Mickey Lu's

a.k.a. Summer Vacation 2011: Part 2
By featured guest blogger, John

While we were in Marinette, WI, we went to the best hamburger joint ever: Mickey Lu's. It's been open since 1942, and little has changed since then (except the prices, with inflation).


They still use an open flame grill, with no utensils (just hands). Yowsers!


Mmmmm. Tasty!



As you can see, I was extremely happy to be at Mickey Lu's. Charlotte was happy that I was happy. And Helena, well, she's almost always happy.



Helena enjoyed the people bustling about in Mickey Lu's, though she's not old enough yet to enjoy a hamburger! Here she is with her Great Grandma Helen and Great Grandpa Fran (who treated). Thanks for the burgers, brats, and ice-cream, Grandpa and Grandma!

Summer Vacation 2011: Part 1

We are on vacation! It's been wonderful. Plus, Helena has been doing quite well with all the driving - a real blessing for sure.

So what have we been up to? Well, the first stop was Lake Michigan.


Our car parked on the side of the road like those above, and we headed to the beach. It's true. Lake Michigan has gorgeous GoRgEoUs GORGEOUS sand. It's what I expect the best beaches in Hawaii are like.


We only stopped for 20 minutes, but we've put it on the must-stop list for any future travels.


The next stop was Helena's great-grandparents. We arrived and Helena was whisked out of our arms! As you can tell from the above pic, Helena likes her namesake - Great Grandma Helen.


She also likes her Great Grandpa Fran.


And if I may say so, I think her great-grandfather took quite a liking to her. At least we've never seen him on the floor before!


It was quite a treat to also see John's aunt, uncle and cousin. Thanks for playing with Helena, J.J.!

Part 2 coming soon and it will feature a place that is dear to John's heart...

Baby Feet

Why is it that adult feet are something you wouldn't share with others?


And you definitely wouldn't stick them in your mouth!


But on a baby those actions are completely irresistible!

Camping in Algonquin

To celebrate our five years of marriage, our family left Toronto to go camping up north in Algonquin Provincial Park.


It was remarkable how similar the drive was to the drive from Minneapolis to Bemidji. City to suburbs to small towns & beautiful trees.


We saw our first moose a few minutes after entering the park!


Helena is such a helper. In the city, she's helped me hold an umbrella, beat eggs, and hold a lunch tray at IKEA. Here she is helping me carry chairs over to the campfire.


Not exactly sure how she managed it but Helena got bit by some kind of bug only moments after I put her down in the tent for tummy time. After I squished whatever the bug was, she started to bleed and bleed. It didn't affect her emotions but we were a bit worried for a few minutes.


That was her only encounter with bugs. Not sure how she did it since she wore no bug spray and her parents were covered with it, but the trip ended with parents itchy and bumpy all over! Here we are taking a walk through Spruce Bog; the lovely head adornments are there in an attempt to keep the deer flies and horse flies at bay.


As you may have seen before on this blog, typical J&C camping trips have been full of long hikes and little downtime. Not so now that H has joined us! Booth's Rock Trail was the only real hike we made it on, but it was gorgeous. Check out the view of the diaper changing station!


A wade in the lake was definitely in order after a hot afternoon of hiking.


It was a great first camping trip for our family.

A surprising find

The waste system in Toronto is amazing. There are brown bins, blue bins, and green bins. The brown are for garbage - simple enough. The blue are for recyclables, and there are so many things you can recycle in that blue bin. If it has a recycle symbol on it, put it in the bin - easy. The green for compost. (Sadly apartment buildings do not have compost bins due to sanitation laws.) Plus, you are supposed to be able to put disposable diapers in the compost! Whoa.

Isn't that amazing? The city pays (yes, taxes pay) to pick up all that stuff.

But that's not all! If someone in a home doesn't want something that could still be used anymore, they put it on the edge of the yard close to the sidewalk. Then if you walk by and want it, its yours for the taking. It seems like if the items aren't taken within a few days, they're put in the trash.

The things I typically see are shoes, books, chairs, old mattresses...but check out what I came across today:


An eastern toilet, affectionately known as a squatty potty.

