st. paul weekend

we spent a great weekend in st. paul with our friends jeff and amy. on saturday morning jeff made us a pancakes and sausage breakfast, which provided a good base for a little browsing at some cool twin cities shops, including crafty planet (the boys were bored to tears, but check out the fabrics on their website!), kilroy's (a self-described "classic malt shop supply" purveyor--we wondered if will knows about this place?) and jeff's local comic and gaming shop (the girls were bored to tears and i have nothing else to say about it).J. and A. live mere blocks from the minnesota state fairgrounds, which was hosting a big classic car show. we considered checking it out up close, but there were so many cool cars on the street that we didn't even need to.
that evening, we had a fabulous dinner--grilled steak and portabellos, mashed potatoes, asparagus, and a chopped salad. here's jeff readying some tomatoes for the salad in their renovated kitchen.
hilarity ensues at the dinner table...


after dinner, we took a walk with oscar over to como park zoo. the zoo was closed for the day, but we were able to walk alongside the wolf enclosure fence. all of the animals were either hanging out in their dens or patrolling other parts of their territory when we arrived, but not a minute later, a wolf undoubtedly sensed the presence of another canine and came bounding out of the greenery. i think all of us forgot for a second that we were separated by two fences as this creature came toward us. approaching the fence, he (male? female? didn't try to check) and oscar sized each other up--no barking, snarling or aggression at all, just curiosity.


after hurrying back to the house in the rain we decided to kick it old school for dessert--baker's square for coffee and pie. later, we played the very fun time's up! which might just replace catchphrase as my favorite party game. on sunday morning we had a delicious late breakfast at jay's cafe in st. paul, said godbye to our gracious hosts and hit the road.