Mini Vacation

After Sammy's little surgery, we decided a little vacation was in order. We headed out to Taylors Falls, St Croix Falls overnight, then to Stillwater, and then to Grandpa and Grandma's. We had a great time visiting the scenic Taylors Falls area, eating ice cream, going to the rock store, and just checking this out. We then hung out at our hotel, with Mommy, Daddy, Tommy, and Sammy venturing in the "big pool". The boys and Mommy & Daddy had a blast. The next morning we visited Fawn-Doe-Rosa, a wilderness, learning center/petting zoo at the top of the hill in St. Croix Falls. It was really cool and I'm pretty sure the boys enjoyed it as much as John and I did. After that we went to the drive-up in Taylors Falls and had some awesome food before going on the St. Croix boat venturing up the river. It was pretty cool, but I think the boys will enjoy it a lot more when they are a little older. Tommy had a blast running around with another little boy and girl though.

We also ventured into Stillwater for the candy store - where we actually got to witness the whole "kid in a candy store" theory. It really was amazing how quickly he moved through there collecting different things.

We then ventured down the road - debating the whole way if we should get another hotel or just drive all the way to Grandpa and Grandma's in Marshall. Tommy wanted us to push on -- although Sammy was wanting to stop. We pushed through and made it to Marshall Friday night - really, really late Friday night, but made it. Saturday we ran out to Granite so Tommy could see the tractors and got to go on his first tractor ride with Grandpa. He thought this was AWESOME! He was in heaven, and I'm pretty sure that Grandpa was pretty happy about it too. :-) Tommy is now looking forward to harvesting season so he can go on the combine with Jerry and maybe even a big grain truck. We got to visit with my cousin Theo from France, as well as Uncle Leslie, Uncle Jerry, Great Grandpa & Grandma Nelson, which is always a good time.

Sunday was also full of excitement. We got to go with Grandpa to his work picnic. Schwan's has an awesome employee picnic at the college where Grandma works. They have a catered lunch, all the free ice cream you can imagine, jumpy things, pony rides, petting zoo, carnival games, cotton candy, snow cones, etc. It's a great time. Tommy made his way around to everything and absolutely LOVED the pony rides and it was a great day for everyone. Sammy even enjoyed the petting zoo....and the ice cream :-)

Hope you enjoy the pictures. I tried to include something from everything. We had a great time and are looking forward to many more great mini vacations like this one!

Well -- hopefully I'll get the pictures to load soon. I'm having some troubles. I'll keep trying soon!