Cohen's First Day of School!

Now I would like to interrupt my summer vacation posting to announce that Cohen started Pre-K today! We took him out for a special first day breakfast at Georgio's Country Grill. Cohen wanted waffles and sausage to start his day. He ended up pouring the whole cup of syrup on his waffles. 

We then headed over to the school to meet his teachers. They have a great playground in the court yard that Cohen has been asking about visiting for months. When I told him he was going to school today he immediately asked, "to play on my playground?!" 

There were some kids that clearly didn’t want their parents to leave and parents that definitely felt the same. I however told Cohen bye and he responded with what I think was supposed to be a wave goodbye, but it felt more like a “mom get out of here” gesture. I then proceeded to skip the whole way home!

When I picked Cohen up he didn't want to leave. He asked me for the rest of the day if he could go back to school. He's such an independent little soul. I'm so happy for him to take this next adventure.

I love you Cohen! I’m so proud of you and I know you’re going to have a fantastic time learning new things and making friends.

Ms. Green and Ms. D...Thanks, and Good Luck! You’ll be in my prayers.

Neu Family Reunion: Day 3....Madeline Island

On day 2 we spent most of the time indoors since it was raining, but on day 3 Jeff, Cohen and I busted out the paddle boat for Cohen to take a quick spin. Cohen and I arrived late on the day that everyone else played with the paddle boats and Cohen saw them sitting there and frequently told me that he wanted to ride one. I kept telling him, "another day." Well, the last day came and it was now or never. I'm really trying to not be a parent that tells my kid something to blow him off and then... blow him off. Since I didn't want to ride in the boat with him, I just put on my swim suit bottoms and pushed him around for a little while. He loved it so it was a win for everyone.

After checking out of the cabin, Jeff, Cohen and I headed over to Madeline Island for a quick look around. Two of the families went over a couple days before and weren't too impressed (Even tried to discourage us from going). They had warned me, but I felt that I had come all that way I might as well experience it for myself since I probably would never be return to the Apostle Islands. It was a learning experience for sure. I figured out that if I DID ever return to the Apostle Islands I would do it completely differently than this time. I would load up a car with camping gear and go camp on Madeline Island! We unfortunately didn't bring our car on the ferry, so we didn't get to drive around to the other side and see the park and go on a hike (Cohen also didn't have the right shoes on for a hike).  So, I don't want to rag on Madeline Island because we really weren't prepared to take advantage of all she had to offer. It's all good, Cohen loves riding on boats so the ferry ride was a total win with him.

The little town that the ferry docks in on Madeline Island is really small but it was fun to walk around. There were a few souvenir shops and a couple places to eat (ice cream and a bakery). If we didn't have Cohen with us I totally would have rented a Vespa and rode around the island.

We walked through a few of the stores for souvenirs and then checked out the local bakery. It was amazingly small, but they had a nice variety of sweet treats. The women working said they make all the baked goods on site, which is totally impressive since the kitchen in the back looked tiny. Cohen really enjoyed his donut with sprinkles.  I had the berry coffeecake (I was told it was the best seller) and really enjoyed it. Jeff had the carrot cake and wasn't too impressed (surprise, surprise).

We really only spent 30 minutes on the island and then returned to Bayfield, WI to grab lunch at the Fat Radish (AGAIN!) and of-course finished of our Apostle Islands trip with a chocolate ice cream cone for Cohen!

We then headed to Anne's (in Minnesota) for dinner and quality family time. I really do enjoy spending time with Jeff's family. They are such loving people. My sister-in-law Emilie told me that one of the things she likes about Minnesota are the amazing clouds. She was right! I couldn't believe how beautiful all the clouds were.

Newport: Day TWO...Newport Pier, Oregon Coast Aquarium, Sea Hag

On day two in Newport we went for a quick walk on the Newport Pier. There were a lot of people fishing and crabbing, which was really entertaining for Cohen. He loved going up to everyone and asking them a million questions. He's such a social little guy.














After the pier, we met a friend of ours (Amy) at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Cohen loves aquariums. This one had an amazing underwater tunnel that allowed us to see some great sharks. Cohen really got into it, which is always fun.

We then headed to the Sea Hag (Depoe Bay) for lunch. I had a crab louie that looked like a crab. It was fun :) Really I just got it for the amazing shrimp and crab on it! It was a great lunch catching up with Amy.

We took a few pictures after lunch. I LOVE Depoe Bay! It's just so beautiful.

 

A quick trip to Newport...Candy, Dinner at Mo's, Ice Cream, and the Beach

After the Enchanted Forest, we headed to Newport to spend the night and get in a little more beach time before heading to Minnesota. Before dinner we stopped at a little candy shop to restock on gummy sharks. Cohen sure does love those gummy sharks and Grandma A is all too willing to support his addition.

We then headed to Mo's for dinner. This was my first time at the original Mo's. The food was great and Cohen loved the little plastic shark they gave him with his lemonade. I'm not sure where he got the idea to order lemonade, but it's now his thing. Every time we sit down in a restaurant Cohen turns to the waiter/waitress and orders lemonade. Harmizzle ordered a Marion berry cobbler, which was amazing!

