June 1-3

As promised, here's a post about the weekend before last. I drove to Mom and Dad's and arrived Thursday late in the evening. On Friday, I went to Julie's preschool where she teaches and also where David is while she's at work (in a different room). I picked him up early so that I could just spend some time with him! The two of us went to the Burnsville Mall and met Carrie and her boys there, and we walked around and played in a kiddie area. It was so great to spend some time with her! The boys have sure gotten bigger, as you can tell from their link on the right side under "links". David took a nap much of the time, but Carrie did get to see him smile and he also had a bottle once he woke up. In such a short time he'll be the one playing on all the fun kid stuff! Rumor has it he's rolled over twice now! Here are some pictures of Carrie's boys:





I really look forward to lots more times getting to take David all around the Cities, hanging out with my friends down there! He and I can go to the park, the zoo, a lake, even just the grocery store or a mall might be fun! Thanks, Carrie, for meeting us!

Then, on Saturday my friend Jim and I went to the Minneapolis Arboretum, which is just west of the Cities a short ways. It's incredibly beautiful!! It ended up raining later in the day, but while we were there is was great weather. The Arboretum was recognized by USA Today as one of the best public gardens in the country, and it has 1000 acres of formal gardens, meadows, outdoor terraces, and just amazing stuff to look at. Can you tell I looked at their website?! We walked all around, taking in the amazing flowers, plants and trees. We wanted to take a few snips of many different plants, but decided that was probably against the rules so opted not to. I realized when I uploaded my pictures that I didn't really take very many (coming from my picture-loving family!) so the pictures you'll see are really from just a few different areas. Jim's been thinking of adding a water feature to the garden at his house so that's what a lot of pictures are from. You'll see one waterfall that cascaded over a few things, including some brick pavers that you can walk on and the water runs between the stones. It was really clever! That waterfall ended into the bigger pond we sat by for a while. For those of you near the Cities, I highly recommend a trip to the Arboretum. There was stuff for kids to do and I'm sure all throughout the year the scenery changes. I hope to go back again!

After the Arboretum we went to my favorite Mexican restaurant in Savage, got COLDSTONE ice cream (Mmmmm!!), and looked for a tent for when Jim and some of his family make their annual trip to the Boundary Waters. It was a full and very fun day!

On Sunday, I got to go to Oak Hill, and was reminded again about how much I'm looking forward to worshipping there! This last Sunday at Bethel I thought again about how much I'll miss it, so I sure am glad that I can look forward to my next church! After church I went with Aimee and her family to Panera Bread and sure enjoyed the laughter and their company! Thanks for always making me feel part of the family! You can see some updated pictures on Kyle and Lissa's link on the right side.

It sure was a fun weekend! That weekend I thought "wow, I can hardly wait to live in the Cities!" and this past weekend I thought "it sure is going to be hard to leave Fergus!" I guess that's a good situation to be in?!