Monday.

Currently, I'm in my "oh-dear-I-worked-all-weekend-so-I'll-take-Monday-to-be-super-lazy-and-relax-around-the-house-yet-there's-a-billion-things-I-want-to-get-done-but-I'm-still-too-much-of-a-bum" mode.  Yup, you heard right.  It's seriously all too common.  It is kind of a grey day outside, so I suppose that accounts for something.  Plus--my lovely husband has the day off as well, so he's more than happy to oblige when it comes to relaxing.

Saturday marked the second snowstorm of the season for this part of the world (our crazy Halloween blizzard was the last time we saw snow on the ground here, although it didn't end up sticking around for more than a day or two).  Kaia and Tank were thoroughly un-impressed; in fact, I don't think they'd mind if they didn't see any additional frozen precipitation for the rest of their lives.  I think the only clear solution to their problem would be to pack up and move to Maui :-)  As much as people love to hate snow and cold weather, I have to say I've kind of missed it this winter cause after all, it reminds me of home.

Since I'm being so lazy and not so creative, here are a few photos to sum up the weekend...enjoy!

Mike made this fabulous Red Lentil Soup from WholeLiving
on Friday...the house smelled great and the soup was beyond
fantastic (and he said it was super easy)!!

Had to clear a little snow off the car before heading to
work on Saturday morning!

We had a delicious dinner at Jake & Jen's last night...
oh yeah, Tank and Arnold got to spend a little quality time
together, too! How cute are they??

A makeshift tribute that surfaced at the hospital after
word of Joe Paterno's death made media headlines Sunday.
The nittany lion that sits in our rotunda was shrouded in a black shawl, complete with a black tear. 

Farm Show or BUST...

I should start by saying that I can't even believe I'm sharing this with you...and then I'm going to bust into my very own PSA about trusting your instincts.  People always say you should "trust your gut" when making big decisions or in the context of personal safety.  Let me just say, all that goes out the window when the Pennsylvania Farm Show is in town.  Ugggghhhh.  I'm sighing as I write this.  Despite all of the intellect and education we have between the six of us, somehow we still came to the conclusion that a trip to the Farm Show was appropriate...and perhaps even, fun?  

Mike looks amazed at the size of that combine. Dave is clearly putting on his best "surprised" face and in complete awe of the beauteous machine. And yet, at the same time,  I'm pretty confident I can hear the exact words going through Jake's head at that very moment (although I'll let you fill in the blank and feel free to use your own artistic license).   I mean, let's be serious...do we really look like Farm Show material?  Not dressing appropriately may have been our first mistake :-)

There were plenty of animals.  We just walked on by while trying to find the wine.

Just in case you were ever in need of these handy tips...well, now you KNOW.
It's definitely a relief to know that duct tape sticks to brick walls...what a gorgeous poster display.  

Cow butts.

For you Minnesotans out there, I don't know that I can really draw a great comparision between the Farm Show and the MN State Fair; much of the same stuff as far as the animals and agriculture goes, but definitely on a mini-scale.  Animals...check (complete with associated smells and concrete covered in wet hay...gag), fried food...check (although the planning and layout of the "lines" for the food stands were subpar--as in the "lines" were just mobs of people within a large warehouse--definitely a cause for frustration, especially when hungry), and agricultural competitions...check (with more pumpkins, mushrooms, apples, honey, etc., etc., etc., than you ever expect to see).

Needless to say, I didn't take many photos.  We were only at the Farm Show for about a total of an hour or so.  In fact, we spent most of our time trying to wander through the sea of people moving throughout the buildings and hallways at insidiously slow speeds.  We had a few chicken nuggets, french fries, a turkey barbecue, and a strawberry surprise to tide our stomachs over, and walked out the door with a trio of wine bottles from one of Jen's favorite wineries while watching children play in piles of corn.  Clearly, it's now been instilled in us that we are definitely not farm show material!

A little bit of chocolate, a lotta bit crazy!

Uh oh, sugar world...err, I mean CHOCOLATE WORLD!  We've lived in PA for like six months, but this was only our
first trip to the big hoopla that is the crazy, touristy world of Hershey, PA (other than my almost-daily drive to the medical
center...hahaha).  Karen was SO, SO, SO excited to visit!!! 

Yay! HERSHEY. PLANET. LOVE.

The theme-park-like ride that takes you through the fake Hershey factory...yup, we did it!

Do not attempt to eat the fake chocolate!

I told you she was excited!!!

Love him :-)

Kisses all around...

