summer weekend

The weather this past weekend was delightful - sunny, in the high 70's, with a lovely cool breeze. To take advantage of the weatehr, we had plenty of fun activities lined up.

It all started on Thursday when I met Kevin at the 3M farmers market and then we went out to lunch with friends. It's been a nice treat this summer to be able to meet Kevin for lunch during the week a few times.

On Friday, I made an awesome Olympics-themed cake and when Kevin got home from work we watched the beginning of the opening ceremonies (yes, I cried), and then went over to the Koslowski's for a fun barbeque with friends. We spent the night in Lino Lakes in "our" room at the Koslo house (thanks guys!), and got up super early on Saturday morning to head out to Stillwater for Kevin's half-marathon. Kevin, along with our friends Matt and Scott, ran the Gopher to Badger race which goes from Stillwater, MN (U of M Gophers) to Hudson, WI (UW Badgers). Kev had a great run and finished 13.1 miles in 1 hour 53 minutes and 24 seconds...woohoo! I was pretty proud of him and this half-marathon got us both really excited for him to run the Twin Cities marathon coming up in early October. I got very very lost after dropping Kevin off a the race start, but I eventually found my way to the finish line and met up with Renee and Emily (wives of Scott and Matt) to cheer the boys on at mile 8.5 and at the finish.

After the race the six of us got some tasty burgers at a cool little restaurant in St. Paul, and then Kevin and I went home to take a long and luxurious nap. A post-nap lunch of pita bread and hummus sandwhiches with fresh veggies and mineral water, and then off to the Irish Festival on Harriet Island in St. Paul. At the festival we got to see some sheep herding, listen to traditional Irish music, drink Irish beer, eat soda bread, listen to a great celtic punk band called Flogging Molly with Matt and Emily, and Kevin got to wear his Irish cap (purchased on our honeymoon in Ireland) and hang out with his people (the Irish).

In bed by midnight and then up on a beautiful Sunday morning for church at 10 am. Great service with an especially relevant homily on overcoming fear in our lives, our usual cookies and lemonade after the service, and then I signed up for this year's Cuba trip coming up in January (more on that later!). After church we headed over to the amazing Isles Bun and Coffee to split a giant cinnamon bun and read the paper, then home to wash and put away this week's CSA veggies and relax before Kevin went back to the church to volunteer at Sunday Night Supper. When Kevin got home we headed over to the co-op to pick up some delicious chicken curry salad (a favorite) and some lefse (Norwegian flat-bread made from potatoes and flour) and then went over to Lake Harriet for a lovely little impromptu picnic. Home in time to watch Michael Phelps and the rest of the US men's 4x100 swim relay team edge out France for the gold medal (AWESOME race) and then Kevin got out the breadmaker and put in a loaf to bake overnight. Whew! Busy, fun, wonderful weekend.

Lovely farmers market flowers.

I know, it's awesome.

Up early for the Gopher to Badger race.

Sadie, Renee and Scott's boston terrier, cheering the boys on.

At the Irish Festival.

This week's CSA veggies...delicious!

Kev's homemade bread.