Rome Travels & Gorgeous Weekend!

My week in Rome was amazing!  It was by far my favorite work trip thus far.  The location was awesome and the company was great as well.  I am so glad to be home with my family but it was quite the experience while I was gone.

Sunday - Miss M had a blast with the Cassem Family (thanks again guys!)  She was excited to see daddy as well but didn't want to say bye to Natalie, even though they fought over toys almost the whole visit.

Monday - Our flight arrived in Italy around 4p their time and after getting settled in the hotel, we met up with many of the team members for a quick team dinner.  I had a wonderful Margarita Pizza with Prusciotto (YUM!)  I then attempted to sleep but unfortunately the jet lag got me and I was wide awake from 2-4a :(

Tuesday - Meetings didn't start until around noon so many of us took advantage of the free time and wandered a high end shopping area for some morning window shopping and initial view of the Spanish Stairs.

After meetings concluded, we met our team's tour guide and took a tour of the Spanish Stairs and many of the towns famous fountains as well as the Pantheon before we had a traditional Roman dinner (8p-11p) - Yes, lots of fun but a very tired girl!!

View from Top of Spanish Stairs

 Lots of "Gyspsies" with tricks to try and get money - this was one of my favs

 Pantheon

Wednesday - An entire day of meetings followed by the same tour guide taking our team to the Collesium and seeing ancient Rome (city/ruins etc).  Very cool!  Followed by a trendy dinner on top of a rooftop building.

 22 Men Had Dinner Inside that Horse After it was built in 1911

 Our Guide Marco and a famous statue due to the Red Marble

Thursday - I had my presentation of the trip and our meetings ended at noon.  Many Europeans left, some had their spouses arrive to extend the trip for a long weekend and the remaining split into 2 gropus (those that arrived Monday and hadn't seen the Vatican & those that arrived Sunday and already went to the Vatican on Monday).  This was by far my favorite was it was so stunning and growing up Catholic, you heard about so many of these places/works of art etc but to see them in person was amazing.  After the Vatican we stopped at a little restaurant on the way back to the hotel and we had the best Lasagna of my life :) YUM YUM

Friday - I landed back in Minneapolis at 3p and was very excited to see my family!  Miss M had a big week at school b/c she went #2 on the potty for the first time!!!  Clint and I also had a date night on Friday night but I only made it until about 8p and then jet lag hit me BAD!  So we were out for a whole 2 hours :)

Poor girl was Proud but is also Scared of #2 :(

Saturday - This weekend's weather was awesome and I hear I missed all the cruddy weather earlier this week.  After Gym and a good nap, we decided to take a nice walk of Lake Calhoun.  Our neighbor Karoline also joined us but she may not ever do so again since Maci made it a 2.5 hour walk vs the usual ~1 hour 3 mile walk.  However, some of that was stopping at a playground where Maci swung on a tire swing, slid down many slides and waded in the lake water.

Sunday - AMAZING DAY!  I am now exhausted from all the sun and fresh air, jet lag may still be in play too ;-) but today was great!  We started by grabbing bagels and heading to Como Zoo for some fun zoo time but also to enjoy the Como Town rides.  The Zehr's also joined us at Como, the kids had a blast!  After Como, we decided to go to Gabe's in St Paul near the zoo for some lunch on the patio.  Thankfully the kids were good and loved watching the cars/motorcycles go by.  We then wrapped up our day with my grocery trip, Clint's grass cutting (1st of year!), walk in the neighborhood and cheering on the Minnesota Wild in the Stanley Cup Playoffs (Round 2!)  I thought about getting my to do list ready for the week but I am about to hit a wall so I may just start my day a little earlier than usual tomorrow.

Our family is looking forward to a week of all of us being in town and I am sure Maci will appreciate it as well.  We hope you all have a wonderful upcoming week!

Lots of Love,
C, K & M

Busy Travels Begin

The Mondell house enjoyed another week of gorgeous spring weather.  In addition to the weather, Maci had a blast at school since this was a celebration week for the small child so they had a different theme day every day of the week.

• Monday she got to wear a fun hat (Toledo Rockets Hat, Thanks Great Aunt Sue)
• Tuesday was Mismatch day where she wore two different leg warmers with her shorts and some crazy high pigtail knots
• Wednesday was Beach Day so she wore her swimming suit top, shorts and flip flops (it was so nice that day too!)
• Thursday was Costume Day and she wore one of her dress up dresses, tiara and looked like Cinderella - I was quite honored when the preschoolers were guessing she was Cinderella :)
• Friday was Pajama Day and She got to bring her teddy bear

I also had some fun activities through the week.  On Tuesday I got to go to a VIP opening for the new Nordstrom Rack in our neighborhood strip mall re-design.  It was fun to get out of a long day of work, eat appetizers, drink champagne and do some good summer shopping with 2 girlfriends.  I told Clint I spent the least out of the 3 of us and left it at that ;-)  Thursday was a hair appointment night for me after work which is always a welcomed treat especially heading towards the weekend.

