At the end of June we traveled to MN for a few weeks for our first visit back since moving last summer. This visit was long overdue.
I flew in with the girls on a Thursday night. Erin was thrilled to be picked up at the airport by Grandma, Grandpa AND auntie Laura. She put on a nice show for them and chattered non-stop despite the late hour of our arrival. Nora was a little less enthused by the whole thing and kept uncharacteristically quiet and still. Both girls did a great job on the flight although it's not exactly fun to fly solo with 2 small children. Everyone finally crashed and slept well, finally relaxed in our home away from home.
When we left Seattle, it was still in the throws of cool, rainy weather. What a delightful shock it was to show up to sunny, hot weather. It was instant summer. The only thing we decided that we could live without was the mosquitoes. Man have we been spoiled by the lack of bugs in Seattle.
Matt flew in late the next night and we spent the next 5 days visiting friends and family, doing some work meetings, having family pictures taken and doing all the shopping I'd be saving up. I somehow managed to visit target 4 times in 5 days. It was just so close. And I miss it so much.
Erin and Nora settled in very quickly. It was strange to see Erin rediscover the house on Silver Lane where she had spent countless hours during her first 3 years. Nora decided that Dean was her preferred alternate adult and he loved it. For me this was such a incredibly wonderful trip. After being away for a year and after all that we've been through this year, I felt such peace at being back. We've come a long way in 12 months and being back was a great reminder of how much we've all grown.
In typically Jan fashion, she had pulled out new books, toys and activities to entertain the kids. Erin found the Three Billy Goats Gruff a particularly engaging tale and for the rest of the trip (and still) you frequently hear "who's that trip trapping over my bridge?" Below Grandma Jan and Erin are playing troll and goat. Guess who's the troll?
One of the highlights of our time in Minneapolis was seeing our St. Anthony friends. It's amazing that in just a few years how many children there are! We had a nice BBQ which included homemade ice cream using the frozen ball. The kids thought it was great and ran off a lot of energy running down the hill after the ball. The ice cream was runny, but no one seemed to mind.
"Still runny."
"More salt Dad"
Grant and Nora don't seem to even need the ball to have fun running down the hill.
Nora enjoying the summer weather. She loves to show her tummy on command.
Matt and Alex contemplating the ball.
Grant is already drooling over the ice cream.
This is Erin's typical silly face. She was in rare form throughout the trip.
Stay tuned. In part 2 of our trip, we head to the Cabino!
