35 Surprise

Scott's birthday was the Tuesday we were in Florida. And while I know he doesn't need me, or anyone, to make a big deal out of his birthday, I was feeling badly that the best I could do was tote a card along to give him on his big day. And sure, just being on vacation in a sunny spot is probably enough of a celebration, but since this was his big 3-5 I just couldn't let it go.

Knowing my husband's love of waterparks and just being surrounded by friends, I decided to try to surprise him by combining those things. I won't bore you with the details, but let me just say it was more complicated than I thought. Fortunately our friend Adam came through with some platinum points at a local hotel chain that had a waterpark. It could only be described as a waterpark if you are less than 4 feet tall, but it was better than nothing. And since none of us have fun if the kids aren't having fun, we might as well do our best to keep them happy too. And I think we accomplished that!

I also realized how difficult it is to keep a secret from Scott! Besides the fact that I'm used to telling him the more minute details of my life, there was the fact that any information that reached Zach was very likely to find it's way to Scott - quickly. I am still shocked that Zach didn't tell Scott about the cupcakes I made; although I think it helped that I didn't tell him why I was making them, never told him not to tell Scott, and immediately hid them out of sight - hoping he'd forget about them! And he did - whew. But the drive down to the hotel was long... with both of them wondering where on earth we were going, but only one of them asking over and over and over again. I'll let you guess who that was.


^ Zach & Kasey enjoying a ride; dads with kids

^Kasey has learned that birthdays = cake, and I think she just might be happy about it.

^Sylvia's 73rd time down the slide; Scott on the one true waterslide

Champions of the World

I couldn't resist the title for this post, after our friend Jen emailed me the picture of said champs (taken shortly after their big win - note the giddy expressions). I suspect they are still very much feeling like champions of the world!

So if you were curious what the guys who not only beat three-quarters of the 2006 US Olympic curling team, but also the 2010 National Champions, might look like, here they are:

2010 St. Paul Curling Club Men's International Bonspiel Champions

The Nunberg rink: Aaron, Reuben, Adam, and Scott

Keys vacation - second half

Wednesday the cold snap really kicked in, with more crazy wind gusts, so we abandoned any ideas of water-based activities and drove down to Key West to explore that interesting city. While Key West is probably the primary destination for most people heading to the Keys, we weren't planning on it. From what we had read, other than the usual Keys on-the-water activities, the primary reason to go to Key West was to imbibe as many adult beverages as one could possibly consume. And let me tell you, it's hard enough to go on vacation and not be able to have a glass of wine with dinner, let alone going to a place with an atmosphere often compared to Mardi Gras!

But we were intrigued enough to check it out, and drove the approximately two hours down the lovely highway 1, enjoying the views along the way. We stopped at Sombrero Beach, one of the few actual beaches anywhere in the Keys. It did not disappoint, so we took the opportunity to stretch our legs and enjoy the sun and view, as well as some odd rock formations where a few fishermen were trying their luck.

We had heard quite a bit about the accepting atmosphere of Key West, and the people it attracts, but our best experience with that was actually when we stopped for lunch before even reaching Key West. In the old and not-trendy restaurant we went to (we had to stop... pregnancy hunger had taken over) we were greeted by a slender man in his sixties wondering if we were at the restaurant to play bridge. While that in itself is a bit unusual, it was his attire that caught our attention: skin-tight green sweater topped with an equally snug cropped denim vest (yes, it ended around his rib cage). The kicker: a pair of polyester black pleated pants, with a black thong worn over the pants. Yes, you read that right - over his pants. It's an interesting look - you should try it.

Key West was fascinating. It is, of course, beautiful, surrounded by the most gorgeous turquoise water. Duvall Street, the main thoroughfare lined with shops, restaurants, and bars, was dotted with art-deco style buildings and other interesting architecture. But sure enough, it was the people-watching that kept us entertained. We mostly just wandered around town, watching people drive by in golf carts clutching a can of Bud, or stroll down Duvall with a paper-bag covered bottle. We learned from a (slightly tipsy) woman at a restaurant bar that while Key West does, in fact, have an open container law, they don't really enforce it unless you are toting glass around, or acting out in some way. I have to say, I don't think I've ever seen so many 50+ year old drunk people in one place before. Well, maybe at a bonspiel. :) Scott took the opportunity to throw back a few, and I got to indulge in some ice cream after we considered these enormous cookies on display.

^ Typical appearance of a Key West bar; the southernmost point of the continental US - only 90 miles to Cuba! The funniest thing was that people had voluntarily formed an orderly line, waiting to take their picture with this spot. I had no idea tourists could be so polite! And, since neither Scott nor I is in the picture, you can tell neither of us had the patience or desire to stand in line so we could stand next to this particular landmark. The top photo is from the roof of the tallest building in Key West - gorgeous views, complete with serenades from roaming roosters.

