What do you do with a Brooke?

This past weekend, we had a few very exciting guests visit...Brooke, her husband Mac, and their new puppy Lucie! For those of you who don't know, Brooke and I have been friends since we were respectively 2 and 3 years old. We even had sleepovers at the tender age of 3 (which, now that I almost have a 3-year-old I realize that our mothers must have been very brave and more patient than I'll ever be!). Our favorite joke (authored by one of our more witty neighbors) was, "what do you do with a Brooke? Bridge-it! We definitely thought it was hilarious and I have so many fun memories doing pretty much everything with this girl. It was so great seeing her for a few days and she (and any other friends who want to make the trip) is definitely welcome anytime!

So, I was being my disorganized self and didn't actually take any pictures with Brooke (she did and is sending me some). While they were there, we drove around downtown St. Paul, went to the Basilica, and the Sculpture Garden which is pictured below. For those of you not familiar with Minneapolis, this huge spoon and cherry are one of the landmarks of the city. Anyone up for ice cream with that?

Here's their cute new puppy Lucie. She was so sweet and didn't even bark or have any accidents in the house! Rachel loved following her around and Ian was even watching her, probably trying to figure out what she was.
It's definitely starting to feel like fall in the Twin Cities. Here are some of the many geese that are starting to migrate. Here Rachel and Justin are getting a close-up view (and some mighty smelly shoes!).