Mid-Summer Weekend

Have I told you lately how much I love summer? Our family adventures continued this weekend...

This year for our 12th wedding anniversary we went to a wine dinner/cooking class at the Arboretum. The 4-course dinner was prepared by Chef Ryan Cook of Sea Change. Isn't this nicoise salad beautiful?

The chef (a former Alaskan fishermen) talked to us about each course.
We also heard from a speaker about sustainable seafood.

Funny enough - one of our wine pairings came from Kunde Estates in Sonoma County -
one of the wineries we toured last year on our Napa Valley trip.

It was a delicious and fun date night.

Not quite like the culinary masterpieces we ate the night before - on Friday morning I made the kids a smiley breakfast.

An issue came up at work so I spent most of Friday morning on the phone but made up for it Friday afternoon. I took the kids to Minnewashta beach where we swam and played in the sand.  

Then we went for a frozen yogurt treat at Cherry Berry. Hadley loves any kind of fruity, chewy candy on top of her fro yo. Miles likes a variety - from sour patch kids to cookie dough.

Saturday morning we headed to the Mill City Farmers Market and had breakfast (chocolate croissants from the Salty Tart) on the steps of the Guthrie. We bought some beautiful produce and looked inside the Mill City Museum.

Our morning view.

We also walked along the river front and over the Stone Arch Bridge.

This kid is fascinated with anything mechanical. He loved the trains and old gears he saw in the museum and had many technical questions about the lock and dam.

We got two beautiful summer bouquets at the market.

That afternoon we headed to New Prague to have dinner with my grandpa, Great Aunt Lucy, my parents, and Jerome and Charlene from Rockport, TX. We made a quick stop first at the local grocery store to buy kolachky fillings and the kids got a free cookie.

They also love the free rides on this mechanical horse.

My grandpa and great aunt have huge gardens that take up almost their whole backyards. We got tours and saw all of their beautiful produce. Hadley even picked a "bikini" (zucchini).

Lucy showed us her saffron and gave me a jar. What a treat!

We also did a homemade wine tasting - pear and grape from 2007.

And had a picnic in the backyard. It was a nice summer night (besides the mosquitoes that like sweet Hadley).

Today - after spending the morning cleaning the house and mowing the lawn (boring!) we went to Canterbury Downs. The kids got free pony rides and we bet on a few races. I won a grand total of $0.80.

Tonight we grilled turkey burgers, ate dinner on the deck, and took a walk. It was such a fun, family weekend.