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I absolutely love Mondays! Monday has been my day-long date with Addison for the last two years, and they get more interactive and fun as she gets older. Today we spent the day at the Mall of America and took full advantage of our membership to Sea Life Aquarium. I let Addison walk the entirety of the aquarium for the first time, and she touched everything within reach. If there is a piece of glass left in the place without her fingerprints on it, I would be amazed. Addison has also figured out that there are hand gel dispensers all over the aquarium and mall that give free squirts when you wave a hand in front. She has the cleanest hands in the room when she’s at the mall to be certain.

We spent some time at the Disney store after visiting the fish, and she hugged every stuffed animal within reach. One of the workers even showed us that there are tunnels built into many of the displays that have buttons that play sound effects that adults can push while kids crawl through. Following our tunnel time, it was time to color in front of the big projection screen and try on princess dresses. (Addison, not me…seriously). We were somehow able to leave without a Disney bag in tow, but since the whole family visited Disney World this year I left my guilt at the door.

Following Disney, Addison indulged daddy and let me visit my “Disney” in the form of the Apple store. Realizing that hanging out there can result in spending money, we ventured upstairs for Addison’s favorite lunch at McDonalds. This girl loves chicken nuggets and French fries, and a BBQ sauce to dip seals the deal.

We began heading out, and Addison stopped at every gel dispenser between McDonalds and the car. We even watched Finding Nemo in the car on the way home to complete the theme of the day. Addison really got into the whole ocean theme by taking her shoes and socks off in the 20 degree car, but you can’t doubt her enthusiasm.

Anyhow, for those of you who live far away and don’t get a glimpse of, “a day in the life”, here you go. This little one is a bundle of fun, and has us running to keep up all the time. Here are a couple of pictures from my phone of our day. Addison sends her love!

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Today was a day of Christmas decorating here in the Gafford household, and this baby girl sure loves to decorate.  With snow falling all around, it just felt right to break out the tree and surprise the little one.  I’m looking forward to coming home to a lit home and tree on my way back from the black Friday sales!  Have a happy snow Minnesota.

Tonight the family enjoyed Trick or Treating at the Mall of America, and my wife Melissa tells the story.  Head on over to her blog and check it out.

Trick or Treat

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This morning Addison and I decided to head out on a little outing.  It was a gorgeous day, and I knew that there wouldn’t be too many more days like this to spend outside, so off to the zoo we went.  I learned a few things today.  First, it’s close to impossible to wrangle a stroller, camera backpack, and a toddler on a monkey leash.  There were many moms looking at me wondering what in the world I was doing, but we pulled it off and this little girl had a blast.  She even topped the afternoon off with a 3 hour nap just to prove the point.  Anyhow, for those who are far from us and would like to see what Addison is up to here are some pictures to enjoy.  (You’ll note that there may be some blur to the pictures…  That would be me trying to take a picture with one hand and having Addison tugging on my other hand running around trying to see the next animal.  Good Times.)

While visiting Indiana this past week, we passed by a couple of establishments that brought back a favorite memory of mine.

As Melissa (still Liddick at this point) was working in her first long term substitute teaching job at Sweetser elementary, I was busy trying to convince her that I was a worthy boyfriend candidate. I had been asking her out for multiple months to no avail, so I decided it was time to up the anty.

I was really good friends with Melissa during our post-college years, so I asked her if she wouldn’t mind me bringing her lunch at school during her break. She said sure, not knowing the grandiose plans that I had. (insert evil laugh here)

Melissa was subbing for my Aunt Sharla who was on leave battling health issues at the time, and Sharla was in on the plan. She thought it was a pretty good idea for me to date Melissa, and wanted to help, so we brainstormed…

I arrived at school that day in my Tuxedo with a large bouquet of flowers.  (Sharla and I had even pre-planned my route once I got to the school.)  I wasn’t going to sneak in a side entrance and avoid everyone, I was going to start at the school office and make sure that everyone knew someone in a tuxedo was here for Melissa.  I began at the office and signed in, asking where Miss Liddick’s class was.  I was offered an escort to the class, but that was a little too direct of a route, so I politely declined.  My next stop was the cafeteria where half of the school was already eating lunch.  I stopped by the table full of teachers and asked if Melissa was around and possibly mentioned that I was here to have lunch with her.  Following the cafeteria, my next stop was the teachers lounge where the rest of the staff was enjoying some down time.  I enjoyed a game of 20 questions with the teachers and then proceeded to the bench right outside of the lunchroom where I was to wait for Miss Liddick’s class to arrive.

