Feelin' Independent

Happy 6th of July! I hope everyone had a good holiday weekend. I just got back from the Music in Plymouth and it was fabulous as always. The Minnesota Orchestra was there, and there was a really cheesy 80s style laser show and of course, Fireworks! woo hoo! It's amazing how many people will flock together to see things explode in the sky, and yet we do. Even though it means battling crowds and sitting in traffic, it's somehow all worth it. Fireworks are just magical somehow.
It has been a fun filled Independence day week for me. Shannon was here! She got in Saturday morning and I brought her directly to the Mall of America despite the fact that she had only had a few hours of sleep. And boy oh boy did we shop! We made it just about around the entire mall. Even I was ready to drop by dinner time. Sunday we slept late and then went up to the lake house along with Chelsea and Alexis. On the way up we did some Strawberry picking at a nearby orchard. It turned out that a good portion of my Dad's family was also at the lake house, so Shannon got the whole extended Family experience. Dad let me take out the pontoon with the girls so we went for a cruise around the lake and stopped at the point to swim. We met some random guys who gave Kelly a ride on their tube. People are very friendly up there. Especially when you have a whole boat full of 20 something girls ;)
Monday was jam packed with patriotic excitement. A bunch of my friends along with some of my parents' friends and thier kids all came to our little lake house. We went swimming and boating and ate lots and lots of wonderfully american food like fresh fish and hamburgers and watermelon. After dark we took the pontoon out again and watched the distant fireworks shows that could be seen around the lake. We also sang every patriotic song we could think of, and a few others just for good measure.
Tuesday just Shannon and I were left at the Lake house. We slept late, read a while and went for a spin on the paddle boat. It was quite relaxing and Shannon was quite pleased to be so far away from accounting! Then we came home and went out for dinner and a movie in Uptown. We ate at the oh so trendy Chino Latino and went to a French film at the Lagoon. Ah, Minnesota. A morning on the lake and a night on the town. Who wouldn' t love it here? I love having people visit so I can show them that MN is not the frozen wastland they may think it is!
Comming up this weekend.....The Hamel Rodeo! get excited people!