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! 

Score: Low, Fun: High

We don't often take bus trips to Brewers games. But when we do, they better be playing one of our teams. And we better be going with good people. 

Today was both. The Brew Crew hosted hubby's Cincinnati Reds for a 1:10 p.m. start. That meant the nice coach bus was leaving Assumption at 7:20 a.m. – totally worth it to not have to drive! If you haven't been to what we all still call "Miller Park," it's a pretty nice place to see a game. For any fan and any weather.

Our group of more than 60 Assumption and Rudolph friends consisted of approximately 56 Brewers fans, 1 Reds fan, and 3 neutral Twins fans.

I even wore black to prove that point. Just here for fun and good baseball.  

We could see pretty decently down the first base line. And we were thankfully in the shade all day. Even though it was only 76 degrees, I'm sure we would've melted in the sun! 

Although there were plenty of hits, a lot on both sides were left on base. Brewers ended up squeaking by with a 1-0 win.

Poor Jim. But at he pointed out, the Reds are still in first place over the Brewers in their division.

Meanwhile, my Twins got slaughtered by the Orioles today so we slipped a half game behind first in the American Central. Good thing it's early July. Lots of baseball left.

And hopefully lots more fun with friends this summer! Hope you had a great weekend.

About Bloomin' Time

It took awhile, but I finally had a day with no concrete plans! And even though Mr. Deck Chair was beckoning me for bonding time, I knew I had other outdoor non-fun to attend to first.

By 10 a.m. I was out there clipping weeds and hauling rock and doing some raking. And much to my sweaty pleasure... NO SNAKES!! I know! Let's celebrate!

When I was done with the hard part, I commenced to the second hard part – finding hanging baskets of flowers this late in the game. I know it's only the beginning of June, but that's late for that kind of search. I just didn't want to do it a few weeks back before I was gone a lot or when the weather was still too iffy going from cold spring temps to warm pre-summer temperatures.

Luckily, I did manage to find some left at Home Depot. Got the porch pot (above) taken care of and 5 hanging baskets out front.

I think with some water and TLC and they'll be fine. And yes, of course, you're seeing purple.

But to represent the current sports season, I got our respective flags up today, too. And yes, Jim is well aware of what the Brewers have been doing to his Reds this weekend. We're both still loyal. Though I realize I should get a matching flag with my Twins' World Series championship years, too. Both will be faded by end of summer anyway. The flags – hopefully not our playoff hopes!

The day didn't leave room for much else. Watched a little golf on TV. Hubby went golfing tonight with friends. And while I called my mom, I finally spent some time with Mr. Deck Chair.

About bloomin' time!

The Gasoline of Life

Love when local businesses have inspirational or just plain factual signs. This is 100% what I needed after church today. And it was actually cheaper than a gallon of gas! That's telling you something!

We haven't tipped the $5 mark for regular unleaded gas here – yet. But it's so close. I wish coffee would fuel my car as much as it fuels me. Did you know a gallon of gas only cost 31 cents in 1963? A cup of coffee – 35 cents!

Why do we care? Because also in 1963 a certain someone came into this world. On this very date!

Yup, someone is spending his last year in his 50s. I was just wiki-researching his birth date and it turns out Jim was born on the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. The fact that that is a reference point on his birthday seems way too historic for my taste!

Probably the coolest fact was the day before his birth. On July 2, 1963, baseball pitchers Juan Marichal of the San Francisco Giants, and Warren Spahn of the Milwaukee Braves faced off against each other in a National League baseball game that one author would later call "the greatest game ever pitched". Tied 0-0 after nine innings, the game was won in the 16th by the Giants on a home run by Willie Mays. A perfect stat for my baseball-loving man!

Of course what he enjoys about having his birthday on the 3rd is that he always has the day after his birthday off! Thank you, America!

He didn't exactly whoop it up today, though. He had to be the lector (or something like that) at 5 p.m. church so he was well-behaved all day, relaxing on his recliner with some John Wayne on TV and listening to his Reds baseball on Sirius radio. I offered to take him out after church, but he was fine with just staying home. 

So I went to King Cone myself in observance of his special day. After all, ice cream is the gasoline of life when the coffee shop's closed. And sometimes even when it's open.

Game On, Right?

The Olympic torch – aka my golf tee and the hazy sunset – is still burning and the games are still on. And they've been messing with my sleep and blog schedule, though. That and the new season of "Robyn takes senior pictures" has begun.

Had my first session last evening with a girl named Robin – so you already know she's adorable, right? It went very well. She couldn't take a bad picture. Had some fun in the water, by the water, and on the volleyball court. A few faves...

Then, as we wrapped up, we were blessed with another beautiful sunset courtesy of (unfortunately) those Canadian wildfires. So a few images from the parking lot of Nekoosa High School...

Pretty, right? I thought it was the perfect ending to the day. But then...

I was up late sorting through some of my pictures, but did watch Simone Byles on balance beam. Hubby had golf league and went to bed before me. I went back out to living room to shut off lights, etc, and my pillow and body pillow were on the couch. Say what?

I march back to the bedroom. "Why am I sleeping on the couch?" 

The answer... Because my Minnesota Twins manhandled his Cincinnati Reds, coming from behind and hitting a 3-run homer in the 9th inning!

So my question is... Hubby is at golf again tonight. His Reds already beat my Twins today. Is it his turn on the couch? I mean this is the Olympic season. Game on, right?!

P.S. Full disclosure: He let me sleep in bed, after all.