Fall 2015

It was a beautiful day to be at the orchard!

Keith Urban at the great Minnesota get together.  Need I say more? 

Jacob has really been enjoying Taekwondo!  

We celebrated 14 years with a lame lunch date.  Sorry, honey.  Honestly, in my head I was thinking it would be a really special lunch...just a nice lunch together - no need to make a big event out of it.  We talked about kids and work - what did I expect?  It was the middle of the day in the middle of the week!  LOL.   I'm going on record...anniversaries ARE a big deal and you'll be sure our celebration next year won't be over lunch.  

Jacob's first day of 2nd grade!

Nathan's first day of pre-school! 

This is one of the most surprising and interesting things I have done this fall.  Scott encouraged me to take a watercolor class with a local artist that has his studio downtown.  I forgot how much I enjoy painting!  I don't have a lot of experience but have learned a lot - and most importantly I enjoy it and actually don't mind the learning process.  

We surprised Sarah for an impromptu birthday dinner for her special day on 9/14.  

Our family bike ride.  We went 7 blocks and then had to stop because Nathan got dust in his eyes.  We had a few more meltdowns over the next hour or two.  It was fun.  I think that was our last family bike ride of the season.  

Other than coming home with a horrible sinus infection - pretty sure I was contaminated while swimming in the hotel pool...we had a great training weekend in Moline, IL.  We are facilitating a class at our church starting in January.  It is a fantastic class and we are feeling quite blessed to be able to participate in this.  We are passionate about marriages!  

We had a great time at the annual HPAAC (Hastings Prescott Area Arts Council) Gala which is an annual fundraiser for this group.  We bid and won an evening of Wine and Watercolor with Andy Evansen!  

Remember how great our fall was?  We had a perfect night for a bonfire with a bunch of our friends.  

We got Lydia for a long weekend - she painted my nails and I got to put her in a dress for church.  

Hey - we're already one week out from Thanksgiving!  What the heck!?  You know what they say...time flies when you are having fun.  This fall has been amazing to say the least.  We've had mild temps and lots of warm sunshine.  Just the way I like it.  Next week we're hosting Thanksgiving (low key, no fuss...let's be real...my mom and dad do most of the "work" - I don't clean out turkeys), walking / running The Gobble Gait, and enjoying some time off of school - one of Jacob's complaints lately is that he just doesn't have enough time to play.  More on Thanksgiving after Christmas.  Just kidding...I'm going to try to be a bit more diligent about keeping this up to date.  I'm talking to you, self.  But for now, enjoy some recap pics of the last couple of months.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

The Basilica of St. Josaphat.  Interesting history lesson here.  

Inside of the main floor of The Basilica of St. Josaphat.  Designed as a smaller version of St. Peter's in Rome. 

Main lobby of the Pfister hotel.  Houses an artist in residence and quite the collection of artwork.  On the 23rd level is the lounge and restaurant with fantastic city views.  (As long as it isn't foggy).  

The Milwaukee Art Museum.  Unfortunately their main exhibit is under renovation but the building is a piece of work in itself.  

I'm going to be honest...I don't really get art most of the time.  I can appreciate people's trade, sometimes it is thought provoking, and obviously being married to an artsy type guy gives me some perspective.  But mostly, I go into art museums and think about the scene in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.  You know the one, right?  

Beer sampling.  Scott found a the Schofferhofer Grapefruit Weizen to be his favorite.  

Dinner at The Anvil Pub and Grille in Cedarburg.  This restaurant is in a restored 19th century blacksmith shop.  

Because everyone needs a picture with a gingerbread man.  I made this extra large for you, Marie.  

We got to see Jill and Josh and their two munchkins Isaac and Jasmine who turn 1 on January 6th.  I can't believe I forgot to get a picture of them!  We enjoyed pizza and catching up.  We have our 20 year class reunion coming up in less than 2 years.  WHAT?!

We walked around downtown all day.  It was bright and cold.  Never leave home without a hat and scarf.  

The very cool Public Market - plenty of cheese and sausage...a Wisconsin staple.  

More cheese, more beer.  This raspberry beer was delicious and used in making the cheese.  

