Minneapolis--My thoughts thus far

Well, we've been in the Twin Cities for just over a month now. I can't believe how fast the time has gone by! We are finally getting settled in our new place and it's finally starting to feel a little more like home. To be honest, this place is really starting to grow on me. I know, I know, I'll let you all know what I think when it's 20 below zero in the middle of January. But seriously, this place is actually pretty cool. We're very excited to have some family come out and visit us soon! While the kids absolutely love Skype and think it's the coolest thing ever, they still can't wait to see their nanas and papas in person. A lot has been going on lately, so I'll try to update everyone on a few of my observations thus far:

Work

The new job is going quite well. I feel like I'm adjusting quickly to the new job duties. The people I work with are all pretty nice and have all gone out of their way to make sure that Sara and I feel at home and welcome! My boss is a super cool guy and really makes work fun.


Here I am with Chris Nelson, our facilty supply specialist. We make janitorial chemicals sexy, don't we?



I had the opportunity to visit our branch in Fargo last week. Not a bad little town. Bigger than I thought. No one speaking Fargo-ese with the obligatory "Oh ya, don't ya know". I was disappointed. Might not be a destination point come winter time, though.


The Weather


The weather here in the Upper Midwest is sort of trippy! I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it. Just to give you an example, last Tuesday we had a huge thunderstorm roll through and drop 4 inches of rain at our house. As if that wasn't enough, Thursday night another storm stopped by and dropped an additional 3 inches of rain. Just to give you an idea on how much rain that is, Salt Lake city only receives 16.5 inches of rain in one year! On top of that, it seems like every week we are glued to the TV checking to see if a tornado warning is going to hit. We've already had a close call ( a tornado touched down 5 miles from our house). Sara's mom was here when the tornado siren went off! Hopefully she'll come back again. It scared her pretty good!

Check out this video of a tornado that hit western Minnesota last week. Amazing!

Tornado

Cycling

When I first moved out here, I thought I spend most of my time lamenting the fact that I had moved away from one of the best cycling cities in the US. However, after my first month here, I'd have to say that the Twin Cities is quite the hot spot for cycling. The roads surrounding my neighborhood are quite possibly the best cycling roads I have ever rode on! There is a cool bike shop in my town (Erik's bike shop) that has regular group rides. I've made it out to the Monday and Thursday night rides pretty regularly lately (thanks Sara!) and I finally can feel my fitness starting to return! While the road biking is great, the mountain biking leaves a little to be desired. Nothing beats the trails of Park City or Draper. There are some pretty decent trails not far from my house, but I haven't had an opportunity to try them out. I'll try to get and give 'em a go here soon! There are bike paths everywhere! You seriously could go anywhere you want to go in the Twin Cities without ever having to set foot on a regular road. Amazing!


Here's the St. Paul Cathedral. It's huge! (insert Michael Scott quote here)

Down by the river (Mississippi) in St. Paul. Again, tons of bike trails.


This is the Gateway Trail. It is an 18 mile bike path that stretches from the Wisconsin border to downtown St. Paul. Very pretty!

The kids

Max and Alexis have actually adjust to things a lot quicker than I could have ever hoped! Max has already made a few new friends and regularly tells us that he "loves Minneapolis" and "likes this house better than our South Jordan house". Funny kid! We've really tried to do a lot as a family and we've actually been out to see a couple cool spots around town! There is so much to see here! Max always asks us when we are going to go see the "american mall" (Mall of America). I'm not dying to go there, to be honest.

Here are the kiddos at St. Croix Bluffs State Park not far from our house. Max loved looking for seashells!

Overall, things are great! We feel so blessed to have this opportunity to try out life in a new state for a while! I think everyone should give it a go if they ever have the opportunity!