We spent our last day, on our way to the airport, checking out South Beach in Miami. I'd heard so much about that area, the clubs, the well-dressed people, etc. And it did not disappoint! And the beach - wow! I don't know that I've ever seen such a wide, immensely long beach. If only it hadn't been windy and 67 degrees. But we enjoyed our time strolling the streets, checking out the art deco buildings, and watching the interesting people stroll by as we ate our lunch outside. We also took a scenic route back up to Fort Lauderdale, often winding our way through some neighborhoods, and wow - did we see some amazing homes!

^The gorgeous South Beach; "art" created with Red Bull cans. Only in South Beach??

In summary, our trip was fantastic. To get away, just the two of us, without a minute's worry about Zach, was just what we needed to get ready for the next few months of sleep deprivation and life being all about the kids!

Keys vacation - the start

Our week of vacation started out a little bit unexpectedly, and I don't think I'm speaking just for myself. Scott and some friends have taken part in a very competitive bonspiel (curling tournament) hosted at our club every year, and haven't had a lot of success in the past. The way this one, like most bonspiels, works is that you are guaranteed to play 3 games, generally 1 on Friday, and two on Saturday, and what happens after that depends on how many and which games you win. Historically, Scott's team has been done after the three games at least once, meaning they didn't even get to play on Sunday. So... the plan was that we would jump in the car and head to Milwaukee some time mid-Sunday morning, to give us time to get Zach settled with my parents before our very-early morning flight on Monday.

Well, you know what they say about the best-laid plans. The Nunberg rink (team), consisting of Scott, Adam, Reuben, and Aaron as skip, won their first three games. The result: their 9 AM game on Sunday was against the Fenson rink. Since most of you aren't curling fans, let me point out that the name Fenson is significant in curling - he was the skip of the 2006 US Olympic team in Torino. And in this particular bonspiel, he was playing with 2 of the 3 other guys from that team, who won US Nationals yesterday. Needless to say, Scott thought we'd be on the road pretty quickly after they lost that game, so I just let my parents know we'd be later than I originally thought.

I'm more than a little embarrassed to say that my response when Scott called to tell me they won was "are you kidding???" rather than "wow - congratulations, that's amazing!" I guess I was a little too wrapped up in organizing our departure to really digest the fact that Scott and his friends had just upset a curling team that competed at the Olympic level. Pretty cool, huh?

And that's not even the end of the story! The Nunberg rink went on to not only defeat their opponents in the championship game, opponents who also just last weekend competed in US Nationals, they did so after playing only 4 ends instead of a full game. Why, you ask? Well, they got a 7-ender in the 4th end, so their opponents conceded. Again, for those of you who are not curling enthusiasts, that means they got 7 points in one end - out of a possible total of 8. If you watched any of the Olympic curling, you know teams are very happy to get 2 points in an end. 7 is practically unheard of, even when you're not at the Olympic level, and it's basically impossible to come back from being down by that much.

So a belated but big congrats to the 2010 winners of the St. Paul Curling Club Men's International Bonspiel!!!!

As far as our trip; Zach, Koskie, and I piled in the car and headed for Milwaukee without Scott. It was definitely less fun to make the trips there and back in separate cars, but oh well. Zach was very excited to get to his grandparents, I can't count the number of times I heard "when will we get there?" and "but mama, I want to play with grandma and grandpa!"

Early Monday morning we flew down to Fort Lauderdale, jumped into our rental car and headed south. We were staying in Key Largo, hoping that the despite the forecast, the weather would cooperate and we could take advantage of the many outdoor activities of the keys - snorkeling, kayaking, laying by the pool! Little did we know that all of Florida has been unusually cold for months... you may have been impacted by the tomato shortage lately as a result.

Our first afternoon/evening was gorgeous - sunny and high seventies - definitely nothing to complain about. We spent some time orienting ourselves, walking around to admire the huge boats in the marina by our hotel, catching the previously mentioned sunset (photo is Scott in a tree at the sanctuary), and enjoying a pizza with bacon, pepperoni, pineapple and bananas - downright tropical!

