In which I travel to STL for a donut

Yup, the title pretty much sums it up. Well, and I got to hang out with my oldest sister and her new husband, of course. But donuts were definitely involved, as you'll soon see.

Over the past four years I've visited St. Louis six times (this was the fourth in just a little over a year!), but usually we have lots of events and activities planned. First Kirsten graduated from Wash U in 2009 (a second post here), then Evan and I went all out for Spring Break 2011, Mother's Day 2012 was filled with lots of wedding planning fun, Kirsten turned 30 in November 2012, and then was married in April 2013! So now that I have these lovely travel perks, I thought I should take advantage and enjoy a relaxing itinerary-free weekend in good ol' St. Louis. The only thing on my to-do list? Visit the donut shop, and make a movie, naturally:

Now that Scott has shown me his magical video-processing techniques I hope to turn my own stockpile of video clips into something fun.

In case you're wondering, this is what a relaxing weekend in St. Louis looks like:

Bike ride through Forest Park with a stop at the fountain

Reading and picnicking in Forest Park

I took this photo to demonstrate to my mom that we're repurposing our childhood sheets as a picnic blanket - but aren't the fountains cool? Makes me feel like I'm in France.

Taking in a play at the outdoor theater: the Muny. We say Nunsense, with Phyllis from The Office! "Sorry I'm late" she says as she steps on stage a few scenes in. "I was in the Office" .. buahaha. The show was full of all sorts of one-liners and catered towards the St. Louis crowd.

These kitties proved to be nice little alarm clocks! : )

A farmer's market brunch, complete with a World's Fair donut. Can't beat it.

Movie making magic

Our produce doesn't look like this yet in Minnesota!

No trip to STL is complete without a trip to the Arch

We embraced the crowds down by Fair St. Louis to enjoy a FREE Counting Crows concert

and Fireworks!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July! Can you believe that school supplies are back on the shelves already? Evan starts twitching around this time of year, anticipating the end of his summer vacation ... and our flight bennies!

Wondering how we're flying standby this summer? Read about Evan's job at the airport here.

Summer 2013 Destinations:

Orlando, Fla.

Fairbanks, Alaska

(I have another post about Alaska coming soon!)

New Jersey (and some NYC)

Wrapping up 2011

Just a few weeks ago my family was all home in New Jersey for Christmas, decorating the tree, rolling out cookies, prepping one of my favorite meals of the year, and trompsing through the woods and fields with dog in tow. With four of us sisters spread across the country, it is a treasured moment when we all are under one roof, let alone home in good ol' NJ.

When we were little we turned into little ballerinas around Christmas time, pausing from our sugar-high-induced Nutcracker "performance" long enough to grab a taste of some "food to eat" (as Karrin used to say, aka sugar cookie dough) before resuming our "dance" - which, much to our frustration, inevitable turned into skipping and galloping in a circle.

I thought it only fitting that I set the following video of us decorating the tree in NJ to the much beloved tune from the Nutcracker. (and I'm happy to say I finally undecorated our Minnesota tree and gave it the boot last night ... so nice to have some more space in our house!)

ENJOY!
(I think my favorite part is when, just for a second, Scott pretends to run in front of the camera with lots of animation)

One of my favorite meals of the year: Swedish meatball!

Apple Salad with walnuts and homemade whipped cream

            

Our sugar cookies are kind of a big deal ; )

The recipe is actually my great-grandma's, and won the purple ribbon at the South Dakota State Fair years ago. Perhaps I will share next Christmas season. The key to decorating is to make an icing, not a traditional frosting.

The Pearson family

the Girls! KCKS (I'm in the process of starting up a sisters blog - I'll let you know once that's up and running)

Christmas morning

             

Sarah gave us all snuggly mittens!

Evan and dad got matching robes!

Christmas Day hike at Baldpate

Bryant Park, NYC

            

We wanted to go skating, but the line was way too long

Toparepa at a stand in Bryant Park. YUM.

Rockefeller Center: the tree! Great photo taken by my dad.

Nice pic of the parents in Central Park

Mike can't help but climb on rocks (Central Park)

We walked to the Upper East Side where we used to live (when I was a toddler). Up on one of the top floors!

