Marvelous Weekend For Sledding

Hello again! Earlier today I shared a quick Saturday afternoon outing to Windsor (Ontario), Canada with Scott and my mom. I wanted to include the rest of my weekend with you for two reasons:

1. My friend Alex is great at ordering healthy, yummy food off of any menu.

2. I went sledding for the first time ever.

Plus, I haven’t linked up with Katie in a few weeks, so I am overdue on sharing my Monday Marvelousness. So where did we leave off? Oh yeah, driving back to Detroit from lunch in Canada.

We couldn’t have timed it better, either. We arrived at The Palace right on time to meet some friend to join us to see the World Famous Harlem Globetrotters!

Longtime blog readers might remember me writing about this same show last year. Scott knows a handful of performers on the tour, so we try to go and see them whenever they come into town! Each show is set up the same way, but varies with stunts and performers from year to year.

They are most famously known for their intro tricks and theme song. When that is over, a full basketball game follows. What makes this different than any other basketball game is the funny stunts and time for comedy skits built into it. They are all talented basketball tricksters with fun personalities!

If you ever get a chance to catch a show in your city, I recommend the entire family going. Good, clean entertainment for everyone!

Saturday

Saturday came and went before I could say “Happy Saturday.” We woke up early and were out the door by 11 a.m. to drop my mom off at the airport.

It was great having here here for the week and I am so glad she got to come up to see us! Directly from the airport, Scott and I continued on the road until we hit Cleveland, Ohio.

Yup, really. After a shipping fiasco and the misplacement of our dunking trampolines for Scott’s team, he needed backup and needed it quick. Lucky for us, a contact over at the Cleveland Cavaliers was willing to let our team borrow their trampoline so we could continue shows until the new ones come in. Phew.

The drive wasn’t all that bad. Three hours there, three hours back, no big deal!

Sunday

We lucked out with weather on our quick trip to Cleveland and back, but haven’t been so lucky since. Scott and I drove to the arena for an early game call time yesterday morning and knew it would look very wintery when we left. That it was!

I hitched a ride with my friend Alex to lunch/dinner, and planned on Scott driving my car home since he can handle the snow a lot better than I can. Long story short, my car never made it home. Poor little Florida (rear wheel drive) car just doesn’t stand a chance sometimes.

I don’t think mine was the only one left, either.

Unlike me, Alex is a rock star at driving in the snow. She is from here, so has been doing it for years and rarely gets nervous about it. Good news for me!

Through the storm, we enjoyed a nice warm lunch at Macaroni Grill. I hadn’t been to one in years, and I almost forgot how good it is!

Like me, Alex is very health conscious, so we end up sharing a lot of meals when we dine out together. I loved what we selected this time. Since neither one of us had eaten since an early breakfast, we treated ourselves with what we were craving but still managed to make it pretty clean.

We started with the roasted chicken and arugula flatbread.

(herb chicken, roasted peppers, basil pesto, lemon infused olive oil)

Then ordered the warm spinach and shrimp salad (baby spinach, prosciutto, pine nuts) and made our own pasta (gluten-free penne, garlic olive oil, red peppers, asparagus, and spinach) for dinner.

We also might have colored on the table while waiting for our food.

(You have to!)

By the end of dinner we were both full, but not stuffed. I loved that we got to “indulge” in pizza and pasta but not feel like we left in a carb coma. Great job including healthier options on your menu, Macaroni Grill.

Next on our evening to-do list was grocery shopping. There was a storm coming in, so we both wanted to be prepared and make sure we had enough food to cook at home for a few days. We went to Trader Joe’s to stock up and laughed at how similar our carts looked.

We had one more stop to make before heading home. We planned on getting frozen yogurt, but when we realized the shop closed it was Cold Stone or bust.

(white peppermint ice cream, brownies, and candy cane crumbles… !!!)

Whoops. You can’t always be 100% healthy! 😉

For those of you who have never had to drive in the snow, here’s a little taste of what it’s like.

Uhhh… cheers to you, Alex, for taking that on. It’s like driving on an ice skating rink and when it is coming down hard at night without plowed roads, probably the scariest thing I have ever done.

The good part about all of this cold and crazy weather is that you get last minute invites to go sledding with friends.

Ha. Clearly we don’t like to abide by all rules. Sorry we’re not sorry.

Before moving to Michigan I had only been in “real” deep snow a few times. I still have yet to build a snowman (the snow has to be perfectly slushy), so didn’t want to miss the opportunity to sled when it arose.

You guys… it is SO much fun!!

I felt like a five year old and laughed the entire way down the hill every time. We mixed it up by trying different sleds and saucers and the boys got fancy by building a ramp. I fell off almost every time, but it was so worth it.

Frigid, almost unbearable cold temperatures aside, I am starting to actually get used to living up here. In fact, today is the first snow day of the year!

Since there isn’t a guarantee that all roads have been plowed and we had a record ten inches of snowfall last night, the rest of today will look a lot like this.

And this.

After the crazy couple of weeks we have had, I am perfectly okay with staying indoors for a few days. I am looking forward to spending the rest of the night cleaning and organizing the place, watching a movie, eating warm things and sipping on hot tea.

Yup, I am a snow bunny grandma and I am absolutely loving it. Enjoy the rest of your evening!

Questions of the Day

• Have you ever been sledding or snowed in?

• What is your all-time favorite soup recipe? (In need of a new crock pot inspiration!)