Imitation

I've heard older siblings are the ones young children most want to imitate. Well, our young child isn't so discriminating.

Luke's Tree

Our Linden (Luke's tree) is blooming and I thought it was pretty. So did the Red Admiral butterfly in the picture below. He and a few cohorts decided the back yard was a nice place to hang out for the afternoon. Guess the butterfly crew and I are more like minded than I thought.

Pacemaker 5000

This morning we decided to check out the Pacemaker 5000. It's a charity event for the heart center at Children's of Minnesota. It's t-shirts and sweat, but a good cause and a nice walk. Deanna wants to enter the 5k next year, but she'll have to get out of bed a little earlier.

While we were in the neighborhood, we decided to walk to the end of the endless bridge at the Guthrie. I really don't get why it's the endless bridge when all it does is end. Anyway, that's where I got the shot of the stone arch bridge.

All the World Loves a Parade

This weekend was the annual Father Hennepin Festival in our home town. We took in the parade, and then afterwards the older kids and I walked down the street to the carnival. Our posse also included a couple of the neighbor kids and another Dad. Thirty bucks got us a corn dog, mini donuts, a stuffed monkey, and enough rides to get at least one of the kids sick. The stuffed monkey won in a pop the balloon with a dart game is proudly displayed on a shelf in Lauren's room.

It was a cool clear summer night and the bright neon lights set the perfect carnival atmosphere. One of my more vivid childhood memories is attending Stiftungfest as a 2nd grader on a night much like this.

Friday evening at the carnival is dominated by the high school crowd. Several of the band buses stuck around. There was an impromptu dance competition to the sound of one of those over sized boom boxes.

The kids did the rides as I can't handle the spinney stuff any longer. They chose the Tilt-A-Whirl, followed by the Tarantula, Sizzler, and Tornado. The evening was capped off with a ride on the Berry-Go-Round which is where the queasiness set in. I won't call out which kid lost his donuts, but I found it rather ironic it happened on the Berry-Go-Round. Like father like son on the spinney stuff I guess.