Craving Karaoke

A suprise night out with the neighbours! Fun guys for fun times. Off in their bus for destinations unknown. Heading into Minneapolis for some great surprises. Arrived at the restaurant "Crave" a few cocktails to get the evening started!

Cheers!

Mine's a Martini!

Then on to the dinner menu. A great selection! Mixed options - quite American!

Dinner done the next part of the evening was exposed - a short walk to an amusement venue, amazing, full of young things playing an enormous range of games. 10 pin bowing (5 lanes) card games and so much more.

Adult sized Uno cards - someone is hiding!

THEN!!! a really great session in one of the Karaoke rooms, and a little wine to settle the nerves!

Neighbour John and the words!

Kristin crooning!

Neighbour Jill and her one armed duet partner!

Phil's soulful serenade.

Home to a late and sound night's sleep!

Ha Ha - no joke!

A great day sightseeing today! We all climbed aboard the family bus and headed into the twin cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul to see the famous Minnehaha falls. It's cold, the car temp says 32 or 0 in our language and very icy and slippery outside! The falls were amazing with icicles hanging from every crevice!

Most of the family

Two rugged up rascals!

Bit of a story - if you can read it!

A rather quaint sculpture of Hiawatha and Minnehaha in warmer climes! 

Something about brass monkeys!

Then a leisurely trip around Saint Paul to see the older homes and the State Capital building.

No relation to todays activities, but a candid shot of "Last card Annie"

Snow white and the Timberwolves!

Quite a day! Woke to a lot more snow about over night! Driveway clearing and snow ploughs hard at work to clear away the inches from last night.

There's a driveway here somewhere!

A brisk walk in a snowy fantasy!

Bigtime here, the local Minnesota Timberwolves v's the Atlanta Hawks. Great seats thanks Kristin and Gen Mills. Minneapolis was Prince's home town and everyting tonight was Purple! Half time entertainment was all Purple rain! In fact Minneapolis is pretty much a purple town these days.

Timberwolves in white

The full time score was an exciting draw with a 5 minute playoff just as dramatic with the Hawks winning by one point in the dying seconds!

Anne was keen to try a Hot dog! Verdict was the bratwurst sausage was pretty good!

You might notice her bandaged hand! The result of a serious slip on an icy footpath. Hospital and doctor help 1st class and all covered by travel insurance - thank God! Minus 13 outside this morning so extreme care required all round.

Snow white!

After the excitement of last night we woke to a winter wonderland this morning! The locals were all out clearing away the snow from driveways and footpaths and the snow ploughs were at it clearing the roads, even in this little cul-de-sac!

Snow ploughing Minneapolis style

Very efficient service so early

Paths cleared

Driveways cleared

Then, because of the weather we headed to the Mall of America  in Minneapolis city,supposedly the largest mall in America. It did not disappoint! Crammed full of amusement rides and an amazing IMAX theatre where the seats moved with the film.

Taken for a ride!

Even our own store!

Then home in time for a resumption of the snowing! The rain through the day had caused some ice to form so an early evening shift cleared the drive so we could get out safely in the morning. More snow forecast overnight so we're not sure what to expect in the morning!

Phil hard at work

Not sure exactly what the depth is but a rough measure is about 4 or 5 inches!

1 day late!

IT'S HERE!!!

Yes, it's snowing now and should through the night!

All the praying and wishing and hoping has finally produced some flakey film fantasy!

The pictures say it all, but as we finished dinner we realised it was snowing and went outside to have some fun! Sledding, throwing and laughing our heads off! No one else in the 'hood came out - just us antipodean skylarks! Pure white ... soft ... and luscious it is! Fantastic. Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.

1st light!

Snow angel!

Happy angel!

Snow people!

 Light and snow!

What snow fight?

Snowcapped mail!

Christmas Day

What an amazing day, the culmination of days and weeks planning. There was great expectation for Santas arrival and he didn't disappoint! The tree was inundated with presents for everyone.

An early brekkie and then the twins helped divvy out the presents!

Phil got a fondue set which we'll try shortly!

Georgiana is into Pink!

Surprise, the family are off to NY in June for some live Harry Potter fun.

Then the show really started with some bubbly!

Christmas wouldn't be complete with out Anne's Gravlax!

Some amazing ham that was pre-sliced

Supported by stuffed pumpkin, beans, spuds, bread sauce, red cabbage and carrots

Ready to go!

Followed by a magnificent apple pie that Phil made.

A special thanks to Kristin's planning and cooking with sous help from Anne and Phil - such a lovely meal and ambience!

After lunch Anne and I needed a walk to help the digestion. We came across P&K's neighbours Dad John and son Cooper, playing hockey in a frozen pond near their house  - very MSP!

That's it folks, Christmas over and dusted, thanks everyone for making it so memorable. It was white in so much as snow being about but not precipitating as requested on the day. Some serious snow on the way we gather.