After a long winter is there anything more beautiful than this?
The Lilies are emerging, Spring is slowly waking.

Early Spring Bike Ride

With this unseasonably warm weather just begging us to go outside and play Jenny and I heeded the call and went on a bike ride to a nearby State Park, Ottawa Lake. The roads to the park were clear and dry, but the park does not get plowed all winter so we had to stash our bikes against this tree. I love that we did not have to think twice about their safety.

The sun was so warm and bright--almost more than the company. . . almost.

We had to meander along cross-country ski and snowmobile tracks to get to the lakefront. Many times the snow pack gave way and our feet sank 8 inches to the actual ground. Our feet were a little wet, but it was worth it.

Picnic? In March? In the U.P.?
(Notice your snack bags Courtney)

It was a great day.
If you listened hard enough you could hear Spring groaning, just about to wake from it's slumber.

Here we are at 24 weeks. My baby is an ear of corn this week and she has now begun to keep me up at night with her kicking-twirling-somersaulting antics. I also eat roughly 7 meals a day, no more than 1 1/2 to 2 hours apart. Said eating habits have convinced me to resume working out. (This is more directly related to me trying on some ill-fitting maternity clothes). I'm doing yoga everyday, walk-running 3 times a week, and I'm even going to try to do some strength training 2 days a week. I feel fantastic, although my back has been hurting pretty bad, but I'm convinced that it is mostly because my muscles have atrophied and I need to get them back into working order.

I could not be working out like this without Kyle. He gave me a pep-talk (after the ill-fitting maternity clothes incident) and told me he would set all of my workout stuff up for me and clean it up when I was done, if I was too tired to do it. He also tells me he's proud of me no less than three times a day. I mean this both literally and figuratively: I could not be pregnant without him. I love him!

And, if we're all lucky, he'll post pictures and his very own post (!) about our Saturday adventure soon!

On Monday, our day off, we went to Appleton, Wisconsin. We pretty much stuck to the mall area. First, we went to Chipotle. While we were eating our burritos and chips and guacamole, Kyle said, "Do you ever just look around at the rest of these people and think, you have no idea." As in, you have no idea what it's like to not have Chipotle whenever you want.

Then, we went and registered at Babies R Us. It was really fun.

I found these little bear booties. And bought them, obviously.

I also found some "Preggie Pops." And bought them also, obviously.

Kyle found lots of crab toys. We didn't buy them, but we did register for them. So, you could buy them.

After registering, we went to Starbuck's (for the first time) and then walked around the mall, where we purchased an air freshener for our car, a new Nalgene bottle for me, and some sunless tanning lotion (which is gradually changing my life).

Then, Kyle took me to Famous Dave's for dinner. I had never been there before, but I will never go anywhere else. We got the "Feast for Two," which is a sampler of all the good things at Famous Dave's and is served on an upside down garbage can lid. It was soooooo good.

Not so sure about the Feast at first, but we had it all over for lunch the next day! I'm sold!

After Famous Dave's, I drove home- so we stopped at Starbuck's (for the second time) where I discovered (and I don't know how I missed it the first time) that they have a dark cherry mocha- my favorite flavor combination! I got it and it was HEAVEN.

Overall, a great day off. We had so much fun, delicious food, and we even got a little exercise walking around the mall!

Pregnancy complaints:

1. Thanks so much for letting me try them, Brooke, but I am no fan of the Bella Band. I don't know if it's too big on me or something. But it/they do not hold my pants up. I spend most of my day (1) pulling my pants up (2) pulling my Bella Band down (3) showing my butt to all of Covenant Point. I really enjoy maternity jeans, except that I bought a few at Kohl's (including my ever-fashionable skinny jeans) and wore them yesterday and they were also falling down all day and super uncomfortable- like, kind of itchy inside. Maybe I just need to wash them. The one pair that I enjoy from Target are a size too big and when I went to get the next size down (which is actually 3 sizes smaller than I actually wear, go figure) they didn't have them. I guess I wasn't meant to wear pants.

2. Instead of my precious little girl kicking and flailing as she had been for a few weeks, she has now decided, instead, to channel her energy jumping up and down on my bladder most of the day. I know she just likes floating around in there, but my bladder and I do not always enjoy it so much.

Kyle and I had a fantastic day in Appleton yesterday and when I remember to bring my camera over to the office, I will tell you all about it.