Minnesota Part 1--Coming and Going

So we have WAY too many pictures from our trip to Minnesota and I have WAY too little time to get them posted right now (I start my prelims Monday--I have to pass them before I can do my dissertation). Anyhow, I've decided that rather than do a day by day recount of the trip, I'll try to do topical posts. So here is the first one documenting our trip to and from Minnesota (we'll see how many of these it will take for me to get through all the pics I want to post!).

Mark getting Grace ready to go--I love this picture because it captures how sweet Mark is with his little girl. Seeing them together always makes me smile!

Happy baby in the car. Notice that she's missing her socks. We were on the road for about 20 minutes before she got them off and had shoved them in her mouth. Why do we buy her toys if socks work just as well?

Waiting for mommy at the gas station. She looks like a baby on a mission!

On our way to the big family vacation at the lake we had the opportunity to stop in Minneapolis and visit our friends Joe and Anni Meiser. Anni was one of the first friends I met when I went to college, we shared many fun AXiD and Alma memories, we stood up in each others' wedding, and to this day she is one of my favorite people in the world. Anni came and stayed with us for a week while I was pregnant last summer but we hadn't got to see each other since and she hadn't got meet Grace yet. So a stop over in Minneapolis was a must for this trip. We had a great night of catching up, enjoying dinner on the porch, and hearing about Joe's recent adventure (he biked the Continental Divide--how cool is that?!?!). Saturday morning they took us to the St. Paul farmer's market (so cool--everything must come from within 100 miles so it's so fresh!) and then we begrudgingly left them for the last part of our drive north. Thanks so much for your hospitality Anni and Joe! I hope we don't have to go another year before we get to see each other again!

We decided to break the trip up on our way home too. We stopped in Merrill, Wisconsin to see our friends Ryan and Katie Ourada. They are expecting their first baby on November 14th (Yep-- Grace's birthday!). It was fun seeing them at this point in their pregnancy and knowing that it's exactly where we were a year ago. Katie agreed that it was also really weird seeing us and thinking that we're where they will be a year from now! Grace had a surprise waiting for her when we got to Merrill...


We were lucky enough to hit Merrill when the county fair was in town. When Katie and Ryan lived in West Lafayette we went to the Tippecanoe County fair and had a memorable time (let's just say we are too old to ride those rides and none of us felt well the rest of the night). So Ryan wanted to show us how much better his hometown county fair was.


It was a good time--especially the real Wisconsin cheese curds!


We spent the rest of the evening playing games and laughing. We miss having Katie and Ryan in Indiana so much. It was so nice to hang out with them--it was just like it always was (except for the baby sleeping in the bedroom and Katie being pregnant...). Thanks for everything Ouradas!

Stay tuned for more from our summer vacation!