Another week in the cities . . .

We spent this week in the Twin Cities again since Dan had to work up there. This time we stayed at the Staybridge Suites in Eagan. We liked the layout of the suite in Lakeville better but this hotel was much closer to where Dan was working (it was booked last week) and offers a breakfast buffet and supper on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. We went up on Monday and went to the St Paul Winter Carnival. It was a gorgeous day on Monday (40 degrees or so and sunny) so we weren't cold walking outside looking at the ice sculptures. However, the ice sculptures didn't really appreciate the warm weather (as you can see in the pic of the wizard of oz).

The Winter Carnival was not nearly as large as I thought. There really wasn't much to it, but the ice sculptures were cool to look at. When I had looked online at what was going on, there was a blurb about an exhibit that taught students/people about Minnesota weather and climate changes. I was hoping that this would be a good science class for Ellie and Kara, but it turned out to be a dud. It didn't amount to more than 3-4 posterboards of graphs detailing the average temperature and ice thickness of a couple of lakes over the past several years.

After the Winter Carnival, we went to the state capital and went for a tour. They have a booklet that you can buy for $2 that lists 12 things that you have to find throughout the capital and a bit of history about each one. I'd never been there before. It is really quite pretty with all the marble. They are currently working on restoring the painting on the walls and ceilings so we watched them do that for awhile. The kids want to come back when the legislature is in session.

On Tuesday we went to Lou's house for coffee/hot chocolate and brownies. We had a good time talking and the kids got to play with some new (to them) toys. The girls were most excited about the 2 children's games and bags of craft supplies that Lou sent home with them. We also got to see Dylan's fashion design drawings. They were quite impressive and even at 5 years old, one can see the talent he has.

After Lou's, we went to John and Erika's for supper. Ellie practiced her piano while we were chatting and we even got to see John. Supper was delicious and we had some leftover birthday cake from John's birthday. It was sinfully delicious!! It was an inside-out German chocolate cake--basically a dense chocolate cake with the frosting in the middle and a chocolate ganache on the outside. We only needed a small piece as it was so rich!!

Wednesday we just hung out at the hotel and went swimming in the afternoon. On Thursday we packed up, checked out and went to the Minnesota History Museum. I had never been there before, but Ellie went there for a field trip one year while at Schaeffer and was disappointed that she didn't have more time. I was glad the weather wasn't too terribly cold outside since I thought the museum was at a different place and parked accordingly. :-) The walk back to the parking garage was much shorter since we didn't take the long way around. At least we got some exercise. After the museum we stopped at Burnsville Center and got some ice cream and a coffee (for me). Then we met Dan at IHOP for supper where they serve my favorite pancakes--Harvest Grain 'N Nut with butter pecan syrup. Mmmmmmmm.

It is nice to be back home sleeping in our own beds and own rooms. I was feeling a bit under the weather yesterday so we didn't do much of anything. Today I really need to get February's menu planned and I need to figure out what I am going to bring to a SuperBowl Pary tomorrow. I also need to make some sort of salad since we are having some friends over for lunch after church tomorrow.