Ice skating at night

Since the holidays are over (and yes, I realize it was the end of January, but things around here are finally settling down lol) our weekends are pretty much open to do whatever we want and last weekend we took full advantage of that!

First we stopped by Miller's for lunch...

\

and I kid you not, the burgers were basically the same size are M's head. I couldn't get a picture because she tore into before I even got a chance. Girl was hungry!

After that, we stopped by some friends house to catch up a little bit and ended up playing some Just Dance.

I got my butt kicked lol

A few weeks ago, we found M a pair of basically brand new ice skates for less than $5 and she has been begging to use them ever since. So, we went to a skating rink the next town over for open skate.

It started off like this...

But eventually, she got the hang of it and had a blast! I hadn't been skating in years and I definitely forgot how fun it was. I also forgot how much my thighs and ankles hurt the next day lol

Aren't they cute?

I remember the first day

It's true.

And now, we are off to go celebrate that moment!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

The best part of growing up on a hill was by far the sledding. We lived on a quiet side street, so for most of the winter we would be outside, sliding down, often ending up in the middle of the road, before trudging back up the hill and starting the whole process over again. We'd usually break for some hot chocolate and then be out again until dark.

We used to get feet of snow...It wasn't that uncommon to wake up one morning and see 12-24 inches outside your window. We rarely had Snow Days though, because in Michigan, snow is just part of the deal.

It's been a few years since it's snowed like that, though. In fact, last year, it only snowed once and by noon the next day, it had all melted. It made for a nice winter to drive in, but I was starting to miss a Michigan Winter - complete with snow, ice, hot chocolate and some sledding.

Since Jimmy's daughter is only 5, she's never really been able to experience a winter like he and I remember them. In fact, she'd never been sledding! So when we had a few feet come down last week, we took the opportunity to take her out.

I just love the photo of them carrying the sled together

She had such a blast - and we did, too! We sledded for about two hours and she was not happy about having to go haha

Jimmy tried to be cool and go down on the sled standing up...

... it didn't really work out too well

I also just happened to catch this on camera when I was filming her - it gets little shaky at the end because I was literally doubled over laughing... you'll see why!

It was pretty much just like I remember is being... lots of fun and a little cold! But I think this picture pretty much sums up the day...

Love those rosy cheeks!

Camping next to water...

We had pretty decent weather while we were up north - it got a little chilly at nights, but that just made for lots of snuggling with lots of blankets. We thought we were going to be able escape without any rain, but we got hit one day - Jimmy jinxed us by saying he had never been up north when it didn't rain at least once haha

I will admit, that it was nice sleeping "outside" in the rain. I don't think I've ever slept that well! Unfortunately, even I can only sleep so much so once we were up and about we had to find something to do since the fire was out and the chairs were all wet.

The nearest town was about 30 minutes away, so we got dressed, grabbed some breakfast at a coney island (so Michigan haha) and headed even farther west.

We were actually planning on going to the beach that day anyway, so we went...and looked at it. haha Still pretty, even though it was rainy and foggy.

You can only look at an empty beach for so long, so after that we walked around the town a little bit - we explored some antique shops, a few pawn shops and stopped to have lunch at the Jamesport Brewery. We also stopped by the farmers market but there wasn't really much going on because of the weather.

We went back to the town we were staying in and found the bowling alley so we decided to play a few games. They also had a pool table to we occupied ourselves with that for a little while as well, before decided to go get some dinner (we had been making most of our meals over the fire, but since it was raining and wet, we couldn't really do that)

We found a restaurant right on a little lake so we stopped in and ate before heading back to our camper for the night.

Can't really complain about a view like that...

Today's the day I'm going camping

When I first scheduled my vacation, I was honestly a little worried about how I would feel when the time came to have over a week off. To that point, the longest I'd ever really been away from work was a four day weekend.

But, I think we scheduled our vacation perfectly. We started off with Chicago and ended with...

camping.

That was our campsite - our camper, firepit and some trees. (there was also a port-a-potty, but I was pretty sure ya'll didn't need a picture lol)

 We spend the first couple days exploring the town we were staying in - we made lots of trips to the grocery store and to get firewood!

This was pretty much my view for the first few days - to be honest, I didn't really need anything else!

Go to Mr. Jelly Bean

My one request while we were in Chicago, was a Chicago-style hot dog, so on Sunday morning we got up and went to get lunch...

before heading off on our next adventure...

 to the Jelly Belly Factory! 

