The other side of Lake Calhoun: Architectural Eye-Candy!

Last time the kids and I went for a walk around Lake Calhoun, I toted the camera around and took some more pictures to share.  I've shown pictures of the lake itself, which is just plain gorgeous.  But, one of the reasons I love walking around the lake is because it's surrounded by some of the most beautiful homes that man could ever make!  So, for your enjoyment, here are a few of my favorites:

This one's for SALE!



Sometime in the near future, I'll have to bring the kids for a tour of The Bakken so I can grab some more pictures from the area to show off on here.  The Bakken is a museum of electricity and has a substantial garden to tour as well.  But, the coolest thing about the place...The Bakken is named for Earl Bakken, one of the co-founders of Medtronic, Inc.  Kind of a cool thing. 

And just because I'm super-excited about this, I have something more to share about Lake Calhoun.  Look at these pictures closely:

See all those teeny tiny sailboats?  And the people in kayaks mixed in?  Those kayakers are the instructors and those teeny tiny sailboats are being manned by kids learning to sail!  Lake Calhoun has a Sailing Club that offers lessons!  They even have a parent & child class that starts at age 4!  So, I have plans...two summers from now, when Leo is old enough to learn to sail, the entire family is going to enroll in the parent-child classes and go sailing!  I can't wait!

Last thing for the night...I have a couple pictures of the kids playing at Lake Calhoun's park.  They're too cute not to share!

That park and the Tin Fish ice cream cones are the highlight for the kids!  Oh, and the dogs they see walking around the lake.  One of these days, if I can get up the nerve to do it, I totally want to bring my camera down there and get pictures of all the couples walking around.  The variety of people is amazing and such a beautiful thing to see!

Confession for the night....I kind of, sort of, made an excuse to get out of visiting with my mom yesterday.  She travelled down to stay with my sister and they decided to spend the day shopping.  I wasn't feeling the greatest, but I probably could have sucked it up and gone.  But...I can't deal with shopping with my mom!  She complains constantly and never ends up buying much.  She just points and things and say, "if I were 60 lbs less", "if I lost 40 lbs".  For the benefit of keeping the harmony between us, I took the out.  I'm pretty sure she wouldn't like it if I told her to get over the weight and just love herself as she is at the moment instead of whining about how things would be better if she lost weight.  It's not magic, you know.  You actually have to do the work to lose it!  Anyway, sorry for the mini-rant!  I still feel bad for not spending more time with her though...gotta learn not to feel guilty for so much!