Over the River and Through the Woods

So, we finally made the 500 mile journey to visit our families in North Dakota. We used to make the trip at least once, and sometimes a couple times, a year. But, with our expanding family and Todd's limited vacation time....the trips have become a little more spread out. Our last trip to Minot was for Todd's niece's wedding 1 1/2 years ago. We were due to make the drive!

That's a lot of enthusiasm for a 5:30 am departure! 

After a few hours of driving, we stopped in Fargo to burn off a little energy at Lindenwood Park.

Because there are so many of us, we divide up between the grandparents. The big girls and Benj stayed at one house and the rest of us crashed at the other. Benjamin quickly became grandpa's best buddy!

The grandparents took the whole crew out to breakfast at the Homesteader after Sunday morning Mass - what a special treat!

Benjamin playing at the playground of my old elementary school.

Aunt LuAnn brought over some super yummy treats for us. She even brought supplies to make these ultra festive red, white, and blue drinks!

Esther was so excited to catch one of the parachutes! Minnesota law doesn't allow for fireworks that shoot up into the air, just the lame-o ones that shoot sparks. So, it was super exciting for the little girls to chase the parachutes, as they had never done that before!

The little girls were in horse heaven when they got to feed the horses their special treats!

Smoke bombs...need I say more?!?

A beautiful North Dakota sunset.

We met up with  my sister and her kids at Planet Pizza for lunch and some video games. Here's a picture of the cousins with grandma and grandpa. I think it turned out pretty well, actually!

Aunt Patti took the oldest 7 kids to Finding Dory complete with popcorn. They also had various other treats and game time with her and their cousin...so...much...fun!

All good things must come to an end...this is what the last 30 minutes of the 500 mile drive home consisted of!

We all had a very nice visit and look forward to our trip to North Dakota next summer!

God Bless!

Heather :-)

Christian Pumpkin Carving

Tonight we gathered around the kitchen table to carve our pumpkins!  Todd found them at Aldi for $3.50 a piece - not a bad deal!  We will be bringing them along to our parish's All Saints' Day celebration tomorrow.  After searching the internet for inspiration and patterns, we set to work.  They turned out pretty cool looking, don't you think?!

Here they are all lined (and lighted) up!

Haley and Eleanor created this pro-life pumpkin.

Joseph and Lillian worked on the Holy Spirit pumpkin.

I almost destroyed the Alpha and Omega - it looks much better in the dark!

Todd carved a monstrance into this pumpkin.

Esther assisted Madeline in cutting Noah's Ark into their pumpkin. 

Not quite the same with the lights on, are they?

We'll  be spending tomorrow morning at the church getting everything set for the party.  Then, in the evening, we'll be joined by tons of children dressed as their favorite saints to celebrate Mass and have a lot of fun at the party.

God Bless!

Heather :-)

Family Fun Day At Nickelodeon Universe

It's not really in my nature to just ditch school for the day and head off somewhere fun.  Somewhere in my DNA, I crave structure and routine.  However, Todd's work schedule has been busy and we haven't really had much family time lately.  So, on Friday we took the day off and headed to the Mall of America to spend the day at Nickelodeon Universe.

Here's a peek at our day.

All the kids but Peter went on the swings...a couple of times.  Initially, Esther wasn't too sure about it. However, as soon as it was over, she immediately yelled, "AGAIN!"

Ready to ride the Kiddie Coaster!

Madeline and Lillian riding the Brain Surge.  

Joseph passing the time while waiting in line.

Dad and Esther on the Swiper Sweeper race cars.

Big Bro Joe taking good care of his little sister on the race cars.

Peter gouging my eyes out!  He was a real trooper for about the first 2 hours and then he'd had enough!

Todd and Haley taking the plunge on the Sponge Bob Drop of Death...well, I don't think it's called that exactly, but that's what it looks like to me!

Eleanor is tickled that she finally figured out how to make the bumper car go and steer it at the same time!  It really does take a good amount of coordination, especially for a five year old!

We had a great time with very minimal melt downs.  Needless to say, we all fell asleep quickly and slept hard last night!

God Bless!

Heather :-)