Labor Day. When we celebrate...laboring.

But first, let's take a moment to acknowledge that little Joe has found his soul mate. Too bad she is already married to big Joe!

Labor Day found us back in the beautiful Minehaha State Park for a bluegrass festival. Neither Dave or I have had much exposure, but Joe Smith is a big fan and he and Patti fly all over the country for conventions (she takes along crochet and ear plugs, in case it starts to annoy her haha!), and we lucked out that St. Paul had a festival this weekend that coincided with Joe's birthday and he couldn't resist a visit. That was kind of a long story but there you have it.

We liked it! We stayed for the whole shabang - 1-6 o'clock. But it wasn't just music.

There was dancing.

 And vendors. Here are the Josephs sharing a monster cookie. Notice the fit elderly bikers sitting behind? They are EVERYWHERE! Did you know that the twin cities (St. Paul and Minneapolis) are the healthiest cities in the US for the third year in a row this year? According to the US Fitness Index, in this article. Look at me, all doing my research! Where's my cookie?! mmm cookies.

 

Collecting acorns. Doesn't Pat have beautiful hair?? She is growing it out to donate to wigs for cancer patients. For the tenth time! That is just typical Pat - a true humanitarian, but the animals-included type. Humanimalitarian? Works for me.

 A charming sea food place in the middle of the park, where millions of Minnesotans park their environmentally friendly, exercise-inducing bicycles. 

Riley also had a blast.

We found a professional bubble man and Riley busied herself destroying all his best work.

She played in the river, which is a lot warmer than UT rivers because, you know, the water isn't glacial melt-off.

Horded the fried cheese curds all to herself.

We had a great time. And Patti didn't need her earplugs once - all the bands were really good! Of course, the company is what really makes it, and we had such a nice visit with the Smiths. It was sad to say goodbye. I hope they, and any other friends or family so inclined, won't ever hesitate to come for a visit - we really miss our peoples. (A Somali lady in church prayed in sacrament that she was glad to be back with her peoples. We loved that. Will probably be using the phrase more in future.)

Remind me to get the Cafe Rio recipes we used up on here too because we had a celebratory feast with the Smiths and it was just the ticket. Oh so much nostalgia in one weekend!  Its very good for me.