Our Trip to Minnesota

We were back in Minnesota from July 1st through July 10th.  On Thursday afternoon we hoped in the car once both Tate and I were done with work and started driving.  The drive from SC to MN takes about 21 hours and we were determined to drive straight through without stopping.  We drove through the Smokey Mountains in Tennessee and North Carolina for the first several hours of our trip, and made our first stop at a McDonalds playland right before Jace's bedtime.  He climbed and ran and played for a while before we stuck him back in the car and he passed out for the night.  He was soooo great in the car, playing peacefully the entire afternoon and evening, and then falling asleep at dark and sleeping through the night and well into the morning.  Tate and I only stopped every 6 hours when we would run out of gas... there may have also been a 2:30 am stop at White Castle for 10 burgers but I'm pleading the 5th on that one.  ;)

Still in good spirits... but it was early ;)

Everything was going smoothly until about 4 am when we ran into some lightening storms while driving through the thousands of red blinking wind mills in Indiana... it was pretty creepy but luckily the rain and bad driving part was short.  After the weather let up we found a road that we were supposed to be exiting on closed down.  At this point it was 5 am and we were driving through the industrial part of West Chicago in what looked to be the ghetto trying to follow a detour.  We stopped at a railroad tracks for a train in the pitch black night in a sketchy area before the train came to a complete stop.  Then the person behind us turned off their lights and started moving around in their car digging for something.  It was starting to look like the scene of a scary movie when the train finally started moving again and we were able to pass through.  This route took us through the heart of downtown Chicago and it was beautiful to see the skyline lighting up the night sky.  It sort of made up for the traffic and the toll booths... sort of!

By the time we got to Wisconsin we were both feeling extremely tired so I took a short nap while Tate kept plugging away... then we switched and I finished out the rest of the trip through Wisconsin and into Minnesota.  We made pretty good time and got to my moms house at around 10 am, exhausted.  Tate had to do a little work so he headed to a coffee shop for some peace and quiet while Jace and I took showers and relaxed for a couple hours.  Jace's cousin Micah stopped over to play for a little bit and Jace taught him some naughty habits like climbing on coffee tables before deciding that he was exhausted and wanted to crash in front of the TV.

Teaching Micah naughty habits

Micah hogging the remote while Jace dozes off

Tate came and picked us up and we headed over to his parents house.  Since they weren't home from work yet we decided to stop in a little pizza place down the road and have some thin crust square cut pizza... which is impossible to find in SC. 

Afterwards we headed to Tate's parents and Jace had fun helping us wash the car (a.k.a. spraying the hose all over himself and us).  We got to catch up with Tate's mom a little when she got home from work, but after not sleeping for two days we both crashed pretty early.  The next morning we woke up and immediately headed out the door to Tate's grandparents cabin in Alexandria.  It's about a 2.5 hour drive to the cabin, which seemed super short at that point.  We stopped at the Tip Top ice cream shop on our way and I couldn't even think about eating a cone... which was pretty concerning, lol.  About an hour after we got to the lake and got settled I threw up and spent the rest of the day in bed sick.  Luckily it was short lived and I felt pretty good the next morning and think it was probably just the lack of sleep and White Castle catching up to me.

We spent the next two days at the lake with several of Tate's family members and had a great time enjoying the outdoors.  The weather was perfect... about 85-95 degrees and sunny the whole time.  Jace loved playing with sand toys on the beach and being pulled around in a floaty in the water.  Tate and I took the jet skis out and had some fun trying to buck eachother off the back.  We also took Jace out in the boat to watch everyone go tubing.  He really enjoyed watching for the first twenty minutes or so but then I think he was getting a little sick of the rapid movements of the boat so we headed back in.  The rest of our time at the lake was spent eating amazing meals, soaking up the sun, and chasing Jace around. 

Jace and his "chuck"

Auntie Mandi pulling Jace around

Knuckles!

Mandi, Lori, Andee, Jace and I

Beach Bum

Even the dogs got to jet ski :)

Playing in the water with Auntie Mandi

"Knuckles anyone?"

Boat ride

Tubing

Watching everyone tubing

Jace also enjoyed playing with some new toys that were up at the cabin, especially the Little People car ramp and some deer figurines that he kept comparing to all the animals mounted on the walls.  We had family movie night on the fourth once everyone was tired out from the sun.  Jace sat peacefully on Tate's lap while we all watched Cinderella Man and ate blizzards from DQ.

