Chicago!

I’ll keep a running update.

E and dad, hovering over the night sky of Chicago
but wait, it’s a beautiful Chicago day!
let’s get closer.
E wanted a picture of the inside of the Adler planetarium dome.

been a relaxing, fun day so far at the Adler planetarium. this is quite a planetarium, so many theaters, lots to do and learn. we saw two shows, the super cool Skywatch Live and somewhat hokey Destination Solar System. can’t complain though, excellent family memories.

we’re headed out for pizza soon, we might head up the sears tower later as well. always a good time here in chi-town.

wow Netherlands!

never seen the mixed relay before but wow, what a great event! USA was well in the lead until the very end when Femka Bol suddenly comes from about 4th or 5th place and motors her way to the front of the pack. I watch these games for stories and to see the accomplishments, of course I root for the good ol’ U S of A , but I’m a citizen of the world so I just love it when anyone does well. I’m a real Marge Simpson when it comes to sports, I just want everyone to have a good time.

what a race though, and a well deserved gold for the Netherlands.

holy buckets, this might be the best Christmas ever

several times today I’ve tried to hide my tears of joy from my family, some dad instinct I have no idea where I picked up. several times I’ve failed to keep them hidden and I know it makes them happy to see, I might be fighting back a few right now.

no joke, this Christmas is magic.

we packed so much into this day, yet we had next to nothing planned. the only thing we could think of was to find a Los Angeles drive, so why not go check out Mullholland.

best I could do, I drove so barely took pictures.

should be a heck of a video but I’ve got very few photos to share. G pictured here with the new 360 degree nerd gadget; so between it sticking out the sunroof, and the hyperlapse with my little action cam, it should be an epic video. anyway, either due to the rain, or it’s just closed these days, because we couldn’t get very far from the 405. nonetheless, M found another great road where we stopped to check out a familiar sight.

better photos coming, first I could find.

next, M had another fantastic idea, so we headed for the walk of fame. we parked right by a famous theater and had an absolute blast finding some signatures of some of our favorite stars. I’m not much of a star-gazer but it was a perfect LA moment.

what an intro.
Cher’s Christmas album has been in the rotation.

we took an absolute ton of star photos, going to make the digital frame back home a lot of fun.

I mean, M and I have the Simpsons partly to blame for us being together.
ice cream lunch won’t help the weight loss 😉
‘tis the season

dad was having so much fun, he even let us have ice cream for lunch. M got pictures of it all but sadly I have none (update- stole her phone and found a masterpiece) we had a great time, so much holiday spirit around the city.

I don’t like mint and chocolate but at Christmas this was PERFECT.
photo doesn’t do it justice but the theater behind the tree was a great visual.

man, I’m getting tired and the good stuff is on other devices so I’ve got to get some sleep. this only touches the day, there’ s so much more to go. we’ve got a huge day planned tomorrow so we’ll see what else I manage to post.

for now, this has been a perfect, amazing, wonderful day. I can’t wait to share more of it.


update- we’re up early, hitting the road for today’s activity, but more on that in another post. now, where were we…

more beaching.

ah yes, we stopped at Seal Beach for more careful and relaxed fun with three cleanly, calm and somewhat bored children.

audible gasps from the locals as the MN children dove right in.
🫠
enjoying these under the pier shots.

we had laundry to do and a boat to catch so we headed back to the room before grabbing some local specialties.

3×3 animal style. what can I say, vacation after weight loss so why not :).

next, we boarded a random schoolbus in an unfamiliar neighborhood. I’m so glad we did though because this might have been the moment that put me over the edge. I was worried that we weren’t going to give the kids a real Christmas but, I had nothing to fear.

don’t we do this every morning?
I’ve got to pause here again.

More to come…


it’s Christmas Eve, we sit at Denny’s after failing to find an open taco place (what kind of dope am I, expecting to find an one on x-mas eve 🤣). so, while I wait for my Moons over My-Hammy I may as well finish this up.

