Katie-Megan-Jessica: Adventurous weekend!

This weekend was supposed to be low key, but it wound up being one adventure after another!

On Friday, we had an adventure while we were at Bloomer Park. I checked the radar before we set out on our walk/picnic lunch, and it was all clear. After about an hour there, though, the sunny skies disappeared, and I could hear thunder rumbling in the distance. Crap. We were a 20-minute walk home! Fortunately, the girls did NOT hear the thunder at the park, and didn't even hear it on our fast walk home b/c they were on scooters, which were just noisy enough to cover up the sound. When we were within sight of home, though, the booms got louder and louder, and they freaked out. Thank goodness we made it home just in time!

Friday night, Megan wiggled out her 8th tooth. Look at her jack-o-lantern smile now! The four in the middle are all adult teeth...now surrounded by holes!

On Saturday morning, I had a nice morning walk with Katie. Then we all went to the Farmer's Market to pick up a few goodies. Surprise - there was a scavenger hunt going on! Chris was intrigued by the clues, so we set out all around downtown Rochester to find each of the answers. It was a lot harder than we thought, but it was a lot of fun to put it all together. We got little goodies at each of the stores/restaurants. By finishing the scavenger hunt, we got a chance to win a new bike!

Girls in front of one of the answers - the Avengers ewes. (Downtown Rochester has tons of sheep around for the Ewe Review this summer)

That afternoon, Chris found a Groupon I had bought a while ago, and he asked about using it. We scrambled together a plan for a date night! It's been a long time since we've had one of those! We signed up the girls for "parents night out" at our gym from 5-9pm, which included pizza dinner, swimming, rock climbing, and a movie. They had a ton of fun! Chris took me out for sushi for dinner, then the main event - the gun range!! Yes, I bought a Groupon for a gun range! I thought he'd go with a friend, but he wanted to teach me. I was scared and nervous, and did crummy for a while, but then I got the hang of it. I learned how to do everything, start to finish, with two 9mm guns. I was best with the Glock 17. It was definitely an interesting experience...not sure I want to repeat it...but I'm glad I was brave enough to try it. Then he took me out for dessert at a new bar/restaurant in town.

You can't tell from the picture that I'm shaking like a leaf

By the end of our session, I was pretty good!

Sunday was another crazy day. We decided to break out the bikes before Chris took off for the airport for another week in Italy. We biked up the Paint Creek Trail to the cider mill for lunch (aka a huge waffle cone). Then I mowed the lawn while Chris packed. As soon as he left, the girls and I started prepping for our big night out - at the Big, Bright Ball at the Royal Park Hotel in downtown Rochester. It's a fun fundraiser for the Big, Bright Light Show in downtown Rochester each winter. (all downtown storefronts are lined with LED xmas lights every 4" - amazing!!) I bought the tix to the ball a few days ago as a fun thing to do, just us girls. I hope we get to go back every year!

All dressed up!! I even painted their nails, and curled their hair.

The girls and I got "bling" in our hair. It's just skinny tinsel tied onto a few hairs, but it sure is cute!

The girls made magic wands, complete with lots of glitter.

Katie with a few of her desserts. Notice the feathers curled in her hair, and her Shirley Temple beside her.

Snaggletooth Megan with her desserts.

The Royal Park Hotel is known for having great, fancy food. We dined on spicy shrimp, lobster cakes, fancy mac & cheese, pulled pork sliders, meatballs, salads, and more. The dessert table was amazing!