My extended family from Texas was “up North” at the beginning of August for a 25th wedding anniversary and family vacation. For my cousins, coming to visit means a lot of extended family time, seeing other people they hardly know, and spending a lot of time in the middle of nowhere. After a few days of this in Wisconsin, they were begging to come stay with us in Minneapolis.

We did our best to give them a taste of Camp Awesome in less than 48 hours. We watched movies, played board games, and ate dessert before dinner every single day.

On Tuesday we met Adam downtown for lunch at the food trucks. Adam, Rachael and Jacob each got a pulled steak sandwich while I got mini-burgers. We did a short tour through the skyways. Rachael and Jacob remarked at how lively downtown Minneapolis seemed in comparison to downtown Fort Worth.

After lunch, Rachael, Jacob and I headed over to Target Field for a stadium tour. I was surprised that about half of our group was from outside of the Midwest, and 2 other people were from the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to go into the locker rooms because the MLB commissioner was in there. On the plus side though, we did get to meet Tony Oliva, a former Twins players, and get his autograph.

 

 

After our tour, Rachael and Jacob really wanted to see the downtown Target with the cart escalators so we stopped there before meeting Adam after work.

Later that night we went stand up paddleboarding at Lake Harriet. It was incredibly calm on the lake and we were able to circle the lake completely.

On Wednesday I took Rachael and Jacob out for breakfast at Patisserie 46. One of Rachael’s friends had mentioned it to her after visiting her cousin in Minneapolis earlier this summer.

We met my mom, grandpa and aunt Mary in Woodbury for lunch. My mom and grandpa headed back to Wisconsin while I brought Mary and the kids back to our house. After getting packed for their trip back to Texas, we went out to Centennial Lakes for mini-golf.

The 6th hole was quite a challenge for us. Nearly everyone hit their ball into the pond and had to fish it out. Adam had the unfortunate luck of stepping into the pond after trying to avoid an oncoming ball. He played the rest of the course wearing only one shoe and sock.

By the end of our round of mini-golf, there was just enough time to grab a bite to eat at George and the Dragon before dropping them off at the airport.