M found Huntington Beach’s version of Bentlyville, and it was amazing.

would be nice to have this kind of money 🙂

what a perfect end of the night, what a perfect Christmas vacation moment. I’ve been worried that this escape would feel like one, and that we were going to miss out on the holiday. it’s been the most Christmasy Christmas ever though so far, can’t wait to see what’s next.

we even had hot cocoa on the boat.

these pictures don’t do it justice, it went on for about an hour, maybe 10, I honestly don’t know. what an amazing night, what an amazing start to our Christmas vacation; and to think, it’s only just begun.

having a merry California Christmas.

I had an ambitious plan to post a detailed recap of each day. let’s be honest though, holiday travel with three boys, in a busy new place is enough responsibilities.. I’m supposed to be relaxing, so I’m just going to do what I can do.

it’s December 22, the first day of 2024. happy new years. got in late last night, December 21st – new yeast eve, stayed the first night at the embassy suites. 2023 had to kick us once more and so of course it turns out the 24 hour shuttle service closes at 11:00. in the end, it all worked out and we enjoyed our extended wait for the car rental in El Seguendo. I managed to remember my wallet.

some dramatic weather greeted us when picked up the ride.

picked up our rental, ran a few errands and decided to go and beach. I mean, we are staying in Huntington something or another, after all.

took this just because it felt like such a California drive.

we had a wonderful time at the pier, spent some time playing with my new 360 degree camera. walked up and down, made a few friends and hit the beach at the perfect time.

I can’t wait to see the video, this guy and his friends were fascinated by the camera.

sunset, below the pier, while the boys played in the ocean. honestly, this is perfect, I am taken aback at how perfect this is turning out.

a perfect night
couldn’t have had a better 1st night of 2024.
these three Minnesotan’s were the only ones in the water without a wetsuit.

from there we headed to our next hotel to clean of all the sland (A coined it tonight) before getting a wonderful ramen dinner and some sort of fishcone dessert. those pics shall have to follow as we’re all crashing early for a big new day on our LA adventure.

update- just as I was hitting submit. that’s gotta be some kind of sign.

state fair day 2 – adult edition.

It’s finally here, Adult Day at the fair, a day for friendship and fair efficiency!

no opening selfie today, we’re heading straight for the calories.

cheesecake curds, fruity cereal milk biscuit and tot dog.

waiting for adult redfreshment time and friends to arrive, we started with lulu’s public house, a place I reluctantly have accepted as a fair tradition. reluctant because I miss the old west end but oh well, progress is progress; and I admit the area is much more useable now.

all three were good, the standout was the cheesecake curds. No idea how they did that but reminds me of both cheese curds and cheesecake. I loved them.

ginger suntan, peachy keen and orange blossom mead.

I am not a drinker but this was Adult Day after all, so several were consumed by the party.

reviews for these, the ginger suntan was a winner, everyone seemed to like it and found it refreshing. M thought the peachy keen tasted like feet. the mead was ok apparently, although carbonated which I’m told was weird.

maui-sota sticky ribs.

maui-sota sticky ribs from rc’s bbq. everyone thought they were good, just not unexpectedly so. the sauce was tasty, and the ribs, while not the fall off the bone style that I like, were still very good chewy style (whatever you call it). not exactly a must-try though.

a fair tradition.
irish butter ice-cream over brown sugar cinnamon toast.

maybe my favorite of the day. this was very tasty, salty, buttery (in a good way) ice cream over crispy cinnamony sweet toast. I’d totally eat some right now. we were with one of my oldest friends, so funny story.. years ago the two of us were at dairy queen and he tried to order a butterfinger blizzard. either he misspoke or was misheard because they whipped him up a blizzard with whatever that petroleum substance that they roll onto the bread.

who knew that 20 odd years later we’d wind up enjoying butter ice cream once again. love you buddy, what stories..

cocobanana.

at cafe carib, right across from blue moon. M thought the chocolate rim was the best part, otherwise meh.

corn.

corn, always good but this is what they gave me when I asked for it burnt.

strawberry short cak’d up, pineapple sour beergarita and sausage waffle dog.

stopped by the hanger, M liked the strawberry but didn’t try the pineapple. apparently they were both good because they were both gone.

sausage dog was good too. nothing exactly surprising about it but I’d totally order a kids meal with like 3 of them.

wingwalker donut flight.

