Brother's birthday

As part of my brother's birthday festivities tonight, we got out the timer function on my camera!

We thought one hand on my brother's shoulder might look posed, so we figured we should all try it.

The cake is the traditional caterpillar cupcake train. Also a tradition: the wave photo. This was for my dad, who was there for part of the evening but had to leave for a work trip before the candles were lit.

This celebration was a very good start to the week.

Up north for Dad's birthday

The very best way to celebrate my dad's birthday - even if it's a belated celebration - is to head up north toward Mille Lacs Lake, about two hours north of the Twin Cities. That's where you'll find the campground that houses the RV that accompanied my family for many annual road trips in my childhood. Before we started celebrating Dad's birthday with a trip up north, I hadn't been back to the campground in many years. I am happy and grateful we've turned this annual weekend into a new tradition.

From the archives:
2012: Leisure and Leisure
2013: Celebrating Dad's birthday

One earlier trip coincided with Memorial Day weekend, an especially bustling few days at the campground as people set up for the summer. This year, earlier in the week, the weekend forecast had called for a total washout, and I think that kept the campground quiet, even though the forecast improved as the weekend approached. It turned out to be gorgeous: lots of sun and puffy clouds and 65-70 degrees both days.

Josh, Wish and I carpooled with my brother and sister (it was a full car) and arrived by about 2 p.m. on Saturday. We immediately settled down and grabbed seats at the picnic table and in camping chairs and the hammock. Mom brought out a batch of homemade playdough because it was such a hit last year, and my dad covertly whipped up his trademark Babar the Elephant during one of my mom's stories. And then Wish tried to eat playdough that had been shaped into a carrot and then did eat playdough shaped like a mushroom. The rest of us focused on Mom's dip and Brother's salsa. I brought mojito fruit salad and that made appearances throughout the weekend, too.

The hammock was rarely empty. For example:

The view looking up from the hammock helps explain its popularity:

But the entire site is so peaceful and relaxing, whether you're in the hammock, the gazebo, or lounging on the ground:

Dad grilled steaks for dinner, and then we celebrated his birthday, as tradition calls for, with Mom's lemon meringue pie.

While Mom was setting up the birthday candles, my job was to prepare the picnic table and my camera for our timed photo. Not too long ago, Mom and I figured out the beauty of setting a timer on our cameras to get everyone into a picture, and as you can tell, we now employ that practice frequently, especially at birthday celebrations.

My brother and dad were standing in to help me find the right height for our cameras (I think the final result was two coolers and one magazine stacked on a small table), but really, I was taking pictures of them as they were goofing around.

And then we sang to my dad and tried a few photos. I am sharing all three from my camera because we got surprisingly different results from each effort. (Also, I have no idea what's happening in the second photo, but I love it.)

Mom and Josh chopped up some wood for the campfire. I think Dad is supervising that process in this picture, looking down the stairs toward the fire pit.



On Saturday night, as the campfire dwindled, Phil and Josh pulled the TV out of the RV and into the gazebo, and the six of us lined up our chairs in theater-style seating and finally watched our "Airplane!" DVD, which was a Christmas gift (and family favorite) that we've been meaning to watch together ever since.

On Sunday, Mom made pancakes for breakfast and then Dad took us out for boat rides on Mille Lacs Lake. Dad grilled hamburgers when we got back and then we wrapped up the weekend with his famous Monster Malts. Truly: this was a big treat during my childhood and will always be one of my favorite desserts.

My camera's battery had faded by lunchtime on Sunday, and I left it on the picnic table and used my phone's camera for backup. When I uploaded my photos back at home, I found the following selfies (taken without my knowledge with the last of the battery power) and burst out laughing:

I think my dad enjoyed the birthday celebration as much as the rest of us did. I hope so!

Sunday evening

We're back in St. Paul and unpacking from our annual trip up north with my family to celebrate my dad's birthday. There were downpours in the Twin Cities yesterday morning, but the sun was shining by the time we got to our destination, and we were able to spend the better part of Saturday and Sunday outside: at a picnic table, in a gazebo and in a hammock, and on the water.

We got back late this afternoon and Wish has been basically in this position ever since (still wearing his camping bandana, by the way):

I loved our time together this weekend (and will tell you more about it soon).

A rainy beginning

After two gorgeous weekend days, yesterday's skies dropped more than two inches of rain on the Twin Cities. (It wasn't the ideal day to, say, forget an umbrella.) But the rest of the week's forecast is wonderful, starting with nearly 80 degrees for tonight's softball game, which would be the warmest temperature since Sept. 30.

