We had one day home for summer break before flying to Minnesota to cool down as well as we had our friends wedding to attend. At the last minute Brian decided to come the same day as Sara and the kids but because of flight prices took a different airline at the same time!
Luckily the kids are pretty good on the plane! Especially now that Ashley discovered the ipad/iphone! She's obsessed with the Santa app.
And no surprise here that Trevor is on his iPad. He brought along Hulk Smash for the flight too!
First stop after landing was to Uncle Jim's! It was a quick visit so that we could get to Nana and Papa Steve's but we had a plan. Ashley LOVED the little airplane swing!
Ashley and Ellie were so cute together. This picture will always remind us of a picture of Sam and Trevor when they were around 1 year old. We had them sitting in the backyard among a bunch of leaves neither one really knowing what to do when Trevor just puts his arms in the air and Sam looks at him like 'no need to show off Trevor.' It was too cute. Now this time Ellie out of nowhere put her arms up! Funny!
As we were leaving Sam and Trevor gave big hugs :)
Sam looked in the car and without anyone saying anything said aloud 'why are there three car seats in the car?'
He was beyond elated to learn that he was coming with us to have a sleepover!!!
Mission complete!!
The next day Sara's parents hosted a big gathering for the Kelly clan, which is an annual tradition we don't like to miss if we can help it. It's great seeing everyone and catching up since we live so far away. When Elena came that day Auntie Sara surprised her and Ashley with coordinating outfits. It's so fun having girl nieces! 4 of them!
Best Friends Forever! Get it?
As usual when we visit MN it is gloomy, cold and rainy but luckily Papa Steve and Nana have a big garage for the kids to play.
And of course they built a chariot for Ashley :)
The boys had so much fun with their sleepover (even though they didn't stay in the same room because they had a hard time falling asleep), we decided to see if Sam could spend the night again! The answer from everyone was a yes!
On Memorial Day we checked out the town's parade!
The boys thought it was a hoot! They loved the marching band!
Most people might complain about the cold and rain but not us Arizonans. It was a nice change :)
Diva liked the parade, er candy!
After the parade we hit up the bowling alley. Three cool dudes!
Funny faces were on the score board!
Ashley liked when it was her turn. She was very good at pushing the ball down the special ramp!
And the final scores! Sam was very upset he didn't win (he does get his competitiveness from his Daddy) but Sara was stoked to get over 100 for once!
After that while Ashley was napping Uncle B took the boys to the Blast for ice cream! Boy time!
After that we brought Sam back to the Cities where we met Annie for Sam to go home and we headed to Jeff and Dawn's to see everyone and celebrate Leah's 5th birthday! As usual the older girls were obsessed with Ashley. :)
Dawn made Leah a Tinkerbell cake that looked too good to eat. Almost. Her cakes are really, really yummy!
Leah and her God-Mommy!
The Hillins cousins :-) So good to see them all together again!!
On Tuesday it was back to work for Daddy (he worked from Sara's parents house) and the rest of us did our best to stay quiet by playing outside, even in the rain!
...going to the library...
...fishing in the rain (i.e. practicing casting so someone could go fishing)
...catching worms...
...making buses inside...
...and learning to read music!
And finally the sun came out. Trevor started singing 'rain rain go away, little Trevor wants to play!' It must have worked! So we played bubbles!
Practiced more fishing...
Visited the neighbor Jeff who is a police officer. Trevor LOVED sitting in his car!
Going to the Blast to get an ice cream cone again from Samantha (Jeff's daughter) who Trevor really likes!
Sara loves the Blast because they have a dairy free Dream Whip that is delicious!
Ashley kept running and jumping over the paper yelling 'ta da'!
One day Sara, her Mom and the kids ran over to Waseca for Sara to see her optometrist (yep she refuses to switch providers) and to reward the kids for being so good during the appointment and just for old times sake they went to Barney's drive-in for a root beer! We got to sit in the special car and enjoy our yummy treat!
Such a fun small-town place!
Perfect day for a root beer!
