Minnesota & The Mall of America

Last spring, we promised the kids that we would travel to Minnesota to shop and play at the Mall of America.  Instead of spending money for birthday parties, we put some money aside to use for our time at the Mall.  We looked at our calendar and decided to wait until after school started.  We decided the best time to go would be Columbus Day Weekend.  Even with all of the medical bills we were paying, we decided to go through with our original plans.  We had a big garage sale and used the proceeds from that to follow through on our promise to the kids.  We contacted some friends from the Twin Cities and they graciously hosted us for the weekend.  We started our weekend by heading out at 6 am Saturday morning.  One of our stops was at this rest area on I-380 (click through the pictures, it is a really cool stop!).  It was redone in 2012 to honor artist Grant Wood. 

 We made another stop along the way in Clear Lake, IA to visit the wreckage site of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and "The Big Bopper". 

After some history lessons of Grant Wood & "The Day the Music Died", we traveled into Minnesota...only to be stopped by construction!  We took a detour and found our way to the Mall.  We shopped to our hearts content...okay, we didn't really, but we browsed a lot!!  We had made a reservation at Rainforest Cafe and went to eat.  That was a fun experience for all of us.

After eating, we walked back to the Lego store and The American Girl store so the kids could spend their money (selling some of their old toys!). 

We ended our Saturday night in Minnesota by driving to the home of Dartmoor Dreamer (Karrie & Patrick).  They were such a blessing to us all weekend!  Not only did they open their house for the weekend, they shared their Lego collection with the kids, cooked meals for us and were wonderful company!

Sunday morning started with a delicious pancake & bacon breakfast.  We then headed to the Mall to play at the Sea Life Aquarium and Nickelodeon Universe. 

We rode a few rides as a family - including the Pepsi Orange Streak (roller coaster) and the Jimmy Neutron's Atomic Collider.  We soon realized that some of our kids LOVE the thrill of the ride, while others don't! We were blessed by a few extra tickets for rides & tickets to the rope course after we sat out a few rounds on the Orange Streak to allow a handicapped women and her son to ride.  It was a blessing to us to see her riding - we were surprised when the employee handed us the tickets and thanked us for giving up our seats!

We ended our day back in North St. Paul finding a few letterboxes and taking the kids picture with the big snowman!

Monday morning - a gloomy start, but it ended up being a great day to head south on the Great River Road.  We stopped in the small town of Pepin to pay tribute to the Ingalls' family.  Here are the kids enjoying the wayside stop of the log cabin of Laura Ingalls. 

Pit stop in Boscobel, WI to find a letterbox

Fennimore, WI

We ended our trip by getting home around 7:30 Monday evening (after leaving MN around 8:30).  It was a long day of traveling and we were all happy to be out of the van at that point!  A big thank you again to Karrie & Patrick.  Without your hospitality, our trip would not have been possible.  God Bless you!!

Michigan for Labor Day

We drove to Michigan to visit family for the Hart Family Reunion.  It was a fun time of playing games, relaxing in the pool and eating lots of yummy food!  I realized after we got home that we hadn't taken any pictures of the reunion!!  I don't remember anyone having a camera out all weekend.  I guess we have the mental memories!

Michigan Welcome Area

Stopped at Cracker Barrel to buy our traditional Candy Sticks

Here is Will, making a fort out of his bedding.

We stayed an extra day since it was Labor Day weekend.  Most everyone else lived within a few hours of where we met...however, we were a day's drive away from home, so we decided to make the most of our time there.  On Sunday (after saying goodbye to everyone), we headed to Lake Michigan.  We stopped in Holland to visit the Dutch Windmill Island Park. 

Windmill Island has an old carousel which is really tame in carousel terms...The kids had fun coming up with ways to entertain us every time they came around.

One of the first times around, Will says, "This is unbelievable...is this what we paid for?"  It was worth every penny we paid...because these pictures make me laugh every time I look at them!

We then drove toward Holland State Park so we could climb to the top of Mt. Pisgah.  Beautiful views!

Back down at the bottom...

We headed back to the hotel for dinner and swimming.  The next morning, we woke up and started heading towards home.  We made a few stops along the way, including the Prairie Wolf Park in Caledonia, MI to find a brand new Letterbox series, "Little House 'at' the Prairie".  It was a wonderful park with prairies...

 Woods with neat rock formations....

And LOTS of wildlife! 

Notice the big grasshopper?

Will caught a frog!

We even picked some apples!

Even though we were at the park for a few hours, it was well worth the stop.  The stamp images were beautiful, top rate!  The walk was brisk and wonderful and the nature experience was well worth our time.  The kids loved it!  An added bonus was running in to other letterboxers on the trail!!

May I Have This Dance?

Matt took the 3 girls to a special "Father/Daughter Date Night" at Chick-fil-A.  In the past, they have had a dance floor to allow the dads a time to dance with their daughters.  They didn't do that this time, so Matt asked each of the girls for a dance once they came home that evening.  It was very special for each of them.

After the girls were done, Will went up to Becki and asked her for a dance...

And then he broke out some of his own moves!