Lumberjack Days in Stillwater...

We went to the Lumberjack Days that are held in Stillwater last weekend with some friends... it rained all morning, so quite a lot of the festivities were postponed, but it cleared up and heated up after lunch... we saw an old school fire truck... the side says something about fire and brimstone, the Vulcan Krewe... kinda funny...
We watched the bridge lift to let the boats pass...

Checked out a yummy candy store that Trish worked at in high school... this lady was making cookies and cream fudge... it smelled SO GOOD!

Kate trying to steal candy...

This was an old mill they converted in to offices and shops...
We hit up some great mexican at Nacho Mama's... it was seriously tiny in there and the waitress kinda forgot how to be efficient, but I really liked my food!

I had the baked enchilada... the other half was really good when I got home too... the thing was huge!

Cory had tacos... they were deep fried upon the waitress' suggestion... He said they were great but he wouldn't deep fry them next time...

We hit up the teddy bear park after lunch to run the kids energy out... that is a massive granite teddy bear... the kids loved it.

They have a lot of old time advertisements still on buildings, it made me laugh that the gum had a "purity package"...

This mill is a famous Stillwater landmark...

Tanner loved watching the police dog demonstration...

The lumberjack demonstrations... they raced up and down these posts, the guy on the right touched the post 4 times with his feet on the way down... crazy!!!

This kid is the son of the guy with the microphone... he was dang good at the log rolling...

On the way home, Trish and Andrew took us by their favorite ice cream shop... This was the kiddie size... again, what is with the monsterous scoops around here? Sam was kind enough to put that cup on top, yes it is full of ice cream! But it was good, well, what I was able to consume... I can't vouch for the rest, but I would assume it tasted the same.

Kate crashed before we made it to get ice cream... I guess that she had fun!

I thought Stillwater was a really cute little town, it was settled before Minnesota was a territory, so it is kinda old... Lumberjack Days didn't quite live up to my expectations, but it was fun to get out and see another part of Minnesota and hang out with some awesome friends! So I am trying to figure out tomorrow's plans... I think it will be a little more low key, we are getting tired. Anyway, enjoy your last few weeks of summer, we will be posting pictures of apple picking and football games before you know it!

Saturday Ventures...

We have been surprising Tanner with our Saturday activities, last week we went to the Air Expo at Fort Snelling on Saturday. It was cool, Tanner has been obsessed with fighter jets since he found a book about them in the library. He liked them before, but now it is love. He rambles random facts off all the time, and I just pretend whatever he is saying is correct, because I usually don't know what he is talking about... oh well, I also don't remember what all of these planes were, if you know, you should hang out with Tanner!


This was an F-16 or 15 or something... I think...

This was a hopper plane from 1941 or 43, I would never have flown in it! Those brave men!!!

Shiny cool plane...

This plane was HUGE!!! Seriously huge! Don't believe me?

Well, this is us under it!
After, we got kids meals at McDonalds, yes we had breakfast there the day before, what can I say, we are fans!

Then the next surprise was Minnehaha Falls...

We walked down the path to the bottom and followed the stream a bit... the kids stopped to contemplate life...
Rented one of these fun surrey bikes! Very fun! Totally worth it! Mom, if you ever come see us, we will do this!

This is a replica on Longfellow's home in Boston, only 2/3rds the size... He has a famous poem called The Song of Hiawatha... it is about an indian warrior and his love... Hiawatha and Minnehaha. The road behind the house is Hiawatha... I guess where Minnehaha and Hiawatha meet is a good place to build a replica of his home! Ha!

And I know this will excite everyone, but the Metrodome's roof is up again! I know you have all missed it!

Can you tell it is humid here right now? Our heat wave should be over tomorrow. They say that our dew point and temperature combinations lately have been worse than the Amazons. Cool. Sign me up for another week.

Anyway, Tanner thinks we have the best surprises ever! We will take it! We need to be cool as long as we can! Anyway, I hope you are all enjoying summer, it is flying by!

Random Fact About Last Friday...

We had a visitor! Our very favoritest Pop came into town! He was passing through on one of his business trips and decided to stay the night with us! So we took him to the Stonearch Bridge on Thursday night (apparently our favorite thing to do...)

Then it rained like it was the last time it would rain ever on Friday, so we went to McDonald's for breakfast...

Kate drank that entire smoothie by herself!

It didn't quit, so we picked up some umbrellas from Target (I know, kinda silly we didn't actually own any)...

Found some look-alikes of the kids in the dollar bins...

and went to the Conservatory...

Tanner with a great, big, huge leafy...

Tanner trying to see the snapping turtle... or fishing for it with his nose...

Then we had to take Pop back to the airport to send him home to Nana...

We were so sad after you left that Cory took us out to drowned our sorrows in some really good ice cream... Tanner ate every last drop...

So did Kate, even though this kiddie scoop was the size of her head...

Thanks for stopping to see us! We hope you fly though here again soon! Maybe we will have nice weather instead of the 100+ and relentless humidity when we moved in, and the torrential downpour of rain this time... We love you!

Saturday, in the park, oh, I think it was the 4th of July...

Well, it was the week after, but it was fun all the same. This past Saturday, we had a lot of fun. We spent the whole day together as a little family. First, we went to the Mill City Farmer's Market downtown Minneapolis. But we wanted to walk across the Stonearch Bridge, so we parked on the other side. This is our journey across... Then we made it over to the farmers market and found some lambs and chickens to pet...

of course, my kids didn't want in on that action.

But they had beautiful flowers...

and we even took a new family portrait...
it was on the mirrored side of the Guthrie, the kids had great time with it!

This was the area that went to the Mill City Museum's doors... but that is where you stopped because the government shut down closed the museum...

There were tons of fun vendors, one guy even had a loom and was weaving really awesome tapestry things, others just had awesome food displays... just tons of stuff, lots to see!

food..
I want to paint these...
Then we ventured back to the bridge and explored a bit... but Kate wasn't very happy to leave...

Do you like her tights? It was 90 something and very humid, but the little girl wouldn't leave without the tights, they painfully don't even match.

Under the bridge... (mom, this is when I was talking to you...)
These are entrances to tunnels that run under the city... as well as ruins of some of the mills and the train loading areas...Kate cheered up again for her daddy...

We went home to cool off and have some lunch, then we headed back out to the Chain of Lakes downtown. We mostly hung out at Lake Harriette... I think I want to be a sailor now, these sail boats looked so fun!
I want to paint these clouds too... those building in the distance are awesome, they look like...

this up close... very cute, great atmosphere...

Then came Tanner's surprise...Inspite of the picture, he loved it... they still run one of the old streetcars on 1 mile of track. It was really fun...

They gave you an original token from back in the day as your pass to board, you put it in the little box thing as you got on. Then they drove you down one way, back and down the other, then back again. They told you the history of the streetcar operations and stuff, it was short, but sweet!

Look at their cute hats!

Then as we were leaving, I found our future house, it was even for sale. Cory picked out a different one, but we know wives always get their way! Ha, I can only imagine how much this thing costs!
Sorry that was so long, but it was a fun day! We will probably do it again sometime!