Tuesday was an absolutely gorgeous morning - check out the view from our balcony. After we appreciated the marina view over breakfast, we went to nearby John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, the spot to go to for great snorkeling views of the reefs, as well as kayaking among the mangroves. It was a bit windy, so we opted to let the day warm up before attempting either snorkeling or a ride on a glass-bottomed boat, and started exploring the mangroves in our double-kayak. It had been a while since I'd done any type of rowing, and I'd forgotten how much you end up using your "core" muscles; it didn't take long for me to get tired! So poor Scott had to do most of the work, while I tried not to be an absolute deadweight. We had to fight the wind and current at times, when we weren't protected deep in the mangroves, but it was great to just be outside in the sunshine, enjoying the unusual scenery and the exercise.

By the time we got back to dry land, the wind had picked up so much the boats weren't even going out any more - so much for our idea of a glass-bottomed boat ride (we had long-since abandoned the idea of snorkeling... brr!). We got some lunch and headed back to the hotel to lounge by the pool in the sun for a while, to keep an eye on the weather and decide on our next adventure.

As you can see below - our time by the pool didn't last long before the intense but short storm blew through. Then we went back to the park and did a little hiking and exploring before finding our way to a seafood buffet on Islamorada Key. Neither of us are huge seafood fans, but when in Rome... and we thought a buffet would be a good way to try lots of different things. Besides the odor, it wasn't bad! :)

Memorable moments at the doctor

We had Zach's scheduled check-up with the orthopedic surgeon today. It went as usual - x-ray followed by quick discussion with the doctor. Today was pretty cool, as they showed us the series of x-rays they've taken over the last 6+ months, starting with the original broken bone. While we've seen some of the x-rays before, seeing them all together, illustrating how well his leg has healed in such a short time was amazing. Basically, the doctor didn't tell us anything we didn't already know just from watching this active boy run, jump, hop on one foot, and climb... his leg is just fine. The x-ray was just verification of that; you couldn't really even tell it had been broken.

Two moments stand out from our 45 minutes at the clinic, as both give a glimpse into our son's personality. One actually involved the doctor; Dr. Buck had Zach run down the hall, and then asked him if there was anything he couldn't do. Zach's immediate answer was "I don't know," so Scott and I went ahead and answered the question - no, there isn't anything that his leg seems to be holding him back from doing. But a few seconds later, Zach turned to the doctor and gave a different answer: yes, I can't really hit a baseball. I guess that's what the doctor gets for not asking him specifically about his leg - it was a very open-ended question. We all had a good laugh and the doctor got to make some jokes about him needing batting practice. :)

The other moment was one of those that made me wish we had the video camera running. As we waited for the doctor, the baby started doing his usual round of somersaults and lunges that he likes to do whenever I'm sitting in a straight-backed chair. Zach came over to see if he could feel it (he has before, but of course the baby tends to stop as soon as Zach's hands show up, and of course Zach doesn't have a lot of patience to wait for the next kick). Scott took the opportunity to tell Zach that he could talk to the baby, that he would be able to hear him. Zach said "hi baby" to my belly, and then asked what else he should say. I told him that the baby would probably love it if he read him one of his books, and suggested one of his recent memorized faves. Without hesitation, Zach launched into the story, with his nose practically touching my belly. One of those big brother moments I'm really looking forward to!

I heart sunsets

If you've ever been with me on a vacation that involved a large body of water, or perhaps some mountains, you know that I love sunsets. Or more specifically, trying to get a good picture of one. (I suspect I'd love sunrises too... but I always seem to miss those.) This vacation was no different.

The first night we were in the Keys, driving down Highway 1 on our way to dinner, when I realized we were going to miss the sunset if we didn't act fast. Fortunately, we passed a free, privately-owned bird sanctuary that just happened to be located directly on the water, on the west side of Key Largo. I would not recommend visiting this sanctuary unless you really love birds; we found it more than a bit creepy. From the owner feeding the gazillions of wild pelicans, seagulls, egrets, and, of course, a bevy of cats from his front porch to the odd noises we heard while winding our way through the maze of cages as the day turned to dusk... yikes. But it sure did provide a great spot to try to capture some sunset photos! And since this turned out to be the only night we were able to actually watch the sun go down over the water, it was worth it to me.

Zach's vacation

I have yet to find the energy to go through the pictures from Scott's and my getaway to the Florida Keys area; it was a much easier task to summarize the fun Zach had at G&G Klicka's while we were gone. He did not, by the way, miss us at all.

In between trips to the zoo, the library, and Wal-Mart to pick out a new car, we suspect Zach spent most of his time playing with my dad's extensive Geotrax train sets:

But, he probably had a hard time deciding between his beloved Geotrax and the very cool new Cars slot-racing track my dad got (which he claims is for the grandkids, but we can all see right through that one):

But perhaps the highlight of his vacation, and a wonderful picture my mom captured: a ride in Grandpa's "hot rod." Who knew you could fit a car seat in the back of a Camaro???