Enjoying Winter in Minnesota...

If you live in Minnesota and have never visited the "Art Shanty Projects" then you must.

 My Niece Jensen and I checked out this quaint little village of artistic ice houses

 located on frozen Lake Harriet in south west Minneapolis.

With temps  barely reaching 20 degrees and a brisk wind on our backs we trudged across the lake to where all the action was

I was a little leary when I saw this sign as we approached the lake, 

possibly planted there as part of the  event

Big cracks in the ice didn't deter us as I'm sure the ice is at least 10" think.... I hoped

One of the events taking place that Sunday afternoon was 

 "SNOWGA"

Folks brought their own snowga yoga mats and many participated.

 Jensen had her own style

 A fire on the ice 

This Art Shanty was named "The Tomb of the unknown Minnow"

"The Tomb of the Unknown Minnow is a mausoleum honoring the sacrifices made by minnows throughout the year as bait for Minnesotans fishing for food and sport. By bestowing rituals reserved for our most honored dead onto a part of nature commonly viewed as insignificant, we hope to engage participants in a deeper understanding of what the natural world sacrifices for our survival and comfort".

 Jensen's dad Darin works with Sarah who is one of the artist that created this Shanty

Here Sarah is giving us a tour of the minnows story. 

This shanty is called "Why not knit"

If you look close you can see the balls of yard at the top. 

Needles are attached to the started projects, you can even knit a few rows yourself. 

Here Jensen threw a scarf around her neck. 

Fun to watch these bikes with winged insects buzzing around the lake 

 Jensen on her monarch bike

 "The Thwing" 

Jensen checked out this wooden swing.

You can read about all the shanty's  Here

 Just a neat looking ice sculpture

Jensen and I 

 I love spending time with this one. 

All kinds of fun for the little ones 

 This was perhaps the most colorful Shanty

The "Monarch Butterfly Migration Shanty"

 "Butterflies are Welcome"

 These monarchs are all made of paper

Someone was creative and made a wheelchair for this elderly gentleman

equipped with skis on the bottom to make gliding along the snow and ice very easy.  

This boat allow for several people to board all at once. 

The captain (and helpers) then rocked it to give the occupants the feel of being on a boat at sea. 

The shanty's are new each year. This is definitely something I plan to revisit in the future.
Have you ever ventured out to see the Art Shanty's? I would love to hear what you think of the event.
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We shop til we drop...

A few times a year I offer to hang out with my 15 year old niece so that 

her Mom (my sister) and Dad can get away for a weekend. 

I love hanging out with J. 

We have a love for shopping and we usually make a day of it, shopping till we drop.

Many trips to the fitting rooms for J

Another favorite stop for us is "Ulta" a giant makeup/beauty store.

This nice make-up lady offered to  "Pop" my eyes!

I learned a few fun techniques from her.

Before we headed home J. talked me into

  driving her to the Humane society so she could pet the animals.

I can't really say no to this girl.

We had left that morning at 9:30 a.m. and didn't return home until about 5:00 p.m.

We only came home because the family dog Ruby needed to be let out and fed.

and well... she needed to have a little attention too.

 Can you see Ruby snuggled up against my foot.

  

Did I mention that J. and I also like to eat....

J. likes talking me places that I've not been before or places I love that Rochester doest have.

This was lunch on Saturday in Maple Grove. 

One of my favorite restaurants is "Granite City"

We both needed take-home boxes 

This was lunch on Sunday....

 A new place for me called "yum"

 and YES, it was "yum" 

 We both had an order of these little burgers and shared and order of fries.

Each burger was 3.5 bites  :)

 Did I mention Starbucks and Caribou?

We do those too  :)

Stay tuned for Part 2 of my weekend with J. as we went to check out the 

Art Shanty Village on Lake Harriet.