Ready for the movie!

Family movie night

Breakfast convo with Austin

The next morning we packed up the car and headed out of Alexandria.  On the way back to the Twin Cities we stopped in at Tate's aunt and uncles cabin on a nearby lake.  It was sort of spur of the moment but a nice way to end our time up north.  Their cabin has brick steps down to a dock so of course Jace was obsessed with climbing up and down the stairs over and over and running out onto the dock.  Tate's aunt Lisa was so sweet and made Jace all sorts of delicious food and he even had his first "freezie".

The Wagner's cabin

Good hair day

"Knuckles!"

First freezie

After spending a few hours out there we headed out so that Jace could catch a late nap in the car.  On the way we stopped in at Bravo Buritto in St Cloud for some delicious huge burittos... it's always our favorite place to stop on the way home from the lake.  By the time we got back to Tate's parents it was past ten so we headed to bed and set our alarm for an early morning wake up call.

The next morning we woke up and drove out to Tate's corporate office to pick up his new laptop.  While they were working on transferring files we stopped at Caribou Coffee for a pick-me-up.  Oh, how I've missed Caribou... it was even better than I remembered. 

We enjoyed sitting outside drinking our coffee in amazing weather before my sister in law Dana stopped by to pick Jace and I up to head to a playdate with our friends in Blaine.  Tate headed back to get his laptop and then to the MN Twins game with some friends while Jace and I headed to our friend Christin's house to play.  Christin invited several moms and tots over to play in the backyard and it was a ton of fun.  Jace loved Ava and Lila's new swingset and their trampoline and pool.  He now has backyard envy!  We ate pizza and played for a long time before Jace and Micah were hitting naptime so we headed out.

Climbing right up...

... and sliding right down.

Dana dropped off Jace and I at my mom's house and Jace enjoyed running around in the backyard with his uncle Alex (12).  He jumped on the trampoline (the by the way does not look safe... just saying) and climbing all over the playground equiptment.

After running a few errands we picked up my best friend Alli and got dinner at Chipotle together.  Another thing I miss SO MUCH is a good chipotle buritto and some chips, guac and corn salsa.  Yum!  It was great catching up with Alli, and Jace was super well behaved because he was occupied with his very own big boy cup with lemonade, lol.  After that we headed to the nearby outdoor mall to pick up Jace some new sandals and a t-shirt to wear the next day since I realized at this point it didn't make sense to leave my mom's house that night and we had no clothing with us.

Too busy with his lemonade to look at the camera

What dreams are made of...

Since our pack n play was at Tate's parents Jace slept on a futon at my moms.  I couldn't help but be a meany mommy the next morning and take a picture of his bed head when he was first waking up.  ;)

We headed to Caribou to meet my friend Ashley and her new baby McCall for a bit.  This was my first time meeting McCall and she is a doll.  It was fun catching up with Ashley in her new role as "mommy" and of course the coffee was excellent.  ;)

"Knuckles McCall!"

After that Tate picked us up and took us to IKEA to shut me up shop.  We ended up not having much time at IKEA but we found a couple little things, like a couple of full sleeved smock/bibs for Jace when he's crafting.  We also managed to eat a ton of food while we were there... stopping at the cafeteria first thing, and then getting frozen yogurts cones and hotdogs on our way out.

We headed back to Tate's parents to take naps before trekking across town to White Bear Lake that evening for Marketfest.  Marketfest goes on every Thursday in downtown WBL and I really wanted to go and walk around right where we used to live.  When we got there Tate and Jace took a look inside a big firetruck together and we watched around eating cheese curds and window shopping.  I ended up finding the book "Count to Sleep Minnesota" for Jace at a children's boutique.  I blogged before about his book "Goodnight Charleston" and how much he loves it... this book is made by the same company and I just had to pick it up while we were in town.  It's a really cute book.

Fire Chuck!

Alli, me, Rachelle

A few friends met up with us at Marketfest and we walked around enjoying the live music and the tons of food vendors.  We split a peice of 5-layer chocolate pie from Betty's Pies and also got jumbo corn dogs and sausage pitas... that was all after the cheese curds of course.  Jace had a blast this year and was able to jump around in a jump castle with some big kids, which ended with me having to climb in and pull him out since he wouldn't come on his own free will! 

