Filed under: Minnesota
Being in town opened us up to attend more events that we usually miss – one example is the Dinner on the Farm. Great chefs come in to cook local food in farm settings. We go to these events when they are near town in the off season. This year we were able to attend a few on actual farms. When on the farms the events are very family-friendly. Usually they include access to beer and wine and some music. In town the events are a little more grown up – no kids, more beer and wine, occasional costumes.
Last summer I spent more time in St Paul than I have in years. I enjoyed being too hot for a change. (Dublin is nice – but it’s not hot!) We did get out to see a lot of shows and festivals. Aine and I started writing music reviews in earnest, in fact maybe I’ll just start linking to the reviews we write here to keep track of our in-town activities a little more. For now I just thought I’d share a few pictures. You’ll notice that the youngest kid appears more often than her teenage sisters – especially when we are close to home. That’s because I think they would rather be seen in last year’s fashion than with their mom!
Filed under: St Paul
Every year the Treacy Clan head to the Minnesota State Fair – scavenger hunt in hand. It’s not a huge challenge scavenger hunt – but an attempt to reign in rampant and disorganized spending led by the whims of the 7 kids. At least this way we get a calendar and spend time outside the arcade and cookie booth. Others have asked me to share…
Minnesota State Fair Scavenger Hunt 2012!!!
- How big is the slab of butter used for the butter queens?
- 2. What is the strangest food at the Fair? Was it good?
- Get a calendar with a family picture.
- Ride the Giant Slide at the Fair. (Be sure to have someone take your picture.)
- 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.)
- Get a bird’s eye view on the Skyride!
- Where can you find a plastic bottle tunnel representing 5 minutes of use of plastics bottles in MN?
- Name three local breweries – ask a parent which beer is best.
- How big is the biggest pumpkin at the Fair? (Win a honey stick while you’re nearby!)
Filed under: St Paul
So on Thursday I started to get ready for our flight to Dublin on Friday. I imagine my great surprise when I realized the tickets were for Wednesday. Absolutely the dumbest thing I’ve done in a year. We got ready in record time. God love the girls who truly rallied to get ready on time. We went to the airport and more of less begged them to let us on the plane. Luckily there was a big thunderstorm – so we actually made the flight. And on the positive side – it was one less day for me to worry. On the negative side, we packed poorly – as you do when you pack in a rush.
Filed under: St Paul
The last fun event in St Paul was Aine’s Girl Scout Party. Aine’s Girls Scout troop is a great group – we like them very much. The event of the night was bobbing for apples. It must be harder than it looks. But fair play to the girls I think everyone eventually got her apple in the end.
Filed under: St Paul
Aine and I had a great time on Grand Old Day. We met up with some friends for Koo Koo Kangaroo, which is always super fun. And then we walked the Avenue. I’m going to guess that we walked 4-5 miles total. But it doesn’t seem so arduous when you’re nibbling along the way. We notice that they had a lot more happening on the Western side of Lexington, which is usually kid city. The art cars were a fun addition. The kid area was good as usual with pony rides, bouncy castles and other fun games.
It was nice to be home for the opening of the Walker Open Field – even if we’ll miss most of the fun there this summer. Aine and I went for Free Family Saturday. Aine made some nature art. We walked around the sculpture garden, we saw a wedding party we did a quick run through the indoor galleries. Then we ran into friends (the Grassmans) at the Groveland Tap picnic, which was kind of like a rehearsal for Grand Old Day. They (Groveland Tap not the Grassmans) set up some games, had a bouncy castle and a fire truck.
I have a few pictures from different shows and different music festivals. Some of the highlights (in kind of chronological order) include the Women who Rock (esp 5678s) at the Amsterdam (thanks Mary and don’t we look good dressed up?), Koo Koo Kangaroo at LynLake (Nice job Aine for sticking through BloodnStuff in the cold), Los Straightjackets (Thanks Damian – so muhc fun when the bands were outside and nearly as good when they moved inside), and loads of local music thanks to John and Troy (especially enjoyed the David Bowie night, Retribution Gospel Choir – and surprisingly enjoyable given my penchant for loud and fast – Ramona Falls, which also isn’t local!).
Filed under: Minneapolis
Had a very fun day at Art a Whirl with Aine, Anita and Will. We saw some very fun art – including a strange performance piece where a half naked, almost Victorian-type woman wrapped bandages around the head of a
Her subject a non-slim-Jim who was also mostly naked. Then her carefully cut off the bandages. I’m sure there was some seriously deep message that I’m just way to shallow to get. We also got to climb on some of the art, which is just about my level of deepness.
We got to ride a trolley – a blue one as a recall, which met Will’s approval. We got a walk a bit, which always meets my approval.
Then Anita and I ditched the kids for a very fun show at Psycho Suzy’s. We had some very healthy food – baby hotdogs, wrapped in bacon, with brown sugar – then we went to see 4oftheFloor. The good news – we ran into friends John and Troy. The bad news the rains came pouring down right before the show. The good news they moved the show inside and somehow we were able to scam out way to the front of the queue and subsequently scored the best dancing spot in the place! A good time was had by all – or at least by all who were able to scam themselves into the small stage area.
Topped off the night with more healthy food at the Sample Room. Dancing is thirsty work!
Aine made her First Communion in May. It was very nice and after we had a very delicious lunch at the Green Room in Stillwater. Aine wanted a skateboard for her First Communion – so that’s what she got. As you can see it’s a good accessory to the white dress. What’s fun was that Uncle Michael was in town from Australia – so we had a special guest. We had a fun time with Michael. We didn’t do a lot but got in some good walks, drink, food and saw a very fun band (Melosmatics) at the Amsterdam Bar.