And it wasn't new. I say this not because it was disgusting because it wasn't. I say it because we live in an OLD neighborhood that has been heavily populated by Eastern Europeans for many decades and yet a house that is now being renovated had one of these inside. It's been said that Toronto is the most diverse city in the world and now I believe it.

Anniversary

Five Years of Marriage:

4 apartments
6 languages studied for J
9 jobs for C
1 degree earned
1 degree still being pursued
13 countries
24 international flights
5 summited mountain tops
300 blog posts
1 kid
plus a whole bunch of dishes, tons of laughs, and a gazillion mosquito bites

Whew, we've really packed a lot in.

(It's been awhile since we took a photo of just the 2 of us!)

Happy Fourth of July!

A different kind of potato salad

Moosewood's Simple Suppers has been my go-to cookbook since March. I counted this morning and I've made 55 recipes from it! This exercise of cooking through a cookbook has been fun; a lot of the food has been good, plus crossing off or highlighting recipes gives me such a sense of satisfaction. It's like getting a job done and crossing it off your list!

The one recipe that I have made over and over and over again is Indian Potato Salad. It's not your typical potato salad at all, but it's really good. I recommend you try it.


4 cups cubed potatoes (1-inch cubes)
3 TBSP vegetable oil
2 tsp whole cumin seeds
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp curry powder or garam masala (I use the latter)
pinch of cayenne or a splash of Tabasco or other hot sauce
2 or 3 scallions, sliced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the potatoes in the hot until under tender but not falling apart, about 5 minutes after water is boiling again. While they cook, warm the oil in a pan on medium heat. Sizzle the cumin seeds for a few seconds and then stir in the salt, garam masala, and cayenne. Remove from heat. Drain the potatoes and place them in a bowl. Pour the hot seasoned oil over the potatoes and add the scallions, bell pepper and cilantro. Stir gently. Best eaten warm or at room temperature.

Thoughts on My Life

Dry is how I'd describe this blog as of lately. I don't want to bore my few readers with details of life as a stay-at-home mom, yet that's a huge chunk of what goes on in this neck of the woods. Plus, how can I be celebrating today and every day if I ignore the biggest part of my life? So, the long and short of it is expect more blog posts on Helena & being a mom.

Now that that's off my mind, let me restart this stream-of-consciousness blog post.

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5 months. FIVE MONTHS. How has time gone by so quickly? When she arrived, she was 20.25 inches; she is now 26.5 inches. She used to do nothing but relax in our arms; now she likes our arms to help her stand up or jump up and down. She used to sleep so well; now she doesn't.

Speaking of sleep, we just spent the last two hours getting her to sleep. Yikes. However tonight we decided to enjoy the extra necessary cuddles and have some quality family time while resting on our bed.


Tomorrow we're going to give her rice cereal for the first time, as that may help her get up only two times a night, rather than the regular three. As John said today, "I thought we'd be getting up multiple times in the night in March, not June." Plus, it would be good for her to gain a little extra weight and the doctor says rice cereal should help with that.

She's rolling over often now. She did it a bit in May and then it stopped. But over the last few days it has begun again. She's rolled over multiple times tummy to back but she's begun doing it back to tummy as well.

Our normal routine in the morning has been for me to take a quick shower while Helena plays on her back on her play mat outside the open bathroom door. This is where she was after my five-minute shower yesterday:


Again, she started on her back in the middle of the play mat five minutes earlier. Needless to say, our routine is going to change.

Becoming a mother really changes your life. You can't just sit down and read a book for four hours. You can't leave the house with nothing but keys & a wallet. You can't lie on the couch all day when you're feeling ill.

Yet those are the negatives and they're really quite small. Here are some of the things I celebrate in motherhood:

1) smiles coming my way the moment I wake up
2) a cooking companion


3) being offered a thumb to suck
4) the joy found in reading children's books
5) lounging in a pool rather than swimming laps
6) how things I've taken for granted have suddenly become fascinating - like grass


7) having a clean kitchen
8) cuddling with a little someone in the middle of the night
9) a husband who gets up at 5:30 a.m. to play with Helena so I can keep sleeping
10) and let's be honest all you moms out there - being someone's favorite person

Okay, my mind is blank. Thanks for sticking with me.