Minneapolis

Since I took 275 photos in 5 days (really), I am going to have to break down the Minnesota update over a few days.

I'll start with the first day we arrived. We spent it in Minneapolis. My mom and her brother, Phil, and sister, Julie, grew up in a beautiful house across the street from Lake Harriet. Uncle Phil, Aunt Linda and their son, Jonathan live in the house now. I'm so glad it is still in the family. It was wonderful to go spend a few hours there. Lake Harriet has a bandstand where they have live concerts, and swimming beaches and a walking/biking path around it, and rose gardens and fountains and park like grassy areas, a bird sanctuary and a peace garden. No wonder Minneapolis is consistently voted such a wonderful place to live. And my mom got to grow up right across the street from such a beautiful place--lucky!! As kids we got to enjoy it all summer long--swimming and fishing and being outside.

The rose garden. It is really hard to photograph because it is huge!

Mom standing next to the famous tree where many family photos were taken. Also, this is where the wedding party was being photographed when my dad told my brother and I to run through the pictures. (David did it, too!)
Unfortunately, the tree is no longer.

Playing in the fountains (totally not allowed, but we did it anyway)

Uncle Phil and Mom attempting to climb onto a branch they used to sit on as kids.
They weren't successful.

Jonathan, Mom and Uncle Phil (displaying his vote for Al Franken button.)

Eating the best popcorn in the world. Lake Harriet's popcorn by the bandstand. Oh my yumminess. Why did we only buy one small box? And why did we feed most of it to the ducks? I don't know what they put on that popcorn, but it must be some form of liquid buttery addictive crack. I need some right now.