Day 1 and 2 in Minnesota

Day 1, Thursday, July 30th. Drove from Cedar Rapids to Minneapolis to stay with Deja and Lexa, hung out, took the kids to a bar to have pizza, it was good, the looks we got were not. LOL!

Michael and Lexa making silly faces

Day 2, Friday July 31st. Went to a really cool park with Deja, Lexa, and Gavin. Had to beat rush hour traffic to get to Northern MN. Got caught in terrible construction but, made it up North in one piece.

Michael hanging around at the park

Grace had a awesome playground to play on and she hung out on the side lines

Me and my cuties waiting for the tram to go to the other side of the park. Wish we had more time so we could have hung out longer at the park, it was really neat.

Deja, Grace, Michael, Lexa, and Gavin

Pretty lilies at the park

Days 3 and 4 in Minnesota

On day 3 and August 1st we visited with Leta and family, then drove to Orr to visit Louise.

On the bus to see the bears: Michael and Ajay

Bear, eating

Michael and a bear

Grace being a bear

Us and the bears

The gift shop.
Here is the website if you want to check out the sanctuary http://www.greenpeople.org/webpage.cfm?memid=22284&pmtlevel=0&linkpage=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.americanbear.org

Bears, Bears, everywhere even in the trees


Trying to capture the sunset over Pelican Lake, just missed it...I love this picture anyway

Sela and Grace

Michael and Ari, the cousins that are only 1 day apart.

On the 4th day Sunday and August 2nd we attended Sacrament meeting in Virginia. It was really nice and it was fast and testimony Sunday so that was a really neat experience, the church there is so small and so spread out all over but, the testimonies were so strong. Leta had a get together.

Miriah and Emy

Linda and Grace

Warren and Charlie

Rub-a-dub-dub 4 kids in a tub with LOTS of bubbles. Fun with cousins

Day 5 in Minnesota

Day 5 and August 3rd started out on a sour note, the kids didn't sleep well at all and I tried making them take a nap before heading to Cook to visit the Johnson side of the family. Lets just say they one, I LOST. We got to the Johnson's at about 1, then a little later went visiting.

Visiting with Auntie May, she is over 90.

My Great Grandma Lenzen she, is blind and had been for many years.

My Great Aunt Kelly, me, and Michael

Grandma Johnson, Great Grandma Lenzen, and Great Aunt Kelly

Back at Grandpa and Grandma Johnson's. Playing on the Quad

Yea!

Grace and Papa Johnson

Aren't they fierce? LOL

Grace snuggling her Great Grandpa Johnson

No more pictures....yeah right.

Pete and Linda came to visit. Pete is my Grandpa's younger brother, Linda is his wife.

Michael, Grace, and Papa Johnson

Michael and his Papa Johnson

Day 6 and 7 in MN

On Tuesday, 8-4-09....

Can you guess what he's doing?
We went exploring and raspberry picking when Michael say's I see frogs! So we had to stop.

Grace loved helping, NOT she had fun playing in the water but, I think the frogs scared her a bit. She loved them once they were in the bucket.

He caught 10 in total, we could NOT leave until he caught them all :)



Visited with Tom, Bobbie Jo (my cousin,) and Tommy

Tommy, Grace, and Michael

After that we visited Pete and Linda at their cabin on the river

My dad and Linda

Fireman Michael, Grandpa Johnson, and Pete

Papa Johnson helping Grace not fall in the fire and Michael roasting marshmellows

Grace and Grandpa Johnson snuggling
Grace and Grandma Johnson snuggling


Watch out! Grace is roasting marsh mellows :)

Snuggles with Grandpa Johnson later that night, before bed

My dad and me

Snuggles with Papa Johnson



On Wednesday 8-5-09 We started out the morning saying goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa Johnson in Cook, MN


Saying goodbye to our Cook, MN sleeping headquarters:


On the evening of 8-5-09 Leta had a little get together for the family to come see us.

Uncles; Michael, Scott, and Warren were able to come and it was GREAT to see them. 3 of 8 uncles, lots of silliness for sure.

Uncle Warren with his newest Grandson, Charlie

Shawna is going to be a great Aunt, Charlie sure loved her!
Auntie Kijo, Charlie, and Shawna