Farmer's Market and some work.

I love Farmer's Markets - especially in August when there are so many choices.   I have to be careful not to buy too much (we are still eating what I bought last week).   The man I bought these Heirloom tomatoes from told me he had 1300 tomato plants (not all Heirlooms) and had a tomato still on the vine that was as big as the cantaloupe.    I am hoping to see that tomato in the next couple weeks.  

Some of the branches on this tree were dead so Vic could cut them off.  The DNR is very watchful on any trees that might come down just because the view isn't good enough.     

One job that Vic wants to do every year is clean the outside of the house.  The pine trees have a way of spitting on everything.  He worked on 3 sides this past week - that means all the windows too - some of the windows are very high but it looked wonderful when he finished.    Next week we will tackle the lake side - that means the awning and deck will be cleaned too.    

Uninvited Guest

We noticed something was eating from our bird feeders at the lake at night so our neighbor set up his Trail Cam.   We were shocked to see the creature enjoying what Vic was putting out for him.   Doug and Vic measured how high it was to the feeders and estimate the size of this bear to be at least 6.6 standing up.  

Wrap Up with the Grands

We drove to Minneapolis on Monday morning to eventually work our way to MSP for a Wednesday noon flight.    The plan was for Carrie to meet up with a couple more friends.   We spent a few hours at Ridgedale Shopping Center on our way into the city.    There was an unbelievable display all done in Legos.  https://usaevents.lego.com/en-us     You can imagine how the kids loved that.   Here is a huge example of the Capitol Building.    You can see people standing next to it so that gives you an idea how big it is.  This is taken from the floor above.

Mack and Ellie taking a close look at the Jefferson Memorial.

A Lego "City" 

The kids enjoyed playing basketball at the motel we stayed.   They giggled so hard when they got a BB caught in the net so threw up another one and it got caught too.   They thought that was so much fun.    I just sat there and listen to them laugh.

We had an unexpected catch-up with some friends.   The Gaalswyk's youngest daughter was arriving at MSP and two other daughters (with their children) were visiting so it worked out to meet them at Mall of America.   We talked fast and furious and had a great time seeing them.   Amy (in the white top) lives in Ohio and we have not seen her since Carrie's wedding 12 years ago.  Stacy (holding her youngest) lives in Moorhead so we see her off and on.   Zoe is Stacy's daughter looking at the display.

Carrie visiting with Karen & Den

Mack, Zoe and Ellie enjoying legos at Legoland.

Tuesday evening Carrie meet two of her friends at the Galleria.   The kids and I went along .  We spent quite a bit of time at Creative Kids, ate at Good Earth and had a cup of yogurt while we waited for Carrie to finish with her dinner.    Wednesday we made a couple of stops and then got them to the airport.   I drove back to GF and they flew with one stop at DFW and then on to Abilene.   We arrived at our homes at almost the exact time.