More Pictures from Minnesota...

After spending the most of Saturday at the Mall of America we went back to the Kurtz home in Buffalo and spent time with Chad's family. Chad has an awesome family and I knew by the 5th pot of coffee that I had married into a great family! The Kurtz home is right on the lake and is beautiful. Poor Chad was not ready to leave and I think part of him would like to remain in Minnesota with his family there and truly it was wonderful but well you can take a girl out of Texas but she will just want to go right back...so sadly we parted ways on Monday after the gravesite ceremony. But not before we had a great time playing in the yard, rolling down the hill, lighting the fire pit and running around with fire sticks (I think the boys almost gave an uncle or two a heart attack...).  Here are some more pictures:

The boys throwing rocks into the sea, as Jude kept referring to the lake...he's used to the Caymans.

A look at the back of the Kurtz home.

The boys comforted and slept on Grandad during the funeral meanwhile I walked around outside trying to pacify a screaming Asher...

Our photographer thought they were super artsy and a fantastic photo taker - they shall remain nameless but let this picture serve as an example of what the majority of the pictures look like - we have been scalped...

A decent photo! Except the roar face on Jude and the fussy face on Asher (nothing to be done about the boys) and only a slight portion of Chad's hair is missing...

Almost.

Grandad and Aunt Drea.

Chad and I.

Grandad and the boys.

Aunt Hope started a fire - she is the boys favorite - maybe - Sarah did help them find sticks to "fire"

Uncle Neal with Jude.

Putting Asher to work.

The boys and Uncle Neal.

Fire sticks! They ran around with these...I told myself it was ok because Hope and Sarah are nurses...

Chad and Drea!

Shiloh cleaning the play area at chick-fil-a.

Jude found some pods with seeds in them at a rest stop.

Minnesota in Pictures

Today we will let the pictures tell the story of our Friday and Saturday in Minnesota:

During stops on our road trip we cleaned out the car. Shiloh loved the hand held vacuum.

Climbing the slide at Chick-fil-a.

Ice cream treat for making it to Minnesota!

Friday morning as we hit the road from El Dorado, Kansas, Jude excitedly exclaimed, "My tooth came out!!!!"

Jude was very excited to find a whole dollar under his pillow and the tooth fairy was so kind to allow him to keep his first lost tooth - but only the first...

We visited the Lego store at the Mall of America - we felt a little let down because Chad had told me it was a Lego Land (it was not) and most of the big lego statues were hanging from the ceiling and we couldn't really see them.

The boys first roller coaster.

Aunt Drea made it to Minnesota too!!!!

Aunt Barb joined us for lunch at the Mall of America.

Chad, Grandad, Jude and Shiloh on the log ride.

Driving Days

We made it there and back again - to Minnesota that is.

Chad's sweet Grandmother, Grandma Kurtz passed away, very suddenly and unexpectedly. I only met her a handful of times but I knew instantly she and Grandpa Kurtz were of the same quality as my Granny and Granddaddy (which is saying something because they are the very best grandparents ever - I'm not bias at all:) and it was a very sad day for Chad's family. Poor Chad had been overseas in Kenya when Grandpa Kurtz passed away causing him to miss the funeral and he had determined he would not miss his Grandmothers funeral when the time came. Due to the unfortunate collapse of his lung in January, Chad is not allowed to fly for several more months. The only option was to drive and there was no one to drive with him. So I suggested we all go. Me and the kids too. So we did. We got to break in Jireh, our new tahoe, to the family.

After hours of preparation (thank you all my friends of small children who travel long distances for all your tips) Chad, the boys and I headed to Minnesota in Jireh. We left around 5 AM Thursday morning. We had some fun discovering flex fuel was not readily available everywhere but not to worry there is an app for that. We had meals at food establishments with play places. The kids watched tons of movies. We stopped the first night in El Dorado, Kansas and stayed at a hotel with a pool and hot tub (for me). I didn't know but apparently if you ask hotels have pack n plays...would have been super helpful to know as Chad and I spent the night being kicked and jumped on by Asher - he is a terrible bed partner. Then we continued on Friday to Buffalo, Minnesota and stayed in Grandma and Grandpa Kurtz's house with some of Chad's family. Google maps said it was a 18hr drive but that is not accounting for bathroom breaks and meal breaks and gas breaks...it took a good solid 24+ hours in the car...

Hours of car riding...

 Playing red light, green light outside the hotel.

Swim time.

To be continued....