This past week was a week for relatives to get to know Baby Willow. We had a couple of relatives stay with us this past week. They helped fill our house with love. I know it is cheesy, but when people seem to meet Baby Willow you can watch their demeanor change. Then again I am biased.

I say this because nearly all photos were of family and none of the non-family member photos were decent for viewing. There were some highlights to share and I hope that you click the links to see the photos on those sites to get a better idea. A few places we visit stated either no photos full stop or photos only for private consumption. I will be safer and not share those either.

So I will share some places we visited either brief or for an extended period of time. Though honestly we spent time together at home considering it was quite chilly this past week.

A place I like to share with visitors is Ted’s 19th Hole Barbecue. The smells passing by this take out/take away BBQ place are great. It does not look like much, but rightfully the focus is on the food and it shows. I hardly ever see it empty during business hours. The food is generally good though their greens tasted different this last time. This is a place I would recommend to share with non vegetarians. It was a hit with the visitors.

We explored the Minneapolis skyway system a bit during business hours. I like how there are places to eat and shop throughout the skyway if you are there at the right time. I wanted to show the inside of the medical arts building. It is simply a beautiful building inside with the original fixtures and decor. Then we walked around a bit. We happened upon the Foshay tower building. When we investigated,we discovered that the hotel chain that bought the Foshay is a luxury hotel called W Hotels. It was another lobby with old original light fixtures hanging from the ceiling. We thought that we’d have the time to come back with everyone to enjoy the museum but sadly it did not happen. Hopefully I will have a post about it in the future. After a bit of shopping at Macy’s and Target, we were hungry and ate at another national chain called Potbelly Sandwich Shop. After a few hours it was time to return home. If it were warmer we would have also enjoyed walking along the Nicollet Mall. I will admit it is more like a British High Street than a traditional Mall. For those in the US think Michigan Avenue in miniature.

Our visitors needed to purchase a couple of items while here. As it turns out the best option for this was the Mall of America. There are many other malls of a more normal size in the area, but many times it is just easier to head here. I will give note that if you have plans to go I would avoid weekends as the tourists in general choose the weekends for shopping. It gets really packed. Seeing as C and I have not been in quite some time it was good to have a look around at some of the new shops and old favorites. There have been many changes, most notably the north side of the mall has a completely new look. Maybe when Baby Willow is a bit older we can return to our window shopping at this mall. It is a great climate controlled place to get some walking done.

One day C and one of the relatives went to Brit’s Pub to watch a soccer/football match. It is FA Cup time and a great venue to watch a match. Brit’s pub is massive and can be a labyrinth. They both seemed to enjoy their time there.

Our visitors wanted to skate on a frozen lake. It would be a novel experience. C went along with them while I needed to do something else that day. It snowed a good portion of the day, but ice skating was still available on the lakes. C and our visitors chose Lake of the Isles. Fair warning, if you have your own skates it will be a  more pleasant experience. The free skates are skates that were donated by people. This means that there is not a station where people can get you a pair of skates for your size. You will have to go for the best fit, which can take a while.

As a group we went to the MIA. None of us expected the art museum to be so large. There were pieces from different eras and traditions. Though I was surprised at the Modern Art section as I did not see what I was expecting. There is a really cool old elevator if you go around the cafe and past the studios. The three story museum had something for most people. If you are a fan of impressionism then this is a great place for you to visit. The contemporary pieces were quiet interesting. We did not have enough time to explore the non western sections of the museum, but it looked like there were some nice pieces in these collections as well.

After the museum visit we purchased a nice treat at Turtle Bread a local chain bakery/restaurant. It was close to closing time and there was one loaf of bread left. We bought it and a couple of small deserts. The bread was great and the treats were nice. A nice touch to finish our dinner.

As I mentioned in the beginning, we had a relaxed week of hanging out and enjoying each others company. Although we don’t have photos on this post, many of the links have photos for you to get a better idea of places I mentioned.

Bye for now.