Sharla and I were convinced that I would get quite the reaction from Melissa once she finally saw me.  We had it planned really well, and we were going to cause as much chaos as possible before I left that day.  (Sharla was quite the comedian as well as being a fantastic teacher.)  Class after class arrived at the lunch room, and many students asked me who I was waiting for.  “I’m having lunch with Miss Liddick today.” was my opening line, and I was every time met with “Ooooh!” & kissy faces.  I think one of the kids even put their arms around themselves, turned his back to me and acted like he was making out with someone.  That one was awkward.

Finally the time came.  Melissa came walking down the hall with her class, and there I was with my Tux & a bouquet of flowers ready to dazzle and surprise.  I stood up and smiled, and Melissa rolled her eyes so far into the back of her head I couldn’t even see her pupils anymore.  One of the kids asked, “Miss Liddick, who is that?”  Melissa quickly replied without even a slight hesitation, “Oh, that’s just Mrs. Levensky’s nephew.  Don’t worry about him.”  Melissa and the class walked off and that was it.  No surprised reaction, passionate embrace, or steamy make out session.

Once she dropped the class off, she came back out into the hall and hit me as hard as she could and asked me what in the world I was up to and how many people saw me. (This is where I received the reaction that I wished my Aunt Sharla could have been there to see.)

Once we got to the classroom to eat, I unveiled the culinary delight of the day.

- Meyer’s Cheeseburgers

- Fries

- Shrimp Cocktail

Shrimp Cocktail with cheeseburgers?  Yeah.  I felt silly wearing a tuxedo and only bringing a cheeseburger.  I needed something to fancy up that lunch, and shrimp cocktail seemed to be just the appetizer to fit the occasion.

It turns out I did make quite the impression that day with Melissa, and those of you who know us know the rest of the story.

For me, this is just another reason why there isn’t a better cheeseburger in all of Grant County than the Meyer’s Cheeseburger.

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Last week we spent a day in downtown Chicago enjoying our tenth anniversary. We stayed at an incredible hotel thanks to Priceline, and really got to experience what it would be like to live downtown for a day. Sirens all during the night and odd sounds that we couldn’t necessarily identify were new to us being from the burbs, but what fun it was. We really felt like we lived downtown because if you read the post on our 10th anniversary adventure, you know at this point we are stranded downtown without a vehicle. We posted our anniversary adventure story to the blog before we went to bed downtown, and by the time we woke up, we had heard from one of our longtime friends who read our post via Facebook & also happened to live in Schaumburg a few blocks away from where our car was stranded.

Knowing that our friend Cami had our back once we needed to vacate the city, we walked a mile or so downtown to the Field Museum.  On the way, our concierge at the hotel gave us a coupon for a free chocolate chip cookie pizza if we went to Lou Malnati’s, and that sealed the deal for lunch.  I had recently had Gino’s East the last few times I was around Chicago, and it was good…  It just wasn’t Lou’s. Deep Dish pizza comes with a ton of love at Lou’s, and by love I mean cheese.  Tons & tons of cheesy goodness…  We only ordered the small because we wanted to be able to enjoy our free cookie afterwards, but a manly small it was.  When it came time for dessert, I thought we’d be looking at a little free cookie with a dab of ice cream on top, but what came to our table next was out of this world.  I’m sure that this pictures above do it no justice, but this was one ooey gooey delight.  Vanilla Bean ice cream nestled right on top of a just almost done cookie pizza where the center was still doughy and the edges were crisp and delicious.  I’d easily pay someone $10 right now as I write this to bring me one just like it.

I was like a kid when it came time to see all the dinosaurs at the Field Museum.  I haven’t been in a museum with dinosaur bones since I was a kid, and boy did this take me back right away.  Melissa couldn’t stop laughing at how much I was grinning.  I never cease to be amazed at the creativity of God in all of creation.  I think Melissa said it best while we were roaming the museum.  “Imagine if it were up to us to create all of the variations of animals that we see here.  There would be maybe 10% of what exists and that would be on our best day.”  I couldn’t agree more.  The creativity of all we saw was staggering.  We do serve a God that is incredibly creative.

