Have a Great Weekend!

It's been a while and I'm still working on redesigning the website, not to mention that I've been sick all month long (not an exaggeration). In the meantime, here are some links for your weekend...

Meet Piper, the dog who works at the Traverse City airport, on YouTube and Instagram. Total hero in our Border Collie household.

The newest American Girl doll, Melody, will be from Detroit during the Civil Rights era! (I love American Girl and have to say that this is long overdue and very welcome.)

Have you seen the blue ice stacking up near Mackinac Bridge?

How to give your kids allowance the right way. Great information on teaching your kids financial literacy.

A very Michigan marriage proposal...

...and why women proposing is still so rare.

A throwback to a time when breastfeeding was actually accepted and discussed on children's television.

Moving is linked to losing friendships - especially hits home for military families.

What it's really like to work in Hollywood, if you're not a straight, white man. (Reminded me of this piece from the fall about how women have to talk in meetings.)

Love this girls' dress from Tea.

(Photo via airportk9)


This post contains affiliate links. I will be compensated a small percentage if you make a purchase through my links. Thank you for supporting the brands that make Good Idea Mom possible!

Date Night at Aventura

The stars aligned this weekend. My in-laws are visiting and it was Valentine's Day, so I got everything I wanted: A dozen red roses, free babysitting, a love letter, and a perfect romantic date with Juan at Aventura.

We chose the Valentine's Day five course menu and loved every bite. I forgot to take a picture of the first course because we dove right in! For the fourth course, below, I chose a caramelized onion tartelet and Juan chose lamb sweet bread. I also snapped a picture of our desserts, ricotta cheesecake and a potato nut spice cake - both fabulous.

The ambience at Aventura is really special, which you already know if you've been. It was so nice to go to the kind of restaurant we used to go to and talk, just the two of us, with a glass of latúe that a certain little person isn't begging to taste. I was also excited to wear normal clothes and feel like myself, not just Mama. I wore my Madewell Skinny Skinny jeans that fit perfectly, a silk Tucker blouse, my gold monogram necklace, and a Tory Burch handbag I bought a few years ago when such splurges made sense in my life. It was a refreshing change from my mom uniform of yoga pants, no jewelry for little hands to pull, and a diaper bag.

This year the Valentine's Day menu was $50 per person including tax and gratuity. I consider that a good deal for five courses (tapas add up quickly), and we left full and happy. Wine tasting with each course was optional at $25 per person.

How did you celebrate Valentine's Day? Did you dine out or prepare something special at home? I'd love to hear!

Have a Great Long Weekend!

What are your plans this Valentine's Day/Presidents' Day weekend? Today is Buster's (our dog's) fifth birthday and he's in for a peanut butter surprise tonight. My in-laws are coming tomorrow, so Juan and I are going on a Valentine's Day date downtown this weekend (free babysitting!). We're also going to a baby shower and the present I bought is giving me baby fever. Luisa and I are still recovering from a bad cold (and her first ear infection) and I'm hoping to go on another run by Monday.

Plus, I finally got a new laptop, so I have some behind-the-scenes blog work and general file transferring to catch up on. Here are a few interesting links in the meantime...

Ideas for what to cook when you don't feel like cooking. (I don't feel like cooking lately.)

Why you shouldn't break long pasta before cooking it.

A fun newsreel from the 1930's about winter in Michigan.

This could make grocery shopping more enjoyable.

Did you know that a giant crack appeared in the U.P. five years ago? Fun article to show your kids.

Start planning your warm weather trips now: 7 Michigan travel destinations for 2016.

The important of play-based learning (and the drama around culturally-insensitive Halloween costumes at Yale last fall).

Where U of M furniture goes to find a new life.

Have you spotted a black squirrel yet?

Don't forget to stock up on new arrivals from Tea Collection this weekend! Code AMORE gets you 15% off three items, 20% off four, or 25% off five or more. Psst, this is the most amazingly thick, soft dress and I can't rave about it enough. (Promotion ends Monday, 2/15.)

Get 40% off your first month at Kiwi Crate with code KIWILOVE. (Promotion ends Monday, 2/15.)

(Photo of baby Luisa at a lantern festival in Seoul.)

_____________

This post contains affiliate links. I will be compensated a small percentage if you make a purchase through my links. Thank you for supporting the brands that make Good Idea Mom possible!