 

We then stopped at an ice-cream shop so Cohen could get a chocolate ice-cream cone. The Neu's loves ice cream, and Grandpa A loves chocolate ice-cream....Cohen had no chance....he was bound to love chocolate ice-cream. 

After our sweet treat, we headed to the beach. It was kind of hike down, but Cohen insisted on going down and running in the sand. He ended up with a little sand in his eye because of the wind was crazy strong, but for the most part he enjoyed himself. :) I LOVE the Oregon coast and miss it!

Seaside + Long Beach + Campfire = Perfect Summer Day

After a surprisingly restful night's sleep, we headed to Seaside to go to the outlet malls and out to lunch. We ended up at Pig'n Pancake, which historically has been a family favorite of ours, but this time it was a total let down. The service was horrible and they messed up Grandma's order....TWICE! I think we will need to find a new favorite Seaside restaurant.

We then walked toward the beach and stopped at the carousel for a quick ride and then to a shop to buy Cohen his first kite! We only spent a few minutes flying the kite in Seaside. We deiced to head back to Long Beach to hang out on the beach since we could drive the truck on the sand and therefore don't have to walk to long distance to the water!

Long Beach was basically empty, which was totally nice. Cohen only flew the kite for a few minutes and then handed it to Grandma, so he could dig in the sand. Grandma just tied the kite to her chair. Of course, it ended up flying off, but luckily it didn't get far and Auntie Harmizzle could retrieve it. It was a lovely couple of hours at the beach with the fam!

After a great beach trip, we headed home to build a camp fire. Cohen had been asking nonstop about when we would be building a fire to make smores! The timing was perfect cause when we tried to start the barbecue to make burgers, we realized we were out of fuel, so we ended up cooking everything over the fire. Auntie Harmizzle didn't believe it could be done, but it could! Both the burgers and the corn were delicious.

We quickly moved on to dessert. Cohen opted in to eating a deconstructed smore and seemed to quite enjoy it. Grandma made a smore with a reese's peanut butter cup which looked divine! I will log that one away for next time I do smores!

We then moved on to making Fire Pies (a creation of our friend Kelly. aka Mele). Basically, you take biscuit dough and wrap it around an aluminum foil ball on a stick and cook it over the file. Kari then put pie filling and whipped cream on top. I decided to give it a try but instead of putting pie filling in it I put fresh peaches. It was delicious! It took a while to cook the dough, but it was totally worth it!

Oh, and we drug these two water guns to the beach (on Cohen's insistence) and didn't even use them once. Just posed with them :) Luckily, they got a lot of use when we got home and Grandpa started an epic watertight.

Grandpa A. Visit May 2017: A quick trip to get pasta and a treat

On Saturday we ventured down to Greenwich Village for some fresh pasta from Raffetto's and a sweet treat from François Payard Bakery. Jeff and Cohen have made this tip several times over the past couple of months, so I was excited to finally join them and see what it's all about. It was lunch time so we also stopped and grabbed some pizza from Denino's. Dad said it was the best pizza he's had in New York. I don't know if I agree, but it was pretty good.

Washington Trip January 2017: Burgerville!

A trip to Washington would not be complete without lunch at Burgerville! Even better that I got to go with the fam! :) Before we left I told Cohen we were going to go get "the best burger in Vancouver." Jeff of course perked up and asked where we were going. When I told him we were going to Burgerville he was deflated. Of course he jumped on his computer and started the quest to find the best burger in Vancouver. After some research he found Crave Grille. So, we had Burgerville for lunch and Crave Grille for dinner. We all LOVED Crave Grille! It was a really good burger. 

 Two burgers in one day!

Washington Trip January 2017: Can I have a s'more please!

Grandma always has fun activity for Cohen to do while we are visiting. After our long day at the zoo Grandma had Grandpa :) set up his camp stove so we could make s'mores. Cohen really got into the whole fire thing (luckily auntie Harmizzle gave Cohen a proper lesson on how to be a pyro the night before). I don't think Cohen even ate a s'more, but he did have a lot of chocolate.

Washington Trip January 2017: Blue Star Donuts

Ok, last food post...

Last Friday Jeff and I picked up some donuts before meeting the fam for a trip at the Oregon Zoo. We have gone to Voodoo Doughnuts before and Jeff wasn't a fan, so my dad recommend we try Blue Star donuts. After doing a little research we discovered that the Voodoo Doughnuts was for tourist and Blue Star Donuts was the real deal! Of course that meant that Jeff and I needed to try them! We picked up a dozen and to say that Jeff liked them would be an understatement. Jeff thought they were way better than Voodoo Doughnuts. They were a little dense for me, but I totally liked them!

I think the real test would be to get a maple/bacon donut from both Voodoo Doughnuts and Blue Star Donuts and do a taste off! I will make sure to do this analysis next time I'm in Washington. It's important to see which one is better, right?