My Minnesota - January - Winter Walks

I have to admit that we didn't do much exploring of Minnesota beyond our neighborhood during the month of January. I guess that isn't too surprising since it's the middle of winter and just plain cold, but not too cold to walk to the local library which is a few short blocks from our house. Riley discovered the Spiderwick Chronicles books recently so we made multiple trips to the library this month while she plowed through this series.

Make sure to check out where Erin explored this month and follow the blog circle around.

This was a puddle 6 days prior to this picture. January's temp has fluctuated a bit.

Now I have to decide where to explore in Minnesota next! Where are your favorite Minnesota places to check out?  Any places you'd recommend for spring break in March?

My Minnesota - December - Minneapolis Skyways

Once again,  I'm  joining a group of talented Minnesota Photographers in a blog circle focused on the theme of Explore Minnesota. When I started this project, I envisioned weekends hiking up North, but turns out there are all sorts of different ways to explore this state - some less outdoorsy than others, and that's what this month felt like. Make sure to click the link at the bottom of the post to follow the circle around.

When I was a little girl, my mom took me downtown to see the Dayton's Christmas display, walk around the skyways and eat at the cafeteria in the IDS building. I don't know that it happened often, and for all I know it might have been once, but it's stuck out so much in my mind that I knew I wanted my daughter to have that experience too.

We'd been to the Macy's Santaland display a couple times, but Riley was young and didn't remember it. It hasn't changed in years so we hadn't planned on going this year, but then I heard Macy's (formerly Daytons for those that don't know) would be closing so I wanted to go one last time. Plus, I had days to fill over the winter break with my girl.

We started by visiting my office. I work from home now so it was nice to see my co-workers face to face before heading off on our adventure. We slowly walked the skyways, stopping, from time to time to check out Christmas decorations, or go through one of those roundabout doors more than once.

We stopped in the Government Center as I liked the light and the lines in the building when I heard a voice from behind "you're taking pictures of the wrong thing". I turned around to find Gilmore in all his Christmas suit glory. I took a picture at his suggestion and then one with him and my daughter, both decked out for the holidays, and then we continued on our adventure.

Skyways are now my favorite place to take pictures indoors since they have such wonderful light. In fact, I went back the day after this to explore other skyways with some friends.

Minneapolis has an awesome skyway system so I'm sure we'll find opportunities to explore them again.

Make sure to check out the amazing Tina Fisher and follow the blog circle around.

January 4 on 4

Each month I join a group of talented women from Clickin Moms to create a 4 on 4 blog circle showcasing 4 of our favorite images from the last month. Be sure to click the link at the bottom of the post to follow the circle around.

I have to admit that I don't love winter or snow or the cold, but you can find me outside since I love nature and hanging out with my kid... and for an extra push, I love taking pictures of it all. I have plenty of snow pictures from this month, but thought I would feature four from the same afternoon since they represent what this month has felt like before all the holiday activities took hold.

Yup, cold and snowy and finally, officially winter. My daughter corrected us every time we said 'winter' when it was still officially fall so this is a rare moment that I will say that I am so glad it's finally winter. But, now it can be spring. Okay?

Be sure to check out the wonderful Shauna Hargis and follow the circle around.

My Minnesota - November - Christmas Tree Farm

When I was young my dad used to go out to the farm he owned in Wisconsin and cut down 20 or so pine trees for Christmas. He'd give them to family and friends year after year, but at some point the trees started to get a little picked over so we'd cut down fewer. Sometimes they'd be a little thin or crooked or miss a side, but that's what I always knew. Our tree always went in a corner, so you wouldn't really need all the sides anyway...

One winter we didn't go out to the farm to get a tree. The weather was bad, but the trees were also getting a little too big or weren't quite big enough. And then it happened again... and again. We bought trees at local stores during those years, but a couple years after having a kid we decided we wanted to have the whole experience of cutting down our own tree. We thought about going back to my dad's farm, but decided against it. My dad was in his '80's and while we were willing to risk our lives cutting down a tree during deer hunting season (those bullets travel across borders and so do people as we discovered one year), we didn't want to bring Riley out into that. Side note: I wish I had a picture of me in my winter 'farm' coat. The coat is the exact color of deer and the only thing that probably saved my life is that the farm truck was so loud and stinky it made it that a deer wouldn't hang out around it.

My dad sold his farm this past year. I do wish we could have gotten one last tree there, but let's face it... while my dad's trees were free, no one provided Christmas sausage and hot cider. There was no bonfire, or tractor ride or gift shop - all things that we've come to enjoy about this new experience. As much as I'd love my farm tradition to be Riley's tradition, it's nice that we've found a new one of our own.

Obviously, we spent part of November exploring our favorite Minnesota tree farm. Make sure to follow the rest of the blog circle around to see where they explored in MN this past month. Next up is the very talented Tina Fischer from Tina Fischer Photography.