1.4 – 1.10 two?

can’t believe our lydi-bug is turning TWO. it’s true. jan 7. wow is that possible? whe was born at 12:02 am, so we had to get a shot of her at that exact moment.

since her true b-day was during the week, we had a smaller celebration with just us on Thursday. she started with some gifts in the morning.

She is still rocking the super-short hair, but lara can finally put it into pig-tails…

sort of….

kinda looks like coolio.
More gifts to open in the afternoon.

Lara and I took of work a little early and we headed to the mall of america’s underwaterworld. Good idea….we thought.
It was not very crowded, which is always a plus.

The “world” starts off kinda tame, just walking along a dark faux-wooded trail and checking out small fish. Lydia was only slightly afraid.

I was digging the woods theme. Pretty cool.

She was still afraid of the shark mascot.

Which we should have viewed as foreshadowing.

We finally made our way to the meat & potatoes of underwaterworld- the aquarium. She FREAKED out and had lara in a choke hold

It was actually rad…..for adults. Being 6’ 5”, my head was very close to the top of the small tunnel that you have to walk through. The large fish swim completely over you, and it is a little freaky.

They had a nice assortment and variety of fishies. Some were huge.

And then there were the sharks. She was really bugging out at this point, so we hustled through quickly.

Hello mr. stingray.

She was still scared on the outside, but not as bad. On to smaller fish….perhaps starfish and ‘lil seahorsies would calm her down….no.

How about wacky pics in play ship?

a shark cage?

She wasn’t feelin it.
So we dropped about $40 to skip through that puppy in 20 minutes. Note for child #2- wait until maybe 4 years old before going to underwater world.
Time to shop.

Found some shoes.

We picked one of our favorites- crave for lydia’s birthday dinner.

We had been to the one in Edina, but this one was relatively new to the MOA. They have a huge menu, crafty pizzas, sandwhiches, steak and sushi- take your pick….it’s all good.
We split some sliders and a pizza and sat on the terrace overlooking the nickelodeon amusement park.


She loved it, as did we.
She even got a free dessert that we could all split. Nice touch.


Lydia made an extra b-day wish in the wishing fountain on the way out.

Here our her “rocking chair” b-day shots.

and last year

On Saturday, we had a full-fledge party. Family and friends, we celebrated with a lady bug theme. As usual, sweetie sweets out did her self and had the place decked out and made delicious food for everyone.
lydia helped put together goodie bags in the morning

We had some help blowing up balloons, while lydi-bug finished her nap.

We hung a pic of the 12 lydias- one from each month over the past year.

Everyone brought some great dishes as well, check out the appetizer table.

Oh, and way too many presents.

Lara was putting the finishing touches on in the kitchen.

Lydia awoke and started opening up gifts. Gonna take quite some time to open all of these.



The chicken wild rice soup was almost ready.

Lara bought some fancy-pants chocolates, put them in a glass container and had everyone guess how many were inside….the winner got the candy.

Morgan nailed it.

After dinner, it was time to take a picture w/ each guest (lydia wasn't feeling it).

Can you ever have too many potato heads?








She got everything- girly stuff,

A lady bug bean bag,

And a lady bug blanket, just to name a few.

I hit dish duty.

Cake time (ladybug of course- attention to detail).



And lady bug brownies.

Lara made some gift bags for the guests.
Time for Lydia to say her goodbyes.

she was sad to see everyone go

Thanks everyone for the kind gifts!
On Sunday, I finally got around to going through old work files downstairs (about 6 years worth). Check out this pile.

Sunday, we headed to matt’s for our favorite juicy lucy. You know it is a good burger joint when there are other people taking pics out front (notice couple standing in the front, posing for a picture).

Sunday night and the place was packed.

What is a juicy lucy? Two burger patties with molten hot cheese melted in-between. This is a dive-bar’s dive bar. Awesome. No frills. No plates- all paper and thin napkins.
Here’s Lydia being a goof ball while waiting for the food.

And a pose with me.

Food’s here.


Lara had story time with mini-sweets before putting her in bed.

We opened a few more gifts and called ma & pa tickle on skype so she could open their gift.

Here is the video.



Happy second birthday Lydia!!! We love you.