Farmers Markets and Backyard Rink Building

Everyone ate whatever they wanted for breakfast. Theo picked mangos and eggs. I think he could eat that every day.

Kid loves mangoes.

We finally framed Scott's family sausage recipe.

Hungarian Sausage if you're curious.

Along with a recipe card of my Grandma's.

We thought we'd check out the downtown Minneapolis Farmers Market one last time this year.

I was expecting there to be a lot more open vendors but the stalls were already full of Christmas trees.

There wasn't quite as much produce as we expected, but we did pickup a giant jug of maple syrup.

When your kids are pretentious and only eat real maple syrup, the big jug is needed.

I think we're all on team real maple syrup.

The kids declared today a no screen day.

First we had to clean up the yard one last time before the snow comes.

Then we started working on the kids Christmas present. I picked up a full IronSleek backyard rink kit with all the lumber needed off of Facebook Market a few weeks back. It even came with lights to ring the rink.

We hadn't told the kids yet. They went inside to play upstairs and noticed from the 3rd floor window we were up to something.

Theo and Meadow were peaking from the attic window debating what we were building. Theo came down and then guessed, "Ice rink!"

We had to figure out the best plan to work around our yard. We first thought of going over the sidewalk but didn't think it was fair to our renters.

It would be a chore to take out trash to the alley. Also I was a bit worried about the electrical line running under the garden.

Me in deep thought about how to make this odd shape work. I also bought IronSleek round corner brackets to deal with the odd shape of our gardens and bushes.

Nearly all built out minus the plastic liner and a few more brackets.

Theo came up with the idea to attach it to our garden to make it bigger. We'll see once we add the liner if that was worth it.

Then Meadow and I walked to the library to pick up her next Warriors book.

"I'm Papa!"

The kids each drew a tree for Scott.

They know their papa loves big trees.

The next morning I made a french toast bake for breakfast.

While Scott watched the Packers game I took the kids out on an adventure to Crosby Farm.

There's quite a few geocaches here that we were on the hunt for. Theo scored this Canadian flag pin.

Lots of breaks to climb trees and pose.

Geocaching ain't my thing, but these kids love it.

Comments

Backyard Rink 2.0

The old Coronavirus got us this week. Despite being sick things still needed to get done. Still botheringhis sick dad. As you can see, Theo likes to be a pill from time to time. Meadow is always finding ways to lure Pecan into her room. The weather this week looked like winter so we needed to get our ice rink built. This year we decided to expand it over the sidewalk. It was a wee bit small for us adults last year. Theo helped at times. First we just had to figure out what we could build with the lumber we had. We had enough for the base wall at least. Even Meadow joined us outside for a bit. I'd like to move this raised bed back a couple of feet next year to simplify the geometry. Brooke lent a hand when I needed the help. We use a DIY Iron Sleek setup. 2 x 12s and these metal brackets are all you need if your slope isn't too extreme. I had to fill in some low spots with dirt on the part that went over the middle garden. I had to wait a day or so to...

The Sunday Circular

We stayed out late the night before for our friend Jose's birthday party. This time Scott had more to drink than me. So we slept in. Apparently Peanut also had to much too drink. I woke up to this mess. Of course he's licking the plastic bag in this picture. He loves licking bags -- reminds him of his alley cat days. Scott's hangover comfort food is pancakes and syrup, that would be last thing for me. I tried to cheer him up with emoticon mini pancakes. My stomach was just not having it. This might be the first time I've left pancakes on my plate. Ever. Off to work I went, hungover. Damn you Best Buy! While he went to his job, I worked on getting the chile-braised pork shoulder ( from the latest Bon Appetit ) ready for our epic meal . I got a strawberry plant from the back of someone's pickup truck while Scott was in California. Thanks to Emma for finding it on freecycle . He planted it for me...

Over the River & Through the Woods to Grandmothers House We Clean

My mom had wanted us to come down to my grandparents home to clean for months. Unfortunately a busy summer had kept us away. We finally made it a week after our honeymoon ended. We slept at my parents home in Cudahy before heading down to Racine. We got home from our trip on Tuesday and left for Milwaukee on Thursday. It was almost like an extended vacation. Before leaving the cities we stopped and had dinner at Foxy Falafel. It was pretty good and I like that she uses sprouted chickpeas. I never knew my grandparents on Poppyseed Tuska's side so Grandma and Grandpa Wojcik were a special part of my life. They both passed away last year after living nearly 90 wonderful years. Their home was always a wonderfully warm and inviting place. The perfect place to spend your Christmas Eve in front of a fire place. Since it's going to be sold, Brooke and I took on the massive task of organizing and cleaning the home. When Scott told me h...

Search This Blog