Duluth and Twelve Years!

We had a terrific family trip to Duluth. We had a wonderful dinner at the New Scenic Cafe on Lake Superior and celebrated our 12th anniversary.

 

Family fun in Duluth for us means hunting for sea glass at the edge of Lake Superior, puzzles and games, watching huge ships go through the harbor, exploring the aquarium, and the time-honored tradition of writing naughty words on crackers in squeeze cheese. Good times!

Before we left, we got to experience Lake Superior's most glorious residence: Glensheen, the Congdon mansion. Beautiful!

Mr. Little Guy

The City of Minneapolis honored Mr. Little Guy, the Lake Harriet Elf, with a proclamation for his 20 years of fostering community. (Mr. Little Guy lives behind a little door in a tree by Lake Harriet and has answered kids' letters - about 2,000 each summer - for 20 years.) We attended the celebration with some friends, and had cake, crafted little elves, and did a kid-focused tour of City Hall. We met our city council member and (while the rest of us happened to be in the bathroom) Willa met the Mayor! Then we had a picnic near the Guthrie with lots of hill rolling. A fun day!

Internet Cat Video Festival

The Walker Art Center hosted its third annual Internet Video Cat Festival where cat people come to watch internet cat videos, so of course, we had to dress appropriately.

There are a lot of cat people who live here!!

A Harry Potter Birthday Sleepover!

Happy 9th Birthday to our spectacular Jia! She had a Harry Potter sleepover party this weekend that included golden snitch cupcakes with magical relighting candles, Butterbeer, Honeydukes, Care of Magical Creatures with Pygmy Puffs, Potions, Ollivander's for wands, campfire magic, lots of games, and troll snot as a party favor.

The Course Schedule:

We made these wands using twigs, hot glue, glitter and brown spray paint.

We had some fun earlier with kitchen magic (edible gold spray and edible gold glitter) to make golden snitch cupcakes!
 

 

She loved her cupcakes!

 

A dragon sneezed on us so Professor Snape had to make a scalpus normalis potion! 

Potions class:

 

Playing Giants, Elves and Wizards! (Like rock, paper, scissors combined with tag.)

 

Cheers to Jia!

Butterbeer is yummy!

Butterbeer mustache:

She was so surprised when they re-lit!

Care of Magical Creatures Class with Pygmy Puffs!

Jia's 9th Birthday Potter Puzzle!

Troll Snot was the party favor!

Jia's big birthday present from us was the guinea pigs, and this was the one from Grandma and Grandpa!

Jia loved her party and said it was awesome! And we love you, Jia!