At the end of July, we headed north, way north, to the middle of Minnesota. About 2/2.5 hours north of Minneapolis. Pat's uncle and his family moved to Minnesota from Florida about a year ago and we couldn't wait to go north for a visit.
Pat and I decided that we would leave late Monday night and hope that Leah and Max would sleep through the night and we could be just a few hours short of our destination by daybreak. No so much! As recommended, we kept Max rear-facing in his car seat, but after about 3 hours of crying and fussing and us not being able to entertain him, we decided to pull over and flip his seat, hoping that Max would travel better. It worked for awhile. Both Leah and Max slept on and off throughout the night~rarely were both sleeping at the same time. Leah was up while we drove through Chicago and she loved all the lights and tall buildings.
We finally made it to Minnesota after about 14 hours (the initial drive time was 12 hours, so not too bad that our stops totaled 2 hours) We met Uncle Darryl and Aunt Pam at their cabin at Camp Holiday on Turtle Lake. It was beautiful! We had lunch with Uncle D and then headed to their house about 45 minutes north in Merrifield. We got a tour of their backyard woods and finally settled down for a little shut-eye.
Our first morning we enjoyed watching a doe play in the backyard. Aunt Pam said that there are a few that come to her yard with fawns, but we only got to see the mama. We spent our first full day on a boat with Uncle D, Aunt Pam, cousin Ali and Pat's parents, Rick and Connie. We enjoyed Leah driving and the wildlife. It was a perfect afternoon of floating on the lake!
Cows were standing in the lake!
Leah fell asleep on our way back to the dock
Pat and I took the kids to a cute town called Nisswa, about 20 minutes from the house. We enjoyed walking the street window shopping and eating pizza. We went back again a few days later with Pat's parents. We even found an ice cream shop that had sherbet for Max ~ we went there twice and enjoyed delicious ice cream and sherbet!
Pat and I also were able to get out on our own with cousin Paxton to Manhattan's, which is a bar that Uncle D works at ~ in a Tiki Hut! It's great when you know the bartender! We enjoyed margaritas and a great view of another lake, and went back the next day with Rick. When Minnesota says Land of 10,000 lakes, they mean it!
View from the Tiki Hut!
Leah and Max loved going to the beach ~ we were able to go twice to Pelican Beach which was just around the corner from the house. It was a perfect, quiet little beach. The water was so clear and it was perfect for Leah and Max. Leah loved finding little seashells and Max just liked to splash!
We got rained out on our final day so Pat and I decided that we would just begin our trip home and stop in Minneapolis at the Mall of America. It was crazy! Three floors of restaurants and shops, a floor of movie theaters and in the middle an amusement park! Leah and Max rode a few rides, we had dinner and began our long trip home. I think after being gone for a week and in the car quite a bit, Leah and Max were done with traveling. Max cried most of the way and Leah was just awake. Fortunately when we got home EVERYONE crashed for a few hours.
We had a great time and plan to go back in two years!
Earlier this week I was back in Cleveland to attend a Jimmy Buffett concert with my mother~in~law Connie, sister~in~law Dayna, her mother~in~law Mary and a couple cousins, Erica and Kim. We had a little TOO much fun :-)
We have finally been home in Cincinnati for about a week. And that meant we could start potty training again. I had Leah going pretty good at the start of the summer, except she had some pooping issues. Her pediatrician suggested that we stop what we were doing, clean her out and start again in a few weeks. So those few weeks passed and we started our training the first day we were home. We have had a ton of success! Leah has no problems using the potty ~ whether it be a little potty, and toddler ring or just the 'big girl' potty itself. She has been telling us when she needs to go, and we keep a potty in the car at all times. But, those pooping issues are back and I am convinced that she is just being stubborn! (I will only post her first 'pee pee in the potty' pic and not the poo poo ~ but I do have it!)
I had read about a place called Stricker's Grove over in Ross. It is a small amusement park and it is only open to the public a few times a year. Fortunately it was open all last week which meant I had a little ammunition. And sure enough, it worked. As soon as I told Leah that if she pooped in the potty we would go, she ran to the bathroom and went!
Stricker's Grove is a great place to take children. It has some smaller rides for the likes of Max, medium rides for Leah and a few bigger rides for older children, including two roller coasters. We hope we can get back one more time this summer when it is open to the public again in August.
Crocker Park is a shopping area by my parents house and in the middle there is a playground and splash pad. I take any opportunity of an open swing for Max and Leah wanted to splash in the water. A perfect way to cool off!
The video of Leah is a little hard to watch ~ I forgot to zoom in!
Later in the week we took Leah and Max to the Rocky River pool. I hadn't been there since they remodeled the pool, and it was awesome! It certainly is geared towards children, including a family slide!
While we were in Cleveland we took the kids to Memphis Kiddie Park ~ twice. Last year it was perfect for Leah and she loved riding all of the rides. But this year it seemed too 'young' for her since we have been to both Kings Island and Cedar Point earlier in the summer. But regardless, Leah had a great time and the rides were perfect for Max! Memaw and Hippa loved taking them on the Carousel and Train!
While we were in Cleveland for 2+ weeks, we went out to Conneaut to visit Pat's family during the middle weekend. It also happened to be the weekend of the 4th of July, so we enjoyed a parade, a carnival and family picnic. We were able to go out on 'Grandpa's Boat' in 'Grandpa's Lake." Leah and Max also got to meet their newest cousins, Alyssa and Carissa, and 2nd cousin (or something like that!) Jeff. Leah and Max enjoyed riding in Grandpa's tractor ~ even daddy got to drive. Leah tried to drive but fortunately the keys were nowhere to be found!
