Laura Ingalls Wilder Tour Nerd Fest 2010

Not far from our house is the birthplace of Laura Ingalls Wilder, Pepin, WI as well as the town she grew up in, Walnut Grove, MN. Janie has read a couple of the books and so has my niece Quincy, so my sister Jill and my niece decided to come out for a visit/ tour.

We first drove to Walnut Grove, which is about 3 hours away, in the middle of the prairie that's for SURE! We passed miles and miles of corn fields. We toured the museum, which was cool because it was hands on so the kids could do things like try washing the clothes with a wash basin and washboard, they played checkers, drew with the slate pencils and talked on the old fashion phone. We also went to the Wilder festival, which was small but cool because they had demonstrations of things like a blacksmith and some women spinning wool into thread. I can't even begin to fathom what it was like to spend a whole day doing things just to survive! It gave me a greater appreciation for modern technology!

Aaron, Janie and Quincy in a covered wagon,

I guess the 3 hour car ride wasn't so bad after all.

Jaine going for a pony ride at the festival.

We also went on a little hike by Plum Creek. It was stunning the amount of wild flowers spread across the prairie. We also saw half of a pageant about Laura's life (only half because the pageant was outdoor and due to the severe thunderstorms heading that way it ended early). Janie and her cousin Quincy wore bonnets the whole time, and we referred to them as Mary (Janie) and Laura (Quincy). Aaron was with us as well and he seemed to have a really good time to.

The girls on the banks of Plum Creek.

Wildflowers that were everywhere!

We also visited Pepin, WI, her birthplace. The kids loved just running around the prairie, climbing trees, playing with sticks, and throwing and collecting pebbles.

Little House in the Big Woods, Janie was Mary,

Quincy was Laura and Aaron wanted to be Jack the bull dog.

Girls climbing a tree.

We had so much fun, I loved having my sister here. We chatted so much, which I am sure Jay appreciates because he has been out of town for over a week and he was in for an earful of chattiness but I got a lot of it out having my sister here!

Me and my sister Jill.

Disneyland!

Disney! We went to Southern California beginning of June. We had such a GREAT time! We stopped in and visited Jay's aunts and uncles in Palm Springs for a day, then headed to Newport. I am saving most stories for scrapbooking, that is if I get around to doing it, but a couple of fun things that we did while we were there:

ROLLER COASTERS! The kids are now tall enough to go on more rides. It took a little convincing but they went on Matterhorn, Splash Mountain, Thunder Railroads and Soar'in. They loved them all, in fact their top three rides include those! Aaron went on Soar'in six times and each time was excited about it!

OCEAN! We love the beach, playing in the sand, the kids chasing after the waves. Jay and I actually went into the water and played in the waves. I did have some anxiety about it the whole time, but after was proud of myself for doing it. It was fun, except for every time a big wave came I thought, I hope I don't drown!

FAMILY! We saw Penny, Kristine, Tony and Darlene! We loved seeing them, talking with them, laughing and enjoying their company.

The cute kids together on Small World.

Great vacation, getting back has taken me about a week to recover (aka getting my butt back in reality) but it was so worth it.

I love the look on Janie's face, this captures our experience!

Twins Game

Okay, so I had to download pictures from my camera to remember what we have been doing the last couple of weeks.

On May 29th we went to a Twins Game at the new baseball field here in Minneapolis. It was such a nice day and the big thing about this field is that is is an outdoor field (previous one was in a dome). It was BEAUTIFUL and we had a lot of fun. Although it was too bad we could never find the guy selling Kettle Corn! We did however enjoy a foot long hot dog, a lot of smuggled in swedish fish and licorice and the kids got their favorite, Dippin Dots.

It was so cute because Aaron and Jay were reviewing the game of baseball and Aaron asked after ever hit if that was a home run. Then finally when the Twins did hit a home run Aaron asks, "was that a single?"

Janie holding up her "Go Twins" sign she made all by herself.

Aaron and Jay reviewing the game of Baseball.

Evidence that I do attend events with the family!