Once we finished up at the Field, I was excited to be able to take a cab to the train station.  I haven’t been in a cab for at least 10 years, and apparently things have changed a bit.   First, they have tv’s in the back of cabs now? You can even order on demand shows to watch during your ride? Really? How long is your cab ride that you need to order an on demand show to watch while you ride? Second, cabs take credit cards now. I had no idea.  I did especially like when we read online that cabbies will like to tell you that their credit card machine is broken so they don’t have to pay the service charge on your fare. Melissa read that and told me about it, and no lie 4 minutes into the ride he said that exact thing. Thank you iPhone and Wikipedia.

We took the Metra back to Schaumberg to meet our friend Cami.  Melissa and I had just Redboxed the movie “Source Code” which was filmed on the Metra, so I kept looking out for Jake Gyllenhall but never found him.  Cami and Levi found us at the Metra station, and we were amazed that we hadn’t seen each other for about 8 years. Time seems to fly post college it seems.  Cami dropped us off at the dealership, and we picked up our truck with a new water pump, new rear hatch release, and an oil change.  The Saturn purred like a kitten following this repair, so back to the suburban life for us.

We finished our anniversary with a trip to the Weber Grill restaurant.  A few years earlier we had met our friends Mike and Laurel down in Chicago and tried Weber Grill for the first time, and we loved it!  (We loved it so much that we went back for breakfast the following morning.)  Their buttery mashed potatoes & marinated skirt steak is my dish of choice, and I wasn’t disappointed.  This trip for sure wasn’t what we had planned, but it was a memorable anniversary that i’m sure we’ll never forget.  To my beautiful bride:  I love you honey, and I look forward to many, many, many more adventures with you.  Thank you for believing in me & holding me up when I can’t do it myself.  Here’s to another 40+

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There is almost nothing I love more than going to the fair with my family and sampling all of the food that the different vendors have to offer. My memories of the Indiana State Fair are very vivid to me, even though I haven’t lived in the state for almost 9 years now. This past Tuesday, I had the opportunity to load up in the van with my parents and my family and get a little nostalgic down in Indianapolis.

The food was incredible! In our loop around the fairgrounds, we found Grilled Ribeye Steak sandwiches, Corn Dogs, Fresh Sun Tea, Apple & Peach Cider slushies, Pulled BBQ Pork sandwiches, Grilled Asian Pork Satay, & much more. Not so many things on a stick as you might find at the great Minnesota get together, but delicious nonetheless.

Addison had her first tastes of fair food, and i’ve posted the pictures above so you can see just how much she loved it. Melissa and I even got an ear of corn to share, and Addison ended up eating half of it right off the ear. I was impressed. I think my two favorites of the day were the Apple Cider slushie and the Pork Satay Skewer. Worth the price of admission for certain!

Best of all, on Tuesdays, you can get into the fair for only $2 with a coupon that you print online sponsored by Turkey Hill Ice Cream. (They even give away free samples of their ice cream while you’re there. Score.) Also, in honor of getting in for only $2, all of the food booths have a $2 special for the day. Most things that are usually $3.50 – $4.00 are on sale on Tuesdays for only $2. I think the Minnesota state fair should follow suit.

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There’s a little drive in restaurant in Marion, Indiana that many people drive by every day and completely miss the magic. The place is called Meyer’s, and their Cheeseburger Deluxe is out of this world. I have been to this restaurant since I was a baby. I doubt that I always got to enjoy a cheeseburger when I visited as an infant, but as soon as I knew what culinary deliciousness resided within, I was hooked.

You see, they do make a pretty incredible cheeseburger at Meyer’s, but i’m pretty sure what makes it special to me is the memories that go along with each visit. I have visited this place with my Great Grandma Pearl, my Grandma Marilyn, and my mom Nancy. I even remember a time where all 4 of us sat in the car with the windows rolled down sweating like mad eating our deluxe burgers. I will never forget my Great Grandma Pearl’s face each time she got that greasy pile of beef in her hands. Even in her advanced age, she still looked like a child each time the waitress would bring the tray and clip it to the window.

Today I have the privilege of bringing my daughter to Meyer’s for the first time. (and I admit I even teared up while typing this part of the post.) This will make 5 generations of my family that i’ve shared the magic with, and to me the most precious. Today I brought 3 generations of the family with me, and in grand tradition we all sat in the car and sweat like crazy while eating our cheeseburger deluxe.

I even have a couple more memories of this place, but those are for another post.

