On Friday I made dinner (which is admittedly rare). It was another of my 20 new recipes for 2014! I've had a lot of fun trying out new recipes. While I cooked, all three of us played board games on the kitchen table. It's really fun that Linnea is starting to be old enough to be able to play games. She's been playing Memory for the last several weeks (and legitimately beating us a lot of the time). On Friday, we also tried Candyland. That was a little trickier for her, and didn't keep her attention as much, but I'm sure she'll get it before long.
On Saturday we were up as early as a work day to get ready and get on the road to St. James, MN, where my grandma lives. We made a quick swing through the McDonald's drive-thru for breakfast (don't judge), and committed a random act of kindness that had my smiling all morning, and made it there around 9:30.
My grandma lives in an assisted living facility in the small town that my mom grew up in. She turned 93 (!!!) last week. She's doing pretty well - in good spirits, and pretty good health too. It's always nice to visit her!
Much to Linnea's dismay, Grandma did not have any books. So she settled for a magazine (seriously, Time magazine and National Geographic (and AAA Living) are legit favorites of Linnea's. I think it's awesome. She'll look through the magazines, talking about the pictures that she sees.
Walking (or running if you're Linnea) the halls and checking out the fish were fun parts of the visit as well...
It was a nice day, so we spent some time outside too...
There's a park/playground just a few blocks from my grandma's place, so we were able to have a picnic, walk, and play time on the playground.
How beautiful are these two?? Seriously, my mom is one good looking grandma!
By the time we were done with our picnic, it was time to get back on the road (after a stop back to Grandma's place for birthday cake and one last picture). We had such a nice visit. My grandma is the only living grandparent I've had for almost 20 years, so I'm particularly thankful that she's doing well, and lives relatively close. I love my grandma! I'm so glad she can be a part of Linnea's life. (It was so sweet when we were at the playground. Linnea kept yelling, "Watch this, Gwwweat Gwwamma! Look at me, Gweeeat Gwwwamma!" So sweet.)
We were on the road by 1:30. I drove, and Linnea and Jeromy were both asleep within 10 minutes or so. Linnea slept for about an hour (she never naps great in the car), but was in decent spirits when she woke up, which was nice. We stopped along the way to grab a few geocaches, and then we made another stop at Minnesota's Largest Candy Store!
If you are in the Twin Cities and have traveled south on 169 you've likely past it - it's that huge yellow building on the west side of the highway. We've always been curious about it, but have never made a stop. We decided that as long as we were there, why not stop?
This. Place. Is. CRAZY. First of all, it's huge. Like huge. It's one giant room, filled to the brim with candy, pop, puzzles, and other random items. When we stopped, the place was swamped.
We made our way through the store, taking in all there was to see. There was seriously every kind of candy you could imagine - all sort of specialty candies, and from all over the globe. There were tons of different kinds of salsas, spices, and pastas. A feast for the senses!
The picture really doesn't even do it justice...the place was HUGE.
We were talking and walking like robots... :-)
This was about 1/5...if that of the pop display! Every kind of flavor and brand you can imagine!
Cute Linnea story...I was carrying her as we looked at all the different merchandise. We saw a display of stuffed dogs. Both of us were immediately drawn to a little chocolate lab stuffed animal. She grabbed it, and immediately wanted the tag off (she HATES tags). I was trying to explain that we needed to leave the tag on because we hadn't bought it, when she yanked the tag off. I usually would have scolded her, but Jeromy and I loved that she picked out a little Luther puppy so we decided we'd buy it for her.
Linnea and her new Luther puppy...
By the time we got home, it was just about dinner time, so we decided to have a little family dinner date. We decided it was a great opportunity to cross another item off my Summer Bucket List - eat at Sand Castle!
We walked right up and ordered our food...Jeromy got the Indian Fry Bread, that was stuffed with ground bison meat. I got the arugula mozzarella wrap, and Linnea got a hot dog. We got some fries and chips to share.
Admittedly, we were a little less than impressed by the menu - there were only a couple menus that grabbed our interest. But we all really liked our food - it was really tasty, especially considering it's just a little beach side place.
Linnea was too busy eating to smile...
Cute little restaurant!
On Sunday, Jeromy was feeling pretty sick in the morning...I think the previous day had caught up with him and the cold he was fighting off. So Linnea and I let him sleep, and did our own thing.
We got ready and went to church. Summer has been so busy that we haven't been to church very much. It was so nice to be back. Linnea LOVED the music. Our friend Christina played a beautiful violin piece that Linnea full-on ballerina-ed to. She even asked my dad to dance with her! He declined, but did help twirl her while he sat. The contemporary band came in at the end and played a song, and once again she was up grooving. I love my little dancing girl!
After church we swung through Costco to pick up a few things before heading home for lunch and nap.
While Linnea napped, Jeromy and I cleaned the house. We had a good excuse - we had a couple of my co-worker friends and their families coming over. (Anyone else like us where having company over is our best way to get the house clean? Our house hadn't been cleaned so well in a long time!).
Shortly after Linnea's nap, our friends came over. Anne, and her husband Dan and son Miles, and Lindsay, and her husband Mark, and their daughter Maddie and twins Logan and Lauren. We certainly had a full house, but it was a ton of fun! The kids got a long well together. I was so proud of Linnea - she really did a good job sharing - it's hard to share your special toys with new friends! We had planned to have a picnic, but with the weather looking threatening we decided to do a indoor pizza picnic instead.
I'm so lucky to have really, really wonderful co-worker friends. It's so awesome to have them in my life - and even more awesome to have the opportunity to get to know their wonderful families as well!
We all had a great time, and I hope it won't be long before we have another get together!
Linnea, Miles, and Maddie
We had a really fun weekend - and hope you did too! It's hard to believe summer is coming to a close! I'm trying to savor all of the sun and heat we have now!
Awww, I love Linnea's little Luther puppy!! My family definitely needs to hit up that candy store...FUN!!
ReplyDeleteYour mom and grandma are beautiful ladies. They look so YOUNG!