Minnesota Recap

We had the most amazing time with all of our friends and "family" in Minnesota all last week. It was a event packed week for sure and we tried to get everything in and still be able to spend time with everyone and I think we did a pretty good job of it.

Here's the rundown:

Friday we got the boys hair cut for the trip and finished our packing for an EARLY morning the next day.

My handsome almost 3 year old...YIKES!

Saturday we got up at 5:30 PST and got ourselves ready then got the boys up right before we left for the airport. Uncle G was there to pick us up right at 6am. We got to the airport in "plenty" of time to get our two bags checked (yes we managed to only have two checked bags thank you) and get through security. Orange County airport has a "Family assist" line to go through security and there was nothing assisting about it. It took us FOREVER to get through the line and we were really organized...it wasn't our first time to the rodeo. as a result we unfortunately didn't end up with as much time as we were hoping for but I did get Keegan fed before we boarded so that helped with one less thing to do on the plane. Aiden we ended up having to feed through take off and that was interesting to say the least. He needed to be swallowing something to help out with his ears and once he was the food game over! I was hoping that he would just drink his water and wait till we could take off our seat belts and have a little more maneuverability but not so much. Feeding him became the only way to keep him quiet for the moment. But I am happy to report that it worked like a charm. Keegan had a GREAT first flight and slept through the first half which was nice. Once he was fed Aiden did REALLY good as well. Got off the flight and our luggage was all there - score! Drew ran and got the rental car and we headed off for the Bartels. It was so great to see Momma B or as Aiden called her all week, "Grandpa" waiting on the porch for us. We got settled in and went and had Dinner with Uncle Steve and Aunt Devon and Aunt Julie came and joined us. It was an awesome day and we all literally crawled into bed that night.

Keegan on his first flight. Despite the frightened look on his face, he did AWESOME!

Keegan moved into a big boy car seat on this trip.

Aiden and Momma B did a puzzle as an ice breaker and it completely won him over :)

Tada!!

Daddy and Keegan played on the LARGE LAWN - something we don't have in CA :(

Sunday we got up and had breakfast and went to church with Steve and Devon and then hung out with them for the afternoon to distract Daddy from knowing that his surprise birthday party was that night. He was truly surprised and we had a great turn out and he was able to get caught up with a bunch of friends all at once. Good times!

Some of the MANY kids at Drew's party which is a completely different experience than the last time we were there. Aiden with Lucy Bartels, Violet Bartels and Gabe Bartels.

Matthew Wick, Lucy Bartels and Aiden

Keegan is contemplating getting involved :)

Monday.....well, Monday didn't turn out quite like we had hoped. We had wanted to do some sight seeing but we ended up in a battle of whits with the almost three year old and I am sad to report that we lost :( Aiden refused to use the bathroom to take care of some his dirty business so we spent the next 14 hours in a stand/sit-off that resulted in the toddler going to bed at 10pm with a pull-up on. FAIL!! Sigh......We did however have an awesome thunder storm that night.

Hanging out at "home" - operation "Wait him out" - FAIL!

Tuesday, determined to have a better day - we decided to let Aiden have an accident and then remove a reward earned the day before in hopes that it would get his attention enough to start to figure this thing out. Jury is still out on that as to whether or not it worked. It was a packed day starting with Drew's meeting with an academic adviser at Northwestern and then we took a tour of the beautiful campus that has been newly updated. New buildings, new landscape and new walking paths and parking lots. That afternoon we went to the Como Park Zoo and both boys had a blast looking at all the animals. Aiden fell in LOVE with the Polar Bears and Keegan seemed to enjoy watching all the monkeys running all over the place which was appropriate seeing as that's what we call him, Our Little Monkey :) Tuesday was also the day that I heard the most beautiful word in the world, "Mama." This was HUGE on a couple of different levels, One, he finally called me Mama and second because he said another two letter sound which means we completely did the right thing by getting him the tubes. AMEN! That night we headed to the Twins game with Steve and Devon. Beautiful stadium but a TERRIBLE game unfortunately. But with really good friends, you can ALWAYS have a good time.

Billy Graham Community Life Center is the newest building on campus which is right in the middle of campus. Home to the bookstore, cafeteria and several classrooms. It didn't replace the student union but is the new social hub

front of Nazareth Chapel

Inside of Nazareth Chapel built in 1921, absolutely stunning!