After that we went back to Sara's parents house and got a bit settled, Brian and Sara left for a night in the Twin Cities before heading up North for their friend Andrew's wedding weekend. (Separate Post) Not sure the kids even noticed their parents were gone with all the fun Nana and Papa Steve kept them busy with! Trevor helped come up with a list of things he wanted to do and pretty sure they crossed them all off! Starting with going to a park!
You can tell Nana Jeanne was a kindergarten teacher. She thinks of the most fun and clever things...like eating lunch out of an ice cube tray! A Nana lunch!
They visited Cabela's to see the animals.
And the fishes!
They made brownies and Trevor asked to lick the bowl. Nana could hardly believe it when he wasn't kidding that he literally licks the bowl!
Pretty yummy!
They went to feed the ducks!
They looked at cook books...
...painted rocks!
...made a gingerbread man
...and then it was fishing time!!!
These are probably some of Mommy's favorite pictures! Papa Steve definitely made Trevor's trip by going fishing.
Fishing and chatting away. And waiting of course!
And more waiting!
But eventually they caught a big one ;-)
From what we hear he was very, very proud!
They also hit up Cashwise for the free pony rides! Pretty lucky kiddos to have such adventurous grandparents that are always on the go!
When Mommy and Daddy got back from the wedding we met Nana, Papa Steve, the kids along with Jim, Annie, Sam and Elena at an awesome park. Something for everyone!
As usual Ashley loved the slide!
We went back to Jim and Annie's for Ashley to nap but she had other plans....
Nope, not sleepy! She probably just wanted to soak up every minute until Daddy had to fly back to AZ!
That is until we got in the car and both were asleep in seconds. We thought it was cute they both had the exact same expression!
On Monday morning Trevor wanted to make it clear that his sister was not allowed in 'his' room so he made a sign. LOL
Ashley didn't seem to mind because she was far too busy playing with all of Mommy's Cabbage Patch Kids!
Uncle Jim and Aunt Annie took Monday off of work to be able to spend time together! So neat! We all met up at the zoo. Well, except Papa Steve who left that morning for a fishing trip with his friends. Of course we matched the girls in their matching dresses Nana bought for them!
There is just something so special about the MN Zoo. So much better than the Phoenix Zoo.
They added a new carousel that Uncle Jim treated us too. Big boy was all smiles.
Ashley loved it too!
Trevor wanted his picture taken with each animal he could get his hands on LOL!
And before we knew it, it was time to go. Sadness.
It would be the last time the Roslansky cousins would be together and these boys didn't want to say goodbye. It's still amazing to us that Sam is 3 and a half months older than Trevor and Elena is 5 weeks older than Ashley. What a special bond these 4 have. Until next time!
But of course Trevor had his eye on a special sucker so back in the zoo we went under the guise of needing to use the restroom.
When we got back to Owatonna Ashley moved her little table and chair to the kitchen and went to work on her iPad. She calls it school!
On Tuesday we checked out the sushi restaurant in little ole Owatonna. Truth be told it was some of the best sushi Sara has had and the kids loved the chicken and fried rice!
Trevor uses the little table for more rock painting. He was on a mission to make a Santa one. This kid is already planning Christmas!
The rain stayed away but the kids had their own idea for making puddles.
Why not use the watering can to make 'rivers'? Such smart and creative kids!
These two also soaked up their last day in the grass. Cuties!
Trevor also practiced his bike riding with Nana and the boy who lives across the street. Run Nana!
And then on Wednesday it was time to say goodbye. The kids were all smiles outside of security but after we passed through security Trevor was all waterworks. As in full down meltdown (you remember the picture in the car after we took Nana to the airport in AZ....same story just not in car seat). So so so sad for a good 15 minutes. Luckily we had time to kill!
We eventually made our way to the plane and the kids were absolute angels. We are blessed with excellent travelers!
And this is what Ashley did for the first two hours or so of the flight. Nighty night princess!
When we got home Daddy had set up all of the kids' friends to greet us when we got home. The kids loved it!
So now that we're back in the heat summer officially begins. Thank you to everyone who made our trip home so special! Especially for Nana and Papa Steve for hosting us and taking such great care of each of us. The kids really enjoyed their special time with you over the weekend and Brian and I enjoyed our special time together because of your generosity. XOXOXOXO