None of knew what to expect, but we got to learn all about the history of Jelly Bellys, how they are made, saw art made of Jelly Bellys and even learned all about Regan's love of them. And of course, we got free samples and all sorts of treats to take home with us (we still have a bunch in our pantry, actually!)

While we were driving to the factory, we saw a sign for a cheese shop near by so after we finished up, we went to check it out - it ended up being an antique/cheese shop so we looked around for a while before buying some stuff to bring home with us - including honey sticks, which I had searched every where for to get Jimmy for his birthday. I guess I should've just gone to Wisconsin to begin with haha

We made one more stop before heading home for the night - to see a elk preserve right outside of the town Jimmy's dad lives in. It was a nice relaxing, way to end the day and our time in Chicagoland!

I do it for Chicago.

The birthday girl only had one request for her birthday dinner so of course, we indulged while we were in Chicago...

and she wanted crab.

And not only did she want to eat, she wanted to break it apart all by herself - we were dodging errant pieces of crab shell all dinner long! It was too funny to watch!

Apparently, Jimmy hadn't gotten his fill of the Billy Goat because after dinner we went to the original Billy Goat to grab a drink and look around at the rest of the stuff hanging on the wall. Jimmy has already said that the next time we're in Chicago, he wants to go back so he can look around some more - there was so much and no way we could see it all!

 

Soon, it was time to head back so we hopped on the train again while she dressed up Max in his Tiger gear (don't worry, he got a Cubby uniform as well - but absolutely no ChiSox ;-)

 

 Meanwhile, Jimmy decided he was hungry and couldn't resist the leftovers he had been carrying around all evening...

 

 I'm really not sure why I found this so funny...but I couldn't stop laughing!

Drove to Chicago, all things know, all things know

Once we got to Navy Pier, we stopped at the Billy Goat to get some food - Jimmy was so excited! He's been talking about going to the Bill Goat for months!

After we got a cheezborger and some cheeps, we made a bee-line to the place the birthday girl had been looking forward to the whole trip...

Build-A-Bear!

She picked out a sweet puppy named Max and had a blast building him - the best part was the stuffing and picking out the heart. If any of you have ever been to Build-A-Bear, you know they have a special thing they do with the heart - Rub it on your nose so it smells good, give it a kiss so it's loved, rub it on the top of your head so it grows big and tall, etc - and the guy helping us was so great during this part, he included each of us into his little spiel. She got to rub it on grandpa's heart so he loved his family, on dad's legs so he was strong and - my favorite part - on stepmom's (ie me) hair so he had style! hahaha I about died laughing!

After that, we took a stroll through Harry Carey's restaurant to look at some of the memorabilia - Jimmy and I probably could have spent hours there, it was packed with stuff!

But we couldn't take too long, because we were on our way to a special birthday dinner....

But there's a light on in Chicago, and I know I should be home

Jimmy's dad lives right outside of Chicago, so we decided to take his daughter down there for her birthday and to visit with his dad. She was so excited - she talked about it non-stop pretty much all summer!

We left after he got home from work that night and got in really early on Saturday morning. After catching some sleep, we got on the train and headed downtown.

It started off a little grey and cloudy, but luckily it never really rained! We got pretty lucky with the weather - a little cold, but nothing we couldn't handle :-)

After we got into the city, we got on a boat to travel down to Navy Pier. Even though I'd been to Chicago quite a few times, I'd never actually done this so I was really excited to see a different view of the city.

Next up....

Navy Pier!

Baby, oh, you're a birthday girl tonight

Our first day of vacation started with Jimmy's daughter birthday which was a pretty great way to start!

Him and I stayed up the night before wrapping gifts, decorating and getting balloons for the next morning and she was so surprised when she came downstairs! I even got her a birthday cupcake that she got eat for breakfast - lucky girl ;-)

 Please excuse the bed head - I she was so excited we just dove right in!

After we got ready for the day, we ran some errands and got ready for the rest of our vacation.

 She made out pretty well, but the best part was yet to come...

We'll keep movin' on, we're movin' up, keep movin' on

On Friday, I moved.

I loved my apartment - it was all mine and I loved it. I put a lot of work into (and even more that I never wrote about.) It looked like me. And even though my neighbors were less than desirable and it was pretty small, I'll miss it.

