Minnehaha Falls

I've been meaning to take the kids to see Minnehaha Falls while it's still frozen. Who knows what our winter will pan out to be this year and the frozen falls is always a sight worth seeing. It's silly but I always forget about the amazing things found within our city. In the midst of a million errands today we stopped by for a peek.

 Here are a few of my favorites:



I have a photo of Olive by this same tree from last Spring.



The stairs are closed to visitors during the winter months due to safety concerns. This didn't stop me from photographing a maternity session there last year and doesn't stop nearly every visitor to the falls, but we stayed atop and looked down from below, much to Olive's disappointment. I wanted to stick with following the rules, though. The stairs said "closed" and were blocked by chains and I saw a few "no trespassing" signs that were not there last year. The stairs were clear or snow or ice but still - rules are rules!







This deep puddle right next to the wall was possibly more fun than the falls.





Don’t worry, she was safely clung to the wall.



Oh, June was there too.





I snapped a lot of photos of Olive’s back.



Our trip ended when Olive turned around suddenly and said “I have to go potty!”



The bathroom is closed in the main building there so we piled back into the car and headed to our next stop - IKEA.

Click here to see the entire gallery of photos.

Olive + June's Wagon Ride

Today was sunny and I find it far too easy to get stuck inside. This is one reason I want a smaller home next time. Olive was outside playing with dirty snow and June was having some lunch as he had just woken up from a nap. I saw our big wagon sitting in the kitchen and thought "hey, that wagon really shouldn't be in our kitchen" and also thought "let's go for a wagon ride!" So I threw on some real pants, bundled up the kiddos, and nearly an hour later (ha ha) we were outside. And it was cloudy. But we still had fun. :)

Here are a few of my favorite photos from today:





Olive had a last minute idea to bring the pinwheel along. It was spinning so fast.





This was hugely entertaining. I wouldn't call our neighborhood hilly but there's a bit of a slope. Today was fairly mild so there was a lot of melting. Each drain we passed was full of dripping sounds. Olive wanted me to stand on this one to see if it would break.

I kind like how their outfits are opposite.



We found so many puddles. Olive still calls them cuddles. It's amazing.



Olive repeatedly requested to pull June. At this point June was ready to go home.. he kept trying to stand up/jump out but soon found it amusing that his sister was pulling him along. She did a great job.

I am so happy that I found this used wagon for the kiddos on Craigslist for Christmas. The paint is peeling a bit.. but it adds character. I like how tall the sides are and that they're removable in case we have something interesting to carry or want to take the wagon in the car. I like used gifts, for multiple reasons. I like joint gifts. I like gifts that get us outside and moving. Gifts that add to the clutter and distraction and mess and add no direction to life are not my favorite.

To see the entire gallery click here!

Ice Skating on Lake of the Isles

Today we went ice skating. I brought my camera along because photographing with a snowy backdrop is a lot of fun.



June wears Olive's snow gear from last year. Because he's a giant baby.



Olive has double blade ice skates that strap onto her boots. We haven't gotten the hang of getting them on snug. I think her boots are a little too bulky for them, unfortunately. But it works well enough.




We brought our sleds along so June would have a nice way to travel. Meadow hitched a ride, too.









After skating we headed to an Indian Buffet in St. Louis Park. Not my favorite but still yummy.

Feel free to click here to see the entire gallery.

Minnstameet Holiday Party

Oh, hi there. It's been a while. Yep. Yeah. Oops.

Anywho..................................

On Sunday we headed to Vandalia Tower in St. Paul for a little party.

The Instagram community in Minnesota is large and thriving. I participate, but on the edge of things.

I (over)gram.. but mostly my kiddos. I haven't been able to make it to many meet ups in the past and was eager to make this one work. In typical INFJ fashion... I didn't talk to anyone. Except for my family, of course. Whoops!

I'll share a couple of my favorites from my biggest of my big cameras. Eventually you can find my iphone shots over on my iphone photography page.. but, like everything else, that needs to be updated too.







To check out the entire {small} gallery please follow this link. I really very highly encourage you to go take a peek. :)