The Clegg Family: Minnesota!!!

August 1-10, 2013

Minnesota Bound!

A fun-filled few days in Minnesota!

Some of the things we did:

Squirt Gun Wars

Family BBQ

Kickball

Chutes and Ladders Park

Como Zoo and Carousel

Wild Rumpus Bookstore

Stockyard Days Parade

Rope swings

Fishing

Planes
Mohawks

and

a sleepover

Enjoy the fun!

Chloe was in heaven chalking on my parent's huge driveway.

We had a simple family reunion of sorts with cousins, aunts and uncles and yummy food.

We played badminton, cornhole, ladderball and kickball. Badminton was a hit with the Clegg kids, especially Brady!

Grandma set up a kids' arts and crafts table where the kids created the cutest rock people, complete with googly eyes!!

And Grace located the hula-hoops and was in HEAVEN! She is amazing...check her out.

3 at a time!

Yummy BBQ and of course chips...can you see the amount of chips on these plates...you would have thought that was all we served!

And to end the evening...homemade ice cream! Vanilla is everyone's favorite!

2nd annual kickball tournament commenced shortly after the ice cream was devoured!

The of course it's all fun and games until someone starts crying...luckily it wasn't one of our kids...but Uncle Ben threw a ball a little too hard right at Cole's feet and tripped him and the game was over.

My parents live on Long Lake and the kids probably spent 2-3 hours every day swimming. They discovered the rope swing this year. And even if they weren't swimming they were swinging!!! It was pure joy for them!

Auntie Mara and Uncle Nick had some amazing news while we were in MN...they found out they are expected baby #1! We are sooooo thrilled for them!

Of course Uncle Stu doesn't disappoint when he shows up on his Harley. Brady was in awe!

The Chutes and Ladders park was a highlight of the week. We spent a couple hours there climbing, sliding and swinging. It was amazing, but super hard to keep track of all 7 kids!

The tire swing was discovered too and the kids spent a good part of the time there on it! There were misting fountains to run through as well. So really, the kids didn't even want to leave!

After our adventure at the park, we settled down with some delicious eats at the golden arches and had another adventure at one of the coolest bookstores I have ever seen! WILD RUMPUS.

Hens run wild through the aisles and tail-less kittens nap on the shelves. Rats live under foot and birds are squawking all while perusing the shelves for the perfect book!

We had our own private story time and Grandma bought a book for each kid!

For our own private story time the book shop owner read Flight of the Dodo...it was pretty cute!

Pet rats in the floor of the "garden shed"

Since the Chutes and Ladders Park and Wild Rumpus were in the same neighborhood as a local favorite of mine...we had to make a quick stop at Hunt and Gather! The name says it all. I absolutely love this place! Garrett took one for the team and waited in the car with all 7 kids so the moms could go inside to hunt and gather!!! (which we actually didn't even end up buying anything...just fun to look sometimes)

A trip to Minnesota wouldn't be complete without a day spent at Como Park! We packed a picnic (seems like something we always do when heading to Como) and spent and afternoon with the zebras, giraffes and monkeys!

We also spent a good amount of time riding the plethora of kids rides! Garrett and my sister, Becky, even stayed for an hour or so longer than my mom, Chloe and I. My kids LOVE rollercoasters. Plus we splurged and bought unlimited ride passes!

We also enjoyed a few rides on the carousel! Something that Chloe could do...since she couldn't ride on the big kid rides!

Grandma and almost all of her babies!

While we were visiting our small town of New Brighton had it's city festival, Stockyard Days. My dad is a local business owner and city council member and vintage muscle car owner and he advertises by entering his business in the parade. He drives his truck with signs on it and has his vintage car, plus a few others, ride along behind. All of us wore Beach's Long Lake Service shirts and got to run alongside the cars and hand out candy along the parade route. So we were IN the parade! The kids thought it was so best to give out candy...but as you can tell from the pictures that they actually ate their fare share before the parade even started!

We also visited the local tattoo parlor at the end of the route and got free face painting! Don't worry we didn't go it...they were doing it in the parking lot!

It was a great day. My brother in law's family lives right on the parade route and they host a HUGE BBQ every year. We ate great food and the kids bounced to their hearts content in the bouncy castle that gets rented for the festivities!

We waited to see Planes until we were in Minnesota and could go with our cousins! It was great...except we spent a small fortune on popcorn, pop and candy...that was mostly spilled, dumped out or thrown away!

Garrett spent a TON of time with a fishing rod in his hand this week too! Check out this HUGE catfish he caught one night! The kids were freaking out! There aren't many things that make him happier than fishing!

Other than the big events of the week, we did spend a lot of time just being together and doing things like painting toenails, visiting Grandpa at the station, watching baby birds and cutting hair.

Grandma sure does give a good pedicure! At least Chloe thinks so!!!

And the highlight of the week for Brady was BAR FAR getting a mohawk!

Yes that's right...his dad cut his hair and did the unