twin cities

Because my blogging has been so sporadic as of late. I forgot to post about our trip to Minneapolis over the 4th of July holiday. We had decided a few months back that we would make a return trip to Minneapolis. The night before our trip, Mandy and Frank came with their boys to spend the night. It was kind of a frantic but once we got everyone down we did what we do best, have some drinks, talk and hang out.

The next day, after I went to work for a few hours, we headed up for a very long 6.5 hours of driving up to the twin cities. Ethan was great, he is now the proud owner of a gently used Apple 3g phone that is now essentially his video player. We finally arrived, and settled in for the night. We chatted and hung for a bit but everyone was pretty exhausted.

The next day, we woke bright and early. The boys watched cartoons and Mandy and I did something we have NEVER done together before, after almost 20 years of friendship...we went for a run. I was very happy to have the company and impressed that she had agreed to go.

After this, we went out into the blazing hot heat for a trip to the zoo/carnival. Frank and I took the boys on a ride that successfully made all of us ridiculously dizzy and slightly nauseous. The boys went on some other fun rides and then they had their first corn dog, followed by a gigantic popsicle, not the best nutritional choices, but we were on vacation. We perused the zoo portion and I will sum it up by saying, that Owen did a fine job grilling the zoo staff about the fake banana and Ryan went home really wanting a pet monkey. After finding our way home, the boys napped and we relaxed. B made ribs for everyone for dinner, it was delicious and we enjoyed the entertainment of small children playing in a pool. Later on that evening, Andi and Marc flew in. And now the group was complete. Needless to say this completion was followed by lively conversation, good beer and my new favorite cocktail of sour mash and ginger ale (courtesy of Frank).

Saturday, Aimee and Ryan threw a 4th of July BBQ. It was a great day and even better evening of grilled meat, cocktails and catching up. Sunday and Monday were a blur, Mandy and Frank hit the open road back to Michigan and we went the park, the Mall of America, took a long walk, ate good food, and spent quality time together. It was great. The whole weekend was great. Ethan and Owen had a ball together, Everett is catching up quick and little Asher will be part of the gang soon enough.

We thank Aimee and Ryan for their bravery in letting three of their friends stay in their home with their respective families. There wasn't a night or more then an hour that went by without someone crying about something. We thank you both for hosting all of us, we surely did not make things easy but in the end it was worth the many miles traveled for a few days that we could all be together.