Wedding in Minnesota turns into a summer vacation
Our cousin Christin was getting married on June 17th in Minnesota so we decided to go and make the trip a little mini vacation. We jumped on a plane with Maw Maw on June 15th and headed to Minneapolis. Once we landed we drove to St. Cloud which is about an hour outside the city. We rented a lake house with Aunt D and Uncle Ed. The house was a cute little house that had a beach with a dock in the backyard. The house was fun of fun things for the kids to do (a dollhouse for Addie, train table for the boys, bikes, a keyboard, dress up clothes, carpet ball, archery, canoes, and fishing poles). From the moment we arrived the fun never stopped...
Bob and Nolan posing by the water
Just down the road from our house was a strawberry farm. It opened the day we arrived so we drove over and picked strawberries. They were delicious. In my mind I thought this activity would last about an hour...turns out we can pick strawberries quickly...15 minutes from getting out of our car, picking, paying, and back in our cars.
What a crew we had!
We ate strawberries for days and days...We even made strawberry daiquiris...they were delicious.
Drinks by the lake!
From time to time the kids would disappear and come back dressed up and in character. We would laugh at the combinations they would create.
At the end of the dock from the moment the kids woke up they would beg to go fishing. We would put kernels of canned corn at the end of the hook and within minutes a fish would be on their hook. This worked out great because their attention span is quite short.
Landon caught this long skinny fish we thought it might be a northern pike.
We loved how excited all the kids were when they caught a fish.
In the garage there was a keyboard set up where the kids would go to have a jam session. There were times when you could even catch Bob dancing as the kids played on the keys.
The kids had a blast playing carpet ball.
Fishing again...
One of the great perks was that the cable signal wasn't very strong so watching TV wasn't really an option. We were kinda unplugged while we were there with an exception to dance parties to Minecraft parody songs on Youtube.
In the lake there was a floating dock that we would swim or paddle to. The boys loved to take their fishing poles out and fish from the dock too!
Aunt D knocked it out of the park when she brought water balloons! There was quite a bit screaming and laughing as they chased each other around the yard!
Landon and Carter were brave enough to paddle out on the lake all by themselves!
Finally it was time for the wedding...
The ceremony was on a golf course with a beautiful fountain in the background.
With any wedding where you are taking your own kids, you worry that they are going to have a hard time with all the waiting. Thank goodness we packed a bunch of books, games, fidget spinners, and cards to keep everyone busy since we were there from 4pm-10:15pm!!!!
Aunt Patty with Maylee
The reception was in the country club with a beautiful set up of lights and chairs with simplest decorations! In the bathroom they had free bandaids which became a party favor for the boys late night. The boys loved the reception dancing and became the entertainment for all to watch. The food was Mexican theme...it was yummy!
This is the only picture from the wedding of the bride and groom...I stole it from Facebook because I didn't want to take my phone in and take pictures so I didn't have any of the love birds.
The day after the wedding we were anxious to be tourists and sight see everything we could in Minneapolis! We hiked to see Minnehaha Falls. It was a beautiful park with a gorgeous waterfall.
At the base of the falls there was even a little wadding area that the boys splashed around in for a bit.
The hike back up to the car was quite a steep hill.
At the park I bumped into a "local" and asked where a good place to eat would be. He directed us to the 5-8 Club. It was a burger restaurant featured in many food shows and the food was great!
Next we took a walk at the sculpture garden to see all the unusual pieces of art work. We parked in a parking garage and when we returned Bob and Carter went up to get the parking ticket and the rest of us couldn't remember which floor we parked on. We spent about 15 minutes riding the elevator getting on and off looking for our car...Thank goodness we were making enough noise on the elevator that Bob heard us and told us which floor to get off on. We laughed so hard!
Our last stop was The Mall of America!!! Wow! We were amazed by the size of how big it is and the kids were blown away by the amusement park inside!
Carter and Landon thought they were hot snot because they could ride all the rides because they were tall enough.
