minneapolis week 2: live music, lake harriet, family dinner

 on tuesday the 19th i met up with my boss chris for lunch at 'the howe'. it's always nice to see him in person! i can't believe i've been with the company for 16 years now (7 of those remotely)! my mom took the kids to a movie theater to see the new minions movie, which they were super excited about. it was also a good activity for another hot day. i spent some time going through bins of high school memorabilia and narrowing it way down to a few things to bring back to seattle. 

we also found azalea's halloween costume from when she was a toddler. it was mine originally :)

 

 

that evening, my family + my mom and brother went to pizza luce for dinner. they have a seasonal elote pizza right now and it was so good! after dinner, my mom and i went off to 'the driftwood' to see a band that plays every tuesday night. it's four members of the belfast cowboys who we saw together last summer. it was a really fun night!

wednesday afternoon we met up with our friends carolina, naomi, adella, and ezra at lake harriet to ride the trolley, have ice cream, and play on the playground. azalea and naomi have known each other since they were babies and they are always so excited to see each other :) 

that night my mom hosted dinner on her patio for us, my brother, aunts, uncle, cousins, and my cousin's girlfriend. my aunt shari was in town from georgia and we hadn't seen her in 4.5 years, so it was really nice. my mom made tacos and margaritas. my aunt and uncle's dog oakley came too and the kids adore him. 

thursday we spent most of the day at my mom's while i went through more bins in the basement. in the evening, i drove out to excelsior area to see my college roommate sarah at her new apartment, and we went out for dinner at 'hazelwood'. while i was gone, thatcher took azalea on a thai dinner/ice cream date in linden hills and my mom took ashford to get pizza at a neighborhood festival near our old house. 

friday we went back to thatcher's parents' house for a 5-night stretch. i had lunch with my friend diana at 'cov edina' at the galleria. we hung out with thatcher's parents for the rest of the day and had dinner with them.

saturday morning the kids hung out with thatcher's parents while thatcher and i went through the rest of our stuff in my mom's basement and brought a carload of stuff to ARC to donate. then we got some lunch, visited the lakewinds co-op, and drove down our old street and caught up with one of our neighbors. we mostly relaxed the rest of the day. 

we love bringing back minnesota products to seattle. old favorites and new ones to try.    

sunday morning thatcher went to meet up with his friend beth at the kingfield farmer's market and the kids and i stayed home and hung out.

 

 at lunch time, i took azalea on a little date to 'noodles and co' and old navy. in the afternoon we all drove out to excelsior to meet up with our friends sara, wes, lydia, and henry for ice cream + a playground on lake minnetonka. it was such a beautiful day, not too hot. 

monday thatcher's mom treated the kids, me, and my nephew jack to a trip to the SLP pool that we went to last week. the kids were thrilled to get to go again. it was not nearly as warm (and therefore not busy at all). the kids had fun swimming and we also had a little early 15th birthday celebration for jack with cupcakes :) 

that evening, i had a night out downtown with my mom and her friends linda and ann. we went to see the belfast cowboys play at 'the dakota'. i had never been there before, it was such a nice place. we had dinner at 6 and then the band started at 7 and played energetically for 2.5 hours. i'm always one of the youngest people at their shows, but i love their music from van morrison, bruce springsteen, the band, and their originals.

i can't believe how quickly time is flying by. we are now in our final week in minnesota!