Jace also got to ride a pony for the first time!  I was more excited than he was a think.  He was so stoic the entire time he was riding the pony that I wasn't sure that he was even having fun.  But when it came time to get down he started bawling and throwing a fit... so of course we captured it on camera.  The rest of the night we spent listening to music and letting Jace run around near the fountains.  We walked around the little neighborhood downtown and to the lake just because the weather was perfect for being outdoors.  It was a ton of fun and really good to see our friends.

Total concentration...

Focusing...

Time to get off... not so happy anymore :)

Jumping!

Friday morning we slept in (finally) and then ran a couple errands and stopped at Potbelly for lunch.  Jace was in heaven because there was live music for him to dance to and I shared a chocolate shake with him.  He wasn't quite ready to let go when the shake was all gone though...

"What do you mean ALL GONE?!"

After lunch we headed to the Minnesota Zoo for a couple of hours.  It was a pretty hot day so it was nice to be at a Zoo that has so many exhibits indoors.  Jace was holding Tate's hand walking up to everything and saying "ooooWOWoooo" over and over.  It was so cute to see him having so much fun.  I think he loved the monkeys and the fish the most.  We did watch the dolphin show and although Jace loved it at first, he got really antsy in the crowded seats and we had to get up and leave before it was over.  We walked around outside seeing some of the animals before cooling off at the splash park.  Jace loved dipping his head, face first, into the fountains and then laughing. 

We got back in time for Jace to get a nap while Tate and I packed up our luggage to head to my moms house.  We said our goodbyes to Tate's mom before heading to my moms where we dropped off Jace for her and my brothers to play with while we both headed out with friends.  Tate went to Minneapolis and met up with friends but I wasn't up for the big city so I met up with my friends for mexican food at Acapulco, and then just Alli and I headed to a bar right down the road from my moms house for a couple of drinks and some girl talk.

It had been a while since I'd had a few drinks so I was feeling pretty groggy when my alarm went off the next morning for family pictures.  Maybe drinks and mexican aren't the best idea before being photographed.  We barely made it out the door and got to the portrait studio where my three brothers, my mom, my sister in law, nephew and brother's fiance were all waiting.  Tate, Jace and I immediately sat down to take a couple individual pictures and then we all took group shots.  We tried to get Jace and Micah in a couple together at the end, but by that point they had had enough of cooperating.  I don't have the portrait CD but my sister in law shared some with me online and although none are exactly what we ordered... I think I like the funny ones more.  ;)

At least the photographers silly games to get the toddlers to smile worked
on someone :)

Beating up Micah

This is as good as the pictures of the two of
them got sadly!

After pictures the entire family had plans to go downtown Stillwater and eat lunch on the river and go to Teddy Bear Park... but the boys were getting close to naptime so instead we headed across the street to TGIFridays for lunch.  Both boys enjoyed their food...

That afternoon while Tate and Jace napped I made homemade mint oreo truffles for Alli and Zach's engagement party that night.  Alli's parents were hosting the party at their house which is just a few houses away from my mom's house.  I feel like I grew up halfway at Alli's families house so it was fun to go back and celebrate her and Zach's 10 year relationship and future wedding.  Jace came with us for the first hour or so before we dropped him off at my mom's for bed so that we could stay longer.  We had fun celebrating, eating great food, seeing lots of friends we hadn't seen in a while, and playing outdoor games.  By 1 am we had to go home and get some sleep because the next morning we headed out the door on our 22 hour drive back to SC.

Alli's bridal party minus three

Jace learning how to play bags

We left a little later than we planned to leave the next morning but we both felt more relaxed about going back and had already decided to stay in a hotel that night.  We made a stop only three hours into our drive in Wisconsin Dells at the Mexicali Rose restaurant on the river for lunch.  Jace loved dipping his chips in salsa and licking the salsa off over and over again like it was ketchup... he's definitely our kid!

We stayed in a hotel around Lexington, KY that night and then drove the remaining 7-8 hours through the mountains the next day.  Jace was a champ the way back to SC just like he was on the way to MN and by the time we got home we were all totally exhausted and so grateful that the drive was behind us.  It was a great trip home, it FLEW by, I wish we could have fit in a few things I really wanted to do and people I wanted to see... but there's always next time.  :)