Lovely happy hour platter from the tap room at the Wisconsin Cheese Mart.  We stumbled upon this place after buying summer sausage at Usinger's.  

This is Matthew.  He makes giant batches of made from scratch mac and cheese at the Wisconsin Cheese Mart.  I was temped to order some but I wasn't that hungry and knew it would be too much.  Lo and behold as we were having our small cheese plate he delivered us a sample.  And yes.  It was really really good.  

The selfie we sent to Jacob and Nathan.

The Cedarburg Coffee Roastery is home of really good coffee and the best desserts ever.  And this is coming from a girl that chooses salt over sugar.  This graham cracker crust orange cake with an orange zest frosting was divine.  We ended up here again after dinner for the best monster cookie you could ever dream of.  We asked if the baker ever shared her recipes and one of the employees told us she'd been offered a lot of money for her recipes but won't give them up.  

Before heading home we took a tour down Lake Drive.  Unfortunately the rain and fog prevented us from checking out much of Lake Michigan but the homes (much like homes along Lake Superior) were fantastic.  

The Pabst mansion.  We had some time before heading back to the airport so took a quick tour.  It is in the process of being beautifully restored and I realize the amount of work that goes into that,  but places like this give me the heebie jeebies.  Sorry, Mr. Pabst but your home is much too dark and gloomy for me.  

One of my favorite pics from the weekend.  Above the clouds at 35,000.  It was a lovely few days but I was excited to be 20 minutes from touching down in Minneapolis and heading home to see my boys.  

It seems we have started a late fall post anniversary getaway tradition and this year we couldn't have asked for a more lovely trip to Milwaukee.  Well, unless you could make it 70 and sunny but that is just not possible in these parts this time of year.

We spent two days downtown checking out the shops, galleries, and art museum.  While staying at the Pfister hotel we visited the spa and enjoyed a 90 minute facial which included a hot coconut oil scalp massage.  For awhile I was transported to someplace tropical.

We enjoyed cheese, Spotted Cow on tap, and good visits with good friends.

Grandma and Grandpa Jacobson, we so appreciate you coming down and spending time with the boys so we could get away!

We've got the Sinclair Thanksgiving this week and only a couple of weeks before Jacob starts his winter break.  We're heading north to Bemidji and south to Iowa to spend time with each family during the holiday season.  Jacob is already brainstorming ideas for his 7th birthday party (ice cream sundae bar and games).  Thanks for checking in and stay tuned for the holiday photos to come!

13

Sitting at the park overlooking the St. Croix River in Hudson, WI after a lovely meal at The Postmark Grille.  Yum!

We're ready to tackle our teen years.  Our future's so bright, we've gotta wear shades.  Because God loves us.  Because we love each other.  Because we understand our purpose.  Because we've learned to communicate better.   Because we've learned to listen better.  Because we laugh a lot.  Because there is no "I" in team.  Because our hearts are changing for the better.  Because we offer each other forgiveness and grace.  Because we look at the big picture.  And sometimes the small picture.  But we always keep things in perspective.  Or, at least one of us does.  Because it is just plain fun.  Yahoo!  Happy Anniversary to us.  

Staycation 2013

Wild win 3-1

Room with a view.  (Enhanced by Instagram than you very much).  

Wits.  Rhett Miller and Paul F. Tompkins.  So entertaining!  

Jami!  The Downtowner has the best French toast.  

That's a wrap!  Thank you St. Paul for a lovely time.  

Scott and I spent a couple of nights in St. Paul for a late 12 year anniversary celebration.  Dinner at Pazzaluna followed by a Wild game, massage and lunch on Grand, Minnesota History museum, and dinner FujiYa followed by Wits at the Fitzgerald.  Wrapped up the weekend at the Downtowner for brunch with Jami and Jim who happened to be in town.  It was a fun-filled weekend!

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Sinclair for holding down the fort, fighting fires, removing permanent marker from my desk, presenting minerals and dinosaur history to Jake's kindergarten class, and filling in.  Sounds like you guys were as busy as we were.

10 blissful years and counting

Happy Anniversary to us! 

