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.
Filed under: St Paul
Our friends Camille and Andrew were in town. Woo hoo! We had a great time. We had an amazing time at the Sample Room and then the new Kieran’s. The next day we met up at the Lower Town Arts Festival. Our friends moved to California two years ago. While we’re sad they are gone it was so much fun to hear how much they like it and how good the move has been for everyone. Now we’re making plans to visit them soon!
Filed under: Minneapolis
The girls and I went to the Bakken with Uncle Billy. We are kinds of spoiled about the Bakken and our fakey Catholic school holidays so we were not pleased to have to share our private museum. But it was fun. Uncle Billy was the mind ball master. Lunch at Snuffy’s after was the least healthy – most tasty meal I’d had in a while.
Filed under: St Paul
Yup sometimes we do exercise. My favorite Pilates trainer Suzy Levi offered free Pilates in the Park. It was on the top of the Ramsey Hill (where Summit Avenue turns). The view is beautiful – you can look across the Mississippi and see downtown. An eagle flew over us. Grandma, the girls and I went – and you know who the sleeper Pilates natural is? Aine.
Filed under: Minneapolis
First Patrick and I went to see A Streetcar Names Desire. I didn’t know the story and had never seen the movie. It was very good. It is a great place to see a show.
One day we all went for the kids’ day at the Guthrie. We got to hike all around the theater. It was fun to talk to the costume person. The work they had done for some of the costumes was so amazing ad detailed. Then the necklace was held together with a safety pin. I was delighted to see that some of my wardrobe is so Guthrie-like.
We got our pictures taken in the Little House on the Prairie costumes.
Filed under: Minneapolis
We went one weekend to the Fat Tire Bike Festival. Patrick and the girls got to ride some tricked out bicycles. But the best part was the sword swallower. You can ask Aine about it any time and she’ll tell you. The guy swallowed a sword that had to be 3 feet long. Kinda creepy, kinda cool. Also on stage were some burlesque-type performers. That may have been Patrick’s favorite part – again kinda creepy. We kind of lost him when they were up on stage but we found him again later exactly where we left him staring up and drooling.
Filed under: Minneapolis
OK I’ve been a total slug about the blog since we’ve been home. Partially because I’ve been so busy with work; partially because it’s about 400 degrees here and we have no air conditioning and that does not lend to computer work. But I’m in the car and have a chance to catch up…
The Walker! We have been there a few times in our month home. They have really great activities. Aine, Kate and I went one Saturday morning to make our 3D map additions. The Walker was creating a big 3D map in the field next to the gallery. Kate and Aine each created pigs from the State Fair, which we then got to post on the map.
A different day we went to see some bands outside. It was produced by the Walk Teen Council, but there were a few families. We had fun playing with the hula hoops and thing in the outdoor space. The girls even participated in a big art project where Aine and Kate answered question about their community and told about a place they wanted to go. Kate said Cost Rica, which was no surprise. Aine said Pennsylvania. The was news to us.
We also got to hike around the Sculpture Gardens with our cousin Will – well really Will is maybe the girls’ second cousin, or cousin once removed but we’re going with cousin.
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