Centennial Lakes Park, Apple Jack Orchards, & Woodland Hill Winery

Today we intended to have some fun and play miniature golf on an 18-hole course of real grass at Centennial Lakes Park in Edina, MN (http://www.centenniallakespark.com/). When we showed up today we found out the course is closed for the season. We walked around the park anyway and even saw a wedding taking place in the amphitheater.

















Since we weren't able to play miniature golf, I convinced Josh that we should find a local apple orchard to go get some Minnesota Honeycrisps (fun fact: Honeycrisp Apples were developed at the University of Minnesota - http://www.honeycrisp.org/herit.htm and http://www.apples.umn.edu/). We drove out to Apple Jack Orchards in Delano, MN (http://www.applejackorchards.com/)and it was insanely packed! We got our apples, apple cider, and a few other goodies and then got out of there!

On our way out of the orchard, we decided to stop at a local winery, Woodland Hill Winery (http://www.woodlandhillwinery.com/). On our way there, we saw a bald eagle!



We can't take credit for this photo (courtesy of Google Images), but we were so amazed that we saw one flying low near the road on the way to the winery. Apparently Minnesota and Wisconsin are home to the largest population of nesting bald eagles in the United States outside of Alaska. It was neat to see one.

We didn't spend much time at the winery, but we did pick up a bottle of red to share over dinner tonight. We might go back for one of their dinner events sometime soon.

Project: Basement

This weekend we (OK, well mostly Josh) worked on the basement. As a reminder, this is what the basement looked like when the house was on the market:




Here's what it looks like now, after adding our own furniture, some new curtains and lighting, & our computer and TV:







I think Josh tackled this so he had a nice place to watch football this weekend. :)

Poker with the Stars (kind of...)

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Today I was invited to the Trent Tucker Celebrity Charity Poker Tournament (http://www.trenttucker.org/youthprogram.html). Having NEVER played a hand of Texas Hold'em before I didn't think I would hold out very long, but thought it might give me a good chance to see some famous people (http://www.trenttucker.org/celebrities_2008.html). I managed to last a good hour and a half at the table, until finally blowing it. Good night, great cause.





One of my few chances to actually see Michael Jordan at this event. It was cool that he was there, but even better that he got knocked out of the tournament by a Regular Joe (unfortunately not me!).

Here are some pictures of some other celebrities that were at the poker tournament:

JB Bickerstaff - the celebrity at my table.

Former NBA-ers: Brad Sellers, Ron Harper, Charles Oakley.


Minnesota Timberwolf: Corey Brewer


Me going all in and losing.


Me and Marcel Luske (professional poker player) after we both got knocked out of the tournament.

Project: Dining Room

Here's a room we can almost check off the list of things to improve / redecorate: the dining room. We recently purchased a dining room furniture set and accessorized it. We're pretty happy with it, and here's a peek at how it looks in the dining area:



We have a couple more chairs and a leaf for the table. We can comfortably seat six or more in the dining room. We still need to hang some things on the wall, but we bought the hardware to do that today so that will be completed soon.

More Interior Home Shots

Here are some interior shots of our new home from when it was on the market. We'll call these the "before" shots. Hopefully some "after" shots will follow soon, once we've completed some projects.

Living Room:

Dining Room:

Kitchen:

Upstairs Bedroom:

Upstairs Sitting /Landing Area:

Basement Living Area / Bar:

Basement:

Bathroom on Main Floor:

Home

Here it is...

From the front:


from the side:



the backyard:

The Great Outdoors

Today was a beautiful day, so we took advantage of the outdoors. We drove through downtown Wayzata to enjoy Lake Minnetonka. Then we cruised the Grand Rounds Scenic Byway (http://www.minneapolisparks.org/grandrounds/home.htm) via the Minnehaha Parkway in Minneapolis and stopped at Minnehaha Falls. Here are a few photos of our day.

Us at Lake Minnetonka, Port of Wayzata:

Stopping at Minnehaha Creek along the Minnehaha Parkway:

Minnehaha Falls: