Visit to Minnesota

The kids and I used to take a trip to MN at least once a year and would spend roughly a month there. Well with Jason being non-deployable, visits like that just don't happen. So it's been about 4 years since we went to Minnesota and we finally got to spend some time up there. It was a 9 day visit and we enjoyed every minute of it!  Again, there were a lot of pictures taken so I'm only going to share one from each day spent there. The main purpose for our visit was because my Mom was getting remarried. She wanted me to be her photographer so she made this trip possible for me and the kids.

Our trip started out immediately with wedding stuff. The day after we arrived, we had the wedding rehearsal and dinner. I was very impressed with the location of the wedding, it was beautiful! We had the rehearsal dinner at Don Pablos.

Saturday the 21st was the big day! The Hensel wedding was beautiful! I really enjoyed taking pictures for Mom and Al. Wedding photography is very tricky and I learned that it's only something I will do for family, ha ha ha!

The day after the wedding we went to Como Zoo with Al's family. They had to head back to Wisconsin so the day was short. After they left, we headed over to Como Town so Cory & Caiti could ride some rides and play. We learned Cory can not go on the Teacups and that Caiti can ride a Level 5 rollercoaster but NOT a little kiddie rollercoaster! ha ha ha!

On Monday, Al took all of us on a 2 hour cruise. It was on a ferry boat down the Mississippi River. It was very relaxing and a lot of fun! The kids spent most of the time inside the boat where the a/c was and of course I was out on the deck taking as many pictures as I could! It was a guided tour so we learned about a few things along the River.  After that we went to an art sculpture park and saw some pretty interesting sculptures. Then we finished off the day with some ice cream!

Thursday we took the kids back to the Mall of America so we could walk around some more and let them finish off their ride tickets.  They spent all their time on the swings...it was so fun to watch them! We enjoyed some time in the arcade, had lunch, shopped a bit and then headed down to the Aquarium that is located underneath the mall.  It was really cool!

On Friday we started off the day by heading over to Minnehaha Falls. Took some pictures by the waterfall and then rented bikes and rode around the park.  Cory wanted his own and Mom, Caiti and I went in a cruiser together.  Then we went and grabbed some lunch and ended up heading over to the Verizon store to get me a new phone because mine had lost it's Android mind! Once we finished up there the kids & I headed over to see Grandad and Kathy. The kids went swimming, we ordered pizza and then celebrated my Dads birthday early.  It was so nice seeing them!

Saturday morning Al had a Motorcycle Rally to attend at the Children Hospital. Mom asked if I could take some pictures so we headed over there. It was really cool watching all the bikes pull up in front of the hospital. All I could think about was what the kids up in the rooms were thinking when they heard all that rumbling! Sure wish they could have come out and seen it! We took a tour in the hospital and the guide was telling us all about what they do. It touched my heart just being there. We got some bracelets that the patients made...I will always remember those kids when I wear my bracelet.

Here is a picture of all of us before we headed to the airport. Thank you Mom & Al for letting us stay and for trusting me enough to take your wedding pictures! We enjoyed our trip!