Although we began the day at the Minneapolis Farmers Market
Liam was acting goofy here to be funny.
Helena got sprayed by the cannon by the family that was adjacent to me upon my request. She wasn’t sure what hit her.
My camera doesn’t do so well in poor light AND with motion so I told the kids here to pretend that they were moving although they had just stepped into the ride.
Afterward we went on the nighttime dinosaur walk.
Liam still won’t wear his new shoes.
Ada has art work to show off
Ada started out her birthday morning by cleaning up her big mess in the house, but once done with that I asked her to come out to the garage to get her bike where she found her birthday present – a balance beam. Liam seemed to enjoy it as well, but wouldn’t do much on it other than hop from the trampoline onto it.
After that we went to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts for awhile. In the summer, they have lots of activities outside, but today they had much more than usual. Painting, drawing, board games, lawn games, bubbles, dancing, and more and more.
We did go inside to see what was going on and to do the scavenger hunt. We were confused by the scavenger hunt because it was a bit different than usual, but once we actually read the directions on the front, we got it done pretty quickly.
Ada then took us all to Chipotle for dinner. The rule is that the kid picks a place to go and all she wanted was a cheese quesadilla. But she did get a large one.
Then it was time for cake and to open presents.
We biked along the Midtown Greenway, Kennilworth Trail, and Cedar Lake Trail down to the river and back. About 11.5 miles for the kids and they did it without complaint!
The next morning we drove back to Gloversville to visit some others. We did get to see Mary and Ryan and then Susan.
Before that, we went and walked around Johnson Hall and saw the Johnstown Battlefield nearby. We also went to the house where I grew up where we walked around the back yard some. I even think I may have found one of my mother’s pots from so many years ago.
After that, it was time to get back to Minneapolis.
That night we stayed in Erie, PA and by ten the next night we were back home in our own beds. But along the way, we had one success – Ada finally got something in her chopsticks. I guess by the time I had taken a photo, she had already eaten it.
We spent the day at the racetrack in Saratoga. Between Liam, Helena, and I, we didn’t even lose $30, so we’ll consider that a success.
The spring water was quite a hit!
Dad showing the kids how it is done.
Trackside – Ada is there, too!
Liam watching the television screens to watch another of his losing horses. Judging by this photo, there was at least one point in time when he thought that he had a chance.
In the last race, there was a horse by the name of Plainview, which is where my car broke down a few days earlier. It was another loser.
We watched a couple of races upstairs, too.
Saratoga is a nice place to get real close to the horses. From the literature there, it is the only track where the horses have to walk through the crowds to get from the paddocks to the track.
Later we drove to Lake George where we saw the (closed) Fort William Henry, Lake George (the lake) and played miniature golf – 36 holes worth.
In the morning we had to say goodbye to Libby, Sofia, and Jake. Sofia took it a little harder than the other two, unfortunately. But here they are playing.
We left a little later for upstate where we ate Garlic White pizza at House of Pizza and drove around a bit looking at my old houses and schools. Â We did get to visit Linda and Carl, then Mike and Ambyr, and finally Dan and Margaret before heading back to our hotel. Which smelled like smoke I heard over and over again.
