Friday, July 16, 2010

IT HAD BEEN 8 YEARS...

Since I had been on airplane.
That is crazy!!!
I used to fly all the time and I used to love it so much that for awhile I wanted to be a stewardess. Now, do not feel too bad for us, we have taken lots of fun vacations but they have all been within driving distance or on a cruise ship.

So finally after an 8 year break, off on a plane I went to go see my Mom and Dad in the beautiful city of Minneapolis with Anika and Shea in tow!

They live right in the city which is so much fun. I am a city girl and nothing is more beautiful than a city skyline at sunset.

These pictures were all taken on the roof of their building
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The Metrodome where the Vikings play and also the view outside the guest bedroom.
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We spent a few nights on the roof swimming in the pool as well.
Shea loves the water.
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Livin in the city it was cool to jump on the light rail to get where we needed to go.
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Our first day we went to Mall of America where I was too busy shopping to get a lot of pictures. This mall has an amusement park in the middle of it and every store you could ever think of. I was teasing Anika that she had to go get her picture with the Hamburger Helper and she did not want to go.
It is sort of fun to embarrass a 10 year old.

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They live right accross the way from the University of Minnesota.
The campus is beautiful.
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On campus they have a Natural History Museum.
I love History so we had to check it out!!
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There was lots for Shea to discover...
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Like Bears who could eat you. She was never scared :)
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Big Sister acting like a bear....
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still not scared. She is tough.
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Random cute photo of Anika I liked from the museum
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We ate lots of delicious food at some really great resturants. I will just highlight one.
Our tasty lunch at YUM!!
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Thai Steak Salad. Mmmmm.
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I am not a big French Fry person unless they have lots of cool sauces to dip them in.
These were Awesome!!
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and they had Cupcakes.
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My tummy was happy the whole time.

On Saturday they have a The Farmers Market right across the street.
They had so many great artisans and again great food.
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We toured The Foshay Building downtown.
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I loved the art deco inside!!!
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A great view!!!
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The Walker Museum's Sculpture Garden
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The incredible Host and Hostess
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Dinner and walking down by the Mississippi.
I had Shea in the Baby Bjorn the entire time. Let's just say I have a really strong back now. That child would not sit in the umbrella stroller but the stroller did carry my diaper bag quite nicely.
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Our last day we toured the Guthrie Theater which was so interesting and fun.
What a cool modern building. It is the one on the left.
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Stone Arch Bridge from the Guthrie in a few hews....
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Anika is still there having a fabulous time being a spoiled only child :)

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She could not wait for me to leave so they could relax. I do not take vacations to relax, I want to see it all and we tried our hardest to get it all in.
However, I left a few things to do on my next visit.

Thank You Dad and Mom for an Amazing time!!!

THE 4TH...

was really low key for us this year with it being on Sunday.
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BBQ in the Backyard
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Cute red, white, and blue outfits.
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Fireworks at the Lake.
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Perfect!!!


That night Joe took all the kids glow necklaces and put them on the fan
which made a really cool blog worthy picture.
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OUR L.A. ADVENTURE...

It had been awhile since we had been up to L.A. and I was missing it bad. I had to convince Joe that the Beach really was not the best way to spend a Saturday in July. That was of course during our little So Cal cold spell because this Saturday it sounds great.
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We started the afternoon at Griffith Park one of my favorite places.
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We drove by our old place in Hollywood. Such great memories.
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We wanted to check out this place.
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I love the food network and one of my new favorite shows is Cupcake Wars. The guy who owns this place competed on it and I thought his cupcakes looked like they would taste amazing. I was a little disappointed. The bakery portion was just a little corner of the restaurant, he mainly does ice cream.
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and to finish off the night we went to the Grove.
This was in the American Girl Store.
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I love to play in L.A.!!!

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