Adults-only Trip to Minnesota/Wisconsin

Mark, Marlys, Kevin & I took a trip to Owatonna, MN to go compete in a BBQ competition.  Elaine offered to spend the long weekend with the kids and Triscuit.  The girls were so excited to have Grandma come stay with them that they spent a lot of time cutting up construction paper to make confetti (all their idea).  

Lana stood on the stool & held the box of confetti & Janae let Grandma in the door.  SURPRISE!  :)  Also - the girls promptly picked up all the confetti & repeated it when Kevin came home.  (Of course it didn't go quite as well because Janae stood on the stool & Daddy is a little taller than Grandma... and Janae is a little shorter than Lana... so instead of dumping it on his head - Daddy had it thrown at his feet). :)

I was pretty impressed that they made signs for all the teams.  

Kevin going to turn in his pulled pork!

  Gotta make that brisket beautiful!

The Parsley Queen & the Lettuce Princess.  

The team.  

Mark won 13th place in chicken & normally they only hand out prizes for top 10 but this competition also hands out a small prize for "lucky #13". 

After Owatonna - we headed to Chippewa Falls, WI & hit two wine tastings and then woke up early to go see cheese curds being made.  I was really impressed with the head cheese man - he was so knowledgable & willing to share everything with us.  We got to taste unsalted cheese curds (yuck) & then the finally product - super yumminess.  Kevin & I splurged & bought 10 year old aged sharp cheddar.  Later we went to a brewery tour at Leinenkugal brewery & I actually found a beer I liked.  

Original part of building.

This mural was on the original building & is covered up a bit by the newer addition.  

These weird little "balconies" were everywhere in Eau Claire, WI. It's a college town & they had them on almost all houses that had 2nd stories.  Sometimes they just led out onto a pitched roof & didn't have a floor on the balcony (so if you stepped out you'd stand on a pitched roof).  We figured it had to be some weird building code thing but could never figure it out.

The morning we left we hit a grocery store (to get some cheese curds for the kids) and this HUGE chair was outside the grocery store.  The Leinie Lounger.

On the way home we stopped at the Mall of America & went on two roller coasters.  This is the first one & it was short but pretty awesome.

This is the 2nd roller coaster - it twisted around the track & spun randomly as it went down the tracks.

We also stopped by the Lego store & Kevin got his shirt for Ryan's Dominican Republic wedding at Tommy Bahama.  Then we stopped in to see the Ikea & hit the road one last time.  Came home to a clean house with happy kids.  Thanks Elaine (and Hugh on the weekend) for helping us out!