Filed under: St Paul
Better late than never. We had a semi-impromptu tailgate party at the Saints game. We only had about 20 people. We only had brats and stuff – but it was fun.
The advantage of going to the game at the end of the season – it wasn’t a billion degrees. SO that was nice. The advantage of going to the last game was the super amazing fireworks at the end of the game. We have never been so close to fireworks.
Next year I’m hoping to have the regular game closer to my birthday – but I think we might also get a group to go to the final game too.
Filed under: Minneapolis
Sorry no video – but just have to say that Billy and I saw Motorhead at First Ave. Last time I saw them was 1987!
Filed under: St Paul
We had a great day with grandma at Como Zoo. The good news is that it was a beautiful day. The bad news is that it was a weekend and everyone and their brother was there. Usually we go to Como on the fakey Catholic holidays when only the girls’ school is out or at least summer weekdays.
The Japanese Garden was open, which was a treat. We hadn’t been in the garden before and there aren’t a ton of places in Como where we haven’t been!
Filed under: St Paul
Yes, we really did have to come home from Ireland for the Irish Fair. No, that wasn’t my call.
As a special treat, we brought the Irish weather home with us. It rained the first three days we were home – and during most of the Irish Fair. In fact the fair had to close early on Saturday night because of tornado warnings! (Since then the girls have asked every night if it seems humid – which is code for – do you think there will be a tornado?)
On Friday night Patrick and I saw the Dropkick Murphy’s. That was fun. Lots of stage diving. Not by me, but others. Here’s a video from that show.
We also entertained one of the speakers from the Fair – Ruan O’Donnell (no relation). He’s a scholar who speaks about Northern Ireland – both as a history lesson and current affair. He was really interesting. He clearly has talked to a ton of very involved people and had some great stories. Also I think he made the presentation interesting for the audience since he talked a lot about the impact of Irish Americans on the situation.
Also the girls and I spent a lot of time cruising the Fair. We saw a fun kids play done by our friend Sarah. The girls saw some friends who do Irish Dancing. Here are the pics.
Filed under: St Paul
Tomorrow we’re hitting the State Fair with the Lynches. We’re doing our second annual scavenger hunt. Some folks had asked me to share the hunt in advance.
Finally here are the pictures. We had a great time. We had tons of swimming. We didn’t have dessert at lunch so we felt like we were really on a health kick.
Filed under: Detroit Lakes
Could I be any slower getting the rest of the vacation stuff on the blog? I doubt it but maybe I can catch up quickly today.
One of the fun things they do at Fair Hills is the staff put on a show. I’ve included a sample of the acts below and links to more videos from the show. The girls *love* the show.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdJ7fZOwM6M – Lily, Aine & Kate with others on stage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fo1i7ZZaWM – Larry & his sister with Wide Mouth Frog
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GSxm0rWUkA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDyR7paeURY
Filed under: Detroit Lakes
A golf course, a sheet of plastic, a ton of water. That’s all I’m going to say…
Filed under: Detroit Lakes
So apparently Detroit Lakes is on butterfly migration path to Mexico! And they all stop at Fair Hills. The place isn’t exactly inundated but it’s fun to see the monarchs and as you can see we saw at least one good branch-load of butterflies is a fir tree, which kind of surprised me. I thought they’d like a softer looking tree.
Filed under: Detroit Lakes
We’re in Fair Hills Resort this week. It’s up in Detroit Lakes. It’s like a Minnesota-flavored Dirty Dancing resort. There are loads of kids’ activities – and some adult stuff too. There’s a talent show and a show (Hootenanny) that features staff talent. There are 3 meals a day. The chef can make pancakes in any shape!
These were our activities from the first full day:
- 7 am – I walk with Barb, who leads about 20 people on a 1 hour walk around Big Pelican Lake. A boat picks us up in time for breakfast. Lily joined me. We saw an eagle
- 8:00 – breakfast
- Morning: It rained so the best activity was swimming. All of us swam for about 90 minutes in the pool and hot tub. It rained steadily the whole time – but it really was perfect for swimming!
- 11:00: Zumba – a new aerobics-dance exercise class, which the big girls and I loved!
- Noon – lunch
- 1:00: golf lesson for me, Kate & Lily
- 2:30: Aine got to ride a horse and play on the playground with other 4-8 year olds. Lily and Kate went for the water games – and they both jumped off the high dock-thing. Kate did not love it. I watched her on the high dock thinking about jumping – other kids trying to convince her, her thinking, getting close to the edge and backing off, but eventually she jumped
- 6:00: dinner
- 7:30: Ice cream social and volleyball game
- 10:00 everyone is asleep!
So that’s kind of a typical day. Rather than catalog every day like that I thought I’d just post highlight posts for the rest of the week – short but sweet. Maybe with some videos.
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