The North Shore of Lake Superior

We had a wonderful visit to the North Shore. Gooseberry Falls was expecially beautiful this time with all the rain we've had this year. It was a heavy rush and gush of water. Goosberry is so fun because you can play in the waterfalls and as you hike you see it from so many vantage points, every view is awesome!

Grand Marais was peaceful, quiet, awe-inspiring, and fun all wrapped into one. I love that we can go here year after year and nothing changes. Except the size of my girls. They aren't little girls climbing on rocks any more. Now they are my size, and I am so glad they still climb and explore!

A Week Full of Easter Celebrations Part 1

We've had a full week of Easter celebrating… so full that I haven't even finished with pictures from visiting Las Vegas yet.

Wednesday Night
I made a dinner to celebrate Passover, though that is not the official day for it.

We ate:
--braised beef
--brown rice
--unleavened bread (I made if from a recipe I found On-line)
--broccoli
--oranges and berries

I found a website with an article called "What would Jesus eat?"  That is what gave me most of the food ideas.

Thursday Night
We had Hot Cross Buns.  Pioneer Woman's Recipe.  They turned out mighty fine!

Good Friday
We decided to head down to the Flower Show at Macy's in the evening.  I have to say this is one of the finer flower displays I've seen in a long time.

The theme: "The Painted Garden"

The colors were super vibrant with a very India-type theme running throughout.

Some of my favorites:
Trees painted in pink, orange, and white, with matching flowers surrounding them.

LOVED the umbrellas!

And fun backdrops to take pictures.

 Our girls were taking the pictures and said, "Dad, you're not smiling big enough!" (above)  So this is what he came up with (below).  I am thinking "Hurry this up!  There is a long line of people waiting to sit here staring at us goofs."  You can totally tell that is what I am thinking.

Afterwards, we ate dinner at Panera's downtown.  They have a very cool building downtown.

Tomorrow we will see if the girls want to die Easter Eggs… does one outgrow dieing eggs?  I am betting not.  We will see what they say.  I would like to die at least one red.  Also found that On-line (what did I do at Easter before we had the Internet???).  The red symbolizes the blood of Christ and His Atonement.  An egg, which represents new life-- died red-- is a wonderful reminder of the resurrection at Easter.

Lastly, on Sunday, we will be attending church, which I am looking forward to.  Easter sermons are full of hope and the reminder that Christ is still living, and that through Him, we will all receive the priceless gift of the resurrection and be restored to a perfect body.

After church, we'll meet up with some friends for Easter dinner.  We're bringing dessert, salad, and rolls.  Can't wait for more baking!

Happy Easter!

Try a New Perspective

Over the weekend we had weather that Minnesota is notorious for: an Arctic clipper with freezing rain first, followed by 4 inches of snow.  It made for a gray day and slippery roads and my vehicle looked like it got dipped in water then put into a freezer.

My girls are growing up and don't go play in the snow quite the way they used to.  I have hundreds of pictures of them building snow caves, sledding, tubing, making snow balls, etc.  Yesterday I decided to take a picture with a different perspective.

It is the two of them looking outside at the storm.  It felt cold and gray.  We were warm inside, and life really slowed down just for the day.  For me, this picture captures that mood.

When you are capturing a memorable event, try a different perspective to capture the mood and it might make for a unique and treasured photo.