Surprise Birthday

Just realized it's been almost a month since my last blog post! I can't believe time flies so quickly!

I've almost survived the TOUGHEST month in Minnesota, the January winter, and I'd say all in all it was quite a success :)

After Christmas break I started off Mark and I's first weekend with a nice dinner date downtown and a SURPRISE birthday party for him. Of course he hates surprises, I knew that, and did it anyways. I wish I had a picture that could capture the moment of his surprise right as he's heading to use the restroom and all his friends scream, not say surprise, just scream, and he jumps at our Christmas tree :)

The rest of the weekend we just took it easy and for the first time ever I tried making tuna steaks, which if I do say so myself were DELICIOUS. Thanks Pinterest!  See recipe below
http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Balsamic-Glazed-Tuna-Steaks

The next week flew by like always and then the cold came.. right in time for my dad's trip to MN! Luckily the day he came in the weather was mild, a warm 36 degrees and sunny. Unfortunately for him, as soon as he got the tour of my house the first thing he got to do was trap a bat! He succeeded, however, it was not the first thing you want to find in your room when you are going to a place for the first time :) (To keep facts straight bat was not captured night one, however mark and dad did dress up like ghost busters to kill it).

Day 2, my dad and I started the morning off with a cold walk through Wirth Park. Still.. it wasn't the coldest it was going to be that weekend. We walked about 2 hrs and then came home to Mark to go on an adventure of finding ice skates! We finally found them for both my father and I and headed down to Wirth lake! Even though the lake is not kept up we enjoyed a people free ice skating experience, WITH CICI, until the ice started freezing to her poor belly. We headed back home and spent the rest of the windy evening inside. We got to see a movie that actually all three of us enjoyed, The Lorax, and then went to bed to enjoy spending the next day together.

Day 3, colder still. I believe the high this day was 11, but we decided it didn't matter we still wanted to head into Afton and spend the day at Afton State Park together. The day began with a trip to Mark's parent's house (even though sadly no one was there) and then we head to Afton state park. Now like I said... the temperature was around 11, with a windchill, but we were determined to hike some trails :) What ended up happening is we saw the St. Croix, and dad decided it would be a good idea to "walk on water" from MN to WI, so we did! Granted, I was pretty nervous, especailly when we were in the middle of the river with a good 10 minute walk to either end. But no one slipped through the ice, and we had quite a fun time skating in our shoes :)

Day 4, Coldest day in MN in the last 4 years... high I think -4. Dad and I decide we want to brave the cold and we walk on his last day here.. in -11 degrees. Yes, by the end we had boogers frozen to our face, and his eyelashes were icicles. But it was fun and neat to experience. Needless to say I'm sure he was ready to leave by the end of the day Monday, but it was a wonderful trip.

This past week at school was a 3 day week for me, what with testing and Monday off and report card work day Friday, but quite a busy week.

We got to enjoy a nice relaxing weekend after the crazy week in Afton with Mark's parents, Anne and Mike and Chris. As relaxing as little Max would let it be :) But we had a great time, played hockey, watched hockey, had good food and enjoyed family time. Cici had a good time too!

Today we enjoyed a nice relaxing day today, watching the snow fall down, we've had about 3 inches so far and it's looking like a pretty Winter scene :) Just hope the trip to work is ok....