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First Weekend Off

It was our first weekend off since hockey ended. I thought my liver would recover nicely now that hockey season was over. As it happens, this proved to be an entirely false hypothesis. It all started Saturday afternoon in our driveway with the neighbors. The boys were watching glue dry (literally) and the wives joined them to enjoy some drinks. Before you knew it, we ended up heading to a restaurant with the guys in hard hats and high-visibility vests.

Sunday we headed to brunch with my friend Scott. He and I worked together at Progressive many moons ago. In fact, he first met me when I was pregnant with Zachary. We met at JB’s on the beach in Deerfield Beach. It’s an awesome place, but the whole rigmarole of traffic was too much. Deerfield Beach is one of those places you need to get to extremely early if you don’t like traffic. Nevertheless, the view, the food, and the company made suffering through traffic worth it. Our first weekend off of hockey was a smashing good time.

I crashed, however, as soon as we got home thanks to the mimosas. Fortunately, I woke up in time to see Kaprizov score a hat-trick and steal the game from Columbus. The kid is incredible. Speaking of hockey, we didn’t fully take the weekend off from hockey. The Mayor started lessons with Coach Joni early Saturday morning. Joni is an incredible skating coach, so I’m excited to see the process the Mayor makes under his tutelage. They’ll be working together weekly. Tonight the Mayor will play in the high school All-Star game, which should be fun.

Today’s accountability tracker:

  • Workout: 45-minute spin class, plus 15-minute cooldown courtesy of Apple Fitness
  • Book: Book: Marcel Proust’s  Finding Lost Time. 
  • Blog: done
  • Today’s song is Radiate by Jack Johnson
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Christmas

We had a great Christmas even if it was a little more low key than previous years. My Christmas started when I rolled over in bed and the Mayor was there to wake me up. As soon as I rolled over, he asked if it was time to open up gifts. Spoiler alert, he also did the same thing the next morning only that time he was asking to go to Dunkin’. Eventually, the Mayor was able to coax me out of bed, so he could open gifts.

The bigger hurdle in the early morning wasn’t me, but Goalielocks. Unsurprisingly, he took awhile to wake up. Once up both boys were excited to open their gifts. Honestly, it was a weird holiday since they opened some accessories, but their main present was still in transit. This year we bought to big family gifts, a squat rack and a new tv for the loft. Naturally, the boys were excited for both.

Our annual Christmas brunch was an absolute success. Fortunately, we had very little leftovers, which is great. I certainly don’t need to eat caramel rolls for a week. We put Anakin in his crate since he gets aggressive when people come into the house. Unfortunately, he doesn’t do well with very little kids, so he stayed in his crate until Ava left. Meanwhile, Athena was showered with lots of sweet love and attention by Ava. Athena was so patient and loving with her.

Some how we started watching the Best of the Crocodile Hunter, so that was the background music to our brunch. I forgot how much I loved Steve Irwin and his show. He had the best energy and was just a riot to watch. Shortly, after I told my brother Jake probably wouldn’t be able to c due to work, Jake called. Honestly, Jake’s call home was the best gift ever. After company left, we napped and relaxed before heading to the Kennedy’s for dinner.

Dinner at the Kennedy’s was wonderful. As always, Hanh cooked an absolute feast for everyone. She’s an amazing cook! After dinner, we had some drinks before deciding to play some games. Note to self, the games may have gone better sober. We had an absolute blast playing Heads Up and Scattergories. I’ll tell you one lesson the Hubby and I took away from the evening, the Mayor isn’t allowed to play Scattegories with the grandparents. All in all, Christmas was a wonderful reminder of how blessed we are.

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Sunday Brunch Day

It was Sunday brunch day here in our house this morning!!!! And it was fabulous, but first can we pause an acknowledge that I actually know what day it is?!!! #winning. Naturally, today’s brunch wasn’t like our usual brunch. There were no caramel rolls due to my laziness and an inability to find yeast. Moreover, there were no house guests. While I missed eating the caramel rolls I shouldn’t be eating, I definitely missed having family and friends over.

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The Hubby made his world famous cholesterol bake, while I made waffles in lieu of the rolls. I don’t know about you, but my favorite way to eat a waffle is with fruit and whipped cream. This, I planned to make a strawberry sauce. Thankfully, My Mayor helped me with the strawberry sauce by slicing up the fruit while I finished making the waffles. As I finished the waffles, the hubby cooked up a bunch of bacon as the cholesterol bake cooked. Yes, brunch was going to be yummy!

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It wouldn’t be brunch, however, if there weren’t mimosas. Importantly, we made sure that we had a sufficient mimosa bar as we ate breakfast and played games. This included three types of orange juice and three different sparkling wines. For our wines, we had an Asti, a champagne and a Prosecco. All of them were yummy! Clearly, the secret to a successful brunch is a top notch mimosa bar.