Backyard Sledding

Sledding doesn't always have to be down a hill. Nor does it have to be in a lot of snow. Sometimes the very best thing is to go outside with your kids anyway. Backyard sledding is perfect for babies and small toddlers (and lazy parents). Luisa and I are sick, so instead of finding a good sledding hill this afternoon, Juan and I pulled her around the backyard in a sled.

As you can tell from the pictures, she tolerated it. She probably would have loved it if she weren't sick. At least she didn't protest, and the rest of us had fun, dogs included.

Did anyone else play in the snow this afternoon? Our yard seemed like more dirt than snow after the dogs ran around a few times. It seems like we'll never get another good snowfall this winter, and we were tired of waiting.

P.S. Happy Paczki Day! My friend Pooja brought me my first ever paczki, a delicious one from Crust, purchased at Argus Farm Stop. It lasted about a minute and a half.

Usborne Books Giveaway

Candice Currie of Usborne Books is offering a special giveaway to members of my Facebook group this week. That's Not My Bunny is a classic from the That's Not My... series, one of almost 40 different titles. The bright pictures and patches of different textures are designed to develop sensory and language awareness. This book is perfect for your littlest ones. Both babies and toddlers will love turning the pages and the touchy-feely patches. These fun books foster an early love of books and reading.

This book would be perfect in your little one's Easter basket, or would make a great baby shower gift along with a sweet bunny stuffed animal. Check out my Facebook group for ideas!

Be sure to check out the post in my Facebook group to enter the giveaway, and invite your friends to the group so that they have a chance! The giveaway closes on Thursday, February 11, at 8:00 p.m. Thank you, Candice!

Toddler's Day Out: My Urban Toddler

Luisa and I spent yesterday morning at My Urban Toddler's indoor playground in Saline and had such a blast. The play area is designed as a miniature city for your little one to explore. There are two different cafe seating areas for parents to relax and talk. Toddlers can play in the fire station, schoolhouse, play kitchen, dress-up area, and grocery market, or sit for a while in the library with tons of puzzles. There's also a special "park" in the middle for pre-walking babies with soft toys and mats to crawl on.

Luisa especially loved the play kitchen and grocery store. She probably spent an hour loading groceries in to her shopping cart and proudly pushing it around the entire city. :) She was also thrilled by the fish in the aquarium near the front. When it was finally time to leave, it took quite a lot of convincing for Luisa to come with me. She could have stayed forever!

I was glad for the chance to hang out with my friends and get to know other parents in the area. It can be difficult to meet people at other venues, but the infant park and cafe seating made it easier to strike up a conversation. If you are a breastfeeding mama with an extremely distractible baby (as Luisa was from 3-14 months), there is a dark privacy room with a comfy armchair, lamp, and changing table so that you can nurse your child in peace.

Play area admission is just $5 per child on Fridays, 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. On other days, admission is $10 for your first child and $7.50 for each additional sibling. Infants up to 6 months old are always free. Be sure to bring your socks! I forgot mine and had to purchase a pair for $2.65.

I highly recommend My Urban Toddler on rainy days, extra cold days, and any Friday. Have fun!

Raising Kids and High-Energy Dogs

Once upon a time, our family was just me, Juan, Buster, and Ziggy Stardust. Juan and I always knew we wanted dogs first and kids eventually. We're pretty high-energy people ourselves (well, me less so since we had a baby), and we chose Border Collies. Okay, I chose Border Collies and I talked Juan into it. To be fair, he didn't put up much resistance.

Humblebrag: We're pretty good dog parents. I took Buster to a Border Collie training expert for classes and individual training sessions as a puppy. We have always run with the dogs regularly, we never leave them outside unsupervised, and we take them with us whenever we can: Hiking and to restaurants with outdoor seating in the warmer months. (We've even taken them out to eat with us in the winter when it was below freezing with our heavy coats on, because we're kind of crazy like that.) On a vacation to the mountains when we had to leave the dogs at home, we visited multiple pet stores to buy presents for them because we felt so guilty without them. We're so obsessed with our dogs, I commissioned a watercolor painting of Buster and Ziggy three years ago as Juan's Christmas present. It perfectly captures their insanity personalities:

And they are kind of insane. This isn't a criticism, it's just a fact. Border Collies were bred to be maniacs. Look at this face:

That is a face of a dog who has broken out of his crate without opening the door on more than one occasion. He is a magician, or maybe he made a deal with the devil. Despite the insanity, when we decided to have a baby, we weren't worried about raising a baby with Border Collies. This isn't to say that it's easy to raise kids and high-energy dogs, but rather that we had prepared our dogs and ourselves and managed our expectations. Here's what we did, after the jump...