Conscious Box- September

I haven't written about a Conscious Box in the month I actually received it in many months.  I am finally writing about the box I got in September, in September and I made it with no days left to spare.

This month's box was pretty good but I'm getting sick of the kid's items though and I am even more sick of getting merchandise that expires in the same month it was received. Grrr....

Happy Birthday Dad

Today would have been my dad's 59th birthday.  A year ago, we were here, a day my dad said was one of the best of his life. 

Happy Birthday Daddy.  I miss you terribly. 

The Three Amigos

On Wednesday, September 11th, my mom, sister and I went out for our monthly dinner.

We didn't meet in August. While it should be easy to get three people together for dinner once a month, it isn't always that way.  We're all busy in a different way of life and sometimes it just doesn't work.

It was my mom's choice this month and we went to Acapulco in Maplewood.  I had brought here there once before and she really liked the food. M and I used to frequent this place at least once a week back in the day.  The food is pretty decent and the service is really fast.

Both my sister and mom got chimichangas and I got tacos.  I forgot to take any photos because I also do that when we're together, mostly likely because my mom doesn't like getting her picture taken.

I Lost

M and I bet each other quite a bit on stupid little things, usually for a dollar or a cheaper meal here and there. I think we're pretty even overall but I had to pay out a bet that I obviously wouldn't have made if I didn't know I was right.  I was wrong.

We were having a conversation this past summer about a couple of cabins we stayed in before and we both thought the cabins had different names.  We bet on the names and turns out, M was right.  That was after I had already bet a dinner to Pittsburgh Blue, M's suggestion.

Pittsburgh Blue isn't cheap.  In fact, our dinner on Friday, September 6th was one of the most expensive dinners we've ever had, all paid for by me.  M didn't have to stick to me though by adding a crab leg onto his steak dinner.  That leg cost $30.  In his defense, he didn't know how much it cost beforehand.  Neither did I, but one thing is for sure, we didn't think it would be $30.

M, I'm kidding. (Nietzsche) I'm glad you got your delicious meal that you won fair and square.

Someone's 3

Labor Day weekend for me is usually spent up at M's mom and dad's for at least half of the weekend but with us being up there three times this summer, I decided I wanted to stay home for the long weekend.  I had an extra long weekend as I had Thursday and Friday off from work which I had spent a lot of time with my nephew, Keith.

The majority of the weekend, I didn't do anything special.  M still went to his parents on Saturday and returned Sunday morning.  I enjoyed my time alone doing whatever I pleased.

As for Sunday, September 1st, my sister had a birthday party for Colton.  He was turning 3 but his real birthday wasn't until September 15th.  I couldn't believe it was September 1st already and more importantly, I thought about what we did one year ago that day.

Colton's party theme was the Incredible Hulk.  Jamie thought it would be easy to buy decorations but while it seems they have every other superhero out there, there was nothing for the Incredible Hulk so she improvised and made everything look great, serving green foods and drink.

I asked Colton how old he was and he said "Three."  I said he was right and then told him he was almost three (since his birthday was in 2 weeks) and he said, "No. I'm three."  I should have never corrected him in the first place. :)

Colton opened up his presents outside to an audience of mostly family including his parents, grandma, brothers and sister, aunts and uncle, cousin Owen and his Godmother Jenni who was up from Florida.

Colton received a bunch of toys from everyone.  I gave him a recycling truck, some markers and coloring books.

Colton getting the book Harold and the Purple Crayon, just like his grandpa had when he was a kid

Owen and Colton

Keith got that pogo stick for his birthday in June.  He couldn't even do two in a row and now he's up to over 220 in a row

Happy Birthday Colton!  Auntie love you!

St. Paul Outing

I forgot to write about my night out with the Alpha Gang.  Before I brought Keith to the fair and the day before we went to the Vikings game, I met the majority of the gang at Chatterbox in St. Paul on Wednesday, August 28th.

The original plan was to meet at Tiffany and Aaron's house for a backyard get together but because it was well into the 90's, we decided to meet at an air-conditioned bar instead.

We went to Chatterbox once before with the gang but it was a different location and I had never been to the St. Paul location before.

Catha wasn't able to make it, as she had some sort of vertigo thing going on, something I'm experiencing as I write this.

Remember Lite Brite?

Nostalgia and Garage Cleaning

I'm blogging out of order.  Oops.

On Saturday, August 24th, I went to my mom's and helped her clean out her garage.  She's pretty organized but just has a lot of stuff.  We'd bring in boxes from the garage into the house and go through them.  We had ideas of what we were going to look through and most of it was pretty fun.

My mom and dad pretty much saved every card they've ever received.  If you've sent them a card in the past, most likely they still have it.  We went through some of them and I got to see some of the cards my sister and I made our parents, none of which I remembered making.  I love the homemade card where I'd tape 8 cents into a card and give it to my dad for his birthday.  There were all kinds of cards like that.

We also went through stuff like old pins, banks, dolls and toys. By the end of the day, my sister and I each had a bin full of stuff from when we were kids.

We went through my dad's stuff as well.  I received the majority of his coins that he collected as a kid and some as an adult as well as some baseball cards and Twins memorabilia.  I won't be getting rich on any of these things but it feels good to be able to have these items that were my dad's.  I even got a few pins that were my grandpa's.  My sister received the majority of what was left of our dad's bear collection.  My dad loved black bears and had different statues in all different shapes, sizes and materials.

