planetickle: 8.17–8.23 the lakehouse

no, i’m not talking about that ridiculous movie with sandra bullock and keanu reeves.

i’m talking about auntie lisa renting a lakehouse and inviting us up to join in

oh, but first, lydia had a mild fall (or as we say, went “boom”) and was really, really crying….she tends to be a little dramatic, but we could tell she was hurting (and scared). it was almost bedtime so lara decided to give her a bath (since she loves baths) to calm her down. that worked a little bit but we had to step up our game and throw in a popsicle and then she was all good. awesome.

minneapolis got hit with a tornado early in the week and was actually only a few blocks from our house!!! amazing what a direct path they take. i had no idea this was going on until lara called to see if i was ok (i was at home working with the blinds down). here are some aftermath pics we took.

thankfully, no one was seriously injured. the blocks where it went through are now so bare and open feeling. those trees had been there for 80+ years.

sweetie sweets and lydi-bug went a day before me to the lakehouse, and i stayed back to work.

lydia enjoyed kayaking with bree & tia before sunset

and smores on the outdoor fire pit

she also got introduced to play-doh

and played on the beach despite the rain.

& caught a toad

fed some corn to the fishies w/ tia

the rain forced the party inside, including a slide

& the vacation prerequisite of all day snacking

both the house and lake were beautiful.

lydia liked playing peek a boo up in the loft

i got there late at night. the next day lydia played some cards,

while i worked on a new business idea.

and lisa knitted

before we knew it, it was time for lara & i to leave……lydia stayed one more night but we had tix to a show and had to get back. thanks again to the duhamels for having us up. very cool.

before the show we grabbed some dinner at the new barrio in st paul. known as a tequila tapas bar, we stayed away from the tequila and went heavily with the tapas. great food and served quickly. very pleasantly surprised. great vibe and crowd inside. i would definitely hit this place again.

now on to the show. tonight we went to see my all time favorite band- g. love & special sauce. i wish i knew how many times i have seem them live….gotta be over 20 easily. i’ve seen them in nc, sc, va, washington dc, mn, nd, ma & ri……off the top of my head. tonight they were opening for jason mraz at the massively huge xcel energy center.

not a fan of shortened opening sets or large arena shows but what are you going to do? he played about 45 minutes and actually went deep into the catalog for a few old tunes. as always, they worked the crowd well.

here's a clip of him in toronto

he also came out to do a song with mraz and k’naan (the first opener).

mraz was great as well and the place was packed. for all you dudes that are laughing at me for seeing mraz- yes lara introduced me to him and i had only heard the radio songs. BUT, after hearing and seeing his live stuff, the dude is an amazing talent. one interesting thing he did that i had not seen before- he left the stage for the encore and showed up at the back of the stadium for a stripped down acoustic set. very nice.

also during this portion of the program, some d-bag got down on one knee and proposed to his girlfriend.

isn’t that played out and unromantic? sorry, but you just don’t won’t to be “jumbo-tron proposal” guy

on saturday we took the lydster to the ultra hip warhouse district’s red stag supper club for their annual outdoor bloc party

place was packed

……lots of eclectic people,

great music and food. very nice.

lydia with her punk rock tights….stripes = mystery & danger.

the food was very good and well organized. we had some corn on the cob and a lamb burger

checked out the skateboarders

hip-hop act heirespecs performed while we were there.

lydia danced in my arms.

i got a nice city shot and the way back to the car.