Lenora's First trip to Claddaugh

We had a simple dinner at Claddaugh downtown!

Lenora got to have her first peek at the inside of one of our favorite places.

We were all snuggled up for such a cold night and ready for March festivities!

Service was a bit slow, but company was perfect and we enjoyed our cozy booth and all the Irish flare.

Erin go braugh!

Granite City Dinner

On this twin night so close to Valentine's Day, we headed to Granite City downtown for their holiday menu.

Mardi Gras also fell on Valentine's this year, so we had some jambalaya.

Lenora was a perfect angel as she snuggled with Aunt Ashley through the meal.

The food was perfect and there were not many people out on this cold evening so close to the holiday.

Great twin and Lenora night!

MLK Day with Gran

We had MLK day off work and decided to pick up Gran from Wellbrooke and take her on an adventure!

We hit up the Children's Museum since it was free to attend on the holiday!

Gran was happy to be able to watch the kids enjoying the exhibits.

Aunt Ashley took Victor under her wing and showed him how to play!

Victor was loving all the interactive play.

Aunt Ashley knows how to have a good time!

Victor had the best tea party with Aunt Ashley and a couple of friendly bears.

Then they even hit up the carousel!

Afterwards, we stopped in to the Old Spaghetti Factory for some lunch.

The plates were piled with pasta and gran said it was delicious!

Victor enjoyed the spaghetti and giggles!

Lenora was happy to be along for the ride.  It was a chilly day with a few inches of snow on the ground, but we had a wonderful time!

Great snowy day with family!

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire at the ISO

We attended Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire at the ISO!

We absolutely LOVE these live concerts of the Harry Potter movies!

It seemed fitting to have dinner beforehand at Nine Irish Brothers.

Ashley was channeling her inner witch with a cat familiar necklace and her Ravenclaw colors.

Emily was wearing her Hufflepuff dress and a new matching hat.

The concert was wonderful and to top it off, the tree on the circle was still illuminated!

We had a great evening enjoying one of our favorite dinner spots, a perfect concert, and the beautiful downtown sights!

Great twin night!

Faculty Gathering

Ashley hosted a fabulous holiday party for the faculty of her department!

She laid out a beautiful spread of charcuterie and a mimosa bar.

The attendees played Heads Up and had many laughs and bonding time together to start the year.

Emily was there to help set up and get the party going.

We took a moment by the tree to enjoy what a great party she had put together!

Great twin night!

Gilbert Christmas

We celebrated Christmas at Gilbert Farms this year!

Mom and gran were both there!  That hasn't happened in more years than we can count.

Natalie's tree was gorgeous and every last inch of the house was decorated with Christmas cheer.

The food was incredible and the table was set for royalty in her Christmas Spode.

Ashley made Moscow mules as we opened presents and put the children down for naps.

Opening presents took what felt like hours as the pile was quite considerable!

In the evening, we had leftovers and enjoyed being together as the children went to bed.

We had a night in with a movie and cozy Christmas pajamas!

It was really a nice way to celebrate - just being together.

We all spent the night under one roof and it felt a little like those 326 days.

In the morning, we had coffee and breakfast before heading back home.

It was a memorable holiday full of warmth, love and togetherness.

Wonderful twin night!

Zionsville Books & Brews Potterfest!

Books and Brews of Zionsville had their first Annual Potterfest!

We knew we had to give it a try!

The event description read:

"Greetings from your Zionsville Hogwarts location!!! We are celebrating all things Harry Potter with our first annual HARRY POTTERFEST!

We will have all your favorite HP Brews on tap including:
Prisoner of Ale-zkaban (Belgian Tripel)
Dubbledore's Magic Ale (Belgian Dubbel)
Butterbeer (Cream Ale brewed with Vanilla Beans and Caramel Candies) **TAPPING AT 6PM**

We will have a Harry Potter photobooth for you and your friends to capture the magic!

Also, break out your wands and circle glasses - There will be a Harry Potter costume contest!!!

We will have a special showing of Fantastic Beasts at 10:00pm to ring in the night!"

It sounded like a lot of fun so we donned our wizard robes and headed over for lunch!

The menu consisted of some interesting literary fare!

Ashley ordered the "Frankenstein", a charcuterie plate of local meats and cheese served with crackers and greek olive mix.  She also enjoyed the Dumbledore Magic Ale!

Emily ordered the "babe" sandwich of pulled pork with bbq sauce topped with provolone cheese.  She also had a Polyjuice (non-alcoholic - read pregnant friendly) drink.  Not a favorite.

We had the place almost to ourselves at this time of day.  There were some decorations and the staff had on their themed gear.  The manager even gave us some gift cards to return since our costumes were so great!

We had some fun with the provided props before heading out.

The trivia, butter beer, and movie showing were all slated for later in the night and looked PACKED!

It was nice to have more of a personalized experience, especially when the atmosphere of this Zionsville shop is somewhat reminiscent of a small hidden pub from the wizarding world.

It was nice to check out this event once, but we probably would not make it a priority going forward.

Our love of all things Potter means we will likely attend many more of these types of events; each time hoping for the most authentic and magical experience.  Some are winners.  Some are losers.

This event was somewhere in between the two extremes.  They put in effort to brew some special drinks, but the decor and execution left a little to be desired.

Great twin time in our robes in Zionsville!