Admittedly, the hubby and I may have enjoyed more mimosas than was advisable. Fortunately, it’s not a long walk from the kitchen table to the couch. We did play a rousing game of Cards Against Humanity in which all of our cards sucked and the Hubby one. This was a first! I’ve never played a this game where turn after turn everyone’s cards suck. I’ve also never played a board or card game where the Hubby one. Normally, Goalielocks win this one.

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Afterwards, the hubby took a much deserved nap on the couch as I hung out with the puppies and read news on my phone. I also perused Facebook for awhile, but quickly tired of my newsfeed. Meanwhile, the boys enjoyed the dry ice that came with our Omaha Steak delivery.  Then for some reason, I felt compelled to eat more Cadbury Mini Eggs. This was a bad idea because while they are tasty, I had already eaten too much. In fact, I don’t think Swiss chocolate would have gone done any easier. Sadly, I’m not a baller, so I couldn’t fall asleep no matter how hard I tried.

This evening Jake called from Tech School. Spoiler alert – he’s doing awesome. I am often reminded of how incredible he is as a human and humbled that he’s my child. He’s chose a path of sacrifice and service, but this same path will ensure he and his family have a bright future. To be honest, the most difficult part of the pandemic is that we can’t visit him. It’s tough to be away from him during this time and to not even have an option to see him sucks. At any rate, words remain inadequate to describe how proud I am of my airmen.

Since the Hubby and I were tired and on the phone with Jake, the Mayor decided to make dinner. He was craving Caribbean jerk chicken with black beans and rice. Fortunately, he’s in the culinary academy at school. Truth be told, my Mayor is probably the best cook in the house now. Or maybe that’s how we feel since we don’t have to cook it?!? At any rate, we’re definitely winning! I hope your Sunday was as fantastic and mimosa filled as mine. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to enjoy brunch with friends and family again.

Here’s a list of our day’s activities:

*Reading Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë and loving it!

*One mimosa, two mimosa, red mimosa, blue mimosa

*Completed BBG day 7 week 8- and then there was rest day

*Took Anakin, Maya and Athena on multiple walks

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New Years Day and Back to Work

No sooner had I left the office Monday night, then it was New Years day and back to work.  Like right back to work.  It felt more like an abbreviated weekend than a holiday, but we made the best of it.  New Years Eve we headed to my brothers for snacks, games and of course champagne.  We even snuck in some shots of Salmiakki.  My mom made some pickle rolls ups, aka Minnesota Sushi, which brought back some great memories of the holidays of my youth.  I haven’t had them since we moved south of the Mason Dixon thirteen years ago! We rushed home after midnight, so as to try to beat the traffic.

The next morning we were going to head down to Fort Lauderdale for brunch, but that ended up being moved to Boca.  This made is a lot easier for us although I love Fort Lauderdale.   My sister-in-law Brandi and her cooking partner Phil made yet again an amazing meal.  They always partner up on Thanksgiving to make a fantastic dinner, so getting to enjoy twice this year was quite nice.  Fortunately, I didn’t include anything about food in my New Year’s resolutions or I would have broken all of them at brunch!

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After brunch, we headed out to South County Park in Boca to go jet skiing.  There is a nice lake behind the amphitheater that is deceivingly large.   There’s not a ton of room by the docks, which keeps it from getting too crowded.  Fortunately, the weather was absolutely sublime lows 80s and some cloud cover to keep it cool.

Our younger two, Goalielocks and the Mayor, were hooked after their first rides.  Once they got on, they didn’t want to get off the jet skis.  Eventually, they had to get off so other people could ride, but they were keen to get back on the water.   Fortunately, both Grandma and Grandpa got a chance to ride the jet skis.   Both of the boys got to drive the jet skis, which they absolutely loved.  Goalielocks is a little more sensible, while the Mayor’s driving style can only be described as “balls to the wall.” I can already sense how much fun we’re going to have teaching him to drive.

After several hours of jet skis and Cornhole, we headed home to get ready for our inevitable return to work on Wednesday.   Shortly thereafter, the Mayor convinced my husband to make Caribbean jerk chicken with black beans and rice.   The kid ate two full plates.  Unquestionably, he has a hollow leg – or so we thought.

He left dinner to take a shower having been on the lake all day.  After about fifteen minutes, he came back out to the family room and announced “I threw up all over the bathroom and I missed both the sink and the toilet.”  Now that my friends takes talent.   Immediately, the hubby and I got up to check him out.  He insisted he was fine having thrown up only because he ate too much too fast with too much milk.

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After making sure he was fine, we headed to the bathroom.  His assessment was spot on. He had in fact thrown up all over our bathroom effectively missing both the toilet and the sink.   I’m not quite sure what happened, but I was relieved he missed the rugs and the dirty clothes he left strewn about the floor.   Thankfully, he was okay and not harboring some insidious stomach bug.   Since I wasn’t feeling well, he cleaned up the projectile mess.  He’s the real hero!

And just like that in the blink of an eye,  we went to bed and got up for work like nothing had changed……. Our Tuesday holiday was quickly over and it was back to reality.