We left on vacation, on the 15th. We went straight up north to South Dakota to see Mt. Rushmore and the Black Hills!
When asked what they thought of Mt. Rushmore, the boys replied, “SWEET!”
OooooooKAY…
The next day we were in Minnesota!
And I was coerced into going to The Mall of America… (some call it coerced, some would call it bullied…) I was very nervous about leaving our doggy kids in the car. It was cool that day and they were in covered parking… Still… I was talked into doing it and I had so much fun. I’m so glad we did it and even more glad that my fuzzy kids are fine!
The boys spent a small fortune at The Lego Store and rode another roller coaster with their Dad, while I shopped at Archivers – ahhhh, just what I needed!
When asked what they thought of The Mall of America, the boys replied, “SWEET!” Alrighty then…
Then just driving through Wisconsin:
and on to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and THE bridge!
You don’t have to tell my family to do a goofy shot twice:
It had been really pouring most of the day and when we got to the bridge, it was starting up again. There was a high wind warning and maximum speed limit on the bridge was 20 mph. Kinda freaked me out – especially when my mother-in-law texted me right before going over, “go slowly, cars have been blown off and into the lake…” Geesh, thanks Sandy! LOL
Ok, so after the bridge, I needed to relax. Let’s go to Grandma’s house… and eat some ice cream! Yes! The Parlour in Jackson, Michigan has sugar-free ice cream. I got to eat ice cream and it was DELICIOUS!!!
Ok, truth be known, we DID eat lunch there too. But Grandma and Grandpa only had ice cream for lunch. (Made me love them EVEN more!) giggle, giggle…
Oh yeah, and did I mention that we bought a camper while we were at Grandma’s house? We had been talking about it for years and the right one came along, at the right price and we jumped at it. Got to drive it home and it was so much fun! With two boys and three dogs, it was so much better than hotels!! I’ve been teasing Scott, calling it our “big, fancy, new tent.” (Love you, baby!)
On the way home, we stopped at Benton Harbor, MI to play in THE lake.
Bought a baby stroller for just such as this! They weren’t very happy with their new ride, but I think it was just because it was VERY warm:
Yep, our big girl jumped in the lake. We always suspected that she’d love the water! Thankfully, our “big, new, fancy tent” has an outdoor shower!
I just love this silly boy:
Took a detour to visit awesome family in Cedar Rapids!
And then we had to see our old home in West Des Moines.
So this is our lovely house, with new fiber cement siding (like we just put on our house here, in Nebraska.) It’s so much fun to visit your old home and see that someone still loves it. We loved our time in this house!
Took a picture of our Bee, in front of the hospital where he was born, in Des Moines! (he’s our Polk County baby!)
I wanted to show them their old preschool, which we have always lovingly called The World’s Best Preschool. I was sad when I realized that they were out for summer break too. It would have been so awesome to say hello to Miss Margaret! It was still fun, seeing the little playground where I would stalk my boys!
Now we’re home. It wasn’t the sweet homecoming we were hoping for – with technical difficulties with the camper and the house – but we’re home and it’ll all be good again very, very soon. Thankful for a very awesome, memorable family road trip!
Doodles, Dogs and Bees 