Meadow Turns 9, Jumps for Joy

After a late school year Meadow was finally done for the year. And sadly her last year at Barton. Next year she'll move to a school that's closer to us.

We treated her to ice cream at Sonny's Cafe.

After taking 2 years off from birthday parties due to Covid, this year we promised Meadow a party.

For her cake she requested a rainbow cake.

Unlike at her 4th birthday where I colored the batter naturally I went the artificial route this time.

I followed this recipe for Rainbow Bundt Cake.

You add each color one layer at a time. How it makes a rainbow shape as it bakes I don't know. Too bad I won't know how it looks inside until I cut into it at her party.

The next day, Meadow decorated the cake with rainbow sprinkles of course.

Can't wait to see what it looks like inside.

Oh, just our almost 9 year old eating the extra frosting. They learned from their papa.

Brooke's getting really good at these food trays. First the Easter bunny and now a lion.

Meadow wanted a trampoline party this year. Actually she really wanted a party at our house, but our house is just not ready for entertaining yet.

Meadow had a Lion Guard theme to the party.

She had been planning this for months.

Soon our guests would arrive.

I hate the cheap toy party favors that are given out at birthdays. We chose little plants instead.

She invited one friend from school and the rest were her friends from birth.

I wasn't sure I'd be jumping, but I in fact did go jumping since Theo was afraid of the other kiddos.

There was a couple other birthday parties here but not many kids out jumping.

Theo and I had a blast while Meadow ran around with her friends.

Someday we'll have to come back and go as a family. Apparently Davin and Dora do this.

I was just as thirsty as Meadow at this point.

I wasn't sure about the trampoline park idea, but it ended up being lots of fun.

I couldn't believe the kids jumped the full 2 hours.

Her friends and her also played some of the arcade games and gave Meadow their tickets.

Meadow won the mystery prize, except it was missing.

So she got a slushy in its place.

Time for cake.

Brooke outdid herself this time.

Sort of had a mushroom look, but still cool that it turned out.

The mushroom rainbow bundt cake was a hit.

Back at home it was time for Meadow's favorite part. Opening presents.

New books and crafts.

And a ukulele. She's been wanting one for a long time.

Brooke and I nearly completed the last of the woodchips. Now we can start adding new plants.

Our yard has lots of potential. Hopefully we can make it beautiful again.

Comments

Yardwork, Ikea and Pumpkins

My new parents-in-law got us a dehydrator for the wedding. Knowing we were going to be cleaning up the garden and going to farmer's market, we took a gander at our millionth kitchen device during breakfast. Scott added granola to his oatmeal. The oatmeal was rather bland, just the way Brooke likes it. Scott was actually cleaning up so I had to take a quick photo of him as proof. Scott told me he was, "putting a blanket down for Peanut," while singing. During the winter months peanut needs a warm place to peer through the window. Seeing as it was nearly November, I setup his blanket for him. Seeing as the farmers market season is dwindling down, we headed to the market...once again. The close proximity to the cities central farmer's market has to be one of the best assets of living in NoMi. We were both amazed by the bounty of produce still on sale. We quickly filled up our first bag and took it back to the car....

Hike Trip with the Kids to Nerstrand State Park

Meadow and I had so much fun hiking and geocaching last weekend, we decided to do it again. I was busy photographing for a project in Lake City. Our state park pass expires at the end of the month so we decided on Nerstrand State Park. A short drive from Minneapolis I'd always wanted to go. I love that they had this natural playground. First we wanted to see the waterfall. Little hiker. The waterfall was a lot smaller than I expected but it was open for free play. I let the kids play for awhile. Then we found another area to play. Mr Independent had to hike back himself. That's my stubborn little guy. We took a lunch break before geocaching. Meadow didn't believe me she had smoothie on her face. Theo either. We finished our day by hiking almost the whole park to find the cache. Too bad Scott couldn't have joined us.

Work Trip: Cincinnati Rules or How I walked and biked the inner core of Cincy

Another week, another 360 college campus shoot. This time I was photographing the University of Cincinnati. I was stoked to go here and tried talking Brooke into going, knowing that it's an awesome place for old house nuts like us. Unfortuntely Brooke didn't say yes until after rewards tickets disappeared. First stop was Short Vine right next to the University of Cincinnati campus. Reddit told me I needed to try out Al-Madina so that's where I headed. With no car I just walked everywhere the first couple of days. I found a place to eat behind the local library. Al-Madina is well worth a stop. This part of town was already making me fall in love with this city. Why is it not mentioned alongside Boston, New Orleans and Savannah as great American architectural cities? My room at the Graduate Hotel had a corner dedicated to local rock and roll acts. A nice touch. Cincinnati was rad. A place that felt equally East Coast while being squarely in the Midwest. Missing teeth in pla...

Search This Blog