Weekend Recap (and #2, #6, and #9 from the Summer Bucket List!)

We had a WONDERFUL weekend, and I hope you can say the same. It's hard to believe that August is just around the corner! Now granted, Fall is my favorite season, but I'm not ready to say goodbye to Summer just yet!

It was a full weekend of fun - and crossing lots of things off the Summer Bucket List (you know how I love crossing things off my lists!).

The weekend started with a nice Friday evening at home. Jeromy made an awesome dinner of grilled shrimp, and mashed potatoes. Yum. We decided to take a rather impromptu trip to Dairy Queen, to cash in Linnea's ticket. The weather was nice enough that we could bike - thus crossing off #6 on the list (this was actually our second bike to ice cream trip - I didn't recap the first time on the blog yet).

It's a pretty quick ride to DQ, which was nice because it was pretty humid.

We all enjoyed our ice cream...

After ice cream we headed home and put Linnea to bed. I made a quick trip to Mall of America after Linnea was in bed, and then crashed shortly after getting home.

Saturday morning we were up and att'em to cross another list off the list (#9) - blueberry picking! Sarah, my cousin's wife, recommended Blueberry Fields of Stillwater back when I was scoping out places to go. It's a small family run place...just the type of place we like best. I had been watching their website for the last few weeks to see about their availability (the days and hours they are open vary day to day based on the availability of ripe blueberries). So we headed out, and got to there around 8:30. There were several people already picking blueberries, but it was still so quiet and peaceful. We settled into our picking spot, and very quickly filled our buckets. Even though it was early, the sun was still hot on our backs, so we didn't last too long. We wanted it to be fun for Linnea so we took her cues, and left when she had had enough. We got quite a few blueberries, so if anyone has a good blueberry recipe, please post it!

When we were done picking blueberries it was still pretty early, so we decided to do some geocaching in a nearby park area. It was REALLY hot by then, and super, super buggy back in the trails, but we managed to find 5 caches pretty quickly, and had a nice walk. After a quick stop at the nearby playground, we left to find some lunch. (A funny parenting side story... sometimes you have to tell some little white lies. Linnea is, like most kids, immediately drawn to any playground. There was a playground by where we parked, and of course she a) saw it and b) desperately wanted to play on it. We knew that if we let her play first, she'd want to spend the whole time there. So we told her that the trail - which was clearly NOT the way - was the way to the playground. We taught her the phrase "scenic route," and it actually worked quite nicely. You do what you gotta do sometimes, right?!)

We had a very nice lunch at Ruby Tuesdays (salad bar, anyone?!), and headed home and had a napping house kind of afternoon. Linnea woke up happy, and we had a nice little snuggle fest before getting up for the rest of the afternoon.

We packed up a dinner, and went to Lake Harriet. Our friends Jackie, Tom, and Gavin invited us to go to the Art Car Parade (we found out after going that it was the 20th annual...who knew?). Basically, the parade (another one for #2 on the list, if anyone is keeping track) is a very casual parade of all sorts of crazy art cars - cars that people have transformed into works of art. There was a TON of variety - and all of it was interesting and fun! We sat by the lake and enjoyed our picnic, while checking out all the crazy cars. We all loved it! Here's a peek at a few of my favorites...

The inside of this was a pedal pub! Crazy!

Vike Bike!

It was a perfect night. The breeze off the lake kept us pretty cool, and we loved relaxing and checking out all the cars. Thanks, Tom and Jackie, for suggesting it! Same time next year?!

We headed home, and turned in for the night, quite tired after our busy day outside!

Today, Sunday, we needed a bit of a lazy morning. Linnea didn't get the memo and woke up at 6:00, so we bribed her with a bit of TV, and bought ourselves a bit more time in bed - all four of us (thank goodness we upgraded to a king earlier this year... I don't know if we'd have the space otherwise). 

Jeromy made blueberry pancakes with the blueberries we picked on Saturday, and then ran some quick errands while Linnea and I got ready. When he got home, we went over to Minnehaha Park for our neighbor Raia's 5th birthday party. The weather was really odd - chilly, and then rainy, and then sunny, and the cloudy. Despite the weather, we had a great time. We're so thankful for our awesome neighbors, and it's fun to have known Raia since she was a baby!

We went home and put Linnea down for her nap. While she slept, I went over to my parents' house. Also there was my godmother Betty, and her daughter (who is my mom's goddaughter) Kate. Kate is getting married in November, and we are planning a bridal shower. We wanted to cement the date and guest list for the party, along with some ideas. It was really nice to see them, and I'm excited for the wedding in November! 

I got home just as Linnea was getting up from her nap. The last part of the weekend was something I've been VERY nervous about for quite some time. 

Several months ago (maybe close to a year now?) I started following the 4th Trimester Bodies Project. As I mentioned a couple times previously on here, a couple months ago I decided to (GULP!) participate! And just like that...the day was here.

I was SUPER SUPER nervous (understatement), but it went well, and I'm content with how it turned out. I'm planning to write a full post on the experience, but for now I'll leave with my official shot for the project and my story... here's to learning to really fully accepting my body, and celebrating all that it is capable of... (many thanks to Ashlee, for her amazing project and beautiful work.)