My mom and I shed some quick tears while going through some of this stuff and I'm sure in one way or another, it was therapy for both of us.

Some pins of my dad's--He had quite a bit of political buttons

We spent half the day going through all of this stuff and after a trip to Saver's to donate some items, my mom's garage looked clean and neat.  Now if she would just let go of all those Christmas decorations.

State Fair- Kid Style

After a fun time at the Vikings preseason game the very night before, we woke up bright and early and went to the State Fair on Friday, August 30th.  It had been so hot this week so I was reluctant to take Keith but after hearing it wouldn't be as warm, I decided to go for it.

Keith didn't know I had plans for the fair until 11 pm the night before after getting back to my house and I asked him if I wanted to go to the fair in the morning.  His jaw dropped open, he sat there for a second or two and said, "Yeaaaaahhhh..."  He assured me he could get up in the 7 am hour and that we'd be able to be out the door by early 8 am hour.

On our way to the fair, the sun was shining on the east side of the cities but driving west, there was this ominous, dark sky.  The radio said it wasn't rain but a cool front coming in.

Once around the fair, the lines were so long for parking, we decided to go to M's work and park in their lot and walk the several blocks over to the fair after carefully crossing the train tracks next to M's work.  After getting out of the car, the cool front definitely came in and it felt great.  It was low 70's with a breeze.

Once inside the fair, I left it up to Keith to decide where what we would do.  It was close to 9 am at this point and he wondered if Fox 9's meteorologist Keith Marler was at the fair.  I don't know if he likes him because they share the same name or because he likes weather but we headed to the Fox 9 area to see if he was there.  I told him there was a good chance he was and when we got there, he got to see Keith Marler in action on the air.

Keith Marler directly in the middle of the picture

After that, our first stop was food.  Keith's first choice?  Bacon ice cream.  He had it last year and apparently liked it enough to get it again.

My first stop was something I wanted to get the first time I was at the fair, a week earlier, but I was just too full. (I forgot to write in my last post about the fair that I also had the lobster mac 'n cheese while I was there. I was so full that I had two bites and brought the rest home to enjoy later.  It was good but it was $9.) It was a BBQ pulled pork taco with coleslaw on top of a corn pancake and wrapped in a flour tortilla. YUM.

We went over by the Twins area where there was batting practice being held for the kids.  Each kid would rotate around the outfield until it was their turn to hit.  The pitcher I recognized immediately. He's a worker/usher at the Twins game and his section is 117, one I've sat at multiple times.  He's super fun and crowd-interactive so it was easy to remember who he was.

Keith had a few homers over the wall and the pitcher said, "you hit it, you get it". 

We browsed through the International Bazaar and I bought a bag/purse.  I had to stop at the stand outside of the bazaar where I bought some coconut macaroons from Salty Tart.

We went to Heritage Square.  Keith had never been there before and I thought I would show it to him before they tear it down and have other plans for it like they intend to do for next year.  

We watched a guy made a wooden bowl and while I thought it was pretty fascinating, I'm not sure how exciting Keith thought it was.

We walked through the train cars and looked at old race cars before heading into the Minnesota Newspaper Museum.  I remember going here with my family when we were younger and getting a State Fair newspaper. Keith got a paper hat made for him.  This building is getting torn down after this year but they haven't yet found another place at the fair to accommodate the museum for next year.

Keith wanted to eat again so he had funnel cake fries.  They were covered in powdered sugar and chocolate sauce to dip them in.  I asked if I could have one and he said yes as I thought there was no way he would eat all of them.  He did. 

We shopped around Heritage Square where I bought some delicious peaches and some jewelry.  

We went to the Midway next.  If you get there before 1 pm, they have an early bird special and the games and rides are discounted 1 ticket.  

Can you see Keith up on top on the balcony?

Keith wasn't afraid to go on rides by himself.  His first ride was the tornado and he was able to sit with other kids his age.

He wasn't afraid to go into the haunted house either.  He got in his little cart and he wheeled off into the building, coming out just 2 minutes later, not scared.

It was so hard to get pictures of him on this next ride because it was going so fast.  The girl he sat next to was getting sick and covering her mouth and I just hoped she wouldn't puke on Keith!

After that ride, Keith wanted to go to into the freak show area where they have the spider woman, bearded lady, sword swallower, that kind of thing.  I let him go in on his own and I sat at the benches in front waiting for him to come out.  It took 45 minutes!  (His mom was ok with him going in there and he had been in there the year before.)

With only a few tickets left, Keith played a game and won a stuffed tiger for his brother Colton.

The sun was starting to come out and we were getting close to being done for the day. We stopped inside the dairy barn where Keith got a blueberry malt and we watched one of the princesses get carved in butter in the big rotating cooler.

I got some watermelon that didn't taste the best and that was the end of our day at the fair.  We spent 5 hours there and on our way back to the car, I said that I forgot to take a picture of us while we were at the fair.  Keith said that it was ok and we can take a picture of ourselves while we were on the train tracks. Yeah, I decided against that.

We were going to surprise Keith's mom at work and show up to see her.  Once we got to her work, we didn't see her car.  I called her and she said she was out running errands for work.  Oops, that didn't work too well.

I drove Keith home and he was wiped.  I caught him falling asleep in the car a couple of times before we got to his house.

I know he had an awesome time the last couple of days with his auntie Dana and I enjoyed every minute with him as well.