Bluefin Bay April 2015

Luke and I enjoyed a weekend away last weekend. My parents watched the kids while Luke and I headed up to Bluefin Bay to do a little hiking, card playing, hot tubing and relaxing! We did this 2 years ago and had the time of our lives and this year was no different! 

We stopped at the Bent Paddle Brewery in Duluth on our way up and got a growler. When we got to Bluefin we watched the Wild win on Thursday night. On Friday we picked up some breakfast at CoHo Cafe and decided to hike up to Carlton Peak. We had someone from Bluefin drop us off at the Temperance River and we hiked up to Carlton Peak and then down part of the ski trail to Bluefin bay. We got to the top of Carlton Peak at noon, and enjoyed a nice picnic at the top. It was an absolutely beautiful day--sunny, warm (in the 60s)--it was a perfect day for a hike! We spent our afternoon playing cribbage, relaxing in the hot tub and then we finished with dinner at the restaurant at Bluefin!

Saturday we went up the shore a little and hiked up the Devils Track River. It had been a long time since we went on that hike and it was absolutely beautiful! It was a little cooler, but still sunny and nice! After our hike we hiked down by Lake Superior and picked up some agates for the kids. We stopped in Grand Marais for lunch and then headed back for another afternoon of cribbage, hot tubing and dinner! We watched our wedding video and celebrated our anniversary a month early! :) 

On Sunday we woke up to rain, so it was the perfect time to head for home. I missed the kids so I was excited to get back home and spend the afternoon with them. I'm excited to get the kids up to the North Shore and spend some time up there!!

Hiking up to Carlton Peak

The lighting wasn't the best--at the top of Carlton Peak

Hiking up to Carlton Peak

View from Carlton Peak

Picnic lunch at the top of Carlton Peak

Cribbage in the sun....lovely!

On our walk back to our cabin from the hot tub

Our view of Lake Superior at dinner. It was so calm!

"The Bridge" on our hike up the Devil's Track

We found a lot of agates for the kids!

I just love the North Shore and can't wait to get back!

Madelyn's 4th Birthday Party!

On Sunday we celebrated Madelyn's 4th birthday at her house! Since Luke was in Cold Spring the kids and I went to church, grabbed a coffee and a bagel and met Luke at the party. On the chalk board at Caribou the question was "what is your favorite flower?", so Bishop drew one! :)

We had such a fun time at the party! It was a beautiful day and we brought the kids' bikes so they biked around in the cul de sac and played outside in the warm sun! Madelyn had a fun day and got lots of super fun gifts....including a new, bigger bike! She picked it up pretty quickly and was riding around on her new bike!

Bishop's Flower!

Great Grandpa Ray playing bball with Jack!

The birthday girl and her brother!

A cupcake mustache!

Madelyn's face when she saw her new bike!

The kids got kites as a party gift and it was a nice, windy day to fly them!

Happy happy birthday sweet girl!

These two are such great friends! I love it!

Great Grandpa Ray and Great Grandma Darlene and the great grandkids! :)

The birthday girl on her new bike!

Watering the grass!

Opening presents!

Jack with nana and Great Grandma Darlene!

We all had a great time celebrating Madelyn's birthday! 4 is such a fun age-I'm so excited for your next year!

Goldy's Run

On Saturday the kids ran in the Goldy's Run race at TCF Stadium. They were both very excited to run! I picked up their numbers and t-shirts on Friday and we headed down to the starting line on Saturday morning. Liam was also running, so we followed the Heller's down and hung out with them before the race. The race was for kids ages 2-10 and they started off with the older kids and let each age group go every 2 minutes. Bishop and Luke ran with the 5 year olds and Nora and I ran with Liam and the Heller's (not sure if it was the 3 year or 4 year old group, but it didn't matter). Bishop held Luke's hand and ran the whole way and Nora and I held hands and she ran the entire race! The race went 1/2 way outside the stadium and finished on the field. Nora commented part way through the race "my legs are sore"-but she didn't let up! I was quite impressed that she ran the whole way and she absolutely loved it!