Friday - Clint flew out to Toledo, OH for the weekend Friday morning.  Our good friend Billy and his wife Jamie had their reception planned for this weekend, they had married a few months ago in Florida.  Billy was a best man in our wedding so we were glad Clint could be there even if Maci and I hung back.  After I picked up Maci, we ate pizza and took a nice long (slow with Maci!!) walk around the neighborhood - I sure enjoyed the time with my pal.  We then wrapped up the night with bath time which is usually a Maci/Daddy time.  At the end of the bath Maci yelled "Come on Daddy" as we went upstairs to get ready for bed :(

Saturday - Miss M was up and at 'em at 6a today - URGH!  My little 2 year old dictator told me "get up mommy!" over and over again until I couldn't take it any longer.  We had a sweet morning together doing some laundry but also coloring with sidewalk chalk outside on the front walkway.  We then were off to gym and brunch with our friends.  After gym, Maci actually took a great 3 hour nap with mommy!  Yay!!  She got to come on the weekly Target grocery run since Clint is out of town but did great and the worker even gave her a sticker because she was such a good helper for her mommy!  We wrapped up our evening playing on the swing set, more sidewalk chalking and folding laundry.  I am about to put her down for the night and then give some thought to my own packing.

Sunday - I am doing the blog a day early this week because I fly out to Rome tomorrow at 1p.  Clint comes home at noon so Miss M gets to go to her friend Natalie's house for a few hours to play, she is soooo excited!  Clint heading to Ohio kicked off 2 months of utter craziness in the Mondell home :).  It is a good thing that I tend to thrive in small periods of craziness or this could be a tad overwhelming.  It will be summer with a blink of the eye!  

Take a look at our upcoming whereabouts :

• Week of April 20th - Kellie in Rome 
• Week of April 27th - Both in town, Friday vacation day (Day Date!!)
• Week of May 4th - Kellie in Thailand (My Birthday Week but Home for Mother's Day!)
• Week of May 11th - Both in town
• Week of May 18th - Kellie in Miami Tues-Thurs
• Week of May 25th - Memorial Day & Family to Ohio Thurs-Sun for Molly's Graduation Fun!
• Weeks of Jun 1 & 8 - Clint to Africa 

Check in on Clint this week to ensure he is doing ok with temporarily single parenting our little Diva - she just told me she is a princess HA

Lots of Love,

C, K & M

Amazing Weekend Weather!!

We had a nice short week at work since we had taken Monday off as a vacation/relaxing day!  Clint finished up his touch football league Wednesday by unfortunately losing in the game before the championships but I am exciting as these winter activities come to a close because it is yet another reminder that spring has sprung and warm weather is here to stay!

Even Daycare is Making Spring Time Snacks - Butterflies!

Friday - I got out of work a little later than planned but it was time well spent since I got the content finalized for a webinar I host in mid may.  With quite a bit of travel coming up, the time of year for Tax's regional team meetings, I need to manage my time wisely to get presentations completed when I am around and not jet lagged :)  After I got home, we ate a quick dinner and enjoyed the spring weather by taking a family walk.  We didn't get very far though since Maci saw toys in a yard and ran right up to make friends, this kid is so social.  Thanks to her we met yet another family with a 3 year old girl in our neighborhood and I learned about a neighborhood moms group which I got invited to later that night.  We ended the night with our current favorite Wonder Years once Maci was in bed.

They Sure Have a Special Bond

Saturday - We kicked off Saturday morning with the usual lil gym, not many more weeks since it ends at the end of the school year (1st week of June).  We did a yummy Coopers Brunch with 1/2 the group and then headed to Once Upon a Child and GoodWill to find Maci a "bike" AKA Big Wheel.  We were fortunate to find a "gently" used Big Wheel for a whopping 9.99 at Goodwill for the lil Miss.  She is in LOVE with her ride, reminds me of my emotions when I got the keys to the Buick :)  Maci took a decent nap once we got home and Clint/I enjoyed some Wonder Years with the windows open in the house.  Once she was up we took a walk around the neighborhood and Maci rode her bike. . . she continually asked us if we wanted to take turns HA.  We then spent the rest of the amazing day in the back yard playing - I even folded our laundry outside - LOVE IT!  The Zehr family joined us for a pizza dinner out back and around 730p The Cassem's (Minus Kids) and John (neighbor) joined us for a bonfire out back.  While we had a good time we also almost went nuts between Clint's fire letting off way too much smoke and some crazy high pitched noise in the neighborhood which would keep starting and stopping!  By 11p we all couldn't take it anymore and we had to weigh how the pros/cons of having that "one more drink" knowing we all had little ones to wake to in the morning!!

