Family Vacation July 2010

This last week we went on vacation to Minnesota and Wisconsin.  We got to see many family and friends while we were there.  Sorry to those who we didn't get to see, maybe next time.

We started off by getting up at 4:30am and getting the kids up at 5am to get dressed and head to the airport.  We parked in an off sight parking lot and took a shuttle bus over to the airport.   Our flight was at 7:55am.  We got breakfest at the airport and boarded our plane to Denver, CO.  Once there we had a little time waiting for our next flight but not much, just enough to get the wiggles out.  We then boarded our plane to Minnesota.  Ruth was out for a nap before we even left the gate.  Dillon and Jennilyn fell asleep before the plane took off, and Irene wasn't far behind them.  Dillon and Jennilyn slept the whole way.  Ruth and Irene slept about an hour.  When we landed we went and got lunch and then rode a tram to the car rentals.   It took us an hour to get  our two small cars and get everyone loaded up.  Then we had a 15 min drive to Dan's Grandma Burke's house.  Once we were there Grandma got to meet the twins for the first time.  Irene is named after Grandma Burke and Grandma Bolstad so I am glad that she got to see them.  After Seeing Grandma Burke we went to Maplewood, MN to see our friend Marie Hunt who was in the hospital after just having surgery.  She had asked us to stop by and see her, and it was good to visit with her for a few minutes.  Then we went to Denny's for dinner before we made the 3 hour drive up to Duluth, MN.  At Denny's the kids got these cool soccer ball cups.  They had fun drinking out of them and making a mess.

The next day we went to the beautiful Lake Superior were we had family pictures taken.  When I get copies I will post them.  It was a beautiful site that Jennifer picked out.  I hope we got some good one.  Later I went to see the movie Eclipse with my sisters-in- laws (Sarah, Marsha, Annette, and family friend Katie)  It was good and I enjoyed it better then the first two movies.

After the movie we hurried to Floodwood, MN which is an hour away for the wedding rehearsal that Jennilyn was a part of.  We spent the next few days in Floodwood, which was busy was it was the Floodwood Catfish days celebration which ended with a parade on Sunday, which made it feel like it wasn't Sunday with a parade right out your window.  On Saturday was the Wedding and it was beautiful!  Jennilyn did a great job being a flower girl, but didn't want to do pictures later.  At least she walked down the isles throwing fistfuls of flowers on the ground.  She was so funny that at the end she threw her basket up in the air.

Sunday was the Tvit Family Reuioun and it was good to get to mingle and visit with everyone.  Dan missed this as he had to go back to the cities to catch his flight back to Salt Lake City.  The kids and I as well as my mother in law Nova drove back to the cities that night and we stayed with Brian and Sarah.

On Monday we took the kids to Como Zoo and Como Town which has rides.  They had fun and at the end of the last ride that involved race cars Jennilyn told me she couldn't get off until she finished the race, but we were out of tickets so it was time to go.

On Tuesday we meet up with Jackie and Ryan Mayer and played and visited.  It was good to see them again. And then we went to Uncle Tom's house were we enjoyed swimming and good food and company.  It was good to see Aunt Val, Uncle Larry, Aunt Kaje, Uncle Tom and Aunt Linda there.  Then we went to Grandma Burke's house for dinner and Aunt Kathy and Uncle Steve as well as Aunt Linda.  It was good to see everyone again.  I left the twins at Grandma Burke's so that Grandma Nova could take them with her to the airport the next morning and I took Dillon and Jennilyn back to Brian and Sarah's house.  Dillon and Jennilyn went to bed right away and when Brian got back he had brought Uncle David back with him so the 4 of us played Cash Flow 202.  Thanks for playing with us David, it was fun.

Wed we got up and got repacked and played outside until it started to rain.  Then we loaded up and followed my in-laws back to the airport were Grandma Nova and I loaded with all 4 kids to go back to Salt Lake City.  I had bought a couple of items in a gift shop and we lost them on the trip home.  I was so bumped.  We got to SLC and one of our car seats didn't make it on the plane.  Luckily the airline had extra's and gave me a loaner.  The delivered my car seat back and took their loaner yesterday.  Now we are in recovery mode.  It was a great trip and we had fun.   Thanks to our our family and friends for having us stay we enjoyed it!