Filed under: St Paul
I’m back. I’m going to catch up the blog because we did something fun today and I want to post about it – but I can’t until we’re up to date. So we might be heavy on pictures for December.
We got a lot of now in December. This picture was taken after the 18 inch snowfall early in the month.
Filed under: Minneapolis
There was a great Groupon on the multi-people bikes at Minnehaha – so we went. I kind of forgot that I don’t really like bikes when I went for this – but I was quickly reminded once we got going. It’s hard to pedal a bike with 5 people on it – and Patrick’s a good biker. But it was beautiful day. And there was a fun historical recreation at one of the houses around Minnehaha. OK, recreation might be over stating it – but the girls got to play some old fashioned games. The Historical Society does a great job on stuff like that.
For folks who don’t know Minneapolis, here’s a quick description…
Overlooking the Mississippi River, Minnehaha Park is one of Minneapolis’ oldest and most popular parks, attracting over 850,000 thousand visitors annually. It is located at the intersection of Hiawatha Ave. and Minnehaha Parkway.
Filed under: Minnesota
The last weekend of September we went to Sever’s Corm Maze – an annual trip for us. The weather was perfect – almost too hot. We had a great time! Here are some of the highlights:
The girls and I went on camel rides
We went swimming in the pool of corn (and were pulling corn kernels out of ourselves for the next week)
We went through the corn maze. Kate rocked it! Aine also got the hang of it. Lily’s phone was helpful when we need to go back and find her and Patrick.
Saw a pig race
I’m always amazed at how much fun the corn maze is.
Filed under: St Paul
Patrick and I had a great dinner at Luci Ancora – our favorite Italian restaurant. They had a wine dinner with St Innocent, Patrick’s favorite winery. We go to the wine dinners often – usually we sit by ourselves. This time they sat us with a few other folks. So that was different – Patrick was not so thrilled at first – but after a glass of wine, or two it was kind of fun!
Filed under: Minnesota
Once again the girls and I went with Grandpa to Nelson’s Farm and Pumpkin Patch in Litchfield Minnesota. Grandpa and I were surprised at how many of the small details the girls remember from year to year. Including being able to pick out every restaurant where we’ve ever stopped. And restaurants in the area are not always so different from each other – at least from the outside.
Some highlights (not necessarily mine) were
- picking up the baby chicks
- holding the bunnies (which sadly replaced the kittens
- riding the soapbox cars down the hill (always fun!)
- big hayride
- little hayride
- Pumpkin trebuchet – I love that – video below
It’s fun to see the trebuchet and kind of amazing how it works – both the mechanics and the success. Like last weekend, we had perfect weather. It was cooler – but sweater weather – and super sunny. Last year when we went we were wearing hats and mittens.
On the way home we stopped (as always) in Darwin to see the World’s Largest Ball of Twine, the playground and we drove by the cemetery where my Grandma & Grandpa Treacy are buried.
Filed under: St Paul
The Lynches came into town for the Minnesota State Fair. So we all went together (us, Lynches, Grandma & Grandpa). We had our scavenger hunt – which I posted earlier. We had a great time. I’ll have to post our annual Education Calendar when we get it. They are always great about letting all 13 of us pose in the picture.
We had a ton of good food – the potato chip tornado was a new purchase that I would make again. Some of us milked a cow – namely me, Kate, Katie and Aine. In other words the toughest of the group. Some folks went on the Sky Ride (not me!). Aine won a big ball in the arcade, she was the big winner. We saw the largest pig and largest pumpkin. We walked and walked. The weather was absolutely perfect!
Filed under: St Paul
Since we were out of town for my birthday, we celebrated in August at the final Saints game of the season. It was great. I think I had about 70 tickets to the game – and they were all used. As always my favorite part was the tailgating before. But the game was good too. It did go into 11 innings, which we didn’t love because we were a little tired. We did love the fireworks after the game. The fireworks feel so close there and it’s a great display. I’m hoping that I can celebrate my birthday a little earlier next eyar – but a second tradition might be making the final game of the season – especially if they keep up the fireworks
Filed under: Minneapolis
OK I’m catching up with summer highlights. A fun highlight was the Flutag in the Twin Cities. People build vehicles that’s supposed to fly off a ramp and into the Mississippi. Here’s the official description from the web site…
Red Bull Flugtag challenges teams of everyday people to build homemade, human-powered flying machines and pilot them off a 30-foot high deck in hopes of achieving flight! Flugtag may mean “flying day” in German, but all these crafts ultimately splash into the waters below. They are judged not only on their flight’s distance, but creativity and showmanship as well.
The really amazing thing is that 90,000 people showed up to watch it. The population of the city is only 300,000. So 90,000 is quite a feat. They flew the flying machines off a ramp built on Harriet Island – so really anyone on the shores could see pretty well. So even though it was clearly a ton of people it didn’t seem too crowded – once we parked anyways.
You can see our other short but sweet videos here:
Filed under: St Paul
Ag Building
- How big is the biggest pumpkin at the Fair?
All About the Animals
- 2. Get a picture of a baby animal.
- 3. How big the biggest boar is? (Remember the Swine Barn closes at 3:00.)
- Get a picture of everyone wearing pig ears from the Swine Booth.
Food Glorious Food
- 5. There are 59 things to eat on a stick at the State Fair. Keep a list of how many you see. (Bonus points for each one you try.)
- 6. What is the strangest food at the Fair? Was it good?
- Andy’s Beer Garden is a great place to hang out. They sing a song each half hour. What song do they sing?
Educational Building
- Get a calendar with a family picture.
- 9. Who is smart enough for MENSA? Visit the MENSA booth and see if you can answer any of the MENSA questions.
Creative Arts Building
- 10. Get a picture of all the kids with the healthiest food poster.
Dairy Building
- How many butter queens have they carved so far? Get a picture.
Random
- Ride the Giant Slide at the Fair. (Be sure to have someone take your picture.)
- Visit the DNR fish pond. What’s the ugliest fish?
- Pick up as many school supplies as you can. (Each kid should have their own bag!)
- How many tickets can you win in the arcade? (Each kid gets $2; no spending your own money!)
- Get an autograph from a famous person. (Or get a picture of the team with a famous person.)
- What is your favorite part of the Daily Parade? (It starts at 2:00.)
- Get a bird’s eye view on the Skyride!
Filed under: St Paul
We have been pretty faithful visitors to the local farmer’s market. We have visited the one in St Paul a couple of times. It’s great for sugar snap peas, sticks of honey, flowers, cucumbers and more. It’s just so nice to be down there in the nice weather and seeing all of the produce. We’re not early arrivals, but we’re very relaxed.
We’ve checked out the Minneapolis market near the Guthrie. It’s nice too – although we got there just about the time it was closing. The area near the Guthrie alone is amazing. You look over the Stone Arch Bridge and the new 35W.
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