On our way to the Brooklyn Bridge, here in the subway

Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge, with the Freedom Towers in the background

Impromptu visit with childhood friend Ariella (fellow Nutcracker dancer!) at a coffee shop in Brooklyn!

View of the city from Brooklyn, photo by John Pearson

We all met up at the Tree to congratulate Kirsten and Scott on ....

their ENGAGEMENT!

It was so much fun being in NYC to celebrate with them right away. Probably the highlight of the trip! We're so excited for them and can't wait for all the planning to begin : )

We also enjoyed lots of quality time with Max ... I won't mention who's butt this is ; )

See this post for more pics/videos of us playing with Max last year ... when there was tons of snow!

It's always sad when we all go our separate ways at the end of our visit, but there's a lot of exciting adventures in store for everyone this year .... Kirsten and Scott are planning their wedding (!!!!!), Karrin is headed to Madagascar, Sarah is moving to Alaska in June and will then be off to Africa for a bit, and Evan and I have lots of house projects and trip ideas in the works. Here's to a great start to 2012!

E & C Deck the Tree

I was sneaky.

A few weeks ago we got a Christmas tree. Although I would have loved to go to a tree farm like we used to as kids back in New Jersey, we've been really busy on the weekends with photo shoots and Evan's basketball coaching, so we opted for the pre-cut Menards tree. Not such a bad option, really. They have cute little trees that are perfect for our little Minneapolis house.

So one snowy Saturday night (I think the only truly snowy night of the year so far ... what's up Minnesota?) we got to work decorating our tree. But unknown to Evan, I had planted our trusty Flip Video on the bookshelf. Shhhh!

He figured it out by the end, but if you watch carefully (and I mean carefully, because it goes FAST!) you'll see him wave at the camera a little past halfway. Notice how he leaves the room for a minute at the beginning to put on a nice red shirt, per my suggestion? That may have tipped him off that something was a brewing ...

Our tree generally looks the same every year. I love anything and everything Norwegian or Swedish, so we have some straw ornaments tied with red thread, red wooden beads draped over the branches, and some wooden apples as well. I actually grew up with the same apples, and it was always tradition to start our decorating process with them, because you want them evenly distributed, of course. We also have various personalized ornaments, collected over the years -- and quite a few cows!

We're off to New Jersey for some relaxing, lots of games, and traipsing around NYC. Then we'll be back to spend some time with the Piersons at the farm. We'll definitely miss the white Christmas we had last year, but we're excited to celebrate, just the same.

Enjoy the video, and have a wonderful Christmas week!

Midnight Shopping Cart Madness

When we moved into our current house two years ago, we found a lone Target shopping cart parked in our garage. It was pushed in the back amidst a bunch of clutter and garbage (quite literally) that the previous owners had so generously left behind. I think it was being used to house a collection of old (and mostly dried up) paint cans at the time. We neglected this area of our property for quite some time, with the excuse that we were busy adding a shower and tiling the bathroom, ripping up old flooring, replacing interior doors, using heavy machinery, helping build a fence, laying a patio, expanding closets, and whipping up Swedish pancakes (just threw that last one in for fun - definitely not a house project, although I could stay pretty busy eating Swedish pancakes!). But after a spring cleaning frenzy when I took on the garage, I came upon our friend Target Cart and decided he had to go.

But where? I know we could've tried just putting him in the alleyway to see who snatches him up, or perhaps even the garbage men would round him up. But, really when it comes down to it, where does a Target cart belong? Well at Target of course! And what better way to keep a large piece of hard plastic from the landfills than by walking Target Cart back to his friendly red bulls-eye home! As Evan says, "it's my duty, just as it is when I enter any Target store and find an item miss-shelved, to return the product to where I got it from."

So that's precisely what Evan did. At around 11:15pm on a Friday night, if you happened to drive to the Target in our area, you would've seen my husband gallantly and quite jubilantly pushing his cart down the road.

Well, how about I just let you see for yourself! (Excuse the black frame a few seconds in ... I haven't quite mastered my FlipVideo and video-editing software. Any tips on how to make the resolution better?)



