Stanley Cup

Nick Leddy played hockey for Eden Prairie, then the Gophers and then the Wild. He was traded to Chicago in what has become one of the worst trades in Wild hockey history. But none of that really matters.

This year Chicago won the Stanley Cup and along with that comes the perk that each player gets to spend the day with the cup. They can do whatever they want with it.

It was at Mariucci on Friday and made the trek down there to see it. I waited for about 1.5 hours to have my picture taken with the cup. I was so excited. But I was about 10 feet from the cup and they announced "No more pictures with the cup, only of the cup". You could only take pictures of it from behind the velvet rope.

Here are my pictures of the cup:

A Happy 4th

We had a small little get together with the Schaffers of Burnsville for the 4th of July. Nothing too big, just some brats, beer and fun. We had the pool set up for Nataly and whoever else wanted to get in. It didn't get too wild and Nataly was about the only person that was in the pool. A few people dipped their toes in, but she was the only one that took it serious and wore her swimsuit.

Lucy wasn't sure what to make of the whole thing. She was passed around and everyone got a chance to hold her and squeeze her cheeks. Check out the "look" she is giving Mike.

This one is from the parade we went to in Eagan. It was super hot and super packed with people. State Fair packed, there were way too many people for me. But it wasn't for me, it was for the kids. They had a blast. If there was a parade every day Nataly would go to it. She loves waving at the people on the floats and grabbing candy and throwing it in her bag.

She cannot sit still when there is music on. It doesn't matter where it is. We can be at a coffee shop, Home Depot or at a parade. If she is feeling the music, she is shaking her butt. This might be the first time we have posted a video of her dancing and she's not dancing to "Call Me Maybe".

How to feed a giraffe

Big day at the MN Zoo. On top of looking at all the other animals, we got to feed giraffes. Not for free though, they sell giraffe crackers for $5. Pretty clever idea for the zoo. They can have all the guests pay for the food for the giraffes. I don't know what other expenses there are associated with having a giraffe, but food has to be a big bill.

You give them your 5 bucks and they let you into a elevated little gated area for some instructions. Here are the instructions:
1. Don't touch the nose of the giraffe.
2. Hold the cracker by the corner. The giraffe will scoop it up with it's tongue and it happens fast.

Nataly wasn't scared at all. She went right up to the giraffe and let it grab the food out of her hand. It didn't phase her at all that they were 12' tall and hungry.

 Before

 During

After

Riding a Bike

I know what you are thinking: I dragged Nataly to the trail so she could ride a bike just like me. I didn't tell her to ride on the dirt trail. She chose to ride on it. There is a perfectly good tar trail right behind her. 

That's my girl. I was so proud of her.

 

Nataly Loves a Parade!

Last weekend we went out to Howard Lake for a parade. Annalisa's boyfriend lives there and he has a big party for everyone to watch the parade go right by his house. It was great.

A parade in a small town is great. It is just like you remember it as a kid. Firetrucks, beauty queens, high school bands, a beer tent and face painting. There aren't any floats sponsored by Target or Walmart and they still throw candy. And lots of it! All of the floats were local businesses and they were essentially a truck pulling a trailer.

Nataly sat on the curb with her bag open and yelled to the people as they drove by. She yelled "More Candy" and the people delivered. They were throwing hand fulls of candy towards her bag. It was like Halloween for her.

Nataly got a puppy dog painted on her face.She picked it. Next she got a temporary tattoo of Hello Kitty (aka poppy Cat). We havent been able to wash her arm all week. She wont let us, she's afraid it will wash off.

 Beauty queens. On the curb, not in the car.

 Lucy wasn't that into it. We just hung out on the blanket and she watched the parade every once in a while. 

No big deal to her.

Flying a Kite

When it's not raining, it's been pretty windy lately. So Alisha had the brilliant idea of taking Nataly and Lucy to fly kites. I cant even remember the last time I flew a kite. I could have been Nataly's age. So we headed up to the school with the huge soccer field and gave it a shot. There was nothing to it. Everyone got to try their hand at flying the kite. Even Lucy held onto the string by herself and got to give it a try.

Day trip to Duluth

It is way too much work to take the kids to spend a night at the hotel right now. So we ended up doing a day trip up to Duluth. We brought some DVD's to keep Nataly entertained and we were on our way. We left at around 8am and got back home at 8pm. It was a fun trip. The weather was less than ideal, but it didn't slow us down. We still got to do everything we wanted to do. We had lunch at Clydes Ironworks, walked around Canal Park and had a burrito at Burrito Union.

I'm not sure what it is about Duluth, but that city is very relaxing to me. If the winters weren't so long and it had some better coffee shops, it would be prefect.

Lucy was there too, but for some reason she wasn't in these pics.