Addie, Lincoln, and Nolan had a blast on the smaller rides.
Carter rode the SHELL SHOCK ride. This ride went super high and made me a little nervous but we was fearless.
Nolan requested that Landon ride with him on the trucks.
We had a great time while we were there but the time just went by way too fast.
Bob and Nolan posing by the water
Just down the road from our house was a strawberry farm. It opened the day we arrived so we drove over and picked strawberries. They were delicious. In my mind I thought this activity would last about an hour...turns out we can pick strawberries quickly...15 minutes from getting out of our car, picking, paying, and back in our cars.
We ate strawberries for days and days...We even made strawberry daiquiris...they were delicious.
Drinks by the lake!
From time to time the kids would disappear and come back dressed up and in character. We would laugh at the combinations they would create.
At the end of the dock from the moment the kids woke up they would beg to go fishing. We would put kernels of canned corn at the end of the hook and within minutes a fish would be on their hook. This worked out great because their attention span is quite short.
Landon caught this long skinny fish we thought it might be a northern pike.
We loved how excited all the kids were when they caught a fish.
In the garage there was a keyboard set up where the kids would go to have a jam session. There were times when you could even catch Bob dancing as the kids played on the keys.
The kids had a blast playing carpet ball.
Fishing again...
One of the great perks was that the cable signal wasn't very strong so watching TV wasn't really an option. We were kinda unplugged while we were there with an exception to dance parties to Minecraft parody songs on Youtube.
In the lake there was a floating dock that we would swim or paddle to. The boys loved to take their fishing poles out and fish from the dock too!
Aunt D knocked it out of the park when she brought water balloons! There was quite a bit screaming and laughing as they chased each other around the yard!
Landon and Carter were brave enough to paddle out on the lake all by themselves!
Finally it was time for the wedding...
The ceremony was on a golf course with a beautiful fountain in the background.
With any wedding where you are taking your own kids, you worry that they are going to have a hard time with all the waiting. Thank goodness we packed a bunch of books, games, fidget spinners, and cards to keep everyone busy since we were there from 4pm-10:15pm!!!!
Aunt Patty with Maylee
The reception was in the country club with a beautiful set up of lights and chairs with simplest decorations! In the bathroom they had free bandaids which became a party favor for the boys late night. The boys loved the reception dancing and became the entertainment for all to watch. The food was Mexican theme...it was yummy!
This is the only picture from the wedding of the bride and groom...I stole it from Facebook because I didn't want to take my phone in and take pictures so I didn't have any of the love birds.
The day after the wedding we were anxious to be tourists and sight see everything we could in Minneapolis! We hiked to see Minnehaha Falls. It was a beautiful park with a gorgeous waterfall.
At the base of the falls there was even a little wadding area that the boys splashed around in for a bit.
The hike back up to the car was quite a steep hill.
At the park I bumped into a "local" and asked where a good place to eat would be. He directed us to the 5-8 Club. It was a burger restaurant featured in many food shows and the food was great!
Next we took a walk at the sculpture garden to see all the unusual pieces of art work. We parked in a parking garage and when we returned Bob and Carter went up to get the parking ticket and the rest of us couldn't remember which floor we parked on. We spent about 15 minutes riding the elevator getting on and off looking for our car...Thank goodness we were making enough noise on the elevator that Bob heard us and told us which floor to get off on. We laughed so hard!
Our last stop was The Mall of America!!! Wow! We were amazed by the size of how big it is and the kids were blown away by the amusement park inside!
Carter and Landon thought they were hot snot because they could ride all the rides because they were tall enough.
Addie, Lincoln, and Nolan had a blast on the smaller rides.
Carter rode the SHELL SHOCK ride. This ride went super high and made me a little nervous but we was fearless.
Nolan requested that Landon ride with him on the trucks.
We found a garden in the middle of the neighboring town so we snuck down to explore.
We had a great time while we were there but the time just went by way too fast.
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