Wow, my legs are tired today. We had a very busy weekend. Michael and Cassidy came up Thursday evening.  Friday morning, after we took Swirl to the vet, we started our first day of touring. We started out at the Sculpture Garden at the Walker art museum so they could see the famous Spoon and Cherry.  You have probably seen it; the NFL always show it whenever the Vikings are playing on national TV. 

After that we went downtown and had lunch and walked around Nicollet Mall. I took them to the downtown Target to show them the cart escalator. It is a crazy thing but I think it is cool and so did they. We buzzed by the Metrodome so Michael could see the Vikings home.  Next stop was the Guthrie Theater and the Stone Arch bridge followed by the Minnehaha Waterfall. We hiked down to the bottom of the falls and even put our feet in the water.  It was a little cold.  Then the rain came. We ran under a tree but it wasn’t letting up so we darted up the stairs to the car.

We hit the Mall of America and Nickelodeon Universe. We did a lot of shopping, probably the most I have ever done at the MOA.  It was fun though. We also went on two rides.  It was a fun! After the Mall we headed across the street to IKEA so Michael could get his meatballs.  When they lived in Virginia, they would go to IKEA often and Michael devoured the meatballs.  We bought him some frozen one to take home with him.  (number of steps: 15,545)

Saturday I did a 15 mile bike ride in the morning. We went back downtown, first to the Gophers’ new stadium and shop and then Target Field for a Twins game.

The game was fine but the wind started to really blow and then the rain came. Twins won so that was good! We got a picture of them in the glove.  I love this sculpture!

In the evening, DJ, Abbie and Beth stopped by for dinner.  Abbie had a soccer tournament in Maple Grove.  (Her team was undefeated in pool play but lost the championship game on Sunday with 50 seconds left in overtime.) After they left, we made another trip to the Mall of America.  Man, Michael likes to shop!  (number of steps: 23,471)

Yesterday I went for almost a 4 mile run. My GPS watch stopped working and was stuck at 2.73 miles for a few minutes.  When it reconnected with the GPS I was at over 3 miles.  It was pretty amazing I went from 2.73 to like 3.14 in less than 5 seconds!  My fastest pace ever!  The only bad thing is it didn’t get all of my miles logged so it was off by 2 tenths of a mile. After that, we went to Valleyfair and rode a ton rides.  My face got sunburned, I'm so red! And it hurts.  I'm stupid, I didn't think about sun screen. It was cloudy and 60 degrees. Oh well, I'll probably be tan here soon.  After that we just chilled at home. (Number of steps: 18,167)

So what’s the deal with the “Number of steps?” Well we are doing the Get Out and Get Fit Program at work. We are supposed to get 10,000 steps a day. Well my average for the last 3 days was over 19,000. :)  As you can tell, my legs are tired.

To celebrate Eric's last class of the semester, we ventured out to Minnehaha Falls. It was an ok day.  It still hasn't warmed up and the sunny doesn't like to shine so the pictures are grey. There was a really cool thing that happen while we were there but unfortunately I didn't get it on video.  A huge cliff shelf fell into the water. It was so cool! We ignored the "stairs closed" sign and walked down to the creek. It was muddy down there but the stairs were clear.

We had a nice day out yesterday. We traveled down to Mankato with Greg, Celeste and Evelyn for the day. I brought my old pots and pans, mixing bowls and a pan of my famous lasagna for Danielle. We visited with DJ, Abbie and Ethan. Danielle and Bradley came over for a while but Bradley had to work so we kept Danielle.  Most of us went out to Minneopa State Park. We left Eric, Ethan and Abbie behind so they could work on their homework. It was a nice day at the park.  The waterfalls were not very full so that was disappointing but at least there was some water flowing (not like the one time I took Danielle and her friend there and it was bone dry). We hiked down to the creek level. We tried to get back to the falls but it was too muddy…I fell twice. The first time wasn’t so bad because I caught myself before I could do too much damage to my pants. The second time…not so lucky.  I stepped on some leaves but under the leaves was ice and down I went, plopped on my ass. It was so wet and muddy that it soaked through!  It was so uncomfortable the rest of the day! I had fun playing with my camera playing with all the settings to get that really nice “smooth” waterfall picture that doesn’t look choppy. I really wish I knew how to do this before considering all the waterfalls I have seen throughout the years.  I could have had some really awesome pictures! I also got some nice pictures of Evelyn. She really enjoyed it but she got carried most of the hike so she wasn’t muddy.  We hung around the park for a while and then went to Little Caesars for some pizzas for us and the rest of the troops at DJ’s house.  After that we went to the TV station where Bradley works and he gave us a tour. It was cool seeing the inside of the control booth and the set. We met the weather guy, he was nice and showed us around. He is the weekend guy so he never sees tours so this was his time to shine. LOL!  We met the news anchor too.  So it was a good day! 

Upper Minneopa Falls

Partially frozen Minneopa Creek

Evelyn enjoying the hike

Lower Minneopa Falls