Minnesota Mayhem...

The day after Hayden finished school, we all headed off to Minnesota to visit Nana and Grandpa for two whole weeks. We had so much fun that we didn't want to come home again (except that we really missed Rob and wanted to see him again, he was only able to be there for a few days.) Most of my immediate family was home for the first 4 days, to be there for my nephew Austin's graduation and mission farewell... Getting that many people together, for that short of a time is always marvelous mayhem. This is my sister Mindy's family, she totally does not look old enough to have a missionary... Graduations are notoriously boring, at this one, hardly anyone was cheering, so my family had to put stop to that... suffice it to say that by the time it was over, Austin knew that we loved him. The following days consisted of lots of "Bags" games and tournaments... I think that our family probably single-handedly kept the town grocery store in business that weekend with all of the marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate that were consumed... Grandpa kept the grandkids entertained with one of my favorite childhood pastimes... Lawnmower madness... Lindsey and her fiance, Adam, taught the kids our favorite night game, Murderer in the Dark. I wasn't aware that this was what they were playing and furthermore had an extra-specially fun time getting the kids to sleep that night after they found out what a murderer was... Thanks for playing with the kids Linds... Many a tea party and picnic were held on Nana's beautiful deck... I love it when my Mom talks about how they built their deck and pond, she always says: "I dreamed it up, and your father made all of my dreams come true..." The pond was a source of endless entertainment for the kids, one of them was always in it or around it... Hayden, being the nature-hound that he is, especially enjoyed the pond. By the time that we went home, he had a bucket-full of toads, of all shapes and sizes. The poor things didn't stand a chance with all of the love and attention that he gave them... he set up obstacle courses for them, let them hop all over him while he laid on the ground, and taught them how to hop especially high on the trampoline. This one was his favorite, he named it Frodie... Being that we were in the "Land of 10,000 Lakes", we spent alot of time at my sister's house on one of the many lakes... We fished...
We went tubing... We played with cousins... I had to throw in another cousin shot, Ana and Alta, partners in sassiness... My sister Kris's husband Tom, (he's a rockin' Bags player, get him as a teammate and you're pretty much guaranteed to win)... Tom owns a Dollar store in my hometown. He was so awsesome (and I think a little crazy) to let us all in when it was closed to have our own "Family Supermarket Sweep". We divided into teams and had races to see who could find everything on Austin's mission packing list. There was one rule, everyone had to be hanging on to the cart, or onto a teammate who was holding the cart, the entire time - it was pretty hilarious.
Team #1: Austin, Mindy, Amy, Kari, Rob... Team #2: Jamison, Kami, Kris, McKindra, Meg... Where's the toothpaste?!?! I just had to put this shot in there because I knew that Kam and Kris would appreciate it... After the first few days of chaos, all of the travelers went their separate ways and all that was left at my parents house was me, my kids. It was so fun to just relax and spend some quality time with my parents and my kids. Since I had no other responsiblities besides making sure my kiddos were fed and safe, we had plenty of time for some fun activities. We started by making a list of every fun thing that we could think of... it was a pretty long list, including "round up bad guys" (Ana), and "build a Lemonade stand" (Hayden). We immediately jumped into the list, we didn't get everything done, but we made a pretty good dent in it. We made junk-bots... We spent a day at Camden State park with my sister Kris's family, blowing giant bubbles, catching caterpillars, and soaking up the rays... We spent a day at the Butterfly House, the kids LOVED it... I think Sophie thought that she was in Heaven... Right as we walked into the butterfly enclosure, a blue butterfly landed right on Hayden's blue shirt. He thought that it was a good Omen and told everyone that the butterfly landed there as if to say "Welcome Here!" Hayden was definitely interested in which butterfly was which. He studied that chart the whole time that we were there... I'm surprised that any butterflies landed on Ana at all with how she was fluttering about, but she managed to be still enough to attract this one (because it was dead)... No matter how much I told the kids not to touch them (I'm pretty sure they didn't hurt any of them), it was like their hands were magnets to those beautiful little creatures... After the Butterfly house we went to the park, where I sat in some pine sap that permenantly stained my pants, but the kids sure had fun... Hayden being a human sundial... We went to the "Pond Store" with my parents (they are frequent shoppers, let's just say that the workers there know them by name). Hayden and Ana helped Grandpa pick out some big new fish for the pond, Hayden named one Stack and Ana named the other Sleeping Beauty. Then we headed off to Falls Park, to see the waterfall that Sioux Falls, SD is named after... My parents took the fish home and the kids and I spent the rest of the day there, going to the top of the lookout tower and exploring some old ruins... And of course eating ice cream. By the time we got home, the kids were exhausted and filthy, the true mark of a super fun day... We spent another day at the Pipestone National Monument. Growing up in Pipestone, I never really had an appreciation for the history of the area, so I wanted to go back and show the kids what "Pipestone", the stone, really looked like. Hayden thought it was so cool to see the Native Americans carving it. He picked out a necklace that had a buffalo made out of Pipestone on it, now its one of his prized treasures... We decorated Grandpa's driveway with chalk paint... This is the view down the road from my parents house, the 4th windiest place in the country, pretty sweet... We had a wonderful time in Minnesota, it was so fun to be with family and watch my kids enjoy being with their favorite people in the world. Thanks Mom and Dad for the awesome vacation...