Before the race!

Bishop and Liam

Nora was a little chilly before the race, so she used her dad's vest to keep warm!

The finishers!!

Max even ran! Nice job, runners!!

After the race Luke took off for Cold Spring for the day/night so the kids and I went to Mikkel Donald's for lunch on our way to the zoo. The Mikkel Donald's we stopped at had a play place, so we went in to eat and play and then we made our way to the zoo!

 The farm babies were at the zoo and it was a beautiful day so I thought it'd be fun to go to the zoo! The zoo was PACKED so we checked out a few of the animals and decided to go back to see the others when it isn't so busy.

Hanging out at the pig barn!

 From the zoo we headed back up to TCF Stadium to watch the Spring Gopher football practice/scrimmage. It was such a beautiful day, it was fun to spend it outside. The Heller's were at the game along with some friends of theirs, so the kids had fun playing down on the field after the scrimmage. It was a long, tiring day and the kids were exhausted so we took off for home to relax and watch a movie. It was a great day--I had so much fun with the kids and being outside all day felt great!

Watching for Goldy!

Liam, Alvin, Bishop and Nora playing on the field after the scrimmage

Friday night in the neighborhood

After school on Friday we stopped at the park on our way home to play before Luke got home. Bishop found a friend who he followed around the entire time! It was pretty cute--he stayed about 2 steps behind her the entire time and did whatever she did without ever saying a word to her! :)

When we got home we met up with Paul, Johnny and Carolyn in the neighborhood and the kids played together. The kids had a blast sliding down the neighbors hill! We had dinner together and the kids watched a little movie to relax after it got dark. Spring is here and it's fun to be outside playing in the neighborhood!

Nora, Bishop, Johnny and Carolyn

Happy 4th Birthday, Madelyn!!!!

Happy 4th Birthday to this incredibly sweet and beautiful girl!! Madelyn, you are so special to us and we love you so much! Nora looks up to you so much and absolutely LOVES you and adores you!! Thanks for being such a great friend to her and Bishop. Your sweet demeanor and beautiful smile light up the room whenever you're in it! We hope you have a wonderful day!! 4 is so fun and I know you'll embrace it and enjoy it! We love you more than you'll ever know! Happy Birthday, girl!!

Easter Sunday 2015

Easter Sunday we woke up in Owatonna and went to Trinity Lutheran Church with my parents. We hadn't been there in years so it was fun to be back! The kids love going to church with us and they especially enjoyed the children's message. The pastor told them to say "Alleluia" after prayers for the next few weeks.....Nora has continues to be a good listener and will often shout out "Alleluia" randomly! She continued to have questions about where Jesus was....and was once wondering if he was the man standing up in the side aisle in the orange shirt. ;)

After church we got donuts at Hy-Vee and then we were off for home as I had to make some cheesy hash browns to bring to our celebration with the Froehle's! We got home, made the cheesy hash browns and even had time for a bike/run (Luke and Bishop) and walk (Nora and I). Then we headed over to the Danielson's to celebrate with the Froehle's! The kids had so much fun as Diana had set up an egg hunt for them. You could tell Nora was tired as she was a bit out of sorts....but she was in a new environment with some older kids, so it's hard to tell what was really behind her behavior. Bishop had such a fun time hanging out with Carlo! It was such a nice day--a little cooler than Saturday, but still nice enough to get out and enjoy being outside! The kids were so busy running around outside that I didn't get that many pictures; however, I was able to enjoy some time with the adults, which was very nice! :)

We are very thankful to be able to celebrate Easter with both families! It becomes a little harder to travel to both places in one weekend, so I'm glad it worked out for everyone to be together!

Nora and Grandma on Easter Sunday!

Nora, Carlo and Bishop

Diana, Nora and Bishop!