I’m kinda mad about these. they could have been great but ours were cold. if they had been warm this would have been really good. sauces were all tasty doughnut dips, but the damn things were just too cold.

sunday sammie from brim.

this could be runner up for the day’s favorite. weirdly enough the best bit was the sandwich part, not the whipped cream. who thought a candy sandwich could be so tasty.

walleye cakes

giggles campfire is never on my list for some reason, but it probably should be. these really weren’t bad, good sauce (remulade maybe?). I wore some in my beard for the rest of the day.

more scrambled coffee.

uh, this was adult day so not sure what this loser was on. I’ll always get the egg coffee, it’s just a damn good cup of coffee, nothing eggy about it.

lemon berry chill slushee and dill-icious grilled cheese bites.
reuben fritters.

none of us were exactly thrilled to be stopping by o’gara’s. the place always has something new and it usually kinda sucks; but it is a reliable place for a drink. this year however, the drinks were forgettable and the food redeemed the place.

while M picked up an alcoslush I figured I’d try a new food, and our companion, C bought the reuben things. both were better than expected. the pickle thing is getting a bit played out so I was grateful that they were not overpowering. the dill came forward which worked well with the cheese and they weren’t as greasy as they looked. the reuben rolls were just a competently executed little fried reuben bite.

nicely done o’gara’s.

bonus crotch shot. sorry C, didn’t mean to laugh that hard 😘
nitro maple cold brew.

I get this every year, if only I could remember where it’s from.

terrible picture of the fried green tomato sandwich.

kidding of course, the farmers union is one of my favorites, right there next to the dfl booth. not to be too political but it’s always one of my favorite stops as well. gotta get me a Wellstone shirt one of these days.

galabao.

tried this one last time and had the cilantro sauce, this time my butter buddy got the hot sauce. it was much better with the spicy stuff, otherwise it’s a nice steamed bun that I’d be happy getting anywhere. the chili crisp was what made it though. I think I’m still picking pepper flakes out of my teeth.

I really need to hit up the union hmong kitchen outside of the fair. ugh, I used to go try things, nowadays I’m a middle aged loser who only gets out once or twice a year.

thanks K!

we were taking a selfie but our dear friend K offered to take it for us. thanks K, you did a great job. this here is in the AG building, another of my favorite place at the fair. I still need to see this years seed art!

shreek

for some reason the worlds creepiest shreck is in the AG building this year.

so glad we stopped here.
mini donut beer and garlic fries.

I do love me some garlic fries, another fair favorite that for some reason I don’t often get. besides, despite not being a sports fan, one of the best activities at the fair is hanging out with friends at the ball park.

today we all got hung up on pronto vs corn, which came first? butter friend knew the history of pronto off the top of his head. apparently they started in oregon in 1947? corn dogs on the other hand had a patent filed for them in 1929 (applied for in 1927).

see, even found the patent :).
behold, the beauty that is ye olde mill.
M and I 🥰

our other dear friend K (yes, they share a name) has never been on ye olde mill; so we had to introduce her to the majesty. M and I had a lovely time 😉.

it’s so much fun introducing her to all our awful but beloved MN traditions.

stopped by the dnr to take a bad picture of fish.
on the way up to the grandstand
cheers to cherry pie and duck duck blue duck.

what kind of loser takes a picture of food! but seriously, I’ll bet they gave K the wrong thing because the cherry thing sure seemed to have a lot of watermelon in it.

No idea about the duck one but butterman sure enjoyed his drinkin’ buddy.

nice old timey signs inside the grandstand.
I honestly think I will get a Fairchild tattoo.

from here we headed back to the west end, where sadly M and I had to depart. we have the kids school open house to attend, and so are heading off leaving behind 4 of the best friends anyone could hope for. I treasure Adult Day.

view from the grandstand.

disclaimer – this is not a food* blog, but in the interest of pseudo anonymity this seems like the best way to remember the day.

*autocorrect initially changed this to “good” – touche’