It's about time!

We've lived in Minnesota well over a year now. There are several restaurants that we miss from home...McAllisters Deli, Steak N Shake & Chick-fil-a are the main ones. We always make sure to make our rounds when we go home at Thanksgiving! 

So you can imagine our excitement when we learned that Chick-fil-a was set to open in the town next to us! Well, today was opening day!

It just so happens that the elementary kids are off today & tomorrow for conferences. Little Eliot still had school though. Don't worry, we got him some nuggets too!

Sweet sisters :)

Maybe I should get us all a tshirt!

It's the little things in life you know. Like going to Chick-fil-a on opening day & getting a gluten free kids meal! The smiles were priceless.

Celebrity

Animal Planet is a favorite channel in our house. The kids love "The Gator Boys" and "Turtleman". Earlier this week Scott traveled to Chicago for business. As he was getting off the plane, Turtleman was standing right there! Scott's boss took a quick pic so the kids would believe him. I guess you never know who'll you'll run into these days. :)

1st Snow!

We woke up to our 1st snow today! They were predicting 2-4" in our area but I think we only ended up with a dusting. It was still an exciting time for the kids! Our first snow was in November last year too.  It stayed for 6 months!!

As soon as the boys ate breakfast & packed their lunches, they headed out.

Now this kind of snow is so beautiful! Just enough to enjoy, but not enough to stick around for very long.

Hairball

In October a big group from the neighborhood went to a local catholic festival & concert. We all went together last year too. Both years they've had an 80's band called Hairball preform.  It's a fun time!

Jim & Allison...they went to the Tim McGraw concert too!

Steve & Laura...their son Lucas & Eli are best buddies.

Amanda & me

Braces

Emery recently had the 1st set of braces in the Jackson family put on! Whew, was it a process! She actually has an expander & 8 braces total. 

Every time we check in at the office, they have a sign posted. Emery couldn't wait for her name to be on there! After 5 visits beforehand, the big day was finally here.

Em was a trooper throughout the entire process. I never had braces & am so proud of her.

So for the next year it's a metal mouth! A beautiful smile to follow :)

Happy Halloween!

This year we had a special guest for Halloween...Grandma! I'm thankful she was here because I had a hard time making the rounds to 4 Halloween festivities!

We started the day at Eliot's preschool. The kids came to school in their costumes & then did a parade & sang a couple of songs.

Eliot & his buddy Kellan kind of participated. They both looked like a deer in headlights!

In the afternoon, we headed to Woodland for the school costume parade & class parties. I was in Eli's, Mom in Emery's and Scott in Elese's classroom. Eliot had a ball playing the games & eating snacks!  I didn't take pictures at school (too busy) but here are the costumes.

My beautiful Indian princess ;) 

Blue Morph...a favorite choice for boys of all ages!

My little kitty cat & firefighter!

 

By the time trick or treating rolled around, it had already been a long day! We fired up the popcorn machine & built a big fire. Grandma was keeping warm & enjoying a well deserved glass of wine ;)

The weekend before Halloween our friends had a neighborhood Halloween party. Scott & I dressed up as Duck Dynasty. It was super fun & thanks to donations from Grandaddy, pretty easy to pull off.

Uncle Si

Si & Jase

Afton Apple Orchard

The kids were off school today and the weather was beautiful. We took Scott to his therapy appointment then headed off to the orchard!

The place is all decked out for the fall festivities! They have several photo options along the way.

Everything is just so pretty right now. As you can see, we still don't have total fall colors just yet!

We headed off to pick some apples & were quickly distracted by the raspberries. They were so yummy so we ate a few...more like a ton!

The kids had apples in one hand & raspberries in the other.

Sweet girls!

Not sure about the boys...

Right before we left, we ran into the YMCA group from school! Mia lives in our neighborhood & plays with Elese.

The sign of a good time! Eliot always falls asleep on the way home from our adventures. I had to laugh at all the nasty stuff on his face :)

Valleyfair Amusement Park

The local amusement park here is called Valleyfair. It's a cross between Holiday World and Kings Island. It's kind of old school & small but still fun.  When Scott won the Twins tickets, the amusement park tickets were included. The kids were thrilled!

The place was already decked out for Halloween.

Our first stop was the scrambler! This place is so old school that Eliot could pretty much ride everything with an adult. Kind of scary!

Emery isn't a huge ride fan so we hung out on this ride. She's chilling on Scott's scooter.

They must have known I was coming! Cotton candy is one of my favorites...the kids too! We lucked out on "Dollar Days".

Ring toss was the dollar game of the day. We all took a try but weren't successful.

Elese & Eliot are dare devils & will ride anything!

We were having a great time & then major rain came out of the blue! We grabbed some dinner & then headed out.  Fun times, for free!

Twins Game

About a month ago, Scott won tickets to a Twins game from a meeting at work. We were super excited about a free date night then he got hurt & had to have surgery. At the last minute we decided to go ahead & go...at that point Scott was cooped up to say the least!

Target Field...I'm sure my Target trips have at least paid for a seat or two!

Once we got into the stadium, we got a wheelchair escort right to our club level seats! The view was awesome & on such a pretty night.

We quickly started getting some baseball food. The food on the club level is a step above stadium fare. The deluxe nacho is served by chefs & cooked to order. Thankfully they even have all the food labeled gluten free!

Date night!

Achilles' tendon

Scott ended up in surgery to repair his Achilles' tendon the Wednesday after Labor Day. I couldn't believe how fast the orthopedic doctor moved on the surgery!

I took this right after they gave him an oxicotin before surgery. Scott is the kind of guy who takes 1 Advil for a headache so we got a big kick out of all the drugs they kept giving him.

I think he was the most excited about getting his recliner on the 1st floor the evening of his surgery. Paul & Marty came right down & moved it up for us. He was pumped! His buddy Marty delivered some of his favorite wings for dinner too.

A week after surgery we went back to have the splint removed. His scar is nasty! The doctor was pleased with how it looked & then put him in a cast.

The cast has really been a blessing. He got a scooter too & can be so much more mobile without the crutches. His work buddies hung the sped limit sign outside his office as a joke!

Next week we go back to orthopedics and the cast comes off & we move on to the boot!