After a non existent spring and a June full of flooding and rainy weekends, Mother Nature really came through for the 4th of July.  It was a beautiful weekend.

Thursday:

Happy Birthday America.  We started off our morning on the lake crossing something off my 30 Before 30 List – more on that later this week.  When the sun started to get hot and I started to get hungry, we headed for shore and met my friend, Emma, and her sister, Clara, for brunch at the Bryant Lake Bowl.  Their breakfast food and bloody mary’s are amazing.  While walking back to the car, we noticed the sign below and we had to check it out.

Plus, they were buy 1, get 1 free.  We took an afternoon nap (which hasn’t happened in forever) and then our plans fell through for the evening, so we played Monopoly on the patio and skipped the fireworks (we saw them on Wednesday night and that was good enough.)  This little guy has a rough time on the 4th, so we turned the fan on high and put a movie on to try and cover the noise outside.

Friday:

We worked during the day which was a struggle.  I snuck out and got lemonade and red, white & blue treats for my team that was in the office.  We decided to try something different for dinner on Friday night so we headed to Stillwater.  It’s a cute little town about 30 minutes away from us on the St. Croix River.  We walked down Main St and stumbled across a complementary wine tasting and I found 2 new whites that were phenomenal.  We then climbed 157 stairs for the best view of the little town.  We enjoyed dinner at Whitey’s Saloon and then got chocolates at the Old Fashioned candy store.

We met Annika after her bike ride for some beer at the Lift Bridge Brewery.  There was a local band playing as well that we have seen before and they are really fun to watch.

Good music, good company, good beer.  Yes please.  Plus, Annika introduced me to the Minnesota Tan which is their raspberry beer.  LOVED IT.

Saturday & Sunday:

CABIN TIME.  My sister in law and her family spent the whole week at their cabin and were nice enough to invite us to hang out on Saturday night with them and a few of their friends.  We dropped off the pups and headed up north to Nisswa, MN.  It was a little rainy/cloudy on Saturday, but we still spent time in the lake plus we ended the night with an intense game of Clue.  Sunday was hot and sunny so instead of rushing home in the morning, we hung out in the water, went turtle catching, fished off the dock and had a water balloon fight.  It was the best way to end a fun weekend.

The kiddos fished with these awesome kid’s fishing poles and caught tons of little fish.  This was Grayson’s big catch. 

It was another awesome summer weekend.  I might have to hibernate all week long to recover from all awesomeness that was the 4th of July, but it was definitely worth it.  

Linking up with Sami for another insanely long weekend shenanigans post.