Bye, Bye Summer!

Fall is here (at least technically). Yesterday at approximately 4:00 central time Fall arrived like an old friend. It doesn't really seem like we had much of a summer this year. We didn't get above 90 degrees the whole month of July!! I remember as a kid coming to Minnesota for a week during the summer...it was ALWAYS hot and muggy. I just thought that was how it was during the summer! Not the case this year. I wasn't too upset about it since I've been pregnant it's nice not to have to deal with the heat and humidity. It does however make the winters here that much more unbearable. Come about January 5 or 6th the Christmas buzz (that literal tingle you get in the back of your head between Thanksgiving and Christmas from the constant sugar intake!) has worn off and you realize...now what? It's nice to look back at summer and remember those dire days when you are sweating just by sitting outside, not so much this year!
As an ode to summer I always like to look back and reflect upon the things we did...

• Though it wasn't quite summer, our trip to Phoenix for one of my best friends wedding was sort of the start of our warm weather excitement. Not only did we get to visit with old friends and participate in a beautiful wedding, but the husband and I got to see the Grand Canyon for the first time (okay, technically the husband has been there before but he was very young and had very little recollection of it). We hiked around and wandered wherever we wanted as the little Prince was safe at home with Grandpa and Grandma!
• Trip to Montana for my 10 year class reunion. The husband got to see all of my classmates (good and bad!) and we got to experience a good ol' fashion rodeo. The Prince enjoyed it for about 10 minutes and was then more enthralled with his cousin and wandering around the stands. I didn't get to enjoy it as much as I had wanted to because I couldn't imbibe nor did I have any inclination to stay up past 10 p.m.! Oh well, I guess I can wait until our 20th!
• Independence Day. The Fourth of July is always a great deal of fun. I love fireworks and fortunately we live fairly close to downtown and were able to view a great display for free! The Prince was really enthralled with them and that always makes it so much more fun.
• Visiting Como Zoo with my mom, sister, niece, and nephew! We had a great time seeing all the animals and of course visiting with my mom and sister (and family) since they live so far away!
• Our first wedding anniversary! We celebrated with a movie and dinner at Ichibon's Japanese Steakhouse. The food is way over priced, but the fried rice was to die for!!
• The husband's birthday. Click here for my post on our evening!
• Random day hikes in Afton State Park, up north at Lake Superior, swimming in the St. Croix River (and other random lakes), and visiting with friends and family are always great parts of summer.

Summer is one of my favorite seasons. The lakes and water sports, sitting on the deck drinking a cold beverage, camping, not wearing a coat, flip flops, picnics, and swingsets are all things I enjoy during the summer.

Until next year!

Are you ready for some football?

So this weekend was the season opener of the 2009-2010 NFL football season. I have to say that I'm a pretty big Vikings fan. In the Twin Cities you must either be a Vikings fan or a Packers fan, and sometimes things get pretty heated. The heat is on now that Brett Favre is the Vikings QB. It's still weird for me to see his mug on TV and not feel some slight disdain for him. Considering he was our rival leader for something like 16 years.

I love watching the Vikings and following the players and their stats. It does get more interesting if they are good and winning, but I'm a devoted fan and like them even when they lose. Of course, we had to go out and get a new antenna for our TV since up until now we've just used a dinky one for our upstairs TV which is about 12" (no cable for our family until the husband gets out of school!) We watched the game intently on our nice big TV in the living room and I must say it's much better to watch a game when you can actually see what the score is without getting an inch away from the screen.

Of course, the Vikings wouldn't be Vikings unless they made things a little interesting. At half time I was a little worried that last year's team had shown up! With Adrian Peterson getting IV fluids on the sideline and our offensive line letting Brett get sacked numerous times the outlook didn't look too positive (the Browns were actually ahead!) It's been my experience that if the Vikes are behind at half time, they will most likely win the game. If they are ahead at half time, they will probably spoil it and lose. Of course in true Vikings form, they rallied in the second quarter with Adrian scoring two touchdowns and Brett not throwing one interception for the whole game! Also in true Vikings form they allowed the Browns to get a 90 some yard punt return for a touchdown, and in the fourth quarter allowed them their first offensive touchdown in the last 7 games. These are garbage stats to me since the final score was 34-20 Vikings and let's face it, a win is a win.

I also had to watch some of the Packers-Bears game to see how our division is shaping up this year. The Packers didn't look too great and the Bears looked even worse! Just while I watched Cutler threw two interceptions and lacked any control of the field. The Packers' Rodgers didn't look to great either, but he did throw a nice end zone pass to save the day. Serves all those Bears fans right. It seemed like even the announcers were routing for the Bears! This Cutler QB is a rookie and I didn't see much talent in the second and third quarters that I watched. I guess that's good news for the Vikes!

"Why am I not on a fantasy football league?" you may ask. Well, I'm sort of selfish in my devotion. I really only follow the Vikings players and I don't really care about other teams wins or loses (except for those in the NFC North of course!) I don't think I would be really good at keeping a team up and running, plus in about two months I'm going to have a whole lot of things on my mind with a new baby! Maybe next year?!?

Next week we are facing the Lions in Detroit. They happen to be the worst ranked team in the NFL and haven't won a game since last season...however! One should never count the Vikes out for handing a losing team their first win. Whenever there's a strange and horrible stat for one team, the Vikings are there to break the streak. I'm betting they will win but since I'm not clairvoyant, I don't plan on speculating what the point spread will be. I just hope we keep up the good work!

GO VIKINGS!!!

Spontaneity, usually not my thing.

One would think since I live in a thriving metropolis that I would never get bored.

They would be wrong. This weekend was a prime example. Granted, the State Fair is going on and if you believe the ads its the best State Fair in the country. It's also a lot of money! They charge you to park, to get in the gate, to eat, to play, and to entertain. Not only that, but you have to deal with crowds and crabby people (I'm usually dubbed their queen for the day). The only time I've ever gone to the fair is when I've volunteered and got a free ticket. Don't get me wrong, I think it's definitely a place to visit at least once! The Renaissance Festival is also in town this month. Again, it's roughly $20 per person just to get in the gate! Then they charge for food and beverage and anything else they can get. Needless to say I wasn't in the mood for crowds or any type of food on a stick.

So what is a poor country girl to do? Drive to the country of course!

Minnesota has a great jewel in her crown when it comes to Lake Superior. My only gripe is that the lake is too damn cold to swim in. Since it's so massive (width and depth), the water only gets to about 50 degrees during the summer. I guess when it's 90 degrees outside it might be refreshing, but this was not the case.

Sunday morning we decided to take an impromptu trip north (it's about a 2 hour drive from the cities) and we took in the "beach". I use quote here because when I think beach I think swim suites, sunscreen, towels, umbrellas and a nice cold Corona with lime. Lake Superior has everything a regular beach has except seashells and warm water. We wanted to take in the aquarium, but decided that we didn't want to spend $15 per person to see a bunch of Northern Pike (the aquarium is all local fish). So we drove up to Gooseberry Falls. I'm pretty pregnant now so I didn't want to take a major hike, but Gooseberry is perfect. It's got paved trails and the water was pretty low which proved well for some splashing around for the Prince. That was his favorite part!

I'm not too keen on impromptu or spontaneous things, but every once in awhile we all need a little spontaneity in our lives. This was a perfect afternoon with my loving Prince and husband. It was about 67 degrees out with clear blue skies, not too hot and not too cold. One could not have ordered a better day!

Take Care!