A Quick Trip East

After a quick visit with our friends, Luke and Holly and their daughters, in Iowa in early January, we decided to make a trip east to their place for a longer visit.  Our other friends, Kyle and Callie, from Florida were able to get away too for a kid-free trip!

A quick history on our friendships:
Brent and Luke have been friends since they were young kids growing up in Rochester together.  Luke moved to Iowa in late elementary school, but they stayed connected through the years.
Luke, Kyle, Brent, and I all went to Minnesota Bible College (now Crossroads College) together in the early 2000s where Brent, Luke, and Kyle all played basketball together and became quick friends.
Luke and Holly were married in 2005 and Kyle and Callie were married in 2007.  I am forever grateful for the wonderful women Luke and Kyle married and the friendships we all share as couples:)

On to our trip last week!

Wednesday
We flew out of Minneapolis bright and early and made it to Baltimore by lunch.  We spent the rest of the day at Luke and Holly's place catching up, making dinner, and the guys got some basketball in at the gym.  We also did some online research about our day trip to NYC and got some great tips from Luke's friend who grew up in NYC.

Enchilada Assembly Line

Thursday
We hit the road early for the 2.5/3 hour drive to Staten Island where we park to catch the ferry to Lower Manhattan.  We took the subway to Central Park, had lunch, and did LOTS of walking as we worked our way back to Lower Manhattan catching the sights.  We explored Central Park some (which wasn't very exciting covered in snow...at least not to these Minnesotans) seeing the Wollman Ice Skating Rink and the Central Park Zoo, then we checked out FAO Schwarz, Saint Patrick's Cathedral, Rockefeller Center, Radio City Music Hall all on our way to The Empire State Building.  We convinced a few in our group that they could survive the ride in the elevator and the heights of the view and made the trip to the 86th Floor Observation Deck.  We walked some more to check out Times Square and get dinner.  The weather was perfect for all of the walking at about 50 degrees with sun and very little wind.

Luke,Holly, and us on the subway

Kyle and Callie on the subway

Lunch and Angela's Deli

Central Park

Wollman Ice Skating Rink

Radio City Music Hall

Rockefeller Center

On the Empire State Building Observation Deck

View from the Empire State Building Observation Deck

Times Square

Times Square

Friday 
We had a lazy morning, then the ladies stopped at a couple stores and got mani/pedis.  Unfortunately, Kyle was not feeling well so he rested most of the day.  We all relaxed at home to watch The Butler in the evening.

Saturday
We got all packed up then headed to the Epicenter, the new community center/church that Luke is heading up in Edgewood, MD where they live.  We then made our way to Baltimore's Inner Harbor to walk around and enjoy our last lunch together.  Again, the weather was great (especially compared to back home in MN after the ridiculous blizzard that hit) at 60 degrees, sunny, and windy.  We all flew out around dinner time, us back to MN and Kyle and Callie back to FL, to meet up with our kiddos again:)

Lunch at Cheesecake Factory

Lunch at Cheesecake Factory

Walking Baltimore

Inner Harbor

It was a great trip filled with time together both relaxing and exploring.  We are so blessed by these lovely people in our lives and are thankful for the opportunity to see our far away friends in person:)  We're all looking forward to June/July when Luke and Kyle's families will be in MN!

I cannot forget to thank our amazing parents who made this trip possible sans kiddos (Mom and Dad, Dave and Paula, and Callie's parents who I've never met but must be wonderful:))!  Special thanks to my dad for snowblowing at our house during the blizzard o' February 2014 so we didn't come home to drifts up to our knees!

Why do I "Go Red"?

Friday, February 7 was Go Red for Women day.  Each year, I wear red for two amazing women in my life who are still here today despite their diagnoses with heart disease thanks to prevention and intervention.

My Mom

Ten years ago, my mom, 47 years old at the time, went to the emergency room with back pain and nausea. She was told she had pulled a muscle in her back and was sent home.  After her symptoms worsened, she went back to the ER to learn that she was having a heart attack.  An otherwise healthy, thin, 47 year old woman with her symptoms was not on the radar of the ER staff as a potential heart attack victim.

