minnesota week 1: cousins re-unite, lake sylvia, high school friends

sunday july 7th we arrived at my mom's house at dinner time. it felt so good to finally be there! my mom ordered thai take out and we ate on the patio. thatcher and i took an evening neighborhood walk to stretch our legs. 

monday july 8th in the morning we headed to thatcher's parents' house to see them, as well as anders, nith, and moss who are also in town. the kids have been talking about seeing moss for months since he was a baby last time they saw him (in prague). he's such a big boy now and they all just adore each other. 

jack was the only one in town yet from his family, so he joined us and we hung out most of the day. 

it was also durant's birthday, so we had plans to all go to davanni's pizza for dinner. we had a delicious dinner and then headed back to durant and cheryl's for gifts and cake. i was included in the cake and candles for my belated birthday, so that was fun. 

tuesday july 9th in the morning the kids and i went across the street to viv and dennis's house because they watch kelli's daughters one day a week. addie and clare are 4 and 2 now and we also hadn't seen them in two years. they were a little shy at first, but quickly warmed up, especially to azalea. viv was going to take them to the wading pool, so we decided to tag along. the kids all had fun.

 thatcher went to a coworking space to work for the day. we went back to my mom's for lunch and relaxed for a while before it was time to help my mom get ready to host a taco dinner for our extended family that night. my aunt, uncle, 2 cousins jenna and austin and austin's wife abby came. they are expecting their first baby this fall, so it was fun to see abby's baby bump. the other guest of honor was my mom's new friend john that she started dating in march, we were all eager to meet him and he was really great. :) my mom got a bunch of desserts including key lime pie in honor of my 40th. yum! 

wednesday july 10th was another workday for thatcher, and the rest of us went to durant and cheryl's again in the morning. the kids were excited to spend more time with moss and jack. jack is nearly 17 and such a good sport! 

 i had a lunch planned with my boss chris, so i drove to 'blue door pub' to meet him and enjoyed our annual catch up. we spent the rest of the day at durant and cheryl's through dinner time. there was a pretty epic thunderstorm in the afternoon, our first one of the trip.

thursday july 11th we spent most of the day packing and running errands in preparation for an overnight at kelli's as well as a day trip to her family cabin the following day. anders and nith stopped over at my mom's in the late afternoon and my mom got to meet moss. then my mom, thatcher, the kids, and i headed to kelli's new house. she and her family moved back to minnesota last winter after 8 years in california. she had some other family friends at their house for dinner as well, so it was a fun little party. 

the kids and i spent the night there. kelli and i stayed up way too late catching up and laughing. we hadn't seen each other in two years, so it felt so nice! 

friday july 12th my brother took the day off to go to annandale with us to the cabin. we got up there in the late morning and it was super windy, but sunny and warming up quickly. we spent the whole day in the water and eating and drinking in the sunshine.

 i love this cabin so much as it was a huge part of my childhood. getting to share it with my kids makes me so happy. kelli's mom was up there too with us. and my kids had a blast spending another day with addie and clare. we had burgers for dinner and then headed back to my mom's for the night. 

saturday july 13th was very busy! my friend mollie from high school came over to my mom's in the late morning to catch up. then our friend rachel came and picked us up for two events we were all attending that day. the first one was a celebration of life for our friend erin who passed away from breast cancer a couple months ago. i was so happy i was in town for this. it was held at her cousin's beautiful home and i got to hug her family and so many friends from high school. it poured the whole time we were there.

 then a few of us headed to a park in bloomington for our friend em's 40th birthday party. another event i was grateful to be able to attend! it was fun to see em's family and chat with the other guests.

the kids got to have some moss time in the afternoon.

 finally i ended my day back with my family at our family friends brian and carol's house with their daughter liz and her family and also anders, nith, and moss. we ordered pizza luce for dinner and caught up. i'm pretty extroverted, but i hit my socializing limit for the day. ;) 

i'm posting these updates on a delay when i can! :)