Adventures in Brooklyn

This morning we got up as early as we usually do on work days and hopped right into the car and shot down to Brooklyn.  Todd had agreed to run in a 4 mile race with Sofia and my dad and David and Emma and I had agreed to lend moral support by cheering them on.  

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We got bundled up and watched the runners take off, then waited

 

 and waited

 and waited 

  and waited

  and waited

  and waited

 for the racers to come speeding back to the finish line.  

 Here we are congratulating the first finishers,

 And the whole group of happy runners.  

 Then we hiked out of the park to grab showers and have brunch - this is how they lured me to Brooklyn.

 Despite hanging out for an hour as we watched the runners take off and then cross the finish line Emmeline was very happy to be there and super excited to see Grandpa and get a ride to brunch.  

Brunch was at Chavela's and it was delicious.  They take delicious Mexican flavors and change them just a little to make a traditional dishes spring to modern life.  And although Emmeline was worn out by the excitement of the race and slept through most of the meal she woke up right at the end in time to make friends with the toddler at the next table and then snack on Mortimer for a bit. 

Go Bruins!

Adventures with Auntie Fifi!

Auntie Fifi got me all changed and bundled up. 

And now I'm all excited!

And we're off!

Hat and Sweater

Check out the awesome hat and sweater that Grandma Ann whipped up!

Mama, can I have a penguin?

Who me?

Are you admiring my sitting up skills?  Or my fancy multi-function moose Mortimer from Grandma Betty?  Or possibly my lovely blue dress with the chickies from Grandma Ann?

Early Valentine's Day Treats

As an early Valentine's Day celebration we had some delicious chocolate fondue and a chocolate lover's wine.  This came together perfectly, but it was mostly serendipity.  A few weeks ago at the liquor store Todd was convinced to buy the wine by the owner who said "your wife will love this."  It is actually a nice fruity red with a little chocolate added in - not just chocolate tones or notes.  Then when we were preparing for the Super Bowl at Costco Todd suggested we get strawberries for fondue but we ended up with more than enough tasty food from Sal's so we didn't get to dessert after the Super Bowl.  For the chocolate we had a 10 pound (no that is not a typo) bar of delicious chocolate all the way from San Francisco that we got as a Christmas gift last year.  We'd been saving for a special occasion and this turned out to be it!  With the help of some quick Googling I got a ridiculously simple recipe for turning the bar of chocolate into tasty dipping sauce.  The addition of heavy cream and some double espresso vodka were key to the transformation and the recipe also suggested some toasted nuts.  At first Todd vetoed putting the toasted almonds I discovered in the fridge into the chocolate and then begrudgingly agreed to let me put them in a little bowl on the table.  However, once he tried a little nibble of strawberry dipped in chocolate and then in the nuts he wanted to know why I was hogging them by keeping them on my side of the table.  The strawberries had actually been disappointingly mediocre when I'd tried to eat them plain earlier in the day, but the delicious chocolate and toasted nuts transformed them into yummy goodness and the slightly sweet wine was the perfect compliment!

Here we have Todd using some serious tools to get the chocolate broken up to go into the fondue.  

Mortimer is YUMMY!

Check out my hockey shirt!

Penguin Car

 Mama brought me a fun little car with a penguin driver!

Pigtails!

I've got a little blue bowl

I Love Mortimer!

Ladybug Hat

Grandma Betty got me this adorable ladybug hat.  It has little antennae that you can't see in this picture.  Mama thinks it makes me look like a little elf.  It came as part of a whole outfit including the shirt, pants and pjs.  You can just make out the ladybug on my shirt and the picture doesn't show the little ladybug faces on my feet.  

Emmeline and Grandpa

For the Super Bowl we wanted some of our favorite foods from Sal's Pizza including their buffalo chicken pizza, garlic knots and buffalo wings.  It also meant that we got to have a little visit with Grandpa.  Lately Emmeline has really been interested in faces and likes to explore them with her fingers.  It is fun to have her little hands pat you, but slightly awkward if she decides to do some thing like stick her fingers up your nose.

Emma's first trip to Joann's

The shopping cart was just the perfect size for Emma, but her favorite part was the tasty looking handlebar.  I had my hands full trying to prevent her from licking it.

Toes!

They're connected to a happy baby:

Look! I caught a sheep!

They're yummy!  Nom! Nom!