minneapolis: week one

we are nearing the end of our wonderful two week visit to minnneapolis, but i thought i'd break my recap post into two because...there is a lot to cover! and don't worry, i won't recap what we did every single day - just the highlights. i also didn't have our real camera for the first week of the trip (until thatcher arrived), so i made collages of my phone pictures instead. 

the flight: the kids and i flew out together on august 1st. the security line at the airport was reasonably short, our flight was on time, and the kindle tablets kept the kids busy for nearly the whole flight. dare i say it was almost...relaxing? i actually got to read quite a few pages on my book in between throwing them 1000 snacks. ;) i was so relieved it went well because in all honesty i had a lot of anxiety about the flight leading up to it. we also flew on the two year anniversary of my dad's death, so it was so nice to be able to be with my mom and brother when we arrived. 

where we stayed: we stayed at my moms for the first 5 nights we were in town. azalea slept with my mom and ashford slept with me upstairs. the time change really helped make it feel like the kids were sleeping in each morning ;) we had some crazy weather the first week. heat, then rain and cold (high of 55?!), then nice again. we spent the next couple nights at thatcher's parents' house. the kids and i all shared a room, but azalea had a cozy little floor bed, so it worked well. 

what we did: it was a perfect mixture of family activities and kid-free outings for me (endless thanks to the grandparents for babysitting so much). we attended my mom's national night out block party and saw lots of long time and new neighbors, my mom took the kids and me to the como zoo where we looked at the animals and the kids went on a bunch of rides (their first time riding anything besides a carousel - they were thrilled!), i worked at my office one afternoon, i went to the uptown art fair with my college roomie sarah, we visited my grandma's husband bob at his condo, we went to the pershing, linden hills and bryant square wading pools, the kids spent lots of afternoons/evenings with their cousin jack (10) and they all had a blast together. i took some leisurely walks around uptown and did a little shopping, we attended our church for the first time in 2 years and got to see the beautiful new sanctuary and building addition and see our beloved pastor preach one more time before he retires later this month, we went to our friends becky and jeromy's joint bday party for their daughters linnea and britta at lake hiawatha, and we had a visit from my aunt, uncle and cousins at my mom's house. 

what we ate: one of my favorite parts of my trips home is eating and drinking at all of my favorite minneapolis spots. of course i could never get to all of them in one visit, but i think i did pretty well. keep in mind, some of them are nothing fancy, but they are places we don't have in seattle and...they just taste like home! the first week we ate at culvers, we tried red wagon pizza for the first time, i tried the trendy new lynhall and went to happy hour at amazing thailand, my mom and brother and i had dinner at it's greek to me in honor of my dad's birthday. i got some caribou coffee as well. yum in the tum! 

i'll have the recap of our second week some time next week after i unbury myself from unpacking, laundry, and grocery shopping! stay tuned...