Fun in the Sun for the 4th of July

We had a great 3 day holiday weekend.

Buck Night at Canterbury

Thursday night we went to Canterbury for Buck Night. We got in for $1 and ate our $2 hot dog (they aren’t a buck this year!), $1 pop and $1 nachos. We bet and watched some races. We were too late to bet on the first race. Eric won the first 2 or 3 races we bet on. I didn’t win. :( In the 4th race there was a bit of history made before our eyes. Horse #7-Congegration was 79-1 odds. There were only 234 bets on the horse to win. It was a very long race the odds on favorite had a solid lead but out of nowhere came #7 and at the last minute beat #1! It was amazing. It was exciting. It was the largest payout in Canterbury Park/Down’s history. A $2 “win” bet won $161. Yep. Amazing!  If you picked the horse to just show it was $15 payout on a $2 bet. Thankfully my horse, Banjo Cat, came in 3rd (I’m not sure how that happened he was in the back the whole race). I won $5. Yay me! I ran home from Canterbury…it is just over a mile.

Valleyfair, a Band Concert and Fireworks

Friday was our “holiday” so we slept in a bit. I went for a 4 mile run. It was a nice morning…and not too humid. We did some shopping in the morning. DJ, Beth and Ethan came up and we went to Valleyfair for a few hours. We didn’t get on many rides as the lines were ridiculously long. We waited 45 minutes for the Thunder Canyon. It was a very busy place. After Valleyfair, we rushed home and I quickly changed for my annual band concert in Eden Prairie. Normally we play on the 4th of July but EP wanted to expand the festival to two days so we got bumped for somebody more famous…I’m not even sure how. So we played on the 3rd instead. That was ok, we still had a nice crowd but there were not many food vendors or really anything else going on. The concert went well, we played a little long and the director made an audible. You know like in football where the quarterback changes the play on the line of scrimmage. Well the director told the crowd we were playing a song that was not on our list. It was fine but it is the one song I was excited to not be playing but we played it anyways. Argh! After the concert we stopped for a late dinner at Arby’s and relaxed at home until it was time for fireworks. Canterbury always has their fireworks on July 3rd. They put on quite an amazing display. Last year we parked by the hotels in back of Canterbury but it was a nightmare to get out. This year we found a new place on a hill. It was a good spot and easy to get out of…we have our new spot.

Swimming and Camping

After a quick 1 mile run, I biked to the donut shop for breakfast and eventually we made our way to Danielle and Bradley’s new house in New Ulm. We also got to meet Oreo…the cat I named. :) They have a nice house with a big yard. I’m happy for them. Ashley was visiting and we all went to Flandrau State Park (only 1.5 miles from Danielle’s house) to swim. It was a nice day but the pool was surprising cold! We met DJ and Beth who snagged a secluded table by the river. We didn’t waste any time in jumping in the pool. I love their pool! We swam for 45 minutes (they take a 15 minute break every hour).  Eric decided we need more water toys so he left for Target. The Stayers got there and we had more fun in the pool with Evelyn. We didn’t plan well because we were starving but didn’t have much for food. I couldn’t do Cheddarwursts again. So off to Hy-Vee for hamburgers and potatoes…they were delicious. I’ve never done baked potatoes in the fire before but I definitely have to do that again! After DJ, Beth, Danielle, Bradley and Ashley went home we put up the tent and had a fire by Greg and Celeste’s site. It was a perfect night for camping (except for the screeching owl at 4am).

Waterpark at Valleyfair

I went for a short run on the trails by the river near our campsite. We picked up our site and went to Perkins for breakfast. We made a quick stop at Danielle’s to say goodbye and have some Special K bars. We got home by 1pm and decided it was a hot enough day for the waterpark at Valleyfair. It was surprisingly quiet on Sunday, nothing like Friday. We spent a couple hours on the tubes, slides and wave pool and came home to relax for the evening. It was a great long weekend.