More nice tidbits to begin the week:

1) Our household's weekend was full, starting on Friday night when I met my mom and brother for dinner at Anchor Fish and Chips. Then we visited Art-A-Whirl, another one of the Twin Cities' popular art crawl events. This one is in Northeast Minneapolis, and it features more than 500 artists in all kinds of studio spaces. One of those artists was my aunt, who was exhibiting her paintings in her first show ever. I was so proud to see her take this step.

One of her paintings already hangs in our home, and I was excited to see tiny versions of the same theme on display (complete with tiny easels) among her larger paintings. Right away, I wanted one for my workspace. I bought one and brought it to work this morning, and I love seeing it on my desk and thinking of the big painting, which was a special gift.

2) On Sunday morning, I volunteered at the Loppet Foundation's Salomon City Trail Loppet. I was at the finish area, which also was the race day packet pick-up spot, since most runners biked or drove to the finish line and then were transported up to the starting line in Robbinsdale. The finish area was at the Walker Art Center's Sculpture Garden, and my shift was early in the morning, so I got to see the iconic cherry and spoon in early morning light.

3) Later on Sunday, I practiced my panorama function during my first trip to Target Field this season. The Twins lost, but I had a great time with our group.

4) I stayed up late last night finishing The Fault in Our Stars. This joins Eleanor & Park as two of my favorite recent YA reads.

5) Today is my dear dad's birthday!

Here's my dad and me, way back, on a trip out on the Mississippi on my grandparents' boat.

And here's last year's birthday, with his traditional birthday lemon meringue pie. Our family is celebrating officially in a couple of weeks with our annual trip up north.

Happy birthday, Dad!

Birthday week in review

Now that I have a few days of experience being 30, I'll recap the week.

Tuesday was my actual birthday, and the day was great. My heart was full from the messages, visits and surprises. (Here's one surprise: an Edible Arrangements bouquet, complete with a "30" made out of pineapple!)

For dinner that night, Josh and I tried Al Vento, an Italian restaurant in south Minneapolis that we've been meaning to try for ages. The meal was wonderful (and my salad included grapefruit!). Our visit coincided with the restaurant's Tuesday night date night special, which I would definitely like to revisit in the future.

Later in the week, we celebrated with my family at my parents' house. I am realizing only now that we didn't set up the camera's timer for a full group shot!! Here are two pictures of family surrounded the traditional and beloved lemon cake:

Wish came with us and I got to see him leap over a big snowbank in my parents' backyard. He love, love, loves my parents' house, probably because the scene below isn't out of the ordinary. This is my sister holding him and my dad feeding him a little treat. Wish looks deliriously happy and also kind of wild.

On Saturday, I drove over to Stillwater to meet my friend for lunch (and after lunch, I got to meet her baby boy!). I got there a little early so I could stroll around the historic downtown district and look at the St. Croix River. It was cold for this time of year but the sun was brilliant.

And today I saw my second river of the weekend: the Mississippi, mid-run. I like seeing all that open water.

I'm very grateful for everything the week held - and excited to see what 30 brings.

Jambalaya and ice cream cake

Last night my family had dinner together at my parents' house to celebrate Josh's birthday. My mom cooked jambalaya and cornbread, which we loved. Then she took the dessert out of the freezer and plopped it straight into the oven, then onto the dinner table, where it had to sit for 30 minutes before we ate it.

It's something between a baked Alaska and a bombe, so it had a bottom layer of brownies, then layers of coffee ice cream, cookie dough ice cream, and some other kind of ice cream (chocolate?), then topped with meringue, which is what was browning in the oven. It turns out that the meringue insulates the ice cream layers, so the ice cream doesn't melt in the oven.

We were in awe. It was a special birthday treat and a great evening.

A birthday

Today is Josh's birthday!

We celebrated with dinner tonight. On the menu:

1) Carnitas: started this morning when I seared the pork, cooked all day in the slow cooker, and finished by broiling on a cookie sheet for a few minutes to make them crispy.

2) Birthday cake, of course! For the third year in a row: Alton Brown's carrot cake.

The main party mishap occurred when I tried to put Wish's birthday hat on (remember last year?) and Wish shook it off his ears before tearing into the hallway to see Josh. (But he was wearing it upside down, like a feed bag, which was kind of funny in itself.)

I can't believe we started celebrating birthdays together a decade ago, and I can't wait to see what my dear, wonderful husband does in 2014 and beyond.

Birthday wishes

For the best brother around!

(My brother, not Wish or Wish's brother. Wish just wanted to extend a birthday greeting of his own. Or he wanted the photographer to drop the treat she was dangling. Either way: HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my wonderful brother!)

Family dinner

Part of the sweet weekend I referenced yesterday included my family's celebration for my brother's upcoming birthday! We all met at my parents' house for dinner on Sunday night.

My brother had requested spring rolls for pre-dinner snacks and this marvelous saffron-coconut milk shrimp pasta that my mom makes. I found out the menu on Friday and had to wait until Sunday to see it unfold.

