This time last year: January

This time last year I was snowed in at our home in Georgia. Everything there was shut down for days! I didn't even have to work for 3 straight days! This time last year I was also frustrated because everything was shut down and I couldn't work because a a few inches of snow. This would never happen in MN. Here is a picture of our home in the beautiful snow.

And NOW.....we finally have some snow here in MN! There is probably a good solid 4 inches on the ground that has fallen since last weekend. We keep getting a little here and a little there. I am excited for the snow but I am a little greedy and want more!

Night Trains!

Two Saturdays ago I had a date night with my friend Tara and her 4 year old Tyler. I had heard about this exhibit called Night Trains at the Twin Cities Model Railroad Museum from a co-worker (thanks Hannah!) and knew I had to take Tyler there....and I thought it looked pretty cool as well!

We started out the night at Snuffy's. I had not been here in forever! It was as good as I remember and of course I could not pass up a chocolate banana malt! When we arrived at the Museum and started the walk through the Night Trains set up Tyler shouted out "I love Trains! I love Trains!!" then looked at me and Tara and asked each of us "Do you love trains?" of course we said "Yes!!".

The Night Train set up was very fun. They had cute little towns set up around the railroad tracks and had about 5 trains going around at once. They even had a few Twin Cities Landmarks like Mikey's Dinner and the Gold Medal Flour building.

After finishing up the Night Train exhibit we headed to another building to see more toy trains. It was unbelievable at how many trains this place has! They even have a few places for the kids to play with toy trains and operate the electric trains.

I know Tyler had a great time! But Tara and I enjoyed it just as much. I highly recommend this to anyone that has a little one in their life who loves trains....young or old!

We got snow!!!

Well, sort of... We got to see some snow! BUT we had to drive all the way to the north east corner of the state in... Grand Marais, MN....

This past weekend Eric and I drove up to Castle Danger to visit Aunt Ada and Uncle Chuck. We arrived a little disappointed (at first) to see hardly any snow on the ground at their house. We spent our first evening at their house sipping tea and catching up on every day life. On Saturday morning we had breakfast and then headed out to Cascade River State Park (which is close to Grand Marais) for some winter hiking. On the drive to the park it was snowing - lightly - and by the time we got to our destination there was a good inch of fresh snow on the ground. It looked very pretty and was mostly untouched. We started our hike to the top of Lookout Mountain - round trip 3.5 miles. We first passed the Cascade River waterfall. The falls were beautiful and completely frozen over!

Thankfully, it had snowed where we were or it would have been hard going on the trail. In many places there was ice on the trail, but the snow kept it from being slippery. Part of our hike was on the Superior Hiking Trail. It was such a joy for me and Eric to be hiking again. We are looking forward to continuing the SHT when it gets warm enough to spend nights on the trails.

The hike was beautiful! All the trees were covered with snow and we saw some amazing views when we got to the top of the mountain. At the top there was about 6 more inches of snow and we had fun stomping around in it before heading back down the mountain. Part of me wanted to stay a while because I knew we were not heading to snow back at home... If it would have been warmer (it was 15 degrees and windy) I might have!



Lake Superior is in the far background

 

Chuck & Ada



Eric tasting the snow...



He was caught in the act!



We really enjoyed our hike and I wish it would have been a little longer. It was nice to enjoy the beautiful outdoors and fresh snow. After our hike at Cascade we had pizza at Sven & Olie's in Grand Marais. The pizza tasted great after the hike, but we had to wait for an hour. (almost got the hunger grumps!) On the way back to Castle Danger I took a nice nap in the car. This is usually my routine when we visit Chuck and Ada....Hike, Eat, Sleep. :)

On Sunday we went to church with Chuck and Ada, which is next door to their home, and then went out to ear for lunch at a local restaurant called Our Place. After lunch we went on a quick one mile walk at Split Rock. The trails here had hardly any snow and were covered in ice, but the sun came out for us and we enjoyed her warmth.

We enjoyed our trip up north and were very happy to see some snow. We may even head back up in February if they get some more snow in hopes of snow shoeing.

Missing Snow

I know, I think I have mentioned that we do not have snow this winter in MN a lot in my blog posts. But snow is one of the many reasons we moved back to MN. We have had a few snow showers that gave us 1-3 inches....but then we have had record highs as well so....all the snow has melted! I really miss the snow.... we have missed it for the last 5 years and I really wanted it this winter!

This weekend we are traveling up north to visit Eric's aunt and uncle in Castle Danger. I am praying that they have snow and will get more snow this week so we can enjoy it while we are there. A few years ago we went snowshoeing with them while we were home for Christmas. It was a beautiful year for snow... so, this post I am reminiscing about playing in the snow and enjoying the beautiful outdoors in MN.

Eric

Eric, Rachel & Me

Chuck & Ada

Breaking in

Monday night Eric and I came home and found our apartment burglarized. SUCK! We called 911 and our landlord right away and then started checking to see what they had taken. They took about 25 DVDs, my old camera (thankfully I had my new one with me!), and a TON of jewelry. You all know I love my jewelry... most of what they took can be replaced and I am not too worried about it. BUT they did take an earring and ring set that belonged to my grandmother that can not be replaced. I am very disappointed that it is now gone but I do have a lot of other things from my grandma to help remind me of her. It just SUCKS. Also, thankfully we had renters insurance so it should cover everything that was taken. If you rent and don't have renters insurance....you need to get it!!! Anyways, we are grateful that it wasn't worse and the cats seemed to be OK. Just not the best way to start the new years....

New Camera

I love my new camera! I have been playing with it for the last week and it has some fun special features that my old camera did not have.

One of the new features is the lense has a stabalizer. I am not sure exactly what it does but it is amazing! I have been able to take some very clear pictures in dim lighting. I love it!


Using only the christmas lights on this one



This is my REFLECTION in a window! It was dark outside, no flash, and the snow flakes are attached to the window.

Snow fall on New Years Eve

 There is also a video recording feature on the camera. This is awesome! I am excited about using it more! Here is a video of a buck in my parents back yard....nothing fancy but still fun right?

The Camera also has about twice the megapixels that I used to have so I will get sharper images.



Gus, my parent's cat



I am sure I will find more things that I love about my camera as the days go by!

Christmas & New Years

Happy New Year! I hope it has been a wonderful week for you all! We had a great Christmas spending time with both of our families. We played lots of games, ate lots of cookies and other great food, and got a lot of great Christmas gifts! The best gift I got this year was a new camera! I got a Nikon 3100 and love all the new features the camera has. Eric's favorite gift was a new pair of winter boots. He has not had a new pair since middle school!



My mom, VERY excited to open her gifts :)



My parent's infamous flocked Christmas tree



Me & Eric celebrating Christmas with his family



Eric's family tree

We also went for a lot of walks over the Christmas holiday....trying to keep the calorie count down a little. The pictures below are from a walk at Rum River Park.

Dan, Becky & Eric

For New Years we spent time with Eric's cousins. We spent some time on their lake ice skating and playing settlers. We had a great time hanging out with them! We will be spending time with all the cousins again in a few weekends....its going to be crazy fun!