Posts tagged Duluth MN
Fog, fog, go away!
Jun 16th
Duluth has officially had no days that are “mostly sunny” since May. It is now halfway through June. This is unacceptable. However, this weekend is supposed to be warm and at least partly sunny. Heating up just in time for Grandma’s Marathon. Of course. hahaha. Those poor marathon runners.
My sister and 3 of her children are coming to visit us this weekend. They are camping just outside of Duluth (which is good, because inside Duluth is going to be CRAZY). I’m so excited to see them. We plan on checking out the Children’s Museum and the Depot, and going on a scenic train ride. I think they’ll love it. I haven’t seen them in ages, and they haven’t met James, so it should be a great weekend. Photos will follow, I’m sure.
Other than that, there’s not much going on. We are keeping busy with James. He gets more and more animated and funny. He’s really getting the grabbing stuff skills down; he can even reach for specific parts of something hanging in front of him and usually get it. He smiles a lot, and charms people wherever we go. He still spits up quite a bit, but we are used to it and know to expect it (although he does still get each of us good at least once a week when we aren’t prepared). He likes to suck on his fingers, although sometimes when he’s tired he’ll suck on his thumb. It is cute. He’s also been chewing on anything he can get his hands on.
Ryan and I have a goal of walking 52.4 miles before July 6th. So far we’ve gone 21 miles. We have a little bit of catching up to do, since it’s been raining so much. Yesterday we took off on a walk because we knew we needed to get one in. It had been foggy and sprinkling off and on all day, but it didn’t really look any worse than it had, so we just went. And then it rained the whole 3.5 miles back to the house. Whoops. Here we are after getting back:
A bit blurry, but you get the picture.
James stayed nice and dry in his carseat/stroller combo. We opened it up once we got in the house (just brought the whole thing in with us) and he was looking around like “What the heck is going on!?” It was funny. We actually enjoyed being out in the rain. It was relatively warm, and we knew we were going back to a warm, dry house. And leftover chili. That always helps. Yum.
Anyway, time to get back to work. Have you taken a walk in the rain lately? I would highly recommend it.
It’s June! And my baby is 3 1/2 months old already!
Jun 3rd
When did all that happen? Yikes!
He’s so cute. Have I mentioned that? And he’s pretty much the best baby ever. My sister and her fiance were in town last weekend, and he had never been to Duluth before, so we were tourists all weekend. We toured Glensheen (the historic & haunted mansion!); we walked down by the canal and the lake, and went for dinner in Canal Park; we drove up Seven Bridges Road (and Bill got carsick. Whoops!); we toured the William A Irvin ore boat, and a friend took us out on his boat on Lake Superior; and we ate at Betty’s Pies on the North Shore. We took James with us for all of this, and he didn’t make a peep of complaint.
I was telling my sister that our lives would be very different if we had a baby with a different temperament. James is so easy-going. We take him everywhere with us, and as long as he is fed and changed he doesn’t care. He takes it all in. I can only imagine how hard it is for parents of other kids. And we are definitely spoiled and will probably have a rude awakening when we have another child who is not so even-keeled. But for now we are enjoying our happy baby, and our freedom. Although he did put a bit of cramp in our style, since we couldn’t take him to our favorite bar in Wisconsin (the Anchor). We draw the line at a bar; especially one where they still allow smoking (only until July 1!). ;-)
It is Ryan and my 2nd anniversary next Monday, and so we are both taking the day off work. His parents are coming up Sunday and we will probably go up the shore and do some light hiking on Monday. A fitting thing, since we spent our honeymoon up the shore hiking. I hope the weather cooperates.
In completely different news, I recently deleted everything in my Google Reader. It was constantly at 1000+ items unread, and it was stressing me out. Instead, I marked them all as read and am manually going back to the blogs that I want to catch up on and reading back. And of course trying to keep up with the new stuff in my reader. I may have to remove a couple things from it. Lifehacker, I love you, but your 20 updates every 2 days is killing me!
Anyway, that’s where life is at right now. Busy, especially gearing up for summer, but a lot of fun with this adorable baby around. Hopefully it stays that way!
Jeebus.
May 20th
You would think a person could take a second to write something on this little website once in a while. Other parents do it. But apparently my mind is elsewhere lately. Possibly because I have the cutest baby in the world (not that I’m biased). See:
So sleepy on our walk!
Or maybe this:
Hanging out after his bath
Plus we’ve had gorgeous weather (other than that snow storm). See:
The sailboat races are on Wednesday night in Lake Superior. An awesome sight.
So you see, we’ve been busy!
I do promise to try to make it back more often, though. And to try to start commenting on other people’s blogs again. I miss them!
Randomness
Jan 25th
A few random things that have been running through my head:
Baby Shower: Awesomeness
My friends Nicole and Adrienne threw a baby shower for us, and it was fabulous. I love an excuse to get together with friends and family, and it was the perfect sized gathering – we could all hang out and visit together instead of splitting into smaller groups. Of course we received some awesome gifts, and I had a great time. I got to stay late and visit with my high school friends and a friend from college, so that was fun too. We are so blessed to have such great friends and family…Ryan and I are both really lucky that way. *commence puking from the sappiness*
Things that make me irrationally angry/frustrated (but not really)
Snickers Fudge candy bars: I tried this new concoction, thinking that I like Snickers and I like fudge, so how could I go wrong? Well, let me tell you: they take the caramel out of the Snickers to put the fudge in! Why would you do such a thing? I was very disappointed in the whole experience. Thankfully I have learned my lesson. No more Snickers Fudge candy bars for me.
