Quick Weekend Getaway

This past weekend I went to Minneapolis to celebrate my best friend's 40th birthday. It was just me that went while Max and Andy had their boys weekend together.

I have never really spent time in Minneapolis before so Kelli did an excellent job of showing me around. Friday night we went out in downtown Minneapolis and had a lot of laughter and reminiscing of old times over dinner and plenty of drinks.



Saturday was quite the chilly day as I believe it was 37 degrees with a brisk wind that blew right through your jacket. But, as everyone there would say "at least the sun is out."

Since I have not spent time in Minneapolis Kelli decided that we would hit up a couple tourist spots. The sculpture park/garden is a popular tourist spot to take photos and it provided a nice scenic view of downtown.





The stone bridge was pretty cool and absolutely beautiful...but super cold. I couldn't stand out there longer than 5 minutes. Notice the rainbow in the pics.




Kelli also took me to the best gluten free restaurant. It was the best food ever! I was so happy to go into a restaurant and not have to worry about what I was going to order.

Saturday night was the big party for Kelli. She had well over 60 people there to celebrate her special day. I am not surprised that many people came because Kelli is truly a one-of-a-kind friend. She is caring, sweet and would do anything for you. I am so glad I got to meet so many of her friends and family. Everybody was also super nice.






Sunday we had brunch with Kelli's family, but then we needed to relax at the house because a) it was cold outside and I was over being cold and b) we were super tired from our weekend of going out and being young again.

While I was away, Andy and Max had a good "boys weekend" together. Max played hard at his soccer game. No goal, but he says he tried really hard and that's all that matters. They did a lot of bike rides around the neighborhood because Max is currently obsessed with riding his bike outside. On Saturday they also went bowling together.




It was such a nice weekend in Minneapolis catching up with a long time friend of mine who I rarely get to see, but when we do see each other it's like time has never passed. It was so nice that I might just make it an annual trip to visit Kelli in Minneapolis. Even though I had an awesome time it was even more awesome to come home to Andy and Max.

Weekend Update

It rained ALL DAY on Saturday...and it was a nice change of pace. Unfortunately it cancelled Max's soccer game, but it was so nice to have a full day of rain. FYI...I never would have said that 10 years ago...or even 5 years ago. So, on Saturday morning I took Max to the mall with me. I needed to get a birthday present for a friend and he had a gift card to the Disney store that he's had since his birthday. Once he picked out his toy from the Disney store he was excited to pay for the toy all by himself with his gift card. He even swiped the card by himself and that was probably the highlight of his day.

Following the shopping, Max wanted to do the bungee jump thing in the mall. Hey, it was raining and we had nothing better to do. Max had a blast on this thing.

Saturday night called for a babysitter while Andy and I headed to the Jimmy Buffet concert with our friends.




Of course you have to put your hands up for "fins to the left, fins to the right."




On Sunday night, we had my cousins over for dinner. My cousin Kaitlynn and her family are in town for the week visiting Stephanie so of course they came down to Chandler for a visit. It was great to have them over. There were a lot of laughs and it was super adorable seeing Max interact with Josie who is about 14 months old. He was so sweet and gentle with her that is just warmed my heart.

Bounce House and Halloween Costumes

I was on Facebook and got sucked into a repetitive ad for America's Biggest Bounce House in Phoenix this past weekend. It looked like fun, so I was sold and purchased two tickets for Max and I to attend on Sunday morning. Andy didn't want to go since it was during the Packer game, so I turned it into a Max and Mommy day. I really had no idea what to expect. We had an hour timeframe that we were slotted for.  When I arrived I couldn't have been more happy about the weather. It was 67 degrees out (very odd for October) and cloudy. It rained all night long and looked like it could continue to rain that morning, but the rain held off throughout our time slot. I was super thankful for the cool weather because that bounce house could have heated up pretty fast if it was warm out.

The bounce house was HUGE. I really had no idea what to expect, but it sure was BIG! We had one hour and I was worried that wasn't enough time, but I was wrong. We were only in there for 15 minutes and I was already exhausted...and I workout, but this was a different kind of workout. Max was supercharged and ready to rock. I had to find my strength and keep up with him.
















There was a DJ in the middle of the bounce house and he played Kids Bop music and shot out bubbles and foam throughout. The DJ played one of Max's favorite songs - Shake it Off by T. Swift. We got out there and shook our butts together.






There was so much laughter during that hour that it was worth the pain my body felt the next day when I woke up. I could barely move all day long, but Max's laughter was worth every ache and pain my old body felt.




























On Sunday afternoon I took Max on our annual shopping trip for a Halloween costume. On our way he knew exactly what he wanted to be. I kept telling him to have an open mind because the store has a lot of costumes and he just might change his mind once we get there. He had fun trying on costumes and laughing at himself in the mirror. Here are some pics of him trying on costumes.




He did settle on a costume, but it's not the one he went into the store for. I have managed to turn it into a family costume too...something Andy is super excited about!

Birthday Party And Friends

Sweet Mona turned 4 and had a circus themed birthday party at no other than the Circus School of Arizona. How cool is that? Max was pretty excited to go and learn some tricks. They had these kids do the tight rope walk, silks and of course moves on the ring among other things.












Max had so much fun with his friends and was pretty tired afterward as you can see by him clowning around on the way home.


That night Max had his friends over for dinner, s'mores and playing while their parents went out to dinner. In the morning Max asked if he could have a sleepover next time so him and his friends can have pancakes in the morning. Ugh...we will see, but I am sure we can arrange that.

Soccer and Chuck E Cheese

Max had his first soccer game of the season on Saturday morning. I was thankful it was at 8am because it was pretty warm out already. Max didn't score a goal, but he worked very hard and we are very proud of him.










Look at that last picture. Max looks so big and grown up. Where's my baby?

On Saturday night I had the idea of taking Max to Chuck E Cheese for dinner. Even though it was my idea, we were not thrilled to go because that place is a nightmare if you are not a child. I still wanted to go though because every child needs to experience Chuck E Cheese. The place has definitely changed since we were kids. There is no more robotic mouse and band to play music on stage. Instead there is a TV that is kind of lame, but Max enjoyed it very much. The food was only OK, but it was more fun just to see the joy on Max's face. He had so much fun! That made going there so worth it.








Max had so much fun that he requested we go to dinner there every Saturday night because he liked getting tickets for prizes. Uhm...that's a no!