I've been moving things slowly over the past few weeks, but last week, my brother and I loaded the rest into a van and stuffed my Jeep to the gills with the rest of my stuff.

I dropped some off at my parents and moved the rest into my new place.

Living on my own was one of the best experiences I've had - I didn't have to worry about being woken up, or waking anyone up; I could clean and do laundry when I pleased. But most of all, I supported myself - I was on my own. No one to help with bills, no one to make me do things, just me. I learned a lot about myself over the year I lived there and I am over the moon grateful for the opportunity.

I went back to finish up and it looked so small. For some reason, when my furniture and books, and clothes and shelves were in there, it looked much bigger than it actually was. Maybe it was all the personality I put into it spilling out.

I moved to a new town, in a new county. And I'm no longer by myself.

But I'm so very much looking forward to sharing my space with two of my favorite people.

Which one's the birthday boy, she said. I ain't got all night.

Luckily, I get to start my vacation with not one, but two birthdays...

Happy birthday, Jimmy!

Thank you for everything - I'm so, so, so lucky <3 p="p">

Outside in the backyard, underneath the trees, we're gonna grill it up

While we're on the subject of picnic and BBQ's, a few weeks ago, Jimmy's cousins held a house warming party with all of their family so we brought his daughter to go run around on their property.

As you can see, our day involved quite a bit of corn hole! I'm pretty sure we spent 75% of our time playing! Jimmy's cousin had a daughter a few months older than his so the two little ones spent most of the time playing and got along great. Pretty much his entire family showed up - aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters - including a few I hadn't met yet, so it was nice to meet everyone. Jimmy's uncle retired recently and now he does a ventriloquism act - everyone loved him! He did the "PG" version with a puppy dog and an alien, but I guess there is an "adult" act, too. Jimmy and I are really looking forward to seeing that one!

After everything wound down, the night ended with a bonfire and fireworks - just like any good Michigan summer gathering haha

I just recall picnic time with you

A few weeks ago, Jimmy's work held a picnic at an apple orchard out by my house. It was a pretty hot day but we went and had fun anyway!

There was lots for the kids to do - the first thing on our agenda was the play ground so she could show off her new gymnastics skills! Then we tried everything else including the bounce house, face painting, some games and mini golf. All of the guys played horse shoes, so while Jimmy did that, me and his daughter went back around and played some more.

We sat down for a few minutes and I took this series of pictures - I just wanted a picture of her with her face  painted but every time I would take one, she would get super close to the lens! 

I kept taking pictures like that because I thought it would look cool in a collage and I was right - I love the way all these pictures look together!

After Jimmy was done with his game of horse shoes (he and his partner came in third so they scored $20 - wahoo!) we did the rest of things offered before heading out - which meant getting balloons from the clown, of course!

They also had a ride on a fire truck around the orchard so the three of us did that (that's what the picture of Jimmy and his daughter are of) before going to look at the petting zoo and heading home. Pretty sure I ended up taking a nap afterwards - all that fun wiped me out!

All my heros have colorful names and a bad attitude, short-lived fame with an even shorter fuse.

So before I hop in my way-back machine (Jimmy James, anyone? NewsRadio?) and go over everything I did this summer, I should probably start with something recent.

Like last night. That recent enough?

Jimmy's dad was in town and mentioned he was going to the Tigers game, so Jimmy pretty much instantaneously decided he wanted to convince me to go along. It doesn't take much to convince me to go to a baseball game, so after we found some tickets we were on our way.

There was a Kenny Chesney concert going on at Ford Field (which is right behind Comerica Park) so there were a TON of people and a TON of traffic. We left early, but were able to find some parking and walk a couple blocks to the park in time for Jimmy to show off his pitching abilities and grab something to eat before heading up to our seats.

It was also Elvis Night so that provided us with quite a few laughs throughout the game.

We were seated up pretty high so around the 3rd inning we decided to go see if we could find something better. We ended up finding pretty much the perfect seats- upper deck, right behind the plate, second row. I'm convinced that they are the best seats in the house. Unfortunately, they lost but we still had a lot of fun.

After the game, we stayed and watched some fireworks before we went out to Buffalo Wild Wings to eat and play some trivia. We both kept saying what a good time we were having - in fact, by the end of the night, my cheeks hurt from smiling so much. I'd say that was a pretty successful night.

How's everyone's weekend going so far?

Happy Sunday, ya'll!