OK, so perhaps I made him make crazy faces with all of the candy...
he is a big fan of Reese's though (can you tell, he's groping them)!
What you don't see behind the Mikey is the slew of crazy, sugar-high, little children visiting
 Chocolate World a week and a half before Christmas...enough to make anyone run for the hills!!

...OR...drive lightning-speed to the nearby, newly opened Troegs Brewery!

for a few adult beverages...

I heart reflection photos!  Mike just thinks we look like ghosts...

The place is set up so visitors can take a self-guided tour.  Basically, the entire brewery is behind a gigantic wall
of plexiglass...and there are some really neat artistic renderings of their signature beer styles scattered about the place. 

They wish they were behind the plexiglass, swimming through the wall of kegs!  Oh, how they wish!

I have to say, amongst my most favorite parts...how amazingly clean and organized everything was!  The equipment and building were beyond clean and shiny...(obvioso, that is because the whole place had only been open for a month or two, but I don't care, cause I <3 clean and organized)!

1 of THESE = 600 of THESE = 84,000 of THESE

OK, we'll take one!

After a short little self-tour, we headed to the scratch-house, tasting room. 

Growlers & Fill station :-)

Fell in love with this neato, blade-like ceiling fan...and it was bright green!

That is Karen, drinking a crafty beer!  Pretty sure Pat was loving the fact that Mike and I like to drink the beeahhh!!!

As always...CHEERS!

A WILD time in Philly

Oooohhhhhh...it's HOCKEY TIME!

So glad Rob was able to take in the game with us...it's always fun to see him while he's out on the East Coast!
I mean, look at that crew...how fantastic are we?!?!
However...one of these things is not like the other...I'm not really sure how that Flyers fan
was able to sneak into the photo or how he managed to commandeer a ride to the game :-)

Had to try the Crabfries from Chickie's & Pete's...mmmmm!
They were definitely demolished before the puck dropped
(mostly thanks to yours truly) so I had to insert a stock photo of
'em to share with you...they were delish!!!

There he is again!
Jen, I'm pretty sure he must have been holding my beer
while I was snapping photos...I had no control of him once
we went to our seats though!

Referee chit-chat and/or pre-game cheer...1, 2, 3...go refs!

Love the guy in the corner with the "You'll Choke" sign...LOL!

I have to say, I was diggin' Bryzgalov's vintage-styled pads...AWESOME!

A whole suite of Wild dad's in the house...intently watching their boys.

Just in case you feel like breaking out a few disco moves while you're at the game.  

Nothing like a good little squabble...I think the ref just wants a hug!

This guy has a pretty important job...

Thanks for the tickets Kels & Mike...we had a fabulous time!!!

Fun Patrol...who knew!?!?

Catwoman, too!  Woah...
 Seriously though, who put's CATWOMAN on the back of their Flyers jersey??
Some kind of joke that I'm just not getting...

The Flyers Ice Girls...and the exact words of the 40-something woman sitting next to us...
Ice girls, I didn't know they had ice girls!
(a little bit of time passes...)
My favorite part of hockey...the fighting!  My second favorite part of hockey...the ice girls!
I'm putting that on my Facebook status...(as she types away on some sort of Droid-type device)
Yup...ice girls!  (snaps a photo and turns to her girlfriend) Don't worry honey, they don't hold a candle to you, though...
She definitely didn't stop talking about the ice girls the rest of the night.  

Look what the Fun Patrol brought us!  Our row won food $$ to a local Philadelphia casino.  Winners!

The sight lines at the Wells Fargo Center were not exactly spectacular
(probably partially because the place is also used for 76ers games--the lower level seating is very shallow)
and the the SEAMS on the boards definitely ended up in the majority of my photos!
Guess I've totally been spoiled all these years watching games at the X!

The one and only Wild goal of the night...yeah boys!
Too many goals by the boys in orange though.  We ended up 4 short :-/

The netting in this place was never-ending...and white!

More white netting...

One of these days I'm going to get a nice, big smile out of McSurdy...

Mike was busy drooling over the bubble hockey machines scattered throughout the arena!

We had a fantastic time at the game, even though it would have been nice to see the Wild put a few more in the back of the net.  It would have been great to see KOIVU out on the ice too, but he was out with an upper body injury (insert sadface here).  As always, I would have enjoyed a little Oh, Canada! too...but I guess I'll have to save that for a trip to Toronto :-)  Kelsey Andreen and Mike Grosse...I think you guys take the cake for exciting and awesometastic birthday presents!! Thanks so much for making it possible for the two of us to see the Wild in the city of brotherly love, we had a blast!!!