Easter Eggs!

So, I had the chance to visit

Vanderwees Farms last week and take a little

tour of the facility.

It was so cool seeing how everything works!

Of course, being an egg farm, there were

chickens present.

I bought a lot of eggs.

Felix's 2nd birthday was coming up.

We decided that we would have an Easter egg hunt at his

party, since it was the day before Easter.

Some plastic eggs, and some dyed.

We cooked up a batches of eggs

In our handy-dandy steamer.

And the boys got to work coloring them.

Felix liked to peel them before he dyed them,

so there were a few casualties.

Loch had fun.

All ready to go!

The kids had a fantastic time gathering the eggs.

We made a brownie cake for the party.

We had the Photobooth set up!

Felix had a blast...

...until the cake came out.

All partied out.

The next day was Easter.

After the boys had gobble an obscene amount

of chocolate, came the real highlight of the day!

Eggs benedict!

We sort of threw it all together with whatever we had... like day old baguette

Getting ready to poach and make some hollandaise.

Delicious!

First Barbeque of the Season

Of course we all thought Spring was here a

few weeks ago. . .

But then we all woke up to snow.

Hopefully it is gone for good this time. I am so glad the spring is here,

It feels so wonderful to get to spend

time outdoors, once again.

I didn't realize how much I had missed it.

During the warmer months, we are avid grillers. Cooking outside

most nights of the week.

We fired it back up- and what better way to celebrate

the return of the grilling season,

than with burgers!

Made with heavily seasoned veal, and pieced of extra old gouda cheese.

Felix helped shovel the remaining snow from the yard

as the grill heated up. Other than 2 snowman bases,

this is all the snow that we have left!

Beautiful and sunny with a refreshing chll in the air.

We still had the fireplace going in the living room.

Canadian Mistletoe?

Enjoying an appetizer on the deck.

Delicious veal burgers

 Happy to help out...

..don't drop those, kid!

The Lake and Lake Avenue Cafe

I was absolutely thrilled to get to go here with Kim.

I had been to the Lake Avenue Cafe once before and it was

only for an afternoon beverage. I was super excited to actually order from the menu!

When we sat down, I immediately ordered a pizza for the kids.

I ordered a Bridged for myself.

(cranberry, honey and sage infused bourbon and ginger soda.)

Chorizo stuffed dates with smoked pepper aioli.

Lake superior fish cakes with pickled asparagus, and cucumber horseradish.

That's all we got- We didn't get around to ordering

because someone was being crabby.

(I'll give you a hint...they are 1 and 5 year old little boys)

The next morning we got up early and took a walk

along the lakeshore.

Beautiful!

Lochlan looking over the water.

Pieces of Ice along the shoreline.

The sounds were amazing...the pieces of ice crashing into each other.

Iceberg!

Felix navigating the rocks and ice.

Watching the ice.

He saw a dog. So of course he ran to say, "Hello."

After our fun morning together they were off to the

cities with Grandma and Grandpa.

I headed back towards the border all alone.

I intended to head straight back, but I saw all of these

kites in Grand Marais and thought I should

stop and have a look.

I had a coffee.

Snapped a few pictures.

And was on my way.

Trip to Duluth

The boys were lucky enough to get to spend

Spring break with their grandparents in Minnesota.

We decided that we would take our time and make a few

stops along the way.

Actually, I decided that- I don't think they really cared.

After a brief stop at Tim Hortons we stopped off at the

Thunder Oak Cheese Farm

The day was beauful and sunny.

Of course we had to get some cheese curds!

We bought some of our favourite kinds of cheese.

If you have never been out to the Thunder Oak Cheese Farm, it is a must!

Their gouda is world class!!

If you stop into the shop, you can sample every variety that they make.

Can you imagine bringing home an entire wheel of this?

YUM!

Watching the cheese making process.

Time to go!

Not long after that, Felix nodded off. The evidence of his cookie gobbling

still all over his face.

Lochlan was engrossed in a superhero DVD...

...oblivious to the stunning scenery.

We stopped off on Grand Marais for a coffee.

South of Two Harbors, we ended up taking the old Scenic Highway.

We spent about 10 minutes looking at this,

A tow truck blocking the road.

Thank goodness I have little boys, they thought

it was SO COOL! They were very engrossed with

watching the driver load the car up.

After that little delay we were off in search of some lunch.

I knew that I wanted to stop at Nokomis or new Scenic Cafe.

We ended up at the New Scenic Cafe.

And wow, scenic it was! 

We had a fantastic view of the lake, and warm sunlight was pouring in the windows.  

Clean, rustic decor.

It felt very homey.

Would you look at that view of Superior?

Felix was quite content eating ice cubes.

It must have filled him up, because he was not

very interested in his waffles.

I ordered a beet salad for a starter. It was perfect!

Lochlan ordered a grilled cheese.

The kids menu items were awesome!

They came on cool long plates.

He loved his sandwich!

My pheasant and waffles!

That egg was amazing!

The kids loved the pheasant and

probably ate more of it than I did!

The kids played with chalkboards at the table.

 Felix ended up with more chalk on his face than food.