Monday, October 27, 2008

Weekend Fun

These last couple of weekends have been quite a bit of fun! Actually, mostly all these weekends while I've been back in the midwest have been fun, but I'm just going to post pictures from the last two. A week ago I was able to hang out in LaCrosse, WI for the weekend, spending time with my boyfriend and his parents. I know... I haven't said much (or anything) about Brent on this blog yet, wanting to wait until we got to spend time with each other's parents and friends. Well, that's gotten to happen now so here are a few pictures!

Last weekend, we went to one of my favorite parks in LaCrosse on Saturday morning, and it was fun to see the trees with leaves on them, versus all the snow that defined my assignment in LaCrosse last winter. You can see it was also a pretty foggy morning.

I love the fog through the trees.

We laugh together - A LOT!

I love this bench. Wouldn't it be fun to sit and just watch the river a while from this bench?

I think this bridge is really pretty.

After spending the afternoon hanging out at his parent's house, we all went out to dinner together, and then Brent and I went to the LaCrosse Symphony's opening performance for the season. Brent used to play cello in that same symphony, so it was an especially fun treat. It was a beautiful concert, by the way! Fun pieces by Debussey, George Gershwin's "An American in Paris" and others. Here we are all dressed up for the symphony.

After church on Sunday with his parents (where we happened to run into my friend, Stacy!!!), Brent and I went up to Grandad's Bluff to look around. We saw some beautiful colors:

and I was able to see LaCrosse without all the snow piles and white! Can you remember what the winter was like for me? :) It was great to finally see THIS view from the bluff:

Here's a closeup of my old hospital:

And one of my favorite bridges.

Practicing the self-portraits. :)


This past weekend, Brent was able to come this direction. We checked out a State Park only a few miles from Mankato that I had wanted to visit. It looks like it would've been perfect a few weeks ago, but it was still very beautiful. Minneopa State Park has a great "falls" I guess, but this weekend it was only a small trickle. In fact, many leaves just fell to the water and never moved again!

Another wonderful bridge.

After driving to the Twin Cities, we had to make sure our first stop was seeing this amazing little guy! I know he looks pretty mad in this picture, but it's actually that he has a cold and was stuffed up and having a hard time breathing. He was in a great mood, and let me sit and read to him a while. Cute kid! Even tonight when he and his parents came over, he seemed to be feeling better.

After Julie and David and David headed to the other grandparents house, Brent and I went to my parents house. We were able to sit and chat a bit with them, and then my dad took us on a small tour of The Cities. Here we are at the park by Minnehaha Falls.

At the pavillion right by Minnehaha Falls, there was some big Halloween festival going on. They had all sorts of food, games, mostly kid-stuff. But, they also had Dracula come by for a visit with his princess.




My mom snapped this picture overlooking the falls. It was also just a trickle of a stream, so I look forward to getting back there again in the spring with the huge falls that I remember.

After Minnehaha Falls, we also went down by the Locks and Dam on the Mississippi River. I guess bridges and parks are the themes of these two weekends!


They were a couple of terrific weekends! We get to head to Fergus together on Thursday, and of course it will be wonderful to introduce him to friends there. It's nice to have a few days off with my 12-hour shifts, and Brent works for a local school district and it's their conference weekend. He's a really great guy, so I'm excited for more of my friends to get to meet him. If you're in Fergus, see you soon! :)

17 comments:

Candis Berge said...

Great pictures. I've been checking your blog waiting for this post....

I love the picture of you both before you went to the opera. Great picture. Nice smiles. :)

See ya soon.

Alison said...

Can't wait to see you!

Molly said...

So fun! :) Looks like you've been having a great time!

Anonymous said...

yay! how fun! :)

Jim and Marilyn said...

Great pictures...great news...great fun! We are happy for you and excited to meet your special friend some day soon. We miss you lots.................

Leingang Family said...

You look so great together! What fun you have had over the weekend! Have a wonderful time in Fergus.

timmyjimi said...

Sorry I missed you both this weekend. My grandparents and I had a good time with your parents though, and hopefully I'll see you sometime after you return from Africa. Have a great time over there! God bless.

Susan said...

Love the new post, glad you could finally share Brent with blogger world. Have fun in Fergus!

Stacy said...

Hey Kari,
Loved the post, you two look so great and happy in the pics! So glad I bumped into you at church. What a nice surprise. Glad to hear you are having such awesome weekends.
Stacy

CJ Olson said...

Yeah....I (we) are SO stinkin' excited for you! I'm glad that Brent made the blog! Looks like you guys are having fun with weekends. I love love the pictures of the bridges and stuff like that. Thinking about you! Hope to talk and get together soon!

The Erickson Family said...

Fun to hear about Brent and see a photo of him! Looks like you have a lot of fun together!

Anonymous said...

Kari Kari - you and Brent look great together:) I love your hair!! I can't wait to hear from you again. I am so excited for you! Your trip is coming up too...good times!!!

Anonymous said...

You look like you've been having fun. I'm so happy for you!! You two look great together!

Ross & Beth said...

How fun, Kari!! I love all the bridges and, of course, seeing pics of your man:)

rdljnrisbrudt.blogspot.com said...

Kari we are sorry we missed you this week-end. It is fun to see your pictures. Have a great trip! When do you come home??

rdljnrisbrudt.blogspot.com said...

Kari we are sorry we missed seeing you this week-end. Have a great trip and when do you come back??

Anonymous said...

I'm so happy for you--both about Brent and your trip to Africa! I'll be praying for you and the team.
-Jeanette