Reconnecting with Friends

We spent the weekend in Minnesota with our friends from Rhode Island, The Eide's. The Eide's moved to Minnesota two weeks before we left Rhode Island. It was pretty tough to begin saying goodbye to our Rhode Island life sooner than expected. It was nice to spend Halloween with the Eide's (our 2nd in a row!). An airport picture was in order since I had never been to Minnesota.
What did we do in fabulous Minnesota? I spent 4 straight days talking to Liz non-stop, and Nicholas spent 4 straight days talking to Nick non-stop. It was rather comical! We had to bring a little Texas to Minnesota, so mini-Nick and mini-Liz got cowboy hats and the book "The Legend of the Bluebonnet." No fear, the twins had plenty of activities other than listening to the adults talk. There were lots of Halloween parties (more in another post), and we did some Halloween art: a skeleton and a spooky scene.Nick got some quality time with mini-Liz.It snowed Saturday morning, not enough to stick, but there were huge snowflakes. After a morning Halloween party, we ventured into St. Paul. We had lunch at a "cute" restaurant with a nice fireplace.We did all of our traveling in two different vehicles. After lunch, the boys went home with the kids. Liz and I drove around St. Paul looking at pretty houses, having coffee, and enjoying girl time.After a short, bitter cold trick-or-treating adventure we had dinner and watched the Texas football game. We may have some Longhorns in training! Hook 'Em Horns!Mini-Liz looks great in my boots. Sunday morning, we went to the Eide's new church. Liz wasn't preaching, but we did embarrass her by showing up. Then, of course, we enjoyed some coffee.After church, we went to Stillwater, Minnesota to gaze upon the St. Croix River. It was chilly. There were fun "races."
There were cute family-by-the water pictures.

There was a little hide-and-seek playing.And there were jumping jacks. When the Eide's were packing up in Rhode Island, I entertained mini-Nick and mini-Liz by teaching them how to do jumping jacks. When mini-Liz found out we were coming to Minnesota she told her mom, "Dana taught us how to do jumping jacks, we need to practice!"Sunday night, the kids stayed with a babysitter and the adults headed to Minneapolis for a night on the town (in the same car!). We had dinner at a Japanese steakhouse.A couple at our table was celebrating their 1 year anniversary.Monday, the kiddos went to daycare so they wouldn't miss their Spanish class. Liz and I took a long walk around the lake by their house while the Nicholai chatted and drank coffee. We went back into Minneapolis to visit a sculpture garden (more in another post) and enjoy some coffee. We squeezed in a game of Settlers before the kids came home, and another one after bedtime! Nicholas and I left Tuesday afternoon, which is the absolute best time to fly! There were only 75 people on our first flight and 50 on the 2nd flight! This is us in the Denver airport. If you look closely, you can see the mountains in the background.
This is a picture of the breathtaking sunset from 36,000 feet.