I told Chelsea earlier this year she was the only one who hasn't seen our house yet. She said she would visit this summer. She texted me earlier this week asking when she could come. Looking at our calendar I said, this weekend or the weekend after Labor Day. When they arrived Theo gave her a tour of our house. I told her we had plans to go blueberry picking and she agreed to go along too. They had never gone before. Hoo, boy. Was I glad that I got out of blueberry picking this year. I spent the day painting back at home. I don't know why, but I do enjoy berry picking. Afterwards we picked up food from the co-op and had lunch in Stillwater. Then we went swimming at the St Croix River Boom Site. We parked our towels right next to the natural spring that flows into the river. Blake... The sunny skies soon turned to clouds and then it started raining. The kids just kept on playing. I couldn't believe they were still out in Stillwater. Then we went over to Teddy Bear
Two summer weekends in Minneapolis? Yeah, it's true. We followed Scott again on one of his jobs, which brought us to Maplewood Mall. I had heard there was a double decker carousel there and had always wanted to check it out. There is a weight limit on the horses so Scott and I had to sit on the swinging bench. Brooke and I must've had empty stomaches. We were both so dizzy after getting off the carousel. Or we're getting old. Scott always complains we never do things in our own city. Since we were going to be near St Paul, I had been wanting to take the kids to the Mississippi River National Recreation Area Visitor Center to get a junior ranger badge. St. Paul is one of Twin Cities, so it's OK to have fun just across the border. It's those suburbs I loathe (though honestly sometimes enjoy). Downtown St. Paul maybe sleepy, but it's very charming. The Mississippi River National Recreation Area Visitor Center is in the Science Museum lobby. Somehow we had never