Minnesota--part 1

We survived finals, jumped on a plane on Friday morning, and have been in Minneapolis since Friday evening. As I write this, I am experiencing an absolutely perfect Minnesota-moment. The house is silent except for faint Christmas carols drifting down the stairs. The fireplace in front of me is going, snow flurries are falling softly out the window. Chuck is asleep on the couch and I am sipping hot cider as I write this. Chuck's mom and dad were here this past weekend for a couple days meeting my family and experiencing a bit of Minneapolis. Since the high this weekend was about 7 degrees (that was the HIGH mind you) they have declared Minnesota a great place to VISIT. My poor fiance is a little chilly as you will see in the photos below. We had a nice visit with them, showing them where the wedding will be, figuring out the location for the rehearsal dinner, seeing the broadway performance of White Christmas down in St. Paul one night, and of course, visiting the Mall of America yesterday. We taught them a few games, and also showed them one of our family's favorite movies, The Ultimate Gift. Here are some photos from our vacation so far.

Chuck's dad, Ed, hiding behind the desserts. We took them to tea at the arboretum on Saturday afternoon so they could see the place, the tea and food were excellent!At the arboretum they decorate Christmas trees every year, using ornaments made from all natural materials. It is amazing what you can do with leaves, branches, twigs etc!

This little guy was my favorite!

It wasn't TOO cold on Saturday, in the low teens I'd say, for our brief walk at the arboretum.

I loved this, they made a Christmas tree out of fruit and other natural objects.Sunday night we went into St. Paul to see White Christmas. Let's just say the temperature had dropped and the wind chill picked up. It was COLD walking from the parking garage to the theater. And this was before it started snowing. But the park we walked across was beautifully decorated with lights!

My dad explaining to Ed and Audrey that this is what we call a "wind chill..."

Inside at the theater

Looking out the theater window at the park,with the lights, and the snow that had started falling.Walking back to the car...I am sorry, I couldn't resist. People looked SO miserable! The snow was falling hard and the wind was strong, and it was at least 0 degrees if not colder. My dad is escorting Audrey and Ed is bringing up the rear--it was a cold walk!Monday I went with my mom and Audrey to get my wedding dress fitted (and I love it just as much as when I bought it so that is a good thing!) and Chuck, my dad and his dad went to find us a bed and breakfast for after the wedding. Since it was so cold (the high yesterday was about -5) we headed to where all Minnesotans go to stay warm--the mall of america of course! Here's Chuck and my dad enjoying their Long John Silver's lunch while overlooking the amusement park.

I got to enjoy my favorite drink (a 1-shot mocha with half the chocolate and a little whipped cream) at my favorite mid-west coffee shop, Caribou Coffee. There are 4 of them in the Mall of America for your caffeine enjoyment :)

My mom decided to BBQ chicken last night. It was -7...it was so cold the chicken took forever to cook and the BBQ wouldn't lite properly. So for anyone else out there who might want to try this, she says that BBQ-ing when it is in the low teens works fine, but below zero doesn't work so well. You know, just in case you thought you'd attempt this.After dinner Chuck decided he was chilly, so he and Hannah, our cat, hung out together in front of the fireplace.

Today we took Chuck's parents to the airport and then we headed over to St. Paul to meet with our florist. Chuck decided -2 was too cold to be out running errands. This is him, bundled up in my dad's ski jacket, gloves, hat and scarf. And this is INSIDE the car!

On the way back we stopped at Minnehaha falls to see it frozen over, which is pretty cool to see! Although before he got out of the car Chuck asked if it was going to warm up this week--he was told it would get up to about 15 degrees later this week and he thought we should wait until then to get out of the car...My Florida fiance...

I think this could be our Christmas card photo next year!The rest of our week looks pretty relaxing. We are meeting with some wedding person each day (I chose all my flowers today, tomorrow is the meeting with the photographer, and Thursday we meet with the DJ and the catering people to finalize our menus). Tomorrow night we also get to go meet up with my dad's great uncle and aunt, Ernie and Joanne which I am very much looking forward to, they are a wonderful couple who I have always enjoyed spending time with! Friday is our family's Christmas here (since I can't be here on Christmas this year) so we are looking forward to that as well!