Filed under: St Paul
We’ve been easing back into life in St Paul. The girls have been seeing friends. I’ve been meeting with clients. Patrick is still writing.
We’ve been trying to keep an eye on what’s happening in our own home ground. Tuesday night we took a drive down to Stillwater – about 45 minutes away from St Paul on the St Croix River right across from Wisconsin.
Stillwater is a great town at nearly anytime – but Tuesday was special since they had a band playing, movie in the park planned and a farmers’ market happening. We didn’t stay long enough for the movie – but we enjoyed the music, food and walk along the river.
On Wednesday they had music and movie in the park at Groveland – our local park. So we could walk down. Enjoy hotdogs for dinner. The girls gulped down tons of free root beer. There were different carnival games and Kate took advantage of the free massages – several times.
Kate and Lily each had a friend over. We all stayed to see Madagascar in the park. It was a fun night!
Filed under: St Paul
So we came home just in time for the Irish Fair – on purpose. Patrick’s on the board of the Irish Fair and didn’t want to miss it.
Friday night we went to see the Dropkick Murphy’s. They were fun. They played more traditional songs than I had hoped – but that made sense given the crowd. I made it up to the front/side of the stage for a few songs.
I was very impressed with the security and the crowd surfers. The surfers were all eventually dumped on the “other side” of the security fence – but really not very close to the stage. The security folks just herded them away from the stage and back out to the crowd. It was a good way to handle it. The dancers didn’t mind, it wasn’t much hassle for security and kept everyone having a good time.
During the Fair we had the great fortune of entertaining Ruan O’Donnell (no relation) from University of Limmerick. Ruan gave two talks: one of Robert Emmet, Irish Patriot and one on the IRA from 1948-1968. Ruan was very interesting. He had talked to a whole host of people for his research and it was fun to hear the stories. With any luck we’ll see Ruan again in Ireland – or maybe he’ll come to visit us again in Minnesota.
The weather at the Fair was touch and go. The ground was like a bog – and regular readers will know that we know what a bog is like! Saturday night they had to close early for a tornado warning. Sunday the weather was beautiful.
We saw a cute play for kids, we played games, we watched bands and singers, we walked along the Mississippi, we saw lots of Irish dancers, we had a great time.
A weekend full of festival was a great way to break back into Minnesota.
Filed under: St Paul
Kinder Camp is the pre-kindergarten event at Nativity. It happens for 4 days. The pre-kinders get to go to school and check things out.
Aine went (in her hat of course). On her second day she “made up a friend”. I asked about any new friends on her third day but she patiently explained that she had her old friend (from day 2).
Aine is very ready for kindergarten.
Filed under: Minneapolis
The Bakken Museum is a “one of a kind museum exploring the mysteries of our electrical world.” We had never been there. It’s in a beautiful old house near the lakes in Minneapolis. They had a happy hour there and I decided it was OK to bring kids because they also had the Raptor Center there.
It’s very cool. There’s a super cool exhibit on Frankenstein – but it was a little too scary for Aine so I wasn’t able to hang there too much. We got to see a very early pacemaker and try some electrical experiments.
This weekend we met with our girl cousins in Madison. We stayed at a Holiday Inn with a small water park. All we did was swim and relax. We ate pizza on the pool deck. We tried some local beer and it was good. Of course Wisconsin knows beer. We watched TV at night.
Filed under: Minneapolis
In the Twin Cities there’s a great May Day tradition in and near Powderhorn Park. There’s a big parade with floats and stuff, then there’s a big production by the lake, and a festival. The theme this year was the environment and the people versus the big corporate bail outs. The weather was amazing.
Heart of the Beast puppet theater is responsible for much of the cool activities on May Day. People are welcome to come into HOB week leading up to the parade to help prepare the various floats and costumes. We don’t’ usually participate to that degree but we do enjoy seeing it all.
Filed under: Minneapolis
One of the nice things about our area in the summer is going to hang out at the Minnehaha Falls. There’s a fun restaurant called Sea Salt – and you can eat in the park. We went over Memorial weekend and had a really nice time. The Falls are pretty weak this year – a sign that we need rain desperately. The Falls should still be pretty impressive at this time of year.
We climbed all around the Creek. They are actually working on it – and it’s going to be nice. They are building up the ad hoc swimming area, which is fun but has always been pretty muddy. We actually walked from the Creek around to the shores of the Mississippi. We could see the big dam.
Next time we go we’re going to get there early enough to rent a bicycle build for 4!
Aine graduated from preschool. They have a nice celebration. Only she and her friend Rain were graduating. We heard some songs; we saw some slideshows. There was a bouncy castle. Who could ask for anything more?
Filed under: St Paul
At Nativity, each fourth grade class researches a country. Lily’s class researched Spain. We got to go for a night of presentation on different countries. The students work a long time on their projects and they all did an excellent time. Lily got a good speaking part where she told the story of St Caslida.
Also each class prepares treats. This is when it’s super helpful to have an uncle who is a chef. Uncle Billy made 450 profiteroles con chocolate for the event. They were really good.
Filed under: Minneapolis
So my hope is to go back and post articles from the last month. I have the photos; I just need to get the time – but I have to talk about our strange day in Minneapolis today.
Let’s start by saying we didn’t know where we were headed when we got into the car. I don’t know if you ever do that – but it’s not the best start. Some people think we’re going to Minnehaha Falls; some people think we’re going to the Open Eye Figure Theatre.
After much heated debate we head to Open Eye. We don’t really have good directions; it’s not really in a great part of town. But we find it. Then we have to grab a quick lunch before the show.
We drive down Franklin and see the Franklin Street Bakery. Score! I’ve always wanted to go there. They have parking, they have sandwiches, they have amazing cupcakes and they have tables on the sidewalk. Score!
We set up to eat outside – and see that there is a fight just down the block. A real fight with grownups. So, undeterred we move inside. We squish into a small table and start to hear sirens. So I guess the fight 10 feet away got a little heated. Lily is beyond nervous, Kate’s a little curious and Aine’s a little oblivious (thankfully!).
So we eat quickly and drive around (the not great neighborhood) for 30 minutes. Then we go to the theater. Patrick is crabby! But the theatre is very cute. Your ticket in is a balloon. The theatre seats fewer than 150. We’re going to see Dummy, which is billed as a vaudeville sort of thing, which makes us nervous but we’re excited to see the show.
I have to say that the show was brilliant – very, very funny! It’s part hokey, part really impressive, mostly very funny facial expressions and clown-type improv. Ten minutes into the show the clown needs a helper/target and selects Patrick. Aine and I (3 seats away) were laughing so hard I was crying.
In retrospect Patrick was lucky. He never got out of his seat and he never had to imitate a chicken – unlike the last volunteer they pulled from the audience.
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