April Snows

Winter dropped another half-foot of snow on us last week. This has become seriously depressing. At least we're not Duluth! ;-) They got closer to two feet of new snow.

Winter can't last forever, right? 

Cure for a Snowy Saturday

My tulips and daffodils were just beginning to emerge when we got another series of consecutive snow/slush days. In fact, it's snowing right now as I write this. Had I known that winter was going to drag on this long, I would have booked a trip to Florida ages ago. Longest winter ever! And it's not even that winter was so terrible this year. We didn't have that much snow and it wasn't too cold. We've just had the longest, most tedious streak of gray skies, daily precipitation, and temps hovering stubbornly in the thirties. What I wouldn't give for one sunny, 70 degree day! I'll even settle for 50 degrees and some partly cloudy.

Anyway, we needed to get out of the house, so we had a Minneapolis vacation day, starting with the delicious buns at Isles Bun and Coffee. I only regret that I didn't take more free icing. It's not like I need to worry about swimsuit season anytime soon.

Next up: the Bakken Museum, which - as luck would have it - was Nano Day AND Free Super Science Second Saturday. This was really a neat little museum. Adam loved it because it was full of crazy little science experiments to try out (generally for the kiddos), and I loved it because the collection is housed in a cool, old, historical gem of a house right off Lake Calhoun. Win win! I would have loved to have seen the gardens, but see paragraph one. They looked mighty impressive even under a dense layer of snow, so maybe we'll stop by sometime when it's warmer, like September.

I know it has been a life-long dream of Adam's to play the theremin, so I was glad he finally got his chance. 

Brain wave relaxation game. The one with the most "relaxed" brain waves moves the ball farther to the opposite corner to win. I don't know how I pulled out a 2-0 victory over Adam, but I feel like it's not a good thing. 

Because you know you've always wanted to try this at home...

After the Bakken Museum, we had lunch at the Smack Shack (lobster roll for Adam, fried green tomato po' boy for Nicole), then hit up our second museum of the day. The Minneapolis Institute of Arts has an exhibition on Art in the Age of Truthiness that we had heard good things about. Once again, however, the meaning of art has confounded us. We lucked out in that we caught a travelling tour, so we picked up some behind-the-scenes knowledge. That helped immensely. The rest of the museum, as always, is awesome.

I think there is a lesson here.

Bonus Saturday adventure: on a whim, we bought tickets to War Horse. Yay! We're averaging one theater performance every 3-4 years, so we figured this was the one to catch. (And I let The Book of Mormon slip out of my grasp, not once, but twice, so we're definitely going to this one.)

60 Years of Marriage

We took another trip to South Dakota, this time to celebrate the 60th wedding anniversary of Adam's grandparents, Wes and Donna Johnson. Although we missed out on the larger extended family gathering, Wes and Donna were able to visit with all of their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren over the past few weeks. We traveled back for the Easter weekend festivities, which allowed us to visit with old high school friends. I got a bundle of great new stories about Adam that I had never heard before and could not have made up if I'd tried!

The weekend was sunny and lovely. Weather-wise, Minnesota simply can't compare to South Dakota, at least not this spring.

Lazy dog, soaking up the rays.

Adam, Sarah, Grandma Donna Johnson, Mark, and - oops! - sorry Renee!

Happy 60 Years!

A small typo on the cake. 

We discussed freezing it for the next five years, but folks be hungry now!

It was rather remarkable to see and hear the stories of 60 years together, especially the "how we met" story at the roller skating rink and the first years together sharing one small house with family. Also, there was an actual Ole and Lena couple in the family tree, which I find fascinating, especially since I have no Scandinavian roots but secretly wish I did!

Also remarkable was the number of cards, greetings, and well-wishes from everyone they knew in the Mitchell and Mount Vernon communities and beyond. At our visit, still several days before the actual anniversary, over 180 cards had already arrived. The postmaster couldn't fit any more in the mailbox! I can't think of a better example of a well-lived life than that.

We missed out on the Wisconsin and Colorado cousins this time, but we hope to catch them again soon.

South Dakota and  Minnesota cousins represent!

Another TJ-approved weekend!

Snowy Weekend

Well, it's still winter. I don't need to be reminded (contrary to what every news outlet says) that we hit 80 degrees last year at this time. I'm not asking for 80, but maybe we could split the difference and settle on 40 degrees?  Alas, it is not to be. In fact, we are in for another storm tonight. 

The yard has seen an abundance of animal tracks and I can hear the spring birds singing, so it's only a matter of time. Unfortunately, those are our garden boxes buried beneath that layer of snow.

Not everybody is anti-Winter. In fact, some of us are thriving.

 Just another Saturday morning.

We took TJ to his favorite park to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. He had a surprising amount of energy to burn off today.

I challenge you to find the horizon on this photo. Honestly, I don't mind the snow (I rather like the snow), but Minnesota's endless wintry gray skies are what really get to me.

TJ action shots. If I had known he could still run and bound this quickly, I would have adjusted my shutter speed. (Too bad he's still not graceful!)

A sign of bad days ahead. 

When the snow starts to melt, we will never have clean paws or floors again.

Brrr...Minnesota! Go away, winter.