Third Time's A Charm

We just had such a fun weekend at the Dells, I just had to post about it, even though I don't have that many pictures. This was our third time going to the Dells, and this time the kids did so great--no puking and they even did the slides and things!!! We were just thrilled, because John was just having such a ball going on the slides over and over with Brooklyn, and Sara even did quite a lot! They had been saying they weren't going to do the "big" slides for weeks, so I was just worried that they'd stick to the baby slides again, which is okay, but you know what I mean, right? I just wanted them to have fun and not be terrified of the big things. So, I guess the third time was the charm for them, because they really warmed right up to everything. YAY!

Of course it was also super fun to see Jared's sisters and their oldest boys, too. They planned this trip to come out to Wisconsin to visit us and Jake's fam before we moved--oops! So, we ended up meeting at the Dells for a few days to hang out, and it was a lot of fun. I'm sad we didn't get to do Chicago stuff with them, but they did do some of that without us. They still will have to come to Minnesota sometime, though, right?

We only had Friday evening, Saturday, and then Sunday morning, so it was a short trip, but it was a nice little break. We made the most of it by staying up till 3:30 am Friday night/Saturday morning, and I paid for it Sunday afternoon. I basically slept from 5:30 on, but it was worth it.

Of course we did the waterpark thing, and we all loved the Hurricane ride. I don't think that could ever get old. I meant to take some pictures this time, but forgot the camera both days, so Lis, I want copies of yours, if you don't mind.

We also did the arcade thing, which I hadn't done before (we usually let the guys take the kids there), and it was fun. Jared worked very strategically to get a ton of tickets. John has been planning on getting this Triceratops wooden skeleton puzzle since our last trip and it was like 575 tickets or something. We also let the kids do lots of the games they wanted to, and we then got even luckier when a couple just gave us all their 500+ tickets, because they didn't have any kids. Anyway, we were able to get the puzzle and the cute princess bear that Sara is holding and still some other smaller things. My favorite was the "Deal or No Deal" game. One time I played and won 53 tickets and the second I only won 6 or something, but I really liked that one. I love the show, too!


Oh, I forgot to mention the laser tag. John was old enough, and he was a little excited--can't you tell? We did that late Saturday night, but he had energy to spare. It was so fun to watch him wander around the course shooting people; I loved it. I barely scored higher than he did, and Jared won, but we don't have to mention that, right? Thanks, Lis, for hanging with Sara, and for treating--we'll have to get you back!

Sara and Brooklyn played so cute together--
Just to explain the last pictures, we were planning on finding a church in the area to attend, but it started at 9, and we didn't think we could get checked out and ready and everything by then, and Jake's group had found one near Milwaukee at 1 that they could go to, so they weren't planning to leave till about 11. Anyway, there wasn't one that we could catch at 1, so we didn't get in our church clothes, except Sara, just because she wanted to.





It was so great to see everyone! Let's do it again!

Minnesota Welcomes You!

Well, now that we've been here over two weeks, it seems high time to post something about our adventures. I guess I've been procrastinating until we have the house in perfect order, but since that may never happen, I better go ahead and post, right!?

The move out of Kenosha went pretty smooth--THANK YOU so much to all who helped with kids, loading, cleaning, feeding us, etc. We couldn't have done it without you! We had booked a hotel that night up near Milwaukee to force us to get on the road and that worked out nicely, too. I always work better under pressure, but I did forget to wash the windows--OOPS! The only major tragedy was the demise of our topsy turvy. Sigh. As you all know, we had gotten attached to our tomatoes, and they were growing great, and we had gotten a few off the plants and many, many more were coming soon--YUM!! Long story super short, in trying to take the topsy turvy thing to Mike's, the whole thing was destroyed. Big sigh from me and I'm sure from Mike. Oh, well. Next year everyone has got to try a Topsy Turvy, if you ask me!

We did get that one big one off and lots of the little ones, but you can see she was only beginning, and then this...
I seriously almost cried. Is that silly to cry over tomatoes?

Anyway, the drive with the U-Haul wasn't bad, we let the kids trade off in the truck and in the car, which they thought was cool and they were completely enthralled with their goody bags compliments of the Bruner Fam--thanks so much! That was so thoughtful, and they are still enjoying all the perfect things--John was so impressed that you knew he liked dinosaurs and that Sara liked princesses and fairies! My fav is the dinosaur hat, but I didn't get a picture of that--I'll have to take one, because it's awesome!

Little bit of rain, but not too much...







And, the Minnesota Welcomes You sign. We really love it up here, there are a lot more hills than in SE Wisconsin, but still the green trees everwhere, of course, so it is kind of different. Come visit and see for yourself!



Our place here is great, we are really loving a lot of things about it--we still are figuring out where to put everything, but it's working out nicely. I haven't taken many pictures yet, but I will when we get a few more things settled. The kids share a room here, so then we have an office in the basement, and they are liking that pretty well, too. It has forced me to purge some more of their toys, but don't tell them! :o) We've set the basement living room up with the piano and the green couch, so it's more formal than we had the basement in Kenosha, so they've lost that play area, too, but I've gained a more official piano studio. Yay! Now I just need some students...

Our ward has been really friendly and helpful, and a family that lives just a few blocks away with kids John and Sara's ages (plus two younger!) have really taken us under their wing. They've had us over a few times and made sure we knew how to get to a ward picnic and they also invited us to tag along apple picking on Labor Day, so anyway, that was so nice. Others have stopped by with jam and cookies and taken kids to play, too, so it looks like the church is true here, too!

Jared is loving his job, and he especially is loving how drug reps bring in meals constantly to the whole clinic! Yesterday he got Panera for breakfast and Chipotle for lunch, and I'll have to pretend I'm not totally jealous. He did bring home most of a cheesecake that they had as a welcome for him, so I shouldn't complain. That was nice, but this all may not be great for our waistlines. But we are so grateful for this job!

On John's bday we took the day off from unpacking and went to check out the Mall of America. Wow. It's big. There's a ton to do, so I'm sure we'll be back many times, it's about fifteen minutes away, so that's fun!

Here's the alligator at the Rainforest Cafe...
And the Lego Store...
Complete with a bunch of lego dinosaurs...


Sara picked out a Dinosaur book to give John, and we got him a bike, but I didn't get pictures of "Rocket" as John has named him. We live on a cul-de-sac, so we really wanted to get John a bike that wasn't Dora, so he can learn to ride with pride! He's getting there, and Sara is really getting the hang of it, too.

The kids really were so good through the whole thing, but they got a little overwhelmed and exhausted I think. After a certain round of fits, we sent both to time-outs, only to find them both asleep seconds later. Poor kids. I'm trying to round up a group for a pre-school, so hopefully soon they'll have some more things to do.


And I must mention that we have a HUGE yard that had bird houses built-in, so we got some seed for birds and squirrels, and now have quite a show going on out there. Even an albino squirrel, which kind of creeps me out.


In efforts to entertain the kids and check out the new cities, we went up to St. Paul and Minneapolis and found this loveable guy...
This bridge across the river was fun. Anyway, we're finding some new things to do and enjoying it all! We miss Kenosha and all that goes with it, but we're excited to start this new chapter, too.

Well, I'm off to go start canvasing the neighborhood with flyers about piano lessons. Wish me luck!