road trip: take III

we woke up in the stinky motel and got a move on! first thing saturday morning i visited my Target stores. one way or another we were lost and ended up driving for almost an hour trying to find the store. it ended up that we were only 5 minutes away from the store to begin with... it allowed for some fun laughs and great directions from a variety of locals. :)

amy's old roommate, kevin, happened to be in virginia with his girlfriend, visiting some friends the same time we were there. we made a point to meet up with them and did so at virginia beach. we had a great time hanging out with them and learned all about sand crabs! it was fun to see kevin again and spend some time with them.

virginia beach, VA - lots of cabanas

me & amy

a sand crab

after that we made our way to north carolina - the outer banks. what a BEAUTIFUL place. it took a few hours to make it into the cape area, but the houses were so fun to look at along our drive. we sat in traffic for a good 2 1/2 hours and the sun was beating in the passenger side. i put my cowboy hat on my shoulder to shield it (or so i tried).

covered from the sun... but hot!

entering cape hatteras - national seashore

the decks go all the way to the roof so they can view the ocean

sun rays shining through the clouds

the following picture is one of my favorite photos of the whole trip! i saw this house as we were on the way to our campsite. it was so unique and beautiful!

To be continued...

Lunch with the Ladies

Today all the ladies from my Dad's side came over for lunch. We had such a great time catching up, telling stories and laughing. Cousin Jenny had to work today... we missed you there Jen. Hope you have fun in CA.

Jameson (Lindsey's son), cousin Lindsey, Aunt Barb, Grandma, Aunt Diane, Mom, Me, cousin Katie, Aunt Nancy & cousin Beth

Looking at Mom's pics from Banff - BEAUTIFUL!

Bay Window Bench

we've been working on the front bay window bench for quite some time. it's finally finished! when i walked in from my road trip, Troy and his mom had set up a sewing shop and started on the cushions for the bench! it was such a nice surprise to see. we had picked out the fabric earlier this summer and just didn't have time to learn how to make the cushions. Troy's mom came over and the two of them put in about 15 hours before i even came home. i started helping as soon as i unloaded and we finished the following day. what a PROJECT that was!

fabric - cut to size

troy on the sewing machine... the kid can sew!

one cushion down...

the final product!

we had no idea how involved this storage bench was going to be when we started, but it's worth it. we love it! thanks to Troy's mom for helping us line out the sewing work and help with everything. next up... the curtains. :)

road trip: take II

night 2 we arrived to a hotel in PA to spend the night. i was visiting 3 Target stores in the area on friday (for work) so we thought it'd be a good idea to stay at a hotel vs. camping. on our way we ran into a HUGE storm, rain so thick we couldn't see more than five feet in front of us. not only did it rain, but it hailed. it was interesting to see that everyone put their hazard lights on so that they were easier to spot in the rain storm... great idea! amy & i are bringing that to MN and will start to drive with hazards on during a blizzard.

the car just in front of us... with hazards on!

after visiting my stores on friday we headed to Hampton, VA. on the way we went through Baltimore, MD and went through some crazy tunnels that went under the water. YIKES! the tunnels were so long and you could completely tell you were driving downward and then back upward to leave the tunnel. it was a bit scary, but a fun experience.


on friday night we had dinner at a great italian restaurant - Pane'e Vino. we tried their famous fried mozzarella (not your traditional mozz sticks) and they were fab! here are a few pictures from dinner.

the house cab was so yummy!

great bread dips!

wine corks line the small server area - it was so cool! we got one as a souvenir.

We continued into VA and checked into a CRAP hotel for the night. The air didn't work and it was so stinky! We made it through the night, but certainly didn't get a good night of sleep. :)

stinky room with an air conditioner that blew out hot air... :(

To be continued...

road trip: take I

We took off on our road trip Wednesday night around 6:00pm. We drove for a good 7 hours and stopped just inside of Indiana a little after 1:00am. We spent a couple hours taking a quick cat nap at a rest stop and were back on the road at 6:00am! Who'd have thought you'd feel so safe amongst a lot full of truckers?

a shot of the backseat just moments into the road trip

We were pleasantly surprised to realize how expensive the toll fees were going to be on this trip. On the Indiana and Illinois interstates, you take a ticket when you enter the toll road and pay when you exit. The longer you're on the toll road, the more money you pay. This day our most expensive toll fee was just under $10.00 and we shelled out around $25.00.

