In June, we took a family vacation up to Minnesota. It's a great vacation place for us - we can catch up with old friends, check out places we used to go see, and it's an easy drive from where we live now. I missed taking photos of some things completely, but managed to get pics in other things (I guess that is the way it goes on vacation!).
One of the first stops was to this bike shop. It's on the music video site of one of our kids
favorite songs, and they were pumped to see it in person. Max loves the video and relating to all of the spots in Minneapolis. And, it's pretty funny to hear the kids singing the song while they are on their own bike rides. They were first introduced to the group by
this song. Up to hearing the song, they'd never had either hot cheetos or takis before. They were on the try list this summer (turns out hot cheetos were not a hit, takis, on the other hand proved a bit difficult to find, but made the list of likes for Max, a no go for Alexis).
But back to vacation!
The drive is 6 hours with stops, and we opted to put Max between the girls for this trip. I never seem to catch much of what goes on in the car, but here are some still shots of these two. Max was on a roll, and Alexis found everything he said absolutely hilarious. Tayler on the other hand, was completely out (how she can sleep with all the noise baffles me!). Fun times.
The timing of our trip worked out well for us to catch the
annual bike race. Lorena, I always think of you - it is so awesome and amazing that this was your gig! Walking one of the lakes before the race.
The race was a criterium, so lots of fast bikes for the kids to watch. Super entertaining, and fun to be downtown. We walked around the course to catch different angles for the crit, and to see the booths they had out too.
After the race, everyone was ready for a snack and we fell upon this darling frozen yogurt place. Since Alexis is a no go for ice cream (she's lactose intolerant, but is just fine with yogurt), we're always looking for the alternative to "let's go out for ice cream." Thank goodness frozen yogurt is so mainstream!
The next day the kids and I met up with some friends from our old neighborhood. The kids were so excited to see some old friends and kept guessing to see if they'd look different or the same (and while we didn't get to meet up with all of the old friends from the neighborhood, I'm sure we'll be back to visit again sometime!). We checked out a park that I'd actually never been to before, and the kids had a blast. It was HUGE, but gladly was fenced in, so while you couldn't see your kids at all times, you at least knew they were (somewhat) contained!
Later that day we caught back up with our bike riding hubby and headed to the classic tourist place in Minnesota - the Mall of America, where they fit in a log ride.
Hanging out at the science museum. The germ exhibit that Max was fixated on when he was 4. He was glad to see it was still there (like we'd really been gone that long!).
At some point of the vacation, we also went to the water park of America. Alexis LOVED all of the smaller slides, and I was surprised that Tayler was daring to go on all of the little kid slides too. Mike and Max were off doing the big ones, and of course I took no pictures (all time there was spent keeping the one year old alive!).
We also spent some great time with friends - of course, I took NO pictures! Except as we were leaving, I made Mike pull over while I snapped this shot. Just a small pond mixed in the suburb, but a reminder to me of the beauty, and how it is mixed in between everything else.
On our last day, we headed to a favorite small town that borders Wisconsin. The kids played at a park they loved there, and we caught the beginning of another race. From then, it was heading back to the car for the drive home - and back to reality!
How to entertain a 1 year old in the car - stickers!
The trip was a success! Super grateful we were able to create these memories as a family. Found Alexis the next day catching up on some missed sleep!
3 comments:
I laughed when Mike told me that you made the car rides so fun, that the kids would rather drive to Salt Lake then fly. Maybe after kid #3, Lorena will decide to do some stage races again!
from Lorena: You'll have to share your secrets to such road trip success. Seriously!
Your pictures of the race made my heart start pumping. How fun that you guys got to go watch. It's easy to see why you loved Minnesota so much and great that you've already gone back to visit. Was it purely for pleasure or somewhat work related?
Ha! Completely for fun. Although Mike did stop in to the office. We had some free hotel points and thought "why not use them there?" Funny that they actually like the car, right? Who knew.
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