Anyone else out there dedicated to Target? How about returning lost carts? The funny thing is when I picked Evan up from Target at the end of his run and we were headed home, we spotted three more carts in the Walgreens parking lot! But we'll leave those for someone else ; )

Trumpets and Bieber and Zubas - Oh My!

It's that time of year again, when my brave husband does what most sane people would never do, and stands in front of an auditorium full of high schoolers ... and performs. But he's no stranger to the Lakeville North Staff Variety Show. In 2009 he donned his Johnny Cash hat (that was both figurative and literal) and also sang Dani California. 2010 was his year as the lead in The Devil Went Down to Georgia (one of my all-time favorites) and his first year as a member of the Boy Band (NSYC)! Check out those performances here and here.

This year Evan pulled out a new trick ... err, an old one really as he's been playing trumpet since high school (or earlier?). Here he is in Sell Out (off on the right side with a gray and blue shirt):



You may be wondering how Bieber, as in Justin Bieber, made his way into my blog post? Yes, this is not a typical occurrence.

Before this clip begins, the guys are on stage watching some Vikings Football when a Justin Bieber commercial cuts in. Of course the guys act like they can't stand the kid, but once the music starts playing ... well, you'll just have to see for yourself! (Evan is in the back row, second from the left, with a Vikings jersey on, #99)



Lastly, the teachers of Lakeville North brought back Zubas! Apparently many of the students didn't even know these 1980s tiger-printed pj-ish pants had a name. Yea, we're old. Evan is in the middle wearing orange. I think he just learned this dance the day before!



Until next year!!!

Egg Toss

Every year for as long as I can remember, my family holds an Easter Egg-Toss. No matter which members of our extended family are together, we whip out a dozen raw eggs, grab a partner, line up in an open yard/field, and take turns tossing the egg to each other -- taking a step back after each round of throws. As you can imagine, eventually the eggs break (after all, they are raw!). But you'd be surprised how far you can throw an egg and successfully catch it. The Toss usually elicits such comments as "are you sure these aren't hard cooked?" from the egg-toss newbies. Of course, in order to survive to the end you must have some egg-tossing skill: 1. A nice, gentle arch, to minimize impact on catcher's hand, 2. A gentle, cradled, cupped-hand catch, to minimize impact, and 3. Catcher brings egg to the side of body and often spins a little to help slow down momentum while minimizing impact. It's a great skill to have, tossing and catching raw eggs, and one that our family is proud of ; )

Sarah and Caleb were the winners this year!

Here's a little video, recapping the final moments of the egg-toss:

What a graceful catch by Sarah! She's a seasoned pro, but this was Caleb's first time!

Perhaps you noticed someone wearing a garbage bag? That's common practice for egg-tossers you see. To protect Easter clothes from raw egg, of course.

And here's the whole gang!

Last year I introduced the Egg-Toss to Evan's side of the family. It was a hit -- they wanted to play 5 rounds! Here we are at the starting lineup:

Fond egg-toss memories of yore ...

(Photos courtesy of my dad!)

Calm and focused

Jazz-hands!

What an egg-toss athlete!

Nothing like having a raw egg hurled at you across the yard

Classic egg break ... too funny not to post. Notice the strand of yoke? I promise it didn't come from her nose!

The grandparents are in on it too, you betcha!

Sometimes we sport this lovely egg-toss gear. Quite the fashion statement, dontcha think?

My all-time favorite egg-toss picture, taken by Kirsten on a manual film camera back in college. You can't see the thrower but look at those spectators! This was one of those epic egg-toss moments where the throwers were so far apart they no longer had room in the front yard and had to move to the side of the house! Trees, boat launcher ... these are all obstacles egg-tossers can handle.

Green Lake, Minn., 2003

It's fun when you get to celebrate Easter with sisters! My parents are in New Jersey, my younger sister Karrin is in Southern California, and my older sister Kirsten is in St. Louis. This year it was just Sarah and me from our immediate family ... and of course a bunch of other relatives and friends!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter and enjoyed the day wherever you were!