The Last Few Days of Summer . . . .

Tonight we are winding up our trip to Minnesota, getting ready to head back home tomorrow. We arrived in St. Paul on Thursday around lunch time and headed straight for one of our old favorite restaurants - Cosetta. It's italian, and has the most fantastic Italian grocery store attached to it - it's enough to make me want to move back. :) We had a VERY yummy lunch. (It's the place with the green awnings).

Then we headed down the street to the Science Museum where they had a special Star Wars exhibit - much to the delight of Jack and Noah. The exhibit had all kinds of actual stuff from the movies - actual costumes, ships, etc. It was really interesting and the kids enjoyed it.

Next up: the Bloomington Radisson, our accommodations for Thurs. night, which happens to be attached to the Water Park of America - supposedly the largest indoor waterpark in the country. Our room was cool - instead of two queen beds, it had one queen bed and a little bunk bed room for the kids:

This place was just a riot - we had SO--MUCH--FUN. The big feature was a "Family Raft" water slide - you start 10 stories up and all pile into a circular raft (can fit up to 6 people!), then plummet down the most amazing slide - wow. The first time was NOT fun for me, who ended up being the one riding backwards, or for Jack, who had his eyes squeezed shut the whole time and was just scared in general. We coaxed Jack into trying it again, to no avail - still didn't like it. So at that point, Mark got out the big guns and started bribing him with chances at the claw machine conveniently located in the waterpark (I know, lowdown and dirty, right??). That's all we had to do to get Jack tearing up the stairs, determined and ready to go. Sure enough, two more trips down and he was hooked, his contract with Dad was fulfilled, and he started doing it free of charge. :) Did I mention there was no elevator or chair lift? Just stairs. You have to climb the 10 stories every time - we figure between Thurs. and Fri. we climbed around 140 stories. Yep, the kids were a little tired. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of this slide or the waterpark - it was just too big and I was too distracted. The best thing about it was that we all got to ride together and came out at the end every time just rolling in laughter. Definitely a highlight of the summer.

Friday morning was spent on the above-mentioned slide, and then we headed to Ikea, which we'd never visited, and have heard so much about. This store is so massive, we got lost a couple times, and in the end didn't really see what the big deal is about - but interesting nevertheless. We then headed to the Ridgedale mall - our old stomping grounds, just a short distance from our apartment when we were first married. The kids got their pictures taken at a favorite studio there, then after supper we headed to Willmar.

We've had a great time in Willmar - been able to spend lots of time with Mark's brother and his kids, which we don't get to do very often. Mark got in some golf with the men in his family and played some 1-on-1 bball with his cousin - we were all laughing about exactly where Jack gets his intensity from . . . it was very apparent today.

We took all the kids to a go-kart park this afternoon and oh my word, did the kids go nuts. The competition was intense . . . at least with Jack (see below). A few minutes into their second time on the kiddie go-karts, I had to stop watching - they were running each other off the track, running into empty parked go-karts - even pushed an empty one out onto the track . . . it was unreal. I decided this afternoon that neither Jack or Noah will be getting their driver's licenses. Ever. At least while they are living in our house. Jack just goes on a tear, with a dead aim on anyone close by, and Noah drives looking behind him the whole time. Uggh. I mean it - never.

Here's boy on a mission:

BOOM!

The three cousins . . .

Here's Mr. Happy-Go-Lucky . . . .

And his crazy-competitive brother . . .

The five Roisum cousins - I have the absolute cutest nieces on the planet.

We spend the day tomorrow journeying home and then have ONE MORE DAY of summer on Tuesday. I gave the boys their choice of what to do that day - and of course it's the pool. Uggh - it just makes my heart hurt to think that my babies are starting 1st Grade on Wednesday. I've been doing quite well at avoidance, but now the reality of it is staring me in the face and giving me the 'ol pit in my stomach. Don't be surprised if one day the four of us are gone, disappeared without a trace - off to hide on some mountain or beach to avoid the progression of time. I know, that wouldn't work either. My current plan is to just immerse myself in the many activities starting in the next couple of weeks and focus on some projects around the house. Bah humbug . . . . .