minnesota part 4: como zoo, reunited with friends, saying goodbye

 i promise this is the last minnesota post. i love going back and reading about our past trips, so that's why i've drawn this out so much. also because we were there for almost an entire month! 

we had one week left in minneapolis after i got back from new jersey, which was nice. monday the kids played in the sprinkler and with water balloons in my mom's yard. it was a hot day, perfect for it.

 

 

ashford also made us some smoothies :) 

in the evening we drove up to blaine to see our friends nate, missy, cameron, and mallory. we picked up pizzas for dinner and hung out in their yard. we also had a bonfire and made smores. it was such a nice night.

tuesday it stormed all morning. i always love a good midwest thunderstorm! in the evening we went to my aunt cindy and uncle corey's house for dinner. it was corey's birthday, so they grilled dinner and had cake. we also got to meet my cousin austin's girlfriend abby for the first time. the kids had a blast with oakley their king charles cavalier pup.

wednesday my mom and i took the kids to como zoo and como town. you have to make a reservation  and masks were required inside and out (just in the zoo area). we looked at the animals for a while, then headed to como town to go on some rides. the kids did the "big" rollercoaster with me and they were pretty proud of themselves. 

that evening we had dinner at my mom's. during the storm the day before, a giant tree limb fell on a garage at the neighbors across the street. so a huge crane had to come remove it from the street in front of the house. it was amazing to watch! half the block was out watching the action with a drink in hand. haha! 

we spent the next 3 nights sleeping at thatcher's parents'. there were more thunderstorms thursday afternoon. in the evening we drove out to our friends becky, jeromy, linnea, & britta's house in shakopee for dinner. we hadn't seen them in 2 years, so we were so happy to be reunited. the big girls greeted each other with homemade gifts and it made my heart so full. i love that our kids get so excited about seeing each other, even when there is a lot of time between visits. jeromy made us pork in his smoker and it was so good! 

friday thatcher and i got to have a lunch date together. we went to pizza luce because we hadn't had it yet during our visit and it's one of our favorites. then we visited a friend of ours and our old boss from our community ed days in the afternoon.

 

friday night we had a taco dinner at my mom's with thatchers' parents. for the past few months i have been telling azalea we could bring back my american girl doll kirsten for her, but i wasn't having any luck finding her at my mom's. finally i succeeded after searching every box in every closet. 

we took some family photos to close out the evening.  

 saturday morning thatcher returned the rental car. in the afternoon we packed up all of our stuff, said goodbye to durant and cheryl, and my mom drove us out to minnetonka for hair cuts for the kids. 

 

 

then my mom dropped us off at our friends liz, joe, jake & max's for our last night in minnesota. we had had a tradition of doing family sleepovers with them since the kids were little, but we missed last year. it was so nice to catch up with them. i forgot to take any pictures. they took us to the airport sunday afternoon. 

we had such a wonderful time in minnesota. we are so lucky to have so many people we love to spend time with. the kids loved staying up late, sleeping in, having ice cream every day, and soaking up grandparent time. prior to our move 6 years ago, i never imagined this would be our set up, but it works for us at this stage of our lives. who knows what the future holds. 

now it's time to switch gears to earlier bedtimes, school starting in 2 days, fall soccer, schedules, and cooler weather. bring it on!