Too Cool for School!

Sunday - Thankfully I got to sleep in until 9a - GOOD JOB MACI!  We then got dressed for a long walk around Lake Calhoun.  After a quick bagel stop, we were at the lake and enjoyed a long 3 mile walk which felt more like 5 miles with the constant stopping of Maci wanting to say Hi to Dogs, People, Ducks, Birds etc.  We had a blast with Maci at the little kid playground about 1/2 way around the lake and while we thought this would wear her out - Maci was totally ready for frozen yogurt afterward and NEVER napped today!  I am sure this kid is going to CRASH after bath time tonight :)  I then had to run the weekly grocery trip while Clint attempted to enjoy the Masters with Maci under his watch.  I am now starting to think about our upcoming week and starting a to do list.  Once the Masters ends we are going to take one final family walk in the neighborhood (you have to take advantage of a 72 degree sunny day) before some thunderstorms roll in.

Lake Calhoun Fun!

Clint will be heading to Toledo, Ohio this coming weekend for our good friend Billy Gilsdorf's wedding reception!  Unfortunately, I won't be coming along as I head out to Rome next Sunday for our EMEA regional team meeting.  Maci will get to spend a few hours next Sunday with her friend Natalie since Clint and I will be passing in the airport (he lands about 1 hour before I leave) - just the start of what will be our family's Crazy April & May!  Congratulations Billy, I wish I could be there but I am sure you will all have a blast!!

Lots of Love,
C, K & M

Daddy Gets a Little Older & Happy Easter!!

What a busy and quick week we had leading into this long weekend!  Maci has started to become quite the DIVA and we celebrated Clint's Birthday on Tuesday evening.  The weather was also pretty nice this week which made for quite a few walks and outdoor sitting in the evenings.

DIVA Post Walk

 Oh My - Someone Loves Sunglasses Now

Friday - We love having Good Friday Off!!  Miss M's school was open so she went to school while Clint and I enjoyed a lazy day date.  After dropping her off we had breakfast and ran some errands.  We then took a wonderful nap and a LONG walk around the neighborhood since we wouldn't have to stop every few minutes for an airplane :)  After we got home from the walk it was about 3 something so we went to pick up our lil buddy!  That night we went to Ridgedale mall to get some dinner and play at the indoor playground.

Saturday - Lil Gym per usual and then Natalie and her family and Emmett and his family met us at a park for an Easter Egg hunt.  The kids were allowed to get 4 eggs each and Maci was done within less than a minute, if you blinked you may have missed it.  However all the kids had a blast and us parents had fun catching up too!  Maci was able to turn in her eggs for a prize which was a great piggy book.  We then tried to head home for naps but Maci decided naps weren't in the cards this weekend UGH!  I then ran the weekly errands and got a pedicure while Clint held down the fort at home.  Once Maci went to bed, Clint and I had some cocktails, enjoyed NCAA final 4 and welcomed the Easter Bunny!

Mommy & Her Buddy!

 Running Around

Best of Friends

 The Mommas and Babes (Rosemary 7 weeks not pictured)

Sunday - HAPPY EASTER!!!  Maci woke up around 7a and had a blast finding her basket that the crazy bunny hid!  We played with her goodies until about 8a when we had to hurry and get ready for mass.  We went to 9a mass and Maci did great until about the last 20 mins and then she had a fully on temper tantrum melt down with me in the basement of the church :(  We then headed to brunch at the Gold Nugget and Maci was thankfully a little angel at breakfast and ate like a champ.  We then came home, played with toys and took a wonderful Easter walk.  At the end of our walk we saw we missed a FaceTime call from my families Easter celebration in Cincinnati so we quickly called them back and enjoyed catching up with everyone!  We feel very blessed today and every day - we hope everyone had a wonderful Easter as well!

Thanks for the Book Ruzick Family!

 The Bunny Came!

 Daddy & His Girl!

 I LOVE MY FAMILY

What a Beauty?!  Enjoying a Peep Grandma Janet!

I am going to try and get caught up on a little work tonight and then Clint and I are taking tomorrow off to burn a vacation day.  Maci will go to school but we plan to do some house cleaning, running needed errands and just getting caught up in general - it will be nice to have another short work week!

Lots of Love, 

C, K & M