Foggy Weekend

This past weekend we took a little road trip for my niece's first birthday party, which was also a chance to see part of my birth family. Little Madison was surrounded by a lot of friends and family (and lots of kids!) and of course I documented it with pictures.

When we first arrived the guys were all in the basement watching the Gophers game, but eventually made it upstairs. They had the game on with the volume down, but were riveted by it none the less. See picture above and then scroll up to two pictures above that. Eyes on the game, boys. 

Obligatory bow on head shot.

My other niece, Rowan, with my sister in law, Tara

There was kind of a pink hunting gear type theme.

What the heck is going on?

At some point Darby came out to check out what was going on. Such a sweet dog. She/he (?) just stood at the gate quietly and checked everything out. Also, Darby has better hair/fur than me.

Alas, it was time to go... partly because it was just time, but also because we totally forgot to feed the cats before we left. With an hour and a half drive each way and a visit of a couple hours the cats were starving when we returned home. But before we left we had to get a few group pictures.

cousins

Tara, Rowen, and my birth brother, Derek

Me, Derek, my birth dad Leo, and my birth sister, Lindsey

Later that day I asked Riley what her favorite part of the party was. She told me it was when we were saying goodbye. I thought she had a good time so I wasn't sure why she was most excited about leaving the party. I asked her "how come?" and she shared it was because of all the hugging. She is just too cute.

Foggy ride home

Sunday morning, as we lounged around the house, Riley announced that we should go on a pirate hunt. It was even foggier than the day before so it made total sense that we needed to search out the pirates in our neighborhood. We bundled up (well, as much as we needed to since it was almost 50 degrees) and headed outside. 

It was eerily quiet and even Riley asked where all the people were. We got several blocks before we finally saw a car which was really weird. But then suddenly we saw all sorts of people and everyone seemed to be out with their dogs. 

It was at about this time that we really got into the pirate search and had to be careful of all these 'people' wandering the streets... and if a car approached Jesse and Riley would crouch down as if they were hiding. Riley was being quite imaginative and even stated that the pirates were responsible for making this world (because it was foggy?) and that the world was evil. Oh my.

These hedges belong to a neighbor that I remember living there when I was a kid. The yard is impeccable and Jesse is totally jealous that it's not our house. I've never talked to the guy, but as a kid I found him intimidating. Now, he seems pretty nice and will wave when we drive by.

Dirty snow can be interesting, no?

On the lookout for pirates.

Moments later, crouched down hiding from a possible oncoming pirate (aka car).

red oak

Thanks to Riley we started the day off with a nice walk and a little imagination. Actually, we ended the day with some imagination as well, I suppose, as we put up Christmas lights and wrote a letter to Santa.

We were already thinking of a kid's type tablet for her so hopefully that suffices instead of an actual computer. Also, letter sheets are books that she can practice writing in. I was a little surprised that was on there and that there weren't more items, but happy with her reserve.

We thought lights weren't going to happen this year, but with this little burst of warmer weather we decided to get them up. We are actually about to get a new railing on that second story deck so once that's finished, we hope to string the last bit of lights around it. I think it turned out pretty good for it being our first time putting up lights.

And when I say "our" first time putting up lights I mean "Jesse". That was clear, right?