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. 

Minneapolis Weekend No. 1

We just got back from a most amazing weekend in Minneapolis. Cole is doing so great there so I'm very happy. But I've got to say, I do miss the days of being able to drive down for the day to see a soccer game. Oh well. At least we get to stream them live. Anyhow, we told Cole when we would be arriving, but he and Zoe, who was also visiting, were out and about, so Brian and I wandered around his neighborhood a bit -- and got the paper airplane tattoos we have been wanting for awhile (our Hudson tattoos). So that worked. That night, the four of us walked to Quang for some delicious Vietnamese food. We called it an early night since Cole had a soccer game the next morning. On Saturday, we picked Zoe up and went to Macalaster for the game. Rosie, Finn's girlfriend, also met us there. It's so cute watching Finn (who produces incredible videos of the team) and Cole on the pitch and their interactions. The Auggies played well and won 3-1 (now 11-1). So happy to get to see a game in person! Cole went back with the team, while Zoe, Brian and I walked around. There were some really cute shops and most importantly, a Döner shop. I wish they were easier to come by, but they are one of my favorite foods. We found a patisserie before our sandwiches, which may have been a mistake since we could barely eat our lunch. But look at those desserts? How could you not? We met back up at Cole's, hit up a grocery store for our boy, then had a few minutes to change and rest at our hotel before picking them up again and meeting Finn and Rosie at Pizzaria Lola. Let's just say, we already have another reservation for our next trip to Minneapolis. The pizza was insane, and the soft serve vanilla ice cream with olive oil and sea salt, a total treat. We also all took advantage of the photo booth. So fun. Brian and I went back to Cole's for a little bit, then had to say our goodbyes. Cole had an early morning meeting the soccer team and cheering on the marathon runners at mile 19, and Brian and I had to get back for the dogs. A quick, but perfect weekend. 

Moments 10 25 :: Week 01

Last Friday night the gym met up at Oktoberfest. We always have so many great memories of the boys running around in their soccer gear here. Many September evenings have been spent here. 

They have the cutest little touches throughout. 

We had a table reserved, and people came and went throughout the evening. Here are some of my gym friends. 

Meanwhile, Cole sent this incredible photo of him at his happy place on a Friday night at Augsburg - the ceramics studio. He is loving this class so much. 

Saturday, Brian wanted to go to Harvest Fest at the Wisconsin State Fairgrounds. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was pretty fun! 

Painted hay barrels, lots of State Fair food (including pumpkin spice cream puffs), a beautiful day. We were only there a couple hours because we had a surprise 70th birthday party to go to. 

Here is the reason for our visit to Harvest Fest - Culver's is one of Brian's clients, and they had a big activation with live music, and root beer and cheese curd samples. It turned out really great. 

On Sunday, we celebrated Mel's birthday with dinner at Movida. It was actually earlier in the week, but we'll take whatever excuse we can to get together to celebrate. 

Another Monday Field Trip! This week I took Lola out. This sweet petite pittie was such a blast to hang out with. She was great in the car and loved being on an adventure. I usually take benchwarmers out (the dogs that have been there awhile), and she wasn't. But the really great news is, she was adopted the very next day! She was a ton of fun, that's for sure.

I hope her new owners find her tree climbing skills as hilarious as I did. The girl was seriously obsessed with squirrels, and went to all lengths to try to get them. I couldn't stop laughing.