(Guest Post by the lovely Melissa Gafford of  yesterday’s adventures…)

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You know those kind of days when you crawl into bed at night, reflecting on the last 24 hours and you think to yourself, “Huh; that didn’t go at ALL like I planned.” Yep; that was today and the start to our 10th anniversary trip to Chicago.

While the plan may have been rather last-minute, it was in fact a plan. Reservations had been made through Priceline, tickets were waiting for us at will-call for “Beauty and the Beast”, and arrangements had been made for Mom and Dad Gafford to meet us at the Ikea in Schaumburg to take Addison and Allie back to Indiana where we would meet them in a couple of days. Our first time leaving Addison for the night, but a fun opportunity to celebrate our decade of wedded bliss in one of our favorite cities.

I was driving the Outlook so David could be working from the passenger seat. Addison was happily watching “Finding Nemo” in the back seat for her 31st, 32nd, and 33rd time (it’s her favorite) and Allie was snoozing along in her crate. All was well and then the “change oil soon” message lit up on our dashboard. “Ok, no problem,” we thought. We can take care of that while we’re in Indiana. Over time though we began to notice our temperature gauge spiking and grew concerned. Fortunately we were pretty close to our meeting place so we pressed on. David called Dad and he was pretty confident that we could make it.

Once Mom and Dad arrived, we popped the hood and discovered that the radiator lacked any coolant. Dad made a quick trip over to Wal-mart and picked up 2 gallons. We poured it into the radiator reservoir but couldn’t get it to circulate into the radiator. Getting to the radiator cap turned out to be more complicated and time consuming than we would have liked. Meanwhile Mom and I had Addison playing with toys in the kids department in Ikea, and Allie was tethered to a nearby tree while David & Dad  worked. All the while, our window of time that we’d allowed to get downtown, checked into our hotel, and eat dinner before the show was quickly diminishing.

About 90 minutes before the show was to begin, we thought we’d finally fixed the problem and proceeded to change to our “evening wear” in the back of the Outlook at the edge of the Ikea parking lot. Just as Mom and Dad were beginning to pull away, Dad noticed that the radiator appeared to have a very significant leak. How were we ever going to make it downtown in time?!? Mom and Dad followed us to a nearby dealership whose service garage had closed just 5 minutes previously. Fortunately we were still greeted by a very kind employee named Allen that was on his way to his car and he was able to quickly get the Outlook checked in and ready for service first thing tomorrow morning. We frantically transferred all of our bags over to Mom and Dad’s van and booked it to try to make it downtown in time.

Of course there was traffic along the way. When is there NOT traffic around Chicago? We watched the clock tick on and really couldn’t see how this was ever going to work out. Then, I kid you not, I looked over to Addison with folded hands who said clear as a bell, “Daddy pray”. So we did. We prayed for a miracle.

By the grace of God, we pulled up to the theater at 7:27 where we jumped out of Mom and Dad’s van at a red light, literally ran to will call to collect our tickets and were in our seats (after crawling over about 10 people to get to our seats in the exact center of our row) with about 20 seconds to spare before the show began. We were so frantic we were shaking and all we could do was laugh at the absurdity of it all.

Meanwhile, Mom and Dad continued to our hotel where Mom fought to be able to check in on our behalf and leave our luggage in our room for us so they could finally hit the road back to Indiana. When we finally got to the hotel a couple of hours later, we were scolded and shamed by the dude at the front desk for not having Mom’s name on our reservation with us. He just didn’t get it no matter how we tried explaining the circumstances.

Now here we sit having finally eaten dinner at the 24 hour Dunkin’ Donuts down the road, the only food place we could find that was still open. No, today didn’t go quite as we planned. We HAD plans for tomorrow too, though I have a feeling tomorrow won’t quite look how we expected it to either. We really have no idea what tomorrow will look like. Our car is in Schaumburg and we’re downtown Chicago without it. Will the car be fixed in time for us to pick it up tomorrow and carry out the rest of our plans, or will we be renting a car and figuring out a plan B. Only the Lord knows and we’re trying really hard to just enjoy this very nice hotel room and not worry about it.
We do know one thing for certain. We will always remember our 10th anniversary get-away and the “adventure” that came with it!

And finally, I’ll leave you with this little visual image: In the flurry of changing in the back of the Outlook, David and I both forgot to change our shoes. You should have seen me  rocking the little black dress with my “matching” Crocs.