My mom had a stent placed, did all of the necessary cardiac rehab, and learned all she could to help prevent future heart issues.  But, heart disease is a disease by definition: "a condition that impairs normal functioning," and continues to surface with issues to this day for my mom.  She does all she does all she can to sustain her health through exercise, medication, and diet, but genetics continue to work against her.  We are grateful for the wonderful care she receives, the medications that sustain her despite the disease, for medical insurance that makes this care possible, and for the increased awareness of cardiac risk in women and the unique symptoms that can accompany it.  Thanks to all of these, my mom is still here today, leading a normal life as wife, mom, and grandma:)

Christmas 2013
Proud Grandma!

My Grandma

Nearly 30 years ago, my grandma (my mom's mom) had double coronary bypass surgery (meaning she had two blocked arteries that were bypassed in her heart with healthy blood vessels used from her leg).  This was a pretty major operation in the 1980s and resulted in my grandma being hospitalized for over a week (which is unheard of today).  She also recovered well thanks to wonderful care, medication, diet, and exercise, but still closely monitors her health with regular doctor visits.

Christmas 2013
My grandparents in their 80s

I am forever grateful for each of these women who have lived many years beyond their heart disease diagnoses!

Three generations

(Please know this post is by no means minimizing the reality of heart disease in men, as our family has also seen its share.  Rather, to increase awareness of a disease that was for many years though to be an issue that mainly effects men and rarely women. The awareness has been growing as more women face heart disease and that the warning signs are often not the same as for men.)

Eight is Great!

Today, we have an eight year old in our house!  We had a great week celebrating our wonderful boy with family and friends.

Monday, we had "brinner" at our house (breakfast for dinner) with Papa Kerry and Gma Ruth.  Luke also got to open his gift from us: new golf clubs!

Checking out some golfing gear with Papa

Indoor putting practice

Precious boy and his grands

Golf in the house

Ready for spring!

Wednesday, Luke had his annual dinner out and shopping night with Bridget & Ross.  They had dinner at Mr Pizza North and bought a new video game.

Friday, Luke brought birthday treats to share with his class.  Snicker doodle cookies, his favorite!

Saturday, we had Luke's birthday party at Canvas and Chardonnay.  They have family friendly events a few weekends a month and Luke wanted to invite his friends to paint the rocket canvas.  All of the friends he invited were buddies from his old daycare.  They are a very special group of kids:)

Excited to get started!

Carson, Luke, and Kya

Aiden, Logan, Zoe, and Jon

Finished rocket paintings!

Today, his actual birthday, we had a quiet Sunday at home until we went bowling with Papa & Gma Beckmann, Bridget, and Ross, and had dinner and ice cream.

Sunday morning cartoons:)

Learning to snow blow

Ain't they cute;)

Nora attempting to take her shoes off for bowling

Chatting with Gma, these two adore each other:)

It was a fun-filled week celebrating our sweet boy and he deserved every minute of attention and celebration.

Now it's time for a momma to get sentimental...

Eight years ago, we welcomed a quiet, sleepy, bald, blue-eyed son into the world and our lives changed for ever.  We became parents.  We became a family.  Our boy has truly been a joy since the beginning.  He is caring, careful, loving, patient, hard working, inquisitive, detail oriented, introverted, and an absolute joy to be around.  

This past year, he has grown and developed into a boy.  His body has stretched and toned and he has filled the shoes of big brother like no other I have known.

When I think of this past year with Luke, I swell with pride.  He finished first grade after advancing considerably in his reading level throughout the year.  He started second grade and took the changes with several academic programs in stride and continues to work hard and make progress.  He was active in basketball, baseball, swimming lessons, and took on his first year of tackle football.  He had a few rough spots with nerves over batting in baseball, but he stuck with it, continued to give his all, and finished out the season.  He loved everything about football (once we got all of his gear fitting correctly so he could play comfortably...live and learn:)) and his overall love for the game has strengthen after his first season and watching plenty of football on TV with Daddy:)  We have seen him come out of his shell more with each passing year and we love to watch him play with his cousins, daycare friends, and school friends as he has gained confidence and self assurance.  

Luke, you are truly a blessing to our lives and have made our first path of parenthood smooth and calm. You are an amazing boy who has so much to offer the world.  I love watching you grow, learn, and mature and I love watching you as a big brother to Nora.  

Luke's Year As a Seven Year Old