up into the Top 10 snowfalls ever measured in the Twin Cities.  The last large blizzard like this Minnesota saw was the 1991 Halloween blizzard that accumulated 28 inches. But this one went out with a bang.  Sunday morning at 5am the metrodome collapsed. Here is the link to the video taken by the dome cameras from inside: Metrodome collapse.
This week's forecast: snow.

The table was cleared off right before the snowfall.

Our front step. Thank goodness for our association... I didn't have to shovel!



Our poor neighbors





Highlights from Europe

Scott and I were fortunate enough to take one last trip together before we enter into parenthood. We spent the beginning of November traveling through the mountain valleys of Switzerland, tasting the delicious cuisine of Italy, and touring the famous monuments of Paris.

We flew into Paris and were able to sight see a little after a much needed nap!  A twenty minute walk from our hotel was the Basilica de Sacre Coeur, which is perched up on a hill, allowing for some great views looking over Paris.  I also got a French specialty: a crepe! Yumm! And since Scott doesn't have a sweet tooth, we found him a big mug!

Our first stop was Interlaken, Switzerland, a quaint mountain town settled in the Swiss Alps mountain valley.   

We stayed at a nice hostel called Balmers, where Scott bunked last time he was in Europe.  One of our main highlights here was renting scooters and taking a self-guided tour on the little winding roads connecting the small mountain towns that surround Interlaken. 

The Swiss countryside is breathtaking, scattered with little wooden cottages, cows and goats.  The air there was so crisp and the landscape was so rich and green. The fall colors were still in season which made it even more picturesque. Here are some highlights:

Two days later we took the train around the Alps, through northern Italy to the island city of Venice! 

Venice is a place like we have never seen before, instead of roads, there were canals.  There were no cars, only boats.  When people talked of catching the bus, they were referring to a large carrier boat that ran through the grand canal.  Our hostel was right near all the action, a few blocks from St. Marks Basilica and Plaza. 

 

The first night Scott and I just walked around and got very lost, which ended up being a great way of seeing the city. We ate dinner at a restaurant overlooking a canal and Scotty got his authentic Italian carbonara!

 The next day we covered a lot of ground by spending the whole day walking through Venice, seeing the old cathedrals, museums, and buildings.

Masks are seen everywhere around town.  These masks are very ornate and detailed and are used in traditional Venetian celebrations.

Our next destination was Florence, Italy. We lucked out on perfect, sunny days while during our stay!  The first day we toured the historic cathedrals that seem to be around every corner.  The architecture is very colorful and detailed.

Our favorite was the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, the cathedral church (Duomo) of Florence.  We climbed all the way up to the top...which was quite a feat for preggers and gimpy to conquer 463 narrow, spiraling steps up AND down! But the vista view was absolutely worth it!

The next day we walked across the Arno River to tour around the enormous Pitti Palace in the morning.  It took us an hour just to walk through the gardens!  

In the afternoon we took a bus tour an hour west to Pisa to see the famous leaning tower.  This was a pleasant surprise to be able to see Pisa. There were actually four monuments within Pisa's gates:  the Baptistery, Cemetery, Cathedral, and Leaning Tower (campanile).  The cathedral is also leaning a little!

 

 

That night we took a night train back to Paris to wrap up our European adventures. We found Paris in true form: rainy.  It rained most of our last two days, but that didn't stop us.  With our raincoats, hats, and umbrella we embraced what we could.  We walked through the Pompidou museum and saw the Notre Dame Cathedral, and the Louvre. 

 Our last day we spent at the Eiffel Tower.  Luckily, there was a break in the rain so we were able to take the lift up to the top to enjoy the bird's eye view of Paris.  We really liked walking down by the Seine River.  This area was open, spacious and not so crowded.  For our last dinner in Europe we went to the 2nd district for dinner, which is like the Rodeo Drive of Paris.

One of my dreams in life was to see Europe and my loving husband made it a reality. 

Thanks Scotty! It was a trip of a lifetime!!!