Ahhhhh... Minnesota!

I am so behind in blog posts... with several in the works. We'll start with the Minnesota trip summary!

Our extended vacation in Minnesota was near perfect. We left during my favorite season... Minnesota is so beautiful in the fall. The weather is perfect for being outside and running... high 70's with cool, crisp air in the morning and evening. And, everywhere you look trees are changing colors creating a really beautiful golden light.

The extended Minnesota trip allowed the kids to spend so much quality time with their grandparents. Time together that I could never put a price on. And, I know Gabby and Rocco will have so many memories from their time there. I really wish Giuliana could remember her time there too... good thing I took video and still photos. Someday I'll have to tell her all about how her and her Papa became best friends.

My parents on the other hand might read this and think to themselves "Yeah... priceless is right. We've been fixing or putting things back together ever since you left." Or, perhaps their memories will mostly be of putting every nick knack that they own up high, or removing tables from rooms, or rearranging their space completely to handle the circus that IS my family. While I think we completely interrupted their lives for much longer than orginally planned, I do think my parents also enjoyed it. A little? Maybe?

We also got to spend lots of time with our MN cousins, see our China cousins, and I got to see and have dinner/lunch dates (without kids!) AND play dates with many wonderful friends of mine from high school, college and my childhood.

Some of the fun stuff we did:
*One trip to the Minnesota Zoo (which is AWESOME!)
* One trip to an apple orchard
* Lots of swimming in the lake
* Lots of boat rides
* Lots of rides on Papa's cool ATV... even driving up & down the street and into the lake
* Numerous trips to the University of Minnesota's Landscape Arboretum (many of these with Gammy to explore the cool stick play structures)
* Gabby & Rocco had two trips to the cinema w/their daddy, seeing "Toy Story III" and "Despicable Me"
* Lots of time spent playing and having family dinners with our MN cousins. Lots of dress up, building forts, swimming, jumping on the trampoline, playing music, and putting shows together.
* One special day spent with our cousins who live in Shanghai (just happened to fly through MN a few days after we arrived).
* Lots of story time with Gammy
* Uncle Dave brought his RC plane out so he could fly it for Rocco. Rox thought this was SO COOL!
* Lots of play dates with my friend's children
* Weekly trips to Open Gym @ the local gymnastics academy
* Gymnastics classes (for both Gabby & Rocco)
* Gabby went to her first play with Gammy, Papa and two cousins to see "The 1,000 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins"
* One trip to the ER for Rocco. Rocco thought it would be a great idea one day to essentially climb the Empire State building to get to the vitamin cupboard. Long story short, he was fine. Not even sure he actually swallowed any vitamins or not. The vitamins he reached were thankfully, non-toxic. But, we brought him in just to make sure he was ok and wouldn't need further action.
* One trip to the ER for Gammy. Gammy broke her foot on the last day we were there because she stepped on a toy at the bottom of the stairs. ACK! I felt and still feel AWFUL about this!
* McDonald's for dinner. This might not sound interesting, but my kids didn't even know what McDonald's was last winter. By Spring, Dan had taken Gabby on two occasions because he thought it was odd she didn't know what it was. Rocco had never eaten McDonald's before Minnesota. Gabby prefers the chicken nuggets (made from every part of the chicken and over processed and then filled with flavoring... yum... sounds delish, right?! YUK!). Rocco prefers the cheeseburger (is there really meat in it?).
* Helped uncle Dave celebrate his 40th birthday... this included singing Happy Birthday to him about 20 times.


Some of the funnier and more memorable moments include:
* Rocco asking every day "Can I see your big planes, papa?"

* Gabby helping me sort through my mom's closet. We were getting rid of a lot of her clothes... and Gabby said "Well Gammy... your legs are still good. You can keep your legs."

* At dinner one night, after we were in Minnesota for 2 or 3 weeks, Gabby said to Gammy and Papa "So, how long are you planning on staying here?" (guess she got to thinking it was OUR house! ha!)

* Gammy teaching Giuliana to accept and eat jarred baby foods.

* Giuliana developed so much while we were there! Not only did she learn to crawl while we were there, but she also learned to pull herself up to a standing position. Such a strong girl! She also said her first "Hi!" and did her first clapping while in Minnesota.

* Gabby made several *MN best friends* - Ava, Abby and Becca.

Pictures to come - hope to post tomorrow!