Here is my brother and my sister's boyfriend assembling the spring rolls. (My mom tried making the accompanying peanut sauce for the first time, and it was a winner.) Also, I love the wild phone cord.

Because it was a gorgeous evening, we gobbled the spring rolls out on the porch and eventually came back inside to eat dinner.

Wish and my sister caught up with each other:

We have some good birthday treat-related traditions in my family. My dad gets lemon meringue pie every year, and I get a lemon pudding cake. (I don't think that's the actual name, is it? Mom! Help!) My brother gets a green caterpillar cupcake.

I was loving the setting sun shining through the window and tried to capture it with my camera, to varying degrees of (un)success:

We were arranging some combinations for family photos on the porch when a neighbor and her dog (much to Wish's chagrin) moseyed into the yard to say hello and ended up snapping a picture of the whole group!

Unsurprisingly, we also practiced our family wave:

And, of course, we sang to him! Happy almost-birthday, Brother.

Celebrating Dad's birthday

It's Dad's birthday week!

We kicked off the celebration early - two days before his actual birthday - with an overnight trip up north to the campground that houses the RV that took us on many family vacations in my youth. (If this is sounding familiar, we started the tradition last year and I wrote all about it!) Last year's celebration included a lot of rain, but whatever the weather, it's peaceful to spend time in a relaxing place with my family.

And it looked like rain would rule this year's party, too, when we left our home on Saturday morning. But the downpours subsided as we got closer to the campground, and it wouldn't rain again until we left again on Sunday morning.

In a development surprising to no one, I had my camera within reach for most of the day, so photos will help tell the story.

Josh and I drove up with my brother. We stopped at a gas station en route and Wish cleared up any doubt who's in the driver's seat:

Wish likes to show off his serious face, even when he's in a hammock:

Then he relaxed and enjoyed his extra-long leash:

(The bandana is a gift from our friend Kate, whose dogs also love their bandanas.)

My mom dug out our old hammock from storage, and Josh and my dad set it up. I arrived at the quick conclusion that a hammock is one of my favorite material items.

Because the weather forecast had been erring toward crummy, my mom had churned up a batch of playdoh that morning, just like the olden days. (I love that this happened.) One of my dad's many talents when we were kids was his ability to craft a Babar elephant out of anything: hamburger, playdoh, snow, you name it.

I looked over at Dad minutes after the playdoh came out, and he had already sculpted an elephant family:

He's good, right!? That's Babar and Pom and Flora, two of Babar's children, plus Rataxes, a rhinoceros in the story. (I hope you guys know the children's books I'm talking about. Otherwise, this post is getting really far out there, really fast.)

Then I looked over another minute later, and my mom and dad were making snakes.

My sister and her boyfriend arrived, and Wish was pleased. He and my sister are pretty much BFFs.

Around that time, the first watermelon I laid eyes on in 2013 also appeared. Yes.

If it looks like we lounged around and ate a lot, well, that's a pretty accurate portrayal. It was so relaxing.

This photo says it all:

Dad grilled chicken and steak for dinner, and then Mom brought out her famous lemon meringue pie. I mentioned earlier this week that Dad has had lemon meringue pie for his birthday instead of cake for as long as he can remember. My mom makes one every year for him, and part of the tradition is how she trash-talks various pie components until we cut into it and see that it's magnificent as usual. (I need a lemon meringue pie lesson from her.)

And what would a birthday celebration be without a waving photo, hmm?

I love this time with my family, and the whole day (and the bonfire after the sun set) made for a great celebration to honor my dear dad.

Marvelous Monday: Week 10

Goodbye, 28! Hello, 29! It's my birthday!

Much love today (and every day) to my mom and dad.

28 was a year with a lot of learning and stretching. I started the 101 in 1,001 project (well, technically that happened for the last three months of 27), met Wish, ran a bunch of races and did more yoga than I've ever done in the rest of my years combined, and got engaged. I feel happy in my heart that 28 was one of my favorite years so far.

1) My breakfast included a birthday grapefruit!

2) We celebrated with my family last night and it was so nice. My mom cooked chicken parmigiana and my traditional sunny lemon birthday cake.

(Mom was very excited when I showed up wearing yellow! And, yes, my sister is holding Wish.)

3) Menu update: yesterday I made a batch of tomato-chickpea-pesto soup to have in between servings of leftover cake and chicken parmigiana. We made this a ton of times earlier in the fall and had to take a break from it, but it's time to revisit this recipe because it is tasty and very fast.

4) I guess I was too preoccupied with the chicken parmigiana last night to notice, but tonight I am determined to enjoy the marvelous extra daylight.

5) A bridesmaid dress shopping extravaganza commences later this week!

I'm excited for 29!