The weather in Duluth: it is pissing me off lately. We live in Northern Minnesota (at least by most people’s standards. My parents live in REALLY Northern Minnesota, but the rest of the world doesn’t acknowledge that the state extends that far North. That is a whole ‘nother discussion, though). It is expected to be cold and/or snowy here from basically early November until the end of March. We do sometimes get a “January thaw”, but that means a few days where it reaches 32*. And usually it’s accompanied by a crapload of snow (side note – did you know it can be too cold to snow? I don’t know the scientific reason why – I’m no meteorologist – but I know that if it’s 0* or below it won’t usually snow). This year, we are getting rain. At least in the part of Duluthwhere I live (at the bottom of the hill, near the lake). I hear they have snow over the hill, but down here by the lake it rained all weekend and was near 40*. What the heck is up with that?
Normal people would say “Aren’t you glad you don’t have all that snow?” But they would be mistaken. I am not glad. Because it rained all weekend and our parking lot/roads/driveways/sidewalks got all wet, and then the temp fell below freezing. And it’s supposed to cool down even more, to the point that the salt they use to melt the ice won’t work. And so we have a perpetual ice skating rink pretty much everywhere you go. It is annoying and dangerous. And my balance is bad enough these days without adding a layer of ice between my shoes and the ground. Arg.
Just one pregnancy-related rant: I have enjoyed my pregnancy for the most part. I mean, yah, I have some joint and back pain, and it’s hard to get around. But for the most part I’ve had a pretty easy time of it, and I like feeling our little boy kicking and moving around. And Ryan and I are in a good place to be having a child, which I know isn’t always the case for people. So yah…I’m enjoying it.
The thing I’m not enjoying as much? People assuming that I am “SO ready to be done.” I get asked at least 3 or 4 times a week (usually by strangers) if I’m ready to just have this baby already. And I know they mean well, but jeebus. First of all, I’m not even “full term” yet (tomorrow!). Secondly, it’s not like things will suddenly get easier once the baby is here. In fact, I have a feeling they will be much more difficult. Very rewarding, of course, but still. Right now I can still do stuff around the house that requires both hands, and I can take a shower or a nap or read a book whenever I want to. And even though I’m not sleeping the best, I can still lay in bed when I’m having trouble sleeping; there’s no one crying that I need to go pick up and soothe/feed/change. So yah…I’m good with him staying put for a couple more weeks, or however long he needs. Now if I’m pregnant still the last week in February my answer might be different. Ask me then if I’m ready to be done. (ps, if anyone that reads this has asked me that question, I’m not talking about you, I swear! It’s the strangers that ask that bugs me more than anything).
I can’t think of anything else that I want to rant about (except the Vikings, but others have done plenty of that for me), and it’s lunch time (leftover lasagna and the 5th book in the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris (the books True Blood is based on)). Sounds like a good time to me.
Appley goodness
Oct 2nd
It is Friday, which makes me happy. I get to leave work 1/2 an hour early today because I stayed late for my boss on Wednesday. That makes me even happier. And Ryan’s parents are coming up and we are going to the Bayfield Apple Festival this weekend. And that makes me happiest of all. Mmm…apples. Caramel apples, apple cider, apple brats, apple pie, and apple wine (not for me, but maybe we’ll get a bottle to keep until after the baby comes). And Honeycrisp apples by the bushel-full. If you haven’t tried Honeycrisp apples you are totally missing out. Even in Duluth, where we are close to an area that grows a LOT of them, they are still only available for a limited amount of time, and they are more expensive than other apples. But they are the crunchiest, sweetest apples ever. They are fabulous for eating by themselves, and I hear they make great pies and stuff too (although they never make it that long in our house).
The weather is trying to beat us down (the highs for the entire next week are in the 40s and it’s supposed to rain almost every day), but it’s ok. I like fall. I like drinking hot chocolate and hot apple cider, and curling up under a blanket to watch tv. And I love driving down the hill to work in the morning and seeing Lake Superior all riled up. The waves are really crashing this week (could have something to do with the crazy off-the-lake winds we are getting). It’s gorgeous. And makes me realize why it was that they moved the harbor inside the point. It used to be outside – just on the shores of Duluth. And many ships sank there when the winds picked up and beat them against the rocks. Now the ships are all protected by the worlds longest above-ground sandbar. Just a bit of Duluth history for you.
Anyway, this week is finishing up well. Especially as I just got the OK to take a vacation day on Monday. Ryan and I both have the day off, and it’s the ultrasound (in case I haven’t mentioned it 15,000,000 times). We plan on relaxing, going out to lunch to celebrate, and maybe going shopping. Eek! Baby stuff! It will be fun.
Jun 15th
Some friends of ours that we haven’t seen in a few months came through town tonight on their way home. We were able to have dinner with them as well as a bunch of our other friends from college that still live in town. It was a nice evening of visiting and laughing. Plus I didn’t have to cook or do the dishes, so that was good news too.
It is interesting to think how things have changed since we all graduated college. People are buying or have already bought houses, and a couple of them are already having kids (I like how I say “already,” even though we are in our late 20s. We aren’t that young). It makes me happy that we still hang out with these people, that even though the things that brought us together (college, pep band) are over, we are still friends. I just wish we all had time to get together more often.
We went camping last weekend and it was great. We had a lot of fun, and the weather was mostly nice. It did rain on Saturday afternoon for a couple of hours, but other than that it was alright. Ryan took a bunch of pictures, and I got him to actually take some of the people that we were camping with, so I’ll try to post some later this week if I have time. It is Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth this weekend, and one of Ryan’s high school friends is running in the marathon and staying with us, so we’ll have a busy weekend. There are usually about 50,000 extra people in town the weekend of the race…we’ll see how it goes this year. I plan on staying in the house as much as possible, other than when we walk down to watch Trent run past. I’ll try to get some photos of the race too.
