My Mom Is Awesome!

It has been rough going during the past two years with my father's health problems. My mom always has such a positive attitude and outlook. I truly admire her. A couple of weeks ago, she invited her grandson and great-granddaughters over to play on a homemade slip and slide - a tarp covered in baby shampoo. I can't believe she joined in like she did at age 77. My arthritis was too painful to join in but I did have fun watching all of the excitement. I hope I have her energy and positivity when I reach her age.

July 4th 2024 - Weekend in Minnesota Part 2

We had a great time celebrating M&D's wedding in Minnesota over July 4th weekend. The actual wedding was on July 6th. We drove about 40 minutes from our hotel to D's grandmother's house for the backyard wedding. Mimi's backyard was a beautiful place for a wedding. 

Everything looked so lovely.

My husband and I can clean up pretty well once in a while.

After the ceremony, M&D went for a champagne boat ride on the lake. 

M&D's wedding was absolutely stunning. They make a handsome couple.

We were there for seven hours. There were plenty of places to sit and visit.

The wedding tent looked beautiful all lit up after sunset.

D's brother took the boat out into the middle of the lake to set off fireworks. The fireworks were huge and went on for about 20 minutes. My husband and I were watching the boat to see her brother light a fuse then rush over to the other end of the tiny boat before the fireworks went off. I can't imagine how scary it was to be on that boat.

It was a great wedding. We enjoyed meeting M&D's friends and family. 

The Bubbles and Brunch get together was the morning after the wedding on the rooftop of 6Smith Restauant in Wayzata by Lake Minnetonka. The weather certainly cooperated all weekend. 

The food was so good. I need to figure out how to make the goat cheese, fig, and herbs crostini that was served as an appetizer.

Paul with the groom's mom. She is such a sweetheart. Before she retired, she was a family court judge. When Boogs was in elementary school, she was kind enough to let Boogs interview her for an assignment. It was great to spend time with her again.

M was all smiles at the brunch. I am sure it was a relief to have the weekend go so well.

Our flight home was not until the next day. We searched for something to do for the afternoon and decided to go to Valleyfair Amusement Park in Shakopee, about 20 minutes from our hotel. When we got to the amusement park, my husband realized he had forgotten his wallet at the hotel. Luckily, he had Apple Pay on his watch so we were able to buy tickets. We got to the park at 4:30 and the park closed at 9:00. 

The park had a Peanuts theme with Snoopy characters everywhere.

The park was amazingly empty. It had been closed for several days because of flooding in the area. I guess people were staying away because they weren't sure it was open. We did not have to wait more than 5 minutes in line for any of the rides. We rode our first rollercoaster, got off the ride, and then walked right back on to ride again without any lines. We had a great time riding all of the rides.

The 250 foot drop on Power Tower takes your breath away.

The Xtreme Swing was pretty scary.  You rise 125 feet in the air and swing up to 60 miles per hour. We only rode it once.

Steele Venom was a scary ride. As soon as the ride begins, you take off so quickly it throws you back in you seat. Each end of the coaster, winds up like a corkscrew. At the highest height, there is a hang time looking down the 185 foot drop. We rode it multiple times so we could sit in the front, back, and middle section to see which seat was best. It was a ton of fun. 

The Scrambler is the ride we used to always go to first with Boogs. Too bad he missed out today.

My husband's favorite thing to do at amusement parks is to ride the bumper cars. He is ruthless behind the wheel.

No lines! 

We stayed until closing and were on the last ride on the Wild Thing rollercoaster before they closed for the night. This was our favorite ride. It reached speeds of 74 miles per hour. There was one drop that made you lift out of you seat. I think we rode it  8 or 9 times. 

Our flight home was super early. We had to get up at 4:30 in the morning to go to the airport. My husband was offered an upgraded seat on both of the flights home. He was kind enough to let me have the seat on both flights. I made sure to call him a peasant as he walked by. :-) 

We had a great weekend. I am glad we went. I really enjoyed this mini vacation.

July 4th 2024 - Weekend in Minnesota Part 1

We were invited to attend our friend's wedding during July 4th weekend. I freaked out a little bit after I read M&D's wedding invite information. July 4th - Highly suggest to go watch fireworks over beautiful Excelsior Bay. July 5th - Welcoming Boat Cruise, with appetizers and drinks, leaving from Port Excelsior 7:30 - 10:30. July 6th - Wedding Day at Mimi's House, arrival 3:30, ceremony 4:00, cocktail hour 4:30, dinner 6:00 , first dance at sunset, 9:30 fireworks, and 10:30 farewell. July 7th - Brunch & Bubbles at Six Smith Rooftop at Wayzata Marina, 10:00 - 1:00. I read the invite information and knew my teacher clothes wardrobe was not going to work for this weekend. 

I called up my friend LG, who does make-up and styling for a photographer, to go shopping with me to find four outfits for this weekend. LG said she would help me as long as, "You go where ever I want to go shopping, you try on as many things as I tell you to, you agree to buy outfits with color, and you don't argue." Of course I agreed to her demands. We shopped for hours and I bought four dresses plus shoes and jewelry to go with each dress. 

I did not take this dress on the trip. I ended up wearing a patriotic t-shirt and a blue & white skort I already owned.

I wore this to brunch.

LG "let" me get this blue dress for the boat cruise even though she did not approve of its "BORING" color. 

Dress for the wedding.

A couple of days before we left for the trip, I went to see my doctor for my left ear. It had been hurting and I still could not fully hear out of it since our flight back from Fiji eleven days before. I was worried about how my ear would be on the flight to Minnesota. The doctor told me, "Even if you eardrum bursts on your next flight, it should not cause any permanent damage and it would help relieve the pressure you are feeling." Well, that was encouraging. He ended up giving me a prescription for steroids and a prescription nose spray to help clear it up. My ear started getting better with those prescriptions.

We stayed at a hotel in Chanhassen, Minnesota. The weather was wonderfully cool with lovely sunshine.

There had been a lot of rain and flooding in the area a few days before we arrived. We went to Port Excelsior to watch the 4th of July fireworks only to find out they had shot off the fireworks the night before because the town was worried about the weather. We went to M&D's airbnb and hung out for the evening.

The next day, we had time to explore the area before the boat cruise. We really wanted to be outside to enjoy the cooler than Texas weather. We spent a lovely day at Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chaska. It covers 1200 acres with many different types of gardens and trails. It is a part of The University of Minnesota and is used for research. It also has protected natural areas. We visited many different gardens and walked the 3 Mile Loop Trail.  Here are a ton of pictures from our day. 

My husband insisted on playing with the coin drop.

I always take pictures of trees when we go on trips to show to my mom. I sent her this picture with the caption, "Mom, this tree is huggable. Isn't that interesting?"

This is actually a pond. It was completely coated with green algae.

I felt like Alice in Wonderland in this little house. There were several other little houses near it.

A lot of the trail was nicely shaded. We really enjoyed out walk.

The sculpture garden had sculptures by Native American artists.

I loved the sculpture of two children looking into the pond in the rose garden.

We could not resist trying to find our way through the hedge maze.

My husband led the way.

Oops! We hit a dead end. We eventually found our way out of the maze.

The whole area was so beautiful. We really enjoyed our time in the Landscape Arboretum.

We cleaned up at our hotel and then had dinner at a little restaurant in Port Excelsior before getting on the boat cruise. The cruise was a lot of fun. We got to visit with people we knew and people we just met. The sunset view from the boat was gorgeous.

LG was right, my outfit was a little bit boring for the boat cruise. Here is a picture of M&D on the boat. 

This post is getting too long. I will write part 2 in a little bit.