A quick trip to rochester

My parents came out for a very quick weekend to see us. It was great to see them. Penny hadn't seen Papa John for a year but she gave him a huge hug. He roughhoused with her all weekend long.

On Saturday we treated them to a "day in the life of the Rochester Strands"

First it was the farmer's market

Penny always has to carry the flag across the street.

It was cold, but you can never judge coldness by my mom's attire. We've taken photos of her in 55 degree weather with ear muffs.

 Then we headed to the library:

The library has added a bunch of interactive stations. This is the science station.

 And then onto swimming class...and it's only 11:00!

Penny enjoyed hamming it up for her audience. 

We then went out to lunch and came home for some games. Penny beat Papa John in princess yahtzee. He had no chance. He didn't even know the princesses names! Penny was in shock.

 I didn't get any other pictures from Saturday. It consisted of a 2 hour nap for Mommy and Penny and my mom made chimichangas. Earlier in the week Chris said "so I'm buying everything for your mom to make chimichangas She won't mind, right?" This is one meal my brother, sister and I love and always request when we visit. Chris loves it even more than I do. I find it a little ironic that our mom is the national health and PE teacher of the year for K-12 and our favorite meal that she makes is a deep-fried burrito. She does make some amazing non-fried vegetarian dishes too!

Then it was story time. Papa John is reading Penny her favorite story: When Pigasso Met Mootise. It is filled with puns that make you roll your eyes...and eye-rolling puns always makes me think of my dad.

On Sunday we were supposed to go to Mankato for the Mankato Ramble 26 mile bike ride. It was 35 degrees and windy so we opted out. We waited for it to warm up and headed to Lanesboro for the day. I don't think I posted about Lanesboro earlier this year. It is the "bed and breakfast capital" There's a 40 mile bike trail called Root River Trail that goes through a dozen small towns. Lanesboro is the biggest one with population of 760 and about halfway on the ride so there are tons of bed and breakfasts, 3 small community theaters and cute knick knack shops.

Penny requested a "piggy ride" right when we got there.

We rented a "surrey bike" notice again my mom as bundled up as possible and Penny not even wearing a jacket. It was in the 60s by this point.

Due to the wind most of the leaves had fallen but we saw some  pockets of color here and there

The surrey had no gears and those hills were rough!

The whole group on the trail

Eating at the little diner. 

 We then headed to the park.

After the park we drove 5 miles to Whalen (pop 60) for their world-famous pie. No joke, this little town's pie shop has been featured in national magazines including Travel and Leisure. I had gotten the blubarb pie last time so I convinced my dad to get it. The whole time he ate it he said to my mom "I wish I had seen that they had strawberry rhubarb  I should have gotten that" Then he had horrible really bad terrible food poisoning all night from the alleged pie. I do not believe my favorite pie at my favorite pie shop poisoned him, but I'm sure we'll hear for years that he should have gotten the strawberry rhubarb. I tried the sour cream raisin pie. It was good, but really different. I don't know if I'd get it again. Chris got the french silk and said he'd drive the hour to Whalen just to buy a whole pie of it.

And that was our weekend...well, actually my parents had one extra day. They did not tell me that they had changed their travel plans to stay all day Monday. Since they both work for the government neither realized that Chris and I work for the normal world that does NOT get off work for Columbus day (I mean we all now know he wasn't the first here, right? why would we get off work?) So my mom took Penny to an indoor bounce playground, lunch, and the playground and my dad slept on the couch to recover from the alleged pie food poisoning.