Many Smiles in the Minne-Apple

You win some. You lose some. But sometimes you have a weekend where everybody wins – eventually.

We arrived in Twins Territory and our hotel in midafternoon Saturday. I was excited we could see Target Field from our hotel room – as advertised!

Cool to be right in the heart of the atmosphere.

After we got settled, we headed to a nearby pub to meet up with Casey and Emily for some pre-game apps. A very short walk from there to the field.

So we had time for Robyn-forced photos!

There were even a few new props that got me excited!

Saturday was Military Appreciation Night at the field.

This included a unique flyover with military helicopters. Very cool.

Our seats were in the front row of a second-level section on the third-base line. Close to Jim's Cincinnati Reds' dugout. At least he had something to smile about. A pitching change for the Twins was a common occurrence Saturday night!

Still amazing to be there, win or lose.

And boy did we ever lose! But great to catch up with the kids for a few hours. And Jim had plenty to smile about with his victory!

Sunday morning was the breakfast of champions at the hotel. Pretty fancy for a continental breakfast, eh?

The stadium was just a mile's walk away so we headed over there so we'd have time to soak in the sights. Including the Bob Dylan mural. Holy amazing!

There's a big fun and games area for all ages on the north side of the stadium. This must be extreme bags because they're throwing coach pillow-sized bags!

Lots of music was rocking the pre-game area – including some beats from our Skol Line!

I can't describe U.S. Bank Stadium in simple teams. It's just such a unique architectural park. Just awesome.

 

Getting our game day faces on!

All the cool glass features had me drooling. I could spend hours taking pictures of this place.

And the Minne-Apple downtown skyline is reflected in the windows, too.

Inside the stadium, we got to walk around a bit and see the highlights – including the local FOX guys doing their pre-game broadcast.

Found our seats! See where the lady wearing the #43 jersey is standing above Bud Grant's name? Our seats were front row to the right of his name.

Nothing between us and our Vikings but a piece of glass. Yup, those pesky railing obstruct the view sometimes. So let's have a scared-of-heights Robyn plop down on the "safe" side of the glass non-railing.

Thank goodness we got there early enough for me to have plenty of time to get used to it. Thankfully!

Also, we got our shirts several years after, I'm sure, another quest for a Superbowl trophy fell short. Or went wide right. They pleadingly say: "Just one before I die." We are hopeless optimists.

Since this was the season home-opener, they did a lot stuff before the first kickoff. Including... wait for it...

Snow inside the stadium!! What?

Yup, they were representing Norse blood with that. It was time bits of foamy-type flakes that disappeared after impact. What a crazy cool thing to do now that we're back indoors!

I began to love my unobstructed view. 

Specially loved that we scored first (despite way too many red uniforms in the stands).

Totally reminded me of the Dome days and how loud we'd get it!!

And I was thrilled to finally get to participate in person with the Viking fan's SKOL clap. So cool!!

And we had plenty to SKOL about – including a Justin Jefferson 98-yard touchdown. I'll never top as one of the greatest plays we've witnessed in person! 

It was exciting to upset the 49ers with a nice win – and fun to have my Twins finally winning at the same time.

I guess everybody does win! Thanks, MN!

I'll Take The Combo x 2

It just so happens that less than 2 weeks after son No. 1 moves back to Minnesota with our beautiful daughter-in-law, my Twins are hosting hubby's Reds at Target Field. 

So we decided a few weeks back that we'd go to these baseball games and invite the 3 brown-eyed bandits and their ladies. It happened that it only worked out for the newlyweds to join us Saturday night. 

So we thought... let's take this Twins-Reds combo weekend into a Minnesota combo weekend. I mean, what are the odds the Twins and the Vikings both play at home at noon?

So Saturday is baseball and Sunday will be football – our first ever visit to the new U.S. Bank Stadium! We're pretty excited!

And our hotel is within walking distance of both events, so our belated summer getaway is working out just fine. As long as I end up with a Minnesota Win-Win Combo at the end of it! 