Nazareth Hall and Courtyard

Daddy sharing his favorite place on campus with the boys ~Reynolds Field

Daddy and his boys!

The Cox Family Minnesota style xoxo

COMO ZOO

Sleeping Lions

and tigers...

and swimming bear.... Oh my!! :)

Along with Monkeys - Keegan's favorite

our Monkey's with some Orangutangs in the background

and Buffalo

and Penguins

and Flamingos

and Seals

and Polar Bears - Aiden's favorite

and Zebras

and Giraffes

Como Park Conservatory

Como Park Marry-go-round

leaving the zoo we think these guys were parked on the side of the road.....only in Minnesota

Pre-game with Daddy's Mini Me21

View from our seats

Awesome stadium!

Wednesday was supposed to be our lounge around the house day and take the boat out then make dinner for the whole Bartel's family and Steve and Devon. We woke up to a really windy morning and pretty choppy water on the lake which is not ideal for a pontoon boat with a 2 year old and 9 month old so instead we hung out, took a well needed nap went to the store to get the goods and then Drew started prepping. Drew grilled some of the largest rib-eye stakes I have ever seen along with some asparagus and some garlic and rosemary red potatoes. So good!!

Thursday we spent most of the day at the Mall of America and man alive is that place HUGE. South Coast Plaza is probably the biggest indoor mall I had been into prior to that and the MOA was like 4 SCP in 1. It was awesome!! We walked the whole thing just so we could say that we did and even stopped to check out the aquarium, play in the huge LEGO store and played in Nickelodeon Land for a little while. We ended the day with dinner that overlooked the whole middle of the mall and I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to see what they do to that place at Christmas time.

Someone actually gets paid to put this stuff together

Aiden playing Legos at the Lego store - HUGE!

Monkey, Daddy, Bug and Woody

The famous homerun homeplate

Doesn't every mall have an amusement park in the middle of it?

Marry-go-round with avatar creatures

Lookin down

Not a bad view from dinner huh?

We woke up Friday morning to a gorgeous glassy lake and decided to take the kids out on the boat and then the rest of Friday day was all about the Minnesota State Fair and that is something that everyone should do at least once in life. The best possible place to people watch bar none!! It was hilarious!! We went with great friends Jeff and Jenn Wick and their absolutely adorable son Matthew. We ate till we felt sick which surprisingly took longer than I would have thought, but it helped that we shared everything 4 ways. We ate cheese curds, lemonade, chocolate covered jalapeno, corn dog, Aussie battered potato's, elk burger, sarsaparilla, sweet Martha's cookies and finally honey ice cream with sunflower seeds. I have to say I was impressed with most of it.

Daddy and Aiden driving the boat

Momma and her boys relaxing on the lake

Aiden and his buddy Matty

Farmer Aiden

Just ONE isle and ONE street of the ginormous Minnesota State Fair

Aiden's finger still deciding if he wanted to touch a 12 hour old piggy

Aiden and Daddy

Friday night was an awesome end of the trip with a good old fashion Northeastern pub crawl. Momma B (aka Grandpa to Aiden) and Papa B (aka Oma to Aiden....too funny) watched the kids and we me the gang out for a night of laughter, memories, stories and of course a few adult beverages. We started the night at Northeast Palace then on to Grumpy’s, Jimmy’s, Knightcap, Shaw’s and ended the night at Gasthof's which was the perfect end to an awesome night. Six bars in 6 hours = an awesome night!

Part of the Pub Crawl Crowd

Reunited and it feels so good ;)

Drew and Juuuulllllllllie

Saturday morning was the guys fantasy football draft and the stories from that were pretty classic. While the guys were nursing themselves back to health and trying to draft respectable teams while taking a "piss" at one another, Devon, Julie and the boys and I had so much fun at our last lunch together. A little girl talk and a couple of lifelong friendships later we said out final goodbyes and headed home to pack and get ready for the flight home. We said our tearful goodbye to Momma B and still can't thank the whole Bartels' family for an unforgettable and abundantly memorable vacation.

Boys saying goodbye to Momma B (aka Grandpa)

All three boys passed out on the flight home

We landed in OC and were greeted by G and Jess which made Aiden's day because he didn't stop asking about them the whole trip - them and "Mickey's house" Every time we drove anywhere in MN Aiden would ask where Mickey's house was.

We can't wait to make this a regular trip every few years or so. MN is definitely a home away from home for us and full of friends we consider family. We thank you and love and miss you all!