My parents paid the Heydos (I just made that up and Abel hates it) a visit last weekend on their way back from a trip to South Carolina and Georgia. Being that my parents are even more obsessed with France than I am, I knew that Abel would be in for a weekend of quizzing about French vocabulary, food, and culture.
He was the perfect Frenchman and made crepes for our family on Saturday morning. If you closed your eyes and tried hard enough, we could pretend that we were walking down the boulevards in Paris. Okay, that might be an overstatement, but they were awesome. Saturday was rainy, so we stayed home, but on Sunday, we headed out to Abel's first experience with small town Minnesota. The only thing that my parents like even close to as much as they like France is fall foliage, so drove down to Red Wing, MN to check out the leaves changing colors.
The leaves were pretty (although after we got home from our 3 hour round-trip road trip, they proclaimed that they were actually just as pretty in Plymouth), but the company was better. We did some great shopping, had a bizarrely Midwestern meal, and hung out a little bit by the river. All in all, I think small-town Minnesota and Abel got along just fine.
Checking out the Red Wing Shoes museum.
Abel trying to be Minnesotan. We couldn't convince him to buy it.
All good things must come to an end, and we celebrated the end of the soccer season with the traditional high school sports banquet. It as great to see Abel hanging out with all of the great soccer teammates that he has met over the past two months. I know that his transition to living in the U.S. has been easier because of these awesome kids.
We were also so proud when he was voted not only "Best Shot" for the season on the Varsity Team, but also Most Valuable Player. He got also got the letter for his "letterman's jacket" -- who knows if he is going to buy one yet, but he has the letter nonetheless.
He tells us that he is going to try out for lacrosse in the spring. Given he hasn't ever played lacrosse, we had to give him the warning that we might not be the superfans that we were for soccer.
One of the must-see sights in the Twin Cities is Minnehaha Falls. First, we went to have lunch at the Hi-Lo Diner, which Abel loved because it looks like Pop's Cafe in Riverdale, a teenage soap opera that he now has Liz and I both hooked on.
After we were finished living out real-life Riverdale, we headed over to the falls. We weren't the Minnesotans who were trying to soak up the last few warm days of fall. We took a beautiful walk down by the creek, did a little hiking, and climbed the stairs back up to street level.
I love showing off my city with its awesome nature, great restaurants, and fabulous people, to Abel.
I can't even begin to think about the number of "firsts" that Abel has had over the last 2 months, let alone how many he will have by the time he leaves in June. Yesterday was just another in a long line up of those firsts.
Since we are in the period of the year when Jude doesn't play baseball, we of course have to make up our own baseball activities to do. So we headed up to the batting cages at Grand Slam in Coon Rapids. It was Abel's first time hitting baseballs and first time in a batting cage. And of course, Jude made him go first. After the initial shock of how fast the balls were coming and getting into the rhythm of the machine, Abel did pretty well! I had to give him a hard time about his spinning after he missed, but I was still impressed by his baseball skills (don't tell him that)!
With Thursday and Friday off of school and the weather at a balmy 70 degrees (or 21 for you Celcius readers), we had to get out and have fall fest part deux. We are located pretty close to one of the largest corn mazes in Minnesota, so we headed out to see if we could solve it. And by we, I mean Abel and Jude because I am horrible at reading maps. Like I can hardly get out of my neighborhood, let alone navigate through a corn maze.
Jude and I did learn that Abel has a strange talent for corn mazes -- he barely has to read the map and can get us there. Let's just say that if I had to be lost in a field of corn that looked like the Minnesota Vikings logo, I'd want to take this guy with me.
And it isn't JUST a corn maze. There's also a petting zoo! And I love me a good petting zoo. This wasn't just your typical goats and sheep. They had a lemur, an albino skunk, a really huge bullfrog (that Abel was repulsed by), some animals that looked like deer bunnies, baby potbelly pigs that everyone tried to convince me to buy, and a BABY KANGAROO. You could pay an extra $5 to have your picture taken with a baby kangaroo. Basically, this set-up was made for suckers like me. And Jude obviously because he wasn't leaving that petting zoo without having his picture taken with the baby kangaroo. Of course, we made Abel sit down with him too.
Have you ever seen such adorable scarecrows?
An overhead shot of the corn maze. Thanks to Abel, we made it out alive!
Wristbands on and ready to enter the maze.
My baby with his kangaroo baby.
Although Abel looks skeptical, he knows the $5 was totally worth it.
I love October in Minnesota for a million reasons. Growing up in California, fall foliage wasn't a thing. Pumpkin patches were always in parking lots. And we had certainly never heard of hammerschlagen. So here in Minnesota, we do fall really big. It starts with the apple picking, and this weekend, we entered phase two and three of fall with the annual Oktoberfest part and our trip to Dehn's Pumpkin Patch.
