Moments 10 25 :: Week 05

Stunning! Just some fall colors on my walk with Van. I love this season so much.

Can you even with this guy? I got to take Bucky out on a field trip, and could not get enough of his little piggy legs, snorts, smooshy face and floppy ears. I cannot imagine being a 5-year old dog stuck the shelter. I'll confirm next week, but I think he was adopted though, so yeah! He was so sweet!

Poor guy was so tired after our long walk. He could barely stay awake on the ride home. He looks like such a grumpy old guy, but he was the sweetest. 

Brian had to get cataract surgery on his other eye this week. It's been really bothering him, so I know he's glad to have it done. Even if the following couple days have been a little uncomfortable. 

Minneapolis Weekend No. 2

We were back in Minneapolis last weekend — twice in one month! This time, Hudson flew in to join us, and it felt so good having the P4 back together again.

Brian and I met the boys at Wesley Andrews for matcha chai tea lattes (so good!) and then hung out at Cole’s place before dinner at Little Tijuana. We love it there and wanted Hudson to experience it too. Next time, though, we’ll have to branch out — there are just so many amazing restaurants in Minneapolis. My “must-try” list is getting long!

The next morning, Hudson, Brian, and I met up with Leif, Mel, and Finn at Brit’s to watch the Manchester United game. YES — Leif and Mel were in town visiting Finn too! We’d planned this weekend for a while, and it all came together perfectly. After the game, the three of us headed to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. It was a little rainy, but it’s been years since we’ve been, and I just love that place.

Next up was Augsburg vs. St. Olaf — both top-10 nationally ranked teams. What a matchup! One of the parents even organized a little tailgate beforehand, and it was fun meeting some of the other families. There were 750 people in attendance! Cole’s been dealing with a knee injury this week, so I was nervous, but he was taped up and ready to start. He played great until he landed awkwardly on his other foot and had to come out after 40 minutes. Crushing! Augsburg was up 2–0 and looked set to win, but in the final minutes St. Olaf scored twice to tie it up. The most heartbreaking tie ever — St. Olaf hasn’t lost a conference game in 29 matches. We had it!

Still, we ended the night on a high note with dinner at Pizzeria Lola with all the boys. No photos this time, but it was delicious as always.

The next morning, Brian and I had to hit the road, but first stopped by Cole’s apartment to pick up donuts from Glam Doll. Our neighbor up the street works there and happened to be on shift that day — such a fun coincidence! We grabbed Lu’s for the road and headed out. It was hard to leave, but Hudson had a great day with Cole — seeing his school and doing other fun things. I’m so glad they had that time together. And honestly, I’m just so glad we all did.

Moments 10 25 :: Week 04

Met out with Andrew/Shelly, Scott/Ali and Leif/Mel on Friday. It's always a great time getting together with this group. 

Monday was a perfect Fall day, and it was made even better by getting to take 5.5 year old Maurice out for a Field Trip. 

I really look at these excursions as a way of lifting the dogs spirits. Most of the dogs I take out are Benchwarmers, meaning they've been there a little while. And usually, they will get adopted within a week or two. Maurice has only been in the shelter for a few weeks, but he's a guy who really, really dislikes it there. He's known to try to bolt out of his kennel when someone opens the door. He was so happy in the car he cried most of the way to the park. He has a calm demeanor and was used as a helper dog when testing the other dogs, but is starting to get a little reactive (he was not at all on our walk). He hates it there. I noticed he hasn't been on the site, and just found out he now has a upper respiratory infection. I'm just so bummed. I hope he feels better soon and doesn't let shelter life get the best of him. He's a great dog. (P.S. Yes, I absolutely love spending time with these dogs. It's my favorite day of the week for sure. But it isn't always easy. Foster parents are so incredible, it's not even funny. I'm constantly blown away, and just so happy to play a small role in all of of this.)

Cole sent this photo and I love it. Caleb, Maia's fiancee, happened to be in Minneapolis and they got a chance to visit each other. 

Moments 10 25 :: Week 03

Gretel on the way back from the kennel. She loves her lips flapping in the wind. 

Finally finished this book. It took forever! I didn't not like it. But I really struggled to get into it. 

Watch dog. Actually, I think she was hunting mice in the bushes. 

Hit a PR this week. 5 deadlifts at 250#. It was only a 2.5# increase, but from my former PR of 247.5# from 3 years ago. I'll take it. 

First time buying mums for the planters. I never understood what the hype was, but they are absolutely lovely. I get it. 

Van loves our new king bed. Brian and I don't have any extra space, but Van sure has room to sprawl out. 

St. Louis Weekend

This weekend's adventures took us to St. Louis to visit Hudson! Wish our kids lived closer than 6 hours away, but it sure does make for a fun weekend. We were able to find a house in Hudson's neighborhood to rent this time. It worked out perfectly. He came over and we watched Cole's soccer game (they won and he had a beautiful assist). After Natalie was done working, she came over and we went to Broadway Oyster Bar. Can't believe this was our first time there! We had raw and baked oysters, and I had a crazy good shrimp po-boy. Afterwards, we went to The Famous Bar for martinis. I decided to go for it, and got a chocolate martini. Let me tell you, it was amazing. 

The next day, we started our day at Damn Fine Hand Pies. Our late start meant not much of a hand pie selection. But, their turkey sandwich and brioche donuts were fantastic. After fueling our bodies, we went to my favorite store, AO&Co, then met some of Hudson and Natalie's friends at the Missouri Botanical Gardens. We haven't visited since our trip back in 2019, and considering it was such a gorgeous day, it seemed like the perfect thing to do. Hudson recreated a photo from back in the day, and we had a great stroll around the grounds. We were originally going to go to a pumpkin patch, which would have been fun too, but we did end up at a Harvest Festival in Tower Grove Park afterwards. Not the same thing, but we had a taste of Autumn after all. That evening, we went to The Golden Hoosier and got to meet Natalie's mom. Natalie's family is just so great to him. It was really fun getting to know them a little. 

The next morning, Hudson came over for coffee, then it was time to leave. These weekends always go by way too fast. 

Moments 10 25 :: Week 02

When we picked the dogs up from the kennel last weekend, they were wearing these fancy little Halloween scarves. 

We usually try to get them bathed and nails trimmed -- but this is the first time they got fancy scarves after. So cute. 

Meet my new favorite shelter dog, Skye. This girl has it all. A sense of adventure, but also happy to sit down and snuggle. She was not at all reactive to other dogs, seems food driven and was easily redirected with treats. Great on the leash. My gosh, I really like her. 

I'm surprised she hasn't been snatched up this week. She's going to make someone very happy. 

New haircut. Always need to take a photo because it never looks as good as this. 

Gretel lurking around the corner. Stairs scare her nowadays. The lighting has to be perfect, and her confidence to walk them needs to be up. She can do it, and she does. But she tends to psyche herself out so often we need to carry her down. It doesn't help that we have 4 different levels to our house.