October

October was spent doing fallish activities such as indoor golfing.

 Bike riding through the leaves.

 Watching movies.

 Snuggling and sleeping

 Riding in the back of a truck...

 ...that is being pulled by daddy and a friend.

 And taking baths then running around naked.

 

 

 

Our trip Up North

We were able to sneak away for some time Up North as they call it around these part. We drove two hours up to cloquet and stayed a night with Aunt Wendy and Uncle Joe, then left the kids with them the next morning and ventured off by ourselves to explore the beautiful Lake Superior coast for one of the last colorful weekends of fall.
We started by just heading north to Betty's Pies in Two Harbors.  Yum.  Loved the cherry pie!
I will mostly let the pictures speak for themselves.

 This was in one the park bathrooms.  If you peel the bark, we will kill you.  Thats what I got out of it.

 Tony met The Roots.

 Awesome roadside flea market.

 You can't see it very well, but people were rock climbing here.  I was too scared to get within five feet of the edge of this cliff.

 We stopped for a hikes along our day trip up the coast.  This one felt like I was trekking to meet the seven dwarves.

 We ended the trip in Grand Marais.  And ate at Sven and Ole's.  pizza.

 

We were going to find a hotel, but ultimately we decided that even though we had been gone all day going further and further north, we stopped and meandered so much that we were really only two hours north of where we started, so we just headed back to wendy and joe's, but not before stopping for another slice of cherry pie to end the day.

Our birthdays.

Yes they were in september, I know, we will get to october soon. I will be caught up by the new year! Elijah was so excited for his birthday. He had been asking for things for his birthday for months. Anytime we would go to the store, "MAMA!! can i have dis for my birfday!!?" That started probably in May.
He would get excited to check the mail once he realized he was getting cool birthday cards from everyone

 

 I made him a #4 racecar lightning mcqueen cake, just like her requested.  I would let him look through pictures of Lightning Mcqueen cakes on my phone and he picked something similar to this as his favorite.  It was a hit. Of Course. Mom is awesome.

 For my half of the birthday fun, I just wanted to eat something.  We went to a stir fry place at the Mall of America and went crazy with noodley goodness.

 The kids were actually quite successful with the chopsticks. We like to think they are very cultured.  Until they start whippin noodles at each other.

Birthday win.

Evie loves Papa's shower and Elijah disappointed

Evie is a ddancing fool!

 

We had a mini birthday celebration while in VA for Elijah turning 4.  He was not amused.

Now we know.

Did I mention we DROVE to VA?

Yeah, we road tripped with Papa, old school 20 hour drive to VA.Unfortunately Elijah got sick basically the day before we left and experienced the worst of it over the next few days of the trip. Overall, the kids really did great, only one Evie and Elijah meltdown that may or may not have involved a peepee emergency and 15 or so miles to the nearest exit.
 Anyways, there was a lot of this:

 

And some of this:

Mostly this:

Back in the saddle again

OK! ok.  I know it has been awhile.  But at least you know that when I actually DO put up a blog, there will be at least a few more to follow throughout the week.  Playing catch up and all. 
Lets start back in september, shall we? We went to VA. To see, what else, BABIES! Mary had a little boy in july, Jen had a baby boy in june and Julie had a baby boy the previous Nov. I lovey the babies.

 Baby Lincoln

 Baby (big boy) Henry

 Baby Ronan

 Evie was almost convinced that she was solely responsible for baby Henry, she wanted to hold his hand and play with him.

 And snuggle him.  She loved being the big girl amidst all the babies.

 We made our usual trip into DC to catch a few cool sites.  Mike and Amber and their kids were able to join us in VA for the week and Tanner really wanted to see the library of congress and go to the national archives to see the Declaration of Independence (a la the movie National Treasure)

 I have to admit, I cant recall ever going to these particular places before, even though we have gone to DC countless times.  The Library of Congress was really beautiful and interesting.  Some of us went on a tour while others of us just wandered and admired.

 Outside of the National Capital (right across from the LOC)

 This happened.  After a long day, I guess pj's were too much work and some snuggles were in order.

Papa came to visit

At the end of August, Papa came to visit us again!  We were all very excited to say the least, but Elijah was waiting by the door for days.  He would keep asking, "Can I go wait out on the porch for Papa?"  Up until the day he came, he would ask every morning for like two weeks.

 Naturally, we wanted to show Papa what people do here in the North. We go to the Fair.  There really is nothing like the MN state fair.  You could go every day for the 10 days or so that it lasts and still not get bored.  Mainly, we looked around at cool things and ate food food food.  Lets just say, Papa ate Cheese Curds.  and he loved it.  I could list off everything we ate, but you might barf. 

The kids went through a little mini farm land and 'helped on the farm"

 One fair vendor was smart enough to pull out the bubble machine. Needless to say, everyone with a child stopped at this booth.

 We snuck in a few rides.  Evie was excited for the swings, but then she wasnt and her face turned red and she screamed, but by the end, I think I heard her laugh.

 She mostly enjoyed rides that she could do with elijah.  Elijah liked anything that moved.

 And somehow they would all end the night like this.