Waiting for the Fair to begin...

Aquatennial Fireworks 2014

While we didn't go anywhere to see fireworks on the 4th of July, in Minneapolis they have a summer festival later in July that always ends with a big show.  Uncle Paul recommended the old Northern Pacific railroad bridge at the north end of the University of Minnesota campus (near Dinkytown) and so that's where we ended up tonight.  Excellent location, we will do this again!

Dragonboat Races at Lake Phalen

The schedules and weather have just never worked out to take Wynn to see the Dragonboat Festival in mid-July over at Lake Phalen in St. Paul - but this year we had just enough time and the weather was actually pretty nice.

Wynn's school participates in the event, so we wanted to see their team race.  As the Twin Cities becomes more Asian, the bigger businesses in town have started getting involved too - Wells Fargo, Target, Medtronic, and more, plus the universities.  A number of food trucks were there for the two-day event, and thousands of people.  We got to see a few of Wynn's friends and teachers, too!

That's Wynn's principal beating the drum to keep the team on rhythm.

And Yinghua would win two matches that day!

Sparklers

First time holding fireworks!

Hanging out at the Mall of America