33:58

Last weekend I ran my first 5K around Lake Harriet. I've never been a great runner, and actually hated it up until recently (which I'm blaming entirely on a South Davis Jr. High gym class, but that is another story).

But despite my junior high flashbacks,  I conquered my first race, finishing 6 minutes faster than my goal! My official time was 33:58. Don caught a video of me crossing the finish line.

Too bad that chick showed me up at the end...  she came out of no where! I was pretty excited about my finish time and definitely plan to run more races in the future.

A beautiful night for a walk

Tonight we took advantage of a beautiful, warm fall evening by walking around Lake Calhoun. 

Liam eating fall foliage with Lake Calhoun and Minneapolis city scape in the background.

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Thanks to Kristen for Liam's dashing attire. He wore it out on the town (aka church) on Sunday morning  for the first time.

Two years later ...

Below are the guesses on what I did this weekend as the ULTIMATE Minnesotan thing-to-do:

1. SPAM Museum
2. World's Largest Ball of Twine
3. Polar Swim

Well none of these are correct because:

1. Does SPAM really need, or for that matter, deserve its own museum?
2. I didn't even know Minnesota was home to the largest ball of twine.
3. It is too early for the Polar Swim ... and I'm definitely not die-hard enough to give that a try! :)

Well after those exciting guesses, my ULTIMATE Minnesota thing-to-do may be a little on the boring side. BUT, none the less I'm super stoked about it! Here is a little background ...

I hate the cold more than anything. So when Don got a job in Minneapolis, I told him I'd only move there if I could get any coat I wanted. Well two winters came and went without a good winter coat in -20 degree weather. Brrrrrr!!!!

But this weekend I finally found my dream coat!

Now don't you think the ULTIMATE thing to do in Minnesota is to gear up for winter? Bring on the snow!

Duck-Duck-DULUTH!

This weekend we've been checking things off our "things we want to do in Minnesota" list. Today we did a quick trip to Duluth. We enjoyed walking the Lake Walk, Canal Park, shopping, and of course, good food.

AND we did one more thing today that is the ULTIMATE in things to do in Minnesota ... but you'll have to stay tuned for that post. Any guesses?

Minnesotans-on-a-stick

Today is the day we became true Minnesotans. And it's all because we went to the state fair (aka the great Minnesota get-together)! So what did we do at the fair, you ask? Well ...

Liam enjoyed a lemon italian ice.

We enjoyed people watching.

... and more people watching.

Then there was the large assortment of food at the fair. We tried fried cheese curds (delicious!), falafel-on-a-stick, gyros, luigi fries (aka breadsticks), walleye cakes, salad-on-a-stick, fudge-puppies-on-a-stick (waffles), fried pickles ... and a whole bucket of Sweet Martha's cookies (don't worry, we could hardly even eat any and took them home for the weekend)!

And if that weren't enough, we had to top off the day with some malts and sundaes from the Dairy Building.

Even Liam got a taste!

All in all, it was a fun-filled, fattening, fried day. Don't know if we'll go back any time soon, but definitely something to check off our bucket lists and get us into the Minnesotan club.

The many faces of Liam

For a 6-month old, Liam has quite the personality. He is in constant motion and never stops. We were lucky enough to capture some decent pictures last night without any motion in them.

Happy

Determined

Thoughtful

Curious

Playful