Gobble Gobble

11/26/2012 Ashley Flew in Sunday before Thanksgiving. I was feeling under the weather, apparently I had the stomach flu or 24 hour bug. Ashley was great she jumped right in and helped out with Zoë. She played with her, took her a bath and read her bed time stories. Thankfully I got some rest Sunday evening and Monday we were able to wander around the city. As we were exiting Target Ashley noticed a man standing oddly across the street and asked me, “What is that man doing?” So we had to find out. We had stumbled upon a team recording a local artist who will be appearing on the Voice, we may or may not appear in her intro, be on the look out! <—4/2/2013 She made it!! 

Zoë enjoyed the music. She was dancing and clapping her hands. The girl had a beautiful voice. It will be interesting to see how she does on the show. After we were done signing our consent forms (I signed my first permission slip for Zoë) we continued on our adventure. We found a place in front of Target’s many offices to take a few pictures. The city is already decorated for Christmas season.

The next day we headed over to Kramarczuk’s for lunch. It is an Eastern European restaurant. I wanted Ashley to try something a little different, but we ended up just getting typical fare (chicken noodle soup and varenyky) I had originally heard about this place on Diners Drive Ins and Dives, triple D. Ashley finds it funny that I know all of these places to eat…I can’t help it I like food. Since I am such a foodie I am going to throw in a quick review of the this culinary adventure. The first time we ate here I tried the combination plate. It contained pretty much everything that was featured on the show. And let me tell you it was “money”! It had a cabbage roll with a tomato cream sauce, sausage and kraut, varenyky (meat and potato and cheese) and of course a pickle. Tommy tried the goulash with their homemade roll. It was a party in my tummy! It is definitely stick to your rib food, but it was very comforting on a cold night. 

Back to Ashley’s visit…

After Lunch we headed over to the park. Zoë was a little grumpy, but we made the best of a quick visit by taking some pictures.

Small confession we did a lot of this…

I was able to bring home some of our home videos from my grandma and grandpa’s for Ashley to watch. Since they were VHS we had to check our local Salvation Army store to see if they had a VHS player. Thankfully they did and it was only $10! It was a lot of fun watching ourselves when we were younger. Zoë seemed to enjoy it as well. Along with our home videos we got hooked on Army Wives. It was good to be able to lounge a little especially since we were still in the process of recovering from our colds and stomach bug. Here is a little treat from one of our many home videos…

The next day I got a few things done around the house and Ashley got some grading done. For dinner we decided on burgers and what better burger than a Juicy Lucy! So we headed to the 5-8 club, also featured on triple D and Man vs. Food. Also since Ashley likes mozzarella sticks we wanted her to try fried cheese curds…pretty much the same thing, but cheese curds are far more chewier and stringy. Cheese curds are pretty much a staple here in Minnesota and Wisconsin area.

When we got home we made some cinnamon christmas ornaments. We didn’t get too fancy. I just formed a few by hand and then let Zoë make a hand print (sort of). I look forward to making these with Zoë each year since they are so simple and smell great!

Finally it was Thanksgiving, but unfortunately Auntie Ashley woke up real early with the stomach bug! I feel horrible that she had to succumb to our yucky germs. Tommy got it on Tuesday! So we decided to celebrate with lots of cuddles and movies. I put together a few snacks for us to munch on throughout the day. I kept it simple since everyone’s tummy was a little sensitive. We had carrots, celery, olives, pita crackers with cream cheese and pepper jelly (thank you Myrna) and apple slices. I made a turkey, mash potatoes, cranberry sauce and green beans.

We even got a chance to FaceTime with some of our East Coast family. I got to FaceTime my friends too. I have really come to appreciate technology and hope to use it more.

Ashley was able to muster up the courage to get dress and we were able to take a few family pictures. Trust me it is no small feat!

It was a Thanksgiving miracle…it snowed! It started around 5 and we woke up to a blanket of fresh powerdery snow.

Sadly Friday was Ashley’s last day. So we got up, bundled everyone up and went out for breakfast. We went to Lowry’s. We found this place when we first visited in September. We have only had breakfast. but the rest of the food looks great. It is pretty much a diner, but more gourmet. 

After breakfast we made a really quick stop at Sculpture park. It was so cold I ended up putting on Zoë’s snow suit. Poor girl couldn’t even move her arms or bend to sit up (totally reminds us of the kid from Christmas Story), but she was warm.

We ran to the car and warmed up. Then we decided to head to the mall, I know crazy us black friday at the Mall of America, but we were just going to wander before Ashley’s flight. Parking was surprisingly easy and it wasn’t too bad of a crowd. We let Zoë play for a little bit at the Lego store. Then we met a few Viking cheerleaders.

As we were leaving we cut through Nickelodeon World (where all of the roller coasters are) we heard a familiar song. It dawned on me that I had heard on the radio Phillip Phillips was going to be at the mall playing for a local radio station. Sure enough it was him!  We made our way to the airport around 2 and had to say good bye to Auntie Ashie. We were so glad she could come visit and very sad she had to leave! We were secretly wishing her flight would be cancelled, but it wasn’t. Thank you Auntie Ashie for coming…I am sad you had to leave! I already miss you! Love Zoë