The Mississippi River

Paul arranged for us to take a little scenic cruise down the Mississippi River. We were right at the mouth of where the river starts - so it was smaller than I would have imagined - bt very pretty and we couldn't have gotten any luckier for great weather.

The river along downtown Minneapolis -

We had to go thru the locks to go up the river. We dropped down about 20 feet or so. It was amazing that they could control all that water - here's how it looked as we just started to go down.

Paul, Summer, Alex and Avery

What a wonderful day!

Mall of America Rides

We spent Saturday at the Mall of America where there is a big amusement park in the middle of the mall. Noah was tall enough to go on all the fast scary rides - and he did them all! He loved every minute of it.

Alex went with us girls to do the kiddie rides. She was so funny on them. Wish you could have seen her on this mini drop zone ride - BIG EYES as it lifted her up and then laughing hysterically as it dropped her down - repeated 5 times. Hilarious!

She loved the bumper cars too.

Look at her squeal on the log ride with her Mom.

This was just the fun we had in the morning - I'll tell you more about the afternoon in another post.

Avery . . .

Here's Avery with her Grandpa . . .

and at the pool . . .

Here they are ready to go off to church -

Avery was the most changed of the kids - when we last saw her in February she was only 4 months old and now she is almost 1! She is walking around the furniture and has the cutest smile! I love that she still has her strawberry blonde hair - don't know where she got the red hair but I love it!

at the Zoo with our grandkids . . .

I don't know why I have such a hard time after a trip to "catch up" when I get home and get the trip blogged. We had such a blast in Minneapolis visiting Summer, Paul, and our 3 grandkids there. They were so funny - I decided I'd share a few funny things from each day . . .

First a disclaimer - it may appear from these blog posts that Alex is the "favorite" since she is in most of the photos. Well - the real reason is that she loves it when I take her picture :)

Noah and Avery are - shall we say - less cooperative so rather than bug them on this trip I had to settle for only a few photos I managed to trick them into -

So our first day in Minneapolis we took the kids to a really cute zoo. They all loved it. Noah amazed his with his knowledge of wildlife - "That's a green anaconda! They spend most of their time underwater." We checked the zoo sign - sure enough - he was exactly right.

Alex loves everyone and everything - can you tell? She is so cute!

Training Fish - When the kids put their hands in the water the fish would swim right up to them (looking for food I'm sure). The kids had it figured another way - they decided they were "training fish" and when they wiggled their fingers in the water they would "train" the fish to swim to them. Here's the worlds future fish trainers:

This was a beautiful atrium with a gorgeous garden, fountains, and a life size statue at the end of the fountains . . . .

Alex asked me to read the plaque that was next to this life size statue.

I said it says "Jane Kilpatrick 1925 'Playing in the Summertime' "

Alex asked - "What does that mean?"

Faye - "It means a lady made this sculpture a long time ago"

Alex - pondering - "Yeah, but how'd she turn her self into a statue?"

The kids said FUNNY stuff like that constantly - it was hilarious!

Thank you all so much!

The summer is now really over and Landon and I wanted to thank you all again for your generous support of Landon's Eagle Project.

It was a wonderful success and nothing says it more than these pictures from Ethiopia:

Michele had an incredible experience on her trip and each day spent at a different orphanage was a memorable experience. Michele had enough toys to give to ALL of the children they saw in all the orphanages during their 8 days in Ethiopia. We could have never accomplished that without all of you - thank you all so much.

All of the children were thrilled with their new toys and clothes.

Aren't these children absolutely adorable!

They got lots of love and affection . . .

along with the toys, clothes, and food that was brought in. Their group was also able to make some much needed permanent improvements at each orphanage.

Absolutely thrilled would be a better way to describe these girls.

Michele said this little girl just squeezed her dolls tight all day with this huge smile. I just wanted all of you to see what sheer joy looks like . . .

Thanks for all you did to help us to be able to make this happen. It was a wonderful experience for all of us - your support was overwhelming. After 200 lbs of toys made it to Ethiopia we still had 11 boxes of toys that a Children's Shelter in Oakland was thrilled to receive.

I was hoping that Landon would have an Eagle Project that felt meaningful to him - and we certainly achieved that. I am so grateful to all of you.

THANK YOU each and every one of you!

Hobble Creek Half Marathon

9 days ago we were in Utah for John, Michele, and Tiffany to run in the Hobblecreek Half Marathon. Landon and I came to play with the kids and cheer in our runners.

(I am a slacker when it comes to running - I'm sticking to my 1 hr work outs thank you)

Tiffany came in strong . . . (in fact she is going to run in a full marathon next month)

Michele came across the finish line with a smile on her face. She told me later the first 8 miles she was thinking it was the funnest thing she had ever done in her life - after mile 8 her opinion changed a bit.

John's my hero. He can do a LOT of things I can't do - this is just one of them. He pushed himself hard and did it (even when he had the occasional last minute second thoughts about this whole thing - he hung in there and did it). I'm proud of you - you'll never see me out there running for 13+ miles.

Here's our runners - happy to be finished!

I am proud of all of them. While I was visiting Tiffany in Chicago she was getting up at 5 am to get her running in before the heat - and Michele - with 2 kids under age 2 - I don't know how she managed to train at all. Not to mention John fitting yet another thing into an already over loaded schedule. It was quite extraordinary that they all did what they did.

As for me - I will never hear people cheering for me, yelling at me "Good Job! Finish strong", no clapping as I cross the finish line.

but the marathon was a great excuse to get together with the kids and grandkids. And when we left to go home Naomi cried -HARD - I mean really sad and distraught that we were leaving.

That's enough for me :)

Oh what do you do in the summertime?

I found these shirts in Chicago - I HAD to get the "Boston" shirt for Boston and of course the "Chicago" shirt was perfect for Madden -our little Chicago grandson.

We all think the cousins look more alike now that they have the same haircut.

Putting them on the stairs seemed to be my best bet for getting any pictures - they are both on the run all the time.

A hot day requires popsicles - (which requires stripping down to their diapers so we don't ruin their clothes)

Good call don't you think?

Hamming it up . . .

Grandpa was ready for a water fight -

Boston took on everyone.

Nothing like the simple pleasures of a summer afternoon.