Fired Up

It just so happened that today was a day to be fired up about a few things. I mean of course at work we continued with our very fun United Way campaign. But after work, we had our Ladies League finale.

As it turned out with the rankings, my partner Marigene and I were set to play WITH my friends Sara and Michelle. She couldn't make it, so Trisha, who I golfed with during couples league, filled the spot. We had a great time. And I think finished 3rd in the scramble category. Either way, we all had fun.

The fun part was seeing this amazing water hole that had been just sand last week until our hubbies helped install a ton of sod. It looks so good!

Especially at sunset angle when we've really never had a pond to reflect off of!

Of course, sunset on any hole is a pretty way to wrap up a long summer of league. Thank goodness we didn't have to follow our balls at this time of night! Enjoy the campfire picture up top from my backyard. Let's appreciate night-time colors of any shade!

Red Sky in Morning...

When I turned onto Deer Road just before 7 this morning, I saw a colorful sunrise. Not so much the clouds today, but the sun. I stopped to take a picture with my phone and really zoomed in. It was a definite red sky.

According to all the fokelore, a red sky mean's take warning... Or a red sunrise actually can mean that a high pressure system (good weather) has already passed, thus indicating that a storm system (low pressure) may be moving to the east. A morning sky that is a deep, fiery red can indicate that there is high water content in the atmosphere. So, rain could be on its way.

I zoomed out and it ended up looking more orange and yellow – not red really – so I figured we were in for an OK day.

Not that I had anything outdoors planned anyway. But a bunch of us marketing writers did eat outside in the courtyard for lunch today. So it was nice that the red sky at morning wasn't too much of a warning.

After work, I had to deliver some senior photos (on flashdrive) and then had choir practice. With my tight time schedule, I skipped our monthly Girls' Night Out, but just happened to catch a few still gathering on my way home. 

Yup. Ignore that Farmers' Almanac B.S. and just enjoy each day to the fullest! No matter what the color is!

Charity Combined with Clarity

My company takes our United Way campaign very seriously. So thankfully today, that meant a scoop of delicious King Cone ice cream – for a good cause of course!

It also meant raffle baskets and thanks to our marketing department, an incredible book fair. Oh gosh, if you have a favorite author or book title in mind, you need to let me know ASAP as this sale/fair only goes through Wednesday!

Of course my clarity in life came on the golf course after work today. A bit windy so there were actually waves on the water holes. But not bad versus the super high humidity and temps of previous weeks.

Of course, we're still so blessed we get to golf at SentryWorld and play the back 9 for league just enough to experience an appreciate the Flower Hole.

Still looking pretty in September!

Something my two black thumbs could never accomplish!

Since were into mid-September almost, we've got the bonus sunset views.

And wildlife, too! We loved that they didn't care about our tee shots. There was obviously tasty in the grass by the 18th tee box!

I had a great round – despite some required mulligans to keep me happy. Worked out just fine to cap off a day of doing good for United Way. 

More to come for the next 2 weeks. Hope you all have a chance this time of year to support a very good cause!

Different Kind of Fall Colors

Most of us love the colors of autumn. Of course, the warm hues of maple leaves come to mind first. But today, there were some different colors for me.

First of all, the faded yellow rose each of us 8 kids received at Mom's funeral a month ago. I know it's time to go out with this week's trash. But I'm grateful to feel her presence in my kitchen for a few weeks.

And while I can't keep up with what's happening on the planet, I appreciated this colorful drive home after a photo shoot tonight.

I was definitely confined to the views I could catch on the drive home. 

In fact, when I pulled over to catch this shot, helpful pickup drivers from both directions were concerned if I had car trouble since I had my flashers on. I am quite sure they had no appreciation for my answer that "I just stopped over to take a picture of the ball of fire in the sky."

Their loss, right? I mean, talk about glorious fall colors!

Of course, there was a sliver of a moon making his presence known simultaneously. No offense, Mr. Moon. I just need to soak in the shades of autumn first!

Hope you all got a glimpse of something pretty today!