Going Wild!

Minnesota might be the land of 10,000 lakes but it's also 'The State of Hockey.' It's a big deal - believe me.  Jason and I had never been to a game here until last night.  A friend of his from work gave us tickets - thanks Robin! So we headed for the Xcel Energy Center where the MN Wild were playing the NY Rangers.  Now from what I'm told the Wild aren't having a great start to their season, but they won last night 3 to 2!  I shot a little video of the crowd going wild (no pun intended lol) after they scored their second goal.

There is even an anthem for hockey here!  Everyone breaks out in song in the middle of the game and the words flash on the jumbo-tron.  I found the song and video on YouTube - check it out.

Let it snow...in Montana

Ok, I'm not wishing for snow. Really I'm not.  But a friend of mine sent me this picture today - it's my favorite skiing spot in Montana.  It's called Showdown.  It's this small ski resort about an hour or so from Great Falls with the craziest old owner you'll ever meet.  They already have several feet of snow on the trails up there! I haven't been skiing since I left Montana - basically because the biggest 'mountain' in Minnesota is the equivalent of a bunny hill lol.  Although, we've heard about one ski resort in the state (about four hours north) that has some decent skiing so Jason and I might have to check it out this year.  I'm kind of itching to ski...but I can wait a few months...let's hold off on the snow for a bit longer here.

Let's be honest...

You've all heard me say it.  Typically I say, "Let's be honest" on a daily basis.   Basically it's my way of saying something is complete crap.   I think I've said it more lately as we plan for the wedding.  Have you guys looked at some of the junk you can buy for a wedding?  Seriously look at this stuff.  These are just a few wedding favor ideas that are touted as 'must haves' for your wedding.

Those are golf ball shaped candles.

These are salt and pepper shakers in the shape of banana splits.

And of course - a sewing kit.







Now, Let's be honest - what yahoo thinks any of these are good ideas??  I mean really - salt and pepper shakers?   And what wedding would be complete without a sewing kit? Sorry folks, none of these will be at our wedding lol.

Slow ride

We wanted to do some biking this fall, in fact, our plan was to check out a new park every weekend in October but since the weather has been cold and wet that plan changed quickly.  This Saturday was the first decent day we've had, so we finally hopped on our bikes.  The hope was to see some fall colors but since its winter in Minnesota already most of the leaves already fell off the trees without ever turning color.
We biked a three mile loop around Shingle Creek.  It's a cool little trail with a canopy of trees, and of course a creek running along side the trail.
There are several bridges in the park too.  I'm telling you Minnesota is pretty serious about their parks, they pave trails, build bridges, whatever they need to do for a good looking park.
 We found a bunch of ducks hanging out near one of the bridges.  How they swim around in that chilly water, I'll never know! 
We had a good ride, all except for Jason's bike tire.  It kept going flat! 
Luckily, we brought along a tire pump but it was quite a pain lol. 

Eyes on the sky

Today, my job was to look up.  I covered two interesting stories at work today - the first was about repairing a wind turbine.  Apparently a gear slipped an eighth of an inch out of place, and it stopped the blades from turning.  To fix it, two guys had to climb to the top of the 200 foot turbine and unscrew the blades to get to the problem.  A crane had to lower the blades to the ground.

You don't realize how big the blades are until they are sitting in front of you.  They took up a huge part of the parking lot! 

The other story I covered was a black hawk helicopter landing.  It landed on the front lawn of an elementary school!  It was a pretty cool sight to see.  It was part a reward for the students who completed a school program to stay away from drugs.  (How that all ties together, I'm still a little unclear on lol.) Several TV stations came out to get the 'landing shot.'

Happy Halloween

Gracie Lou wants to wish everyone a Happy Halloween!
How cute is she?

Since Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, we know a lot of people are preparing to party.  As for us, we might go to the Halloween parade in Anoka.  It's a city not far from our house that claims to be the 'Halloween capital of the world.'  After that, we'll come back and hand out candy to all the little ones.

"Nice Up"

Since Jason has been playing rec volleyball I've learned some of the volleyball lingo.  My favorite saying in this sport is 'nice up' - for those not in the know it means 'good job you hit the ball up' lol.  For some reason it cracks me up every time.
Rec Volleyball leagues are a big thing here.  Minnesotans are all about staying active and healthy so its no surprise people of all ages and experience levels organize teams and play against each other once a week.
I shot a little video of Jason playing last night (he's in the maroon tshirt). Check it out - you can tell he really enjoys it.