Summer Recap

Family and friends... it is September.  Seriously, what happened to August?  The infrequent blog posting was partially due to not having a computer, but mostly it was because we were silly busy.  It was as if we knew there were just a few weeks left of summer weather and we crammed as many summer like activities as we could in the last three weeks.  But I digress.  Bring on the fall!

Here's the update.  We have a new computer.  It is not a MAC, but I'm okay with it.  It is going to take some time getting used to it though.  We have this crazy ridiculous HD screen that I stare at.  I am pretty sure our video footage will work on it and maybe now I will get around to editing that summer vacation video.  We are still in the process of transferring all of our pictures, along with Quick books, office programs, and everything else we need to function.  I can't find files and I don't really know how navigate the interface.  Patience, Nikki.  Patience.

Scott and I celebrated 9 years of marriage on 9/1.  Whoop Whoop.  God wasn't kidding when he brought us together.  We are like two peas in a pod.  Seriously.  We spent a long weekend in Washington D.C.  We enjoyed dinner with our dear friends Patricia, Fred, and Fatima and then made our way up to Wilmington, DE for Adam and Jen's wedding.  Adam is one of Scott's war buddies that he spent the majority of his time with while stationed in Iraq.  It was a lovely weekend and Jacob was so busy back in MN playing toys and going to the zoo with Grandma and Grandpa Jacobson that he didn't even want to talk to us on the phone.  I would rather have it that way though.

Speaking of Jacob...he's awesome.   He loves taking his bat, ball and mitt to the baseball diamond to practice batting, pitching, and most recently...catching.  He spent a lot of time at the pool this summer.  He loves going under water and touching the bottom.  He has mastered jumping off the side.  He cracks us up on a daily basis with his conversations.  He loves going to Cub foods and following me around with the little shopping cart.  He finished up another session of Art with Ellen and had a great time.  He's loves story time at the library.  He knows the alphabet and counts to 20.  Thanks to Handy Manny he counts in Spanish as well.  Sesame Street, Curious George, and Super Why are his other favorite shows.  He is passionate about trucks.  Faithfully every Thursday he watches the garbage and recycling truck.  This past Thursday was especially exciting because the recycling truck driver saw him waving and got out of his truck and brought him a coloring book.  He plays with Thomas the Train every day. He loves Sunday School.  We don't get to see him, but the teachers have told us he has a lot of fun singing.  It doesn't surprise me because he is constantly humming or singing.  He practices running.  Scott and his friend Ramadan ran a 5K a few weeks back and they entered Jacob in a kids race as well.  Wearing his race number, Jacob made his way to the starting line and the announcer said Ready, Set, Go!  Everyone started clapping and cheering.  The other kids ran towards the orange cone.  Jacob stood at the starting line and cried.  That was his first race experience.  Today, however, at the company picnic was a completely different story.  He was ready, and he ran fast.  In fact, he ran through the finish line, kept running another 25 feet, and then circled back to tell us he wanted to do it again.   He still sleeps in his crib and has never tried to climb out.  I think Dad is going to transition his crib to his big boy bed this weekend though.  He's getting too heavy to lift into the crib.  He isn't officially potty trained yet.  But Booty Camp is next weekend.  (More on that later.)  He loves wearing football jerseys or anything with numbers on it.  He doesn't like wearing jeans.  He gets really whiny sometimes.  He threw a tantrum the other day in a store because I wouldn't let him get a truck.  After a calm discussion and some explaining he recovered.  (Thankfully I didn't have to leave the store with him under my arm kicking and screaming).  He is a sweet boy.  Kind of shy at first.  I will stop now, but as you can see, we love our little boy.

I leave you with our most recent photos.  Enjoy!

Lake Julia

The last days of boating season

First ride on the light rail (he calls it the monorail)

$5 per bunch at the Farmer's Market

Starving artist

Watching the barge come through town

9 years.  Hooray for you two!

Patricia, Fatima, and Fred

Playing trains with Grandpa

Henry and Jacob

It's a TURTLE!

Getting a shark tattoo

Mentally preparing before the big race

At the starting line

Pure determination

Recovery