Our friends Kevin and Chrissy held their third annual Oktobertfest party last night. There are always the traditional brats, beer, and reuben balls. But the one main attraction is hammerschlagen. There is a log standing upright and in front of each person, there is a nail that is just slightly in the log. As you go around the circle, each person gets to swing their hammer one time and try to drive their nail into the log. The first person who gets their hammer all the way in the log wins. So of course, Abel had no choice but to play. While I'm not saying that he lost, I'm not saying that he won, either.
Playing hammerschlagen, blending in quite nicely as Minnesotan.
Today, we continued the fall mania by taking Abel to the pumpkin patch. And....so did half of the Twin Cities. Driving up to Dehn's Pumpkin Patch, Abel wanted to know if they put the pumpkins there. After we explained to him that they grew there, we headed out to choose our pumpkins.
Of course, the wagon is a ride.
First, the boys did what boys do and played in the wagon. First, Jude tried to drag Abel out into the patch, and then they switched roles and flew down the hill. Since we was little, Jude has always chosen perhaps the third pumpkin that he spotted in the pasture. Thisy ear, I think that he may have understood that, like Christmas trees, the pumpkin has to call your name.
Abel got it right away, after Liz explained some important pumpkin criteria. The perfect pumpkin according to Liz must have no soft spots, must stand up independently, and must have a large smooth spot for carving. After he picked up a few pumpkins for a careful examination, he found the pumpkin of his dreams. It called his name.
After pumpkins were chosen, the boys tried their luck at shooting gourds into pumpkins. No success, but pretty hysterical nonetheless.
Ceci n'est pas un pumpkin.
No, they didn't put those pumpkins there. They grow there.
Abel first decided that he pumpkin was a female. And then decided that this was the girl for him.
Before August of this year, I had watched approximately one soccer game that was played by children older than the age of about 8. Since August, I have increased this number by about 12 fold. We have become Armstrong Falcons Varsity Soccer's #1, 2, and 3 fans.
Last year, the Falcons won one game. This year, the team finished with 8 wins and 8 losses. And in the processes, Liz lost about 14 fingernails by chewing them off due to stress, we spent about $28 on half-time concessions for Jude, and invested in 2 Armstrong hooded sweatshirts and one Armstrong winter hat. But more importantly, we cheered on Abel as he played his ass off and made a ton of new friends.
Here's the highlight reel that Abel put together at the end of the season, just in case you didn't become a huge Falcons fan like I did over the past 2 months.
Senior night, celebrating with our favorite Falcon.
That's right. In any language, packing up your life into a car and pretending that you're homeless for the weekend is called camping. This weekend, however, we stepped it up a notch in our brand new (to us) pop-up camper!
We spent the weekend at Baker Park - we wanted to stay close to home in case something with the pop up went terribly wrong...or if we just couldn't spend that much time together. Although it wasn't as secluded as staying in a state park, it had so many awesome facilities and it made it really easy for our first time out with the pop up.
Our weekend home away from home! Our pop up was small compared to those houses on wheels behind us!
Our geocaching hike - we estimated about 2.5 miles round trip!
Jude's geocaching find!
Just a boy, his baseball glove, and some fall leaves.
The beach was closed, but the view was still awesome.
Just hanging out on the bench, taking in the sights.
Jude and I shared a bunk. Cozy, but amazing.
Doesn't everyone do Japanese face masks while camping? Just us? Oh.
After 12 years in Minnesota, I am still in awe of the Midwestern dream of going to the apple orchard. Our favorite orchard is one out in Watertown, Minnesota called Luce Line Orchard. I love how small it is, that it's family run, and mostly that it doesn't feel like Apple Disneyland.
Of course, we had to share the idyllic Midwestern childhood with Abel. So we headed out with family friends and made our way toward Luce Line Orchard. Every year, we do the same activities at the orchard. 1. Climb the hay mountain 2. Go on the hay ride 3. Navigate the corn maze 4. Eat amazing brats with apple and onion slaw 5. Play in the corn pit 6. Buy way too many apples 7. Sling apples through the most impossibly small tire to win a caramel apple You'll be pleased to know that our trip to the orchard was successful this year, especially the way too many apples part. We were able to make a triple batch of apple sauce (which Abel loves, thank goodness, or I'd have apple sauce coming out of my ears), a pan of apple crisp, and enough that we can still eat amazing Honeycrisps with apple dip.
No one is happy about sitting on the World's Most Uncomfortable Bench. Except for Adam who looks strangely comfortable.
Checking out the wildlife.
6 adults makes for a great photo!
And 6 kids (or 5 kids and one teenager who was a really good sport).
It's a pit! Of corn!
Enjoying the hay ride...even if the guide talked too much.
