nashville/illinois family

(I hate that I am posting things out of order, but I took pictures with my real camera over the July 4th weekend and I haven't uploaded them to my computer yet, so that post is yet to come. Now we jump forward to the week of July 6-10.)

Our family from Nashville, TN and Johnston City, IL came to visit last week and I decided to take the whole week off to spend with them and the rest of the family and kids doing many, many activities. It was a FULL weekend!

Monday we headed up to the metro area starting with the Mall of America. We stopped by Lego Land, Build-a-Bear Workshop, Nickelodeon Universe, and did a little shopping.

All the kids made a "bear"- Hudson's was a minion (no surprise there- obsession!), Tucker's was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle (I think another obsession!), Harlow's was a sparkling bear fairy, and Paxton's a flying dragon.

After building their new friends, we went to Nick Universe for some rides.

That's Tucker on the left, face painted as a ninja turtle.

Our hotel had the biggest swimming area with a HUGE pool that that teeny tiny little girl on the left had all to herself. 

Tuesday we went to Como Zoo. Despite the high temperatures, a lot of people decided to go to the zoo that day!

Wednesday we took a shorter trip to Mankato and had lunch at Friesen's Bakery. There was A LOT of delicious baked goods- pastries, muffins, cupcakes, cake but.....Harlow and I shared this veggie and hummus plate, which was still delicious, but a very different kind of health delicious.

After lunch we went to the Children's Museum. It was a first for all of us at their new location and it was really cute. I absolutely LOVED the Tree of Forts and explored the entire thing from bottom to top with Harlow.

Supper was at Dino's Pizzeria that evening. Aren't these two the sweetest!?

The kids ate all/most of their food and wanted to show off their growing muscles.

 I was actually a little surprised to see that Paxton does have a tiny little bicep in there!

Thursday we went to the Sleepy Eye waterpark, again, with a lot of other kids! This was the only picture I managed to get that day.

Friday we stayed local and went to Schell's Brewery and climbed Hermann the German. Harlow was over the moon excited to ride the trolley into the brewery!

She's so pretty.

We sure got used to having the extra family around. We already miss you Bill, Sandi, Mark, Dana, and Tucker! Thanks for visiting. Love you!