Well, we had a very nice weekend in Minneapolis visiting my brother. Very nice. The whole weekend was pretty relaxing and fun. The kids had a complete blast, and Zander was very sad to learn that Uncle Ben would not be coming home with him in the van. Abigail, however, was very glad to leave the “number kruk” behind. 😉 While we were there, we spent plenty of time visiting and eating and playing with the kids. One of the highlights for the weekend was going to The Minnesota Zoo. We happen to have a season pass for our local zoo- and it’s welcome at zoos all across the country. We expected a discount at the Minnesota Zoo- imagine our surprise when we got in for the cost of parking. All of us. It was great. One of our favorite things to do when we travel is visit the zoos, and we particularly like the Minnesota Zoo. It is very clean, nicely laid out, and it has a great shark and dolphin exhibit.
Here is a picture of Abigail and Zander sporting their zoo hats. 
And here they are pretending to be Meerkats.
Here is the dolphin tank, we spent a lot of time there. 
And the end of the day- happy to rest our little legs. 
The weekend wasn’t entirely fun and games. After waiting a whole year for Andy to come out and take a look at their trees, Andy did a fine job pruning them out for them. They never knew they had a nice view from their house. 🙂 But it gave Andy and Ben a good chance to behave like real men and do some yard work. And despite the hard work Monday morning, we left that afternoon feeling like we rested and had a great time. Andy came home full of exciting new insight for things that he is involved with at church, so the weekend was a rousing success. We are already planning a return visit in the fall, so hopefully everything works out according to plan.
So after a day of not feeling like doing a whole heck of a lot, tomorrow will be a real return to normal. I’m feeling a little inspired in the kitchen, so I hope to have a delicious offering for tomorrow night’s dinner. So until then…
***VRC Reminder!!! Tomorrow is your last day to get in your submissions for VRC:Food On A Stick. I have several delicious entries waiting in the wings, and I’m looking forward to seeing more submissions through tomorrow night. I will get the round-up posted sometime on Thursday- so take the opportunity to get me those last minute submissions tonight and tomorrow!