Texans should be forgiven for harboring a little resentment toward the Land of 10,000 Lakes. After all, when Adam and Jenny Max left Austin for Minneapolis in the summer of 2005, it broke up the one-hit wonder known as Ausbats. I had a homeschool conference in St. Paul last weekend, so it gave Brandi and me an opportunity to go pay them a visit.
Brandi and I got to their house late Saturday afternoon and got immediately acquainted with their two children Owen and Audrey. Now, saying these kids are cute is kind of like saying that Ben Sheets is a dubious guy to take in the 15th round of your fantasy baseball draft. (Quick aside...Adam and I had our fantasy draft Thursday night for Adam's "B" league, and it was poorly attended. There were two humans and eight automatons, but with the errors Adam and I made using the draft software, it might actually have been better to be on autodraft.) Owen is really into throwing things, so he and I got along swimmingly, even if he was a bit bashful to begin with. And Audrey crawls all over the place! It's hard to believe that the last time I was in Minnesota, Jenny was about five months pregnant with Owen and I had, just the week before, had a really bad second date with a girl I'd met earlier in the year.
On Saturday evening we had some pizza and played Taboo down in the basement. We also played some Wii Sports. Brandi and I brought our Miis all the way from Austin, which ended up being a lot of fun. I set a new record in Home Run Derby and stormed out of the dugout like George Brett when Adam declared my home run swing to be illegal. And the Lauves got plastered by the Maxes in the first four-person game of video tennis any of us had played.
On Sunday we started off at Edina Grill, which has some of the best French toast I've ever had. Then we went sledding--remarkably, a few inches of snow fell overnight, and even though it started melting before noon, it gave us a nice window to take a couple sleds down the hill. Brandi had never been sledding before, so I really enjoyed seeing her take it all in. Later, Adam and I had a rousing game of Wii Game Party while the ladies went shopping.
Then we all met up at General Mills headquarters. We got to see all the different mascots, the Betty Crocker Mixer show that Jenny is working on, and the experimental cereals that are about to hit store shelves. I won't ruin the surprise, but suffice it to say that gummy bears and peanut butter make an excellent combination!
Every chance we got to play with the kids was a blast. Owen's a rambunctious kid who enjoyed intentionally tripping while running around the house, and Audrey is very talented at putting everything in the house inside her mouth. Adam, Jenny, and Brandi think she may be teething. Owen and I remain on the sidelines of the teething debate, awaiting more evidence.
For dinner Jenny and Brandi made chicken breasts with a tomatillo sauce, along with rice and vegetables. It was so great getting to catch up with a couple people who were such a huge part of the two years I spent in business school. Our lives have all changed in huge ways, but it was great to know that we still have so much in common.
On Monday morning we said goodbye to the Maxes, got checked in for our flight, and headed off to the Mall of America. We rode the SpongeBob Rock Bottom Plunge, and Brandi visited lots of...get this...clothing stores! If you took the roller coasters out of the Mall of America, what you'd have is basically a collection of stores under one roof connected by escalators and featuring a food court.
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