a toll ticket

On day 2 we entered our first destination... Philadelphia! We stopped at the visitor center to pick up a few pamphlets to determine what we'd do with the few hours we'd spend downtown Philly.

posing with an Indian statue at the Philadelphia visitor center

We decided to spend a few hours downtown Philly enjoying the streets. Amy hoped to get a good Philly cheese steak while we were in the city, but unfortunately we didn't find one. Here are a few snapshots while roaming the city:

downtown Philly, park

the LOVE sculpture

tons of carriages lined the streets

Although we weren't there too long, we had fun in Philly wandering the streets aimlessly. We hit rush hour traffic - DOWNTOWN - and spent a good hour getting back on the highway... headed to our nightly destination.

TO BE CONTINUED...

RoAD tRiP!

We're off and driving today! Amy and I are on our way to a week long ROAD TRIP. :) We're starting here and heading to Indiana, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennesee and back home. The trip is roughly 3,500 miles. Many more pics to come once we're back home.

This past weekend

Here are a few pics from this past weekend. Mila was hunting aound the house for any sliver of sun she could find - here's the only area she found, the bottom of the stairs.



Kaitlyn and Mila snuggling on the chair


Kaitlyn made some yummy cupcakes! We had a great time decorating with vanilla and chocolate frosting and LOTS of sprinkles. :)

Troy and I were putting my sunglasses on Mila.

The Coon Rapids dam

We took a bike ride down West River Road to check out the Coon Rapids dam on the Mississippi river. It was such a pretty day - lots of sun and not a cloud in the sky! A few of the sections were closed off, but you can see in the pic the sections on each end of the dam were open today.

linds & KC

daddy-o & KC

Mila & the bug - Part II

I think it was late last year when I posted a video with Mila and a bug. Well, here's round II. Last night she kept barking and barking and when I went downstairs she was playing with a bug. It was funny to watch for a few minutes but after about 10 minutes, I finally got rid of the bug.


SCORE: Mila = 0. Me = 1.

Happy 4th of July

We celebrated the 4th with a spur of the moment party at our house. Good chow on the grill, drinks, yard games and we even had our very own fireworks display! Mila kept barking at the fireworks, but by the end of the night she was pretty used to the noise. It was a beautiful day and a fun night!

linds & troy

under the tent on the driveway

lighting a few of the fireworks

the end - a smoke filled yard.

jeremy, tracy & mila

Fashion Designer in the Making

Kaitlyn just completed her Summer Academy class - a summer school program where the kids can pick which "fun" class they'd like to attend. Kaitlyn and Alee picked Passion for Fashion and boy did they learn a ton. Class was at Columbia Heights High School so the girls had to wake up at 6am every morning to bus to class by 8am. Class was four hours every day - an intense schedule!

This past week was the last week of class and they hosted a Fashion Show! Their class had about 20 girls and each girl was able to walk the cat walk while someone explained to us why she chose this outfit and what aspects of fashion come into play. I have some GREAT videos but can't get them uploaded right now, I'll try again later. In the meantime, here are some fun pictures from the night.

Alle & Kaitlyn w/ the sign they made for the show

Summer Academy! What a great program.

on the cat walk... the girls were able to pick out their own outfits. CUTE!

Kaitlyn's fashion book and name tag on her desk

the girls standing by their Anna Sui (a fashion designer) poster in pink

Ms. Anderson was SO much fun!

New Orleans

While I was down in New Orleans for work, I extended my trip a few days to hang out with Renee, one of my best friends from high school, and her husband Zack. Shirls was able to come down as well and we had a FUN filled weekend! Here are some pictures from the trip...

zack & renee

renee & linds

beads EVERYWHERE! see them hanging in the tree?

beautiful houses in the Garden District

we took a trolley ride through the Garden District, saw Tulane University and GREAT houses

a part of the French Quarter - the French Market... fun flea market!

a MUST have - beignets (pronounced benyays), YUM-O!

Cafe De Monde - the best beignets in New Orleans

me & mom on the Riverwalk

renee, linds & mom on Bourbon Street

It was such a fun trip. We had great conversations over fabulous food. We miss you, Renee! We'll come back sometime soon.