Weekend getaway to Minneapolis

Last weekend we made an impromptu trip to the cities.

It was glorious. Relaxing. Enjoyable and so fun.

My parents joined us for the weekend.

Isaac and my dad were checking out the beds when we arrived Friday afternoon.

The boys went swimming lots and frequently donned beards made of bubbles from the hot tub.

They both surprised us all by swimming by themselves while we were there!

Yeah Jonah and Elijah!

They certainly couldn't swim through deep waters easily, but they did great practicing in the shallow end!  It was fun watching them do this and get so excited.

It also took a little guilt off my shoulders as I was feeling guilty for not putting them in swimming lessons  this summer or last spring.  I just have felt so rotten being pregnant and with an active 17 month old it is virtually impossible to sit and "watch" their lessons. 

These 2 have come a long way in the past year!

We are so proud of you two!!!!!

Friday evening Richard, Jonah, Elijah, and my parents went to a Twins game.

They met up with a good friend of ours from Iowa to enjoy the new Target Field, despite the disappointing loss of the Twins. 

The boys enjoyed themselves.

 They weren't quite as impressed with the game as the rest of the group, but enjoyed the amenities nonetheless. 

While the rest of the family was busy cheering on the Twins, I had a date with this adorable little boy for the evening...

I was 99.9% sure Isaac would have lasted about 5 minutes at the Twins game, so I volunteered to stay behind with him and enjoy an evening one-on-one with my littlest man. 

We were conveniently staying in Maple Grove near Arbor Lakes.

Fortunately I know the area fairly well, so we ate supper at Noodles and Company, which happens to be one of my favorite "healthy-fast-food" options that we don't have in Grand Forks. 

Isaac and I split a bowl of the Wisconsin Mac N Cheese. 

Yummy!!!!

I was also excited to discover they had one of these for me to enjoy....

A Peach Izze!

If you are unfamiliar with this fantabulous drink, it is an all natural fruit drink with sparkling water added. It is caffeine free, preservative free and fructose free.  You can learn more here. 

I was introduced to them in Texas by my lovely sister-in-law Jaime.

Since I am unable to enjoy an adult beverage, and should limit my caffeine/soda intake, these are a fun replacement!  It is also fun that they are "better" for you than other drinks. 

After our delicious supper, Isaac requested that we spend some time in Babies R Us/Toys R Us which happens to be right down the street form Noodles & Company!

So we spent a fair amount of time roaming the store, checking out the baby products and then he was able to roam the toy aisles and push as many buttons as his little heart desired.

I think it was a win-win for both of us!

His favorite toy was this...

He LOVES trucks and recently discovered that he can make a siren noise like the fire truck. 

We were in this aisle long enough, that I may have sat down next to him to rest my weary shopping feet.

We may or may not have also scared away a few customers with the constant siren noises!

Since Isaac was still eager to shop more, we headed to the Shoppes at Arbor Lakes (a large strip mall), which also happens to be conveniently located a few minutes further east of where we were. 

It was sure fun to peruse the stores.

Isaac was happy as long as the stroller kept moving, which was fine since I didn't really need anything in the stores we visited. Most were stores we don't have here (Pottery Barn, Gymboree, The Children's Place, and some fun local ones)

Speaking of that, I discovered a sweet store called Hot Momma!

While I was a little disappointed it wasn't a maternity store, I was impressed.

It is a store with designer clothes for moms and they welcome wild children!

They had some snacks for kids, a train table, and some computer games for them to play while mom shops! Brilliant! Everything was a little out of my price range, but still fun to look!

Isaac nicely reminded me it was time to end our date by having a small tantrum in Gymboree.

So we made a quick dash through the grocery store for some essentials (bread, milk, fruit, starbucks ice cream) and headed back to the hotel. 

He didn't quite make it back awake...

He was asleep by 8pm and I was able to relax the rest of the evening. 

It was wonderful!

Saturday we slept in,  enjoyed a fabulous breakfast at the hotel, the boys went swimming, and we relaxed.  Then we headed out for lunch and my dad headed home.

Richard volunteered to watch the boys in the hotel room while Isaac napped and my mom and I went back to the Shoppes at Arbor Lakes and had a great afternoon. 

We found some great deals for some back to school clothes for the boys and enjoyed looking in the new and different stores too!

It was such a treat to have that time with my mom! We haven't seen a whole lot of each other lately and I sure treasure the time we get to spend together. 

Thanks Richard!

After some more swimming and relaxing in the hotel, we headed to the Macraoni Grill for Supper.

It wasn't our best experience there, but had a nice evening. 

We have some fun pics to remember it by...

Isaac says "cheese" whenever I take out my camera....weird huh?

My mom and the big boys

Me and all my boys!

I love this one!

How rare to get all 3 smiling and looking at the camera.

They adore her and we are sure blessed to be so close. 

We spent the rest of the evening chilling in the hotel room.

Not sure what happened, but Issac was WIRED and we were all up until almost midnight listening to him fuss and fight sleep. 

It's hard to be mad at such a cute little turkey though!

We enjoyed another relaxing morning at the hotel and then met up with our friends from Iowa, The Hawthornes, who live in St. Paul.

Clint and Katy are like family to us after our years together in Iowa City. 

We miss them dearly and try to squeeze in visits whenever we can.

They have 2 beautiful little boys and it sure is fun to see them all playing together!

Katy introduced us to a super fun new meeting place....The Java Train.

It is a restaurant/cafe/play place for kiddos.

The perfect set up to enjoy some conversation while letting the little ones burn off some energy.

This structure was like a fort you could climb up in.

The boys spent lots of time up there.

This is the courtyard where we sat.

Finn was enjoying some lunch!

There was also seating inside as well as a small caboose climbing structure with a train that went around it.  Isaac sure enjoyed that! I was afraid he was going to have a seizure he was so excited everytime the train came by "choo choo"!

Clint is a doctor doing his residency in the ER and had just come off a 24 hour shift.

Thanks for staying up for us Clint!

We miss and love you guys!

We had a nice trip home that afternoon and fortunately didn't hit too much traffic.

Elijah and Jonah kept themselves busy reading, playing leapster, and watching movies.

Isaac enjoyed a much needed nap after his late night escapade!

Overall we had a great weekend!

It will probably be one of the last weekends we get to spend together before this little one arrives!

Between Cross Country starting and my crazy work schedule to avoid working too many shifts in a row and avoiding the meets we definitely appreciated this time together!