What? They shut the state of Minnesota down?

I arrived in Minnesota on June 28th after a non eventful,
non stop flight from Houston. Sarah and kids picked me
up at the airport. I was so glad to see all their faces.
Sarah had asked me what I wanted to do while I was up
there. I mainly wanted to just enjoy them. That is a good
thing for the state of Minnesota solved its budget problems
by "shutting down" the state. We had planned to visit a
couple of state parks.

First, let me explain my lack of pictures. I remembered
to bring my camera and extra battery. I did not
remember to bring the battery charger or charge the
battery in the camera. So, I only have pictures I got
with my phone. My phone.....that is another story in
another blog. Here is some of the things we did
while I was there:

There is a free zoo in St. Paul that we visited. It is a great
zoo that has polar bears. We were so close to the polar
bears that they rubbed their butts on the glass. We also
watched a sea lion show. It was great. All free.

Also, part of that park is a place called Como Town. It is
an amusement park for ages 3 to 12. It was so much fun
watching Liam ride the rides. He is a trooper. If you
read Sarah's blog, you have seen the video of him
riding The Frogger. On the way back from there, we
had lunch at Famous Dave's BBQ. It was good stuff!

Sarah took me to several resale shops in Eden Prairie.
I LOVED THEM! Great, quality stuff for cheap, cheap
prices. That is where I picked up all of those AR
books for so cheap.

We went hiking one day. It was pretty hot the first few
days I was there. I enjoyed the scenery on the hike, though.


One night I got to do something I have never done before.
I got to babysit Liam and Ginny while Greg and Sarah
went to a movie. I was one happy Nana!

One of the books I got at the resale shop was for Liam. It
was The Gingerbread Man...the old one where the fox
eats the Gingerbread Man. Liam and I made gingerbread
men, gingerbread bears, gingerbread cars, gingerbread
dinosaurs, and what ever cookie cutter Sarah had. I think
I read The Gingerbread Man at least 6 or 7 times.


Minnesota is the land of 10,000 lakes. Here is one of them
we viewed on our hike.

At the beginning of the trail was a natural spring. It was
pure, sweet, and cold!

This tree was just begging for a little boy to sit in it.

Sarah took such good care of me while I was there. She
painted my toe nails a beautiful red. She made sure my
plate was half veggies. She let me nap with the kids, and
she fixed me great afternoon snacks that were healthy
too.

I had promised Liam that we would make a "cano" when
I came. We did, and used up 2 bottles of vinegar making
our volcano erupt over and over.


Sarah and family is coming down October 25 for two weeks.
They will not be coming for Christmas. I have already looked
ahead to the Mardi Gras holiday. We get three days this year.
I am going to take two off and see Minnesota in the winter!