Fall in Minnesota: Aamodts Apple Farm

It's not officially fall for a few more days, but that didn't stop a cousin-filled trip to Aamodts Apple Farm east of the cities!  Thanks for a great idea and great idea sisters!

Annual State Fair Trip

Ahh...the wonderfulness of the Minnesota State Fair!  It is hard to believe that any other fair could outdo this (although Texas claims they can).

Today we hit up the state fair with 150,000 of our closest friends!  What a blast with some great company and all sorts of foods on a stick!

We even ran into this friendly State Fair employee...

Classic MN Fun: Mississippi Headwaters

Lake Itasca State Park is the home of the Mississippi Headwaters.  It's the type of place that you remember from your childhood, and somehow hasn't changed an ounce.  It's filled with interesting people watching of all ages, and scores of people scampering across the iconic Itasca rocks.

What a fun place to explore with the girls and our cousins:

4th of July at "Home"

How nice to be home in MN this year for the 4th...it's been awhile! We have enjoyed the cabin, boating, skiing, tubing, jet skiing, camp fires, s'mores, tube wars, yard games, and just great time with family and friends. Thanks for hosting us Skippy and Tom! Can't wait for next year!

June Friends and Happenings

What a wonderful whirlwind of a month so far.  We are reminded by how wonderful Minnesota summers are and blessed to have spent it with some amazing friends.

Hope your summer is just a good!  Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Outing!

Happy Birthday to the most amazing partner, wife(y), mother, best friend, and woman that I have ever met!  Thank you for the chance to be part of your life for the last almost 20 years!  You are loved!

Check out this picture that Jeryn took of us while Up North in Baxter for the holiday weekend.  Looks like we have a budding photographer in the works:)

Happy Memorial Day everyone!

Moving to...

After 11 years, 2 wonderful children, 4 houses, 2 states, 2 countries, 1 dog, 9 cars, a couple of frequent flyer miles, loads of new brilliant friends, a few tears, lots of laughter, and a WHOLE LOT OF LOVE...

We are sad to say that we are moving again, this time leaving England behind:

But excited to share that we are headed home to Minnesota in April!

Hope to see you soon!!

More MN Highlights

We spent the 2nd week with Auntie J, Uncle Betty and Chaya at their house in St. Louis Park. We had the whole basement to ourselves! There were many parks, a freezing cold morning at the lake, s'mores and a fantastic BBQ complete with visits with close friends. 

Grandma Pam would have been 64 on August 28th. She absolutely LOVED the Minnesota State Fair and went there every year for her birthday with Janessa. So, we thought it only appropriate to go to the the fair on her birthday this year too. We also bought a tribute brick, in her honor, that can be found by the Grand Stand. It was a lovely day of eating and people watching. What a fabulous week! We can't wait to go back again next year...hopefully with Josh in tow this time!

Minnesota Cabin Highlights

Our trip back to MN this year was a bit different for a few reasons:

1. Josh was unable to come with.

2. The weather didn't cooperate.

3. Grandpa is officially retired!

4. Grandma Pam wasn't there to greet us.

However, we did make the best of it and were SO GLAD to be with family and the best of friends. Our first stop was in Brainerd with Grandma and Grandpa. We had planned to be out at the lake most of the days, but as stated above, the weather didn't cooperate. We were lucky enough to have one fun day of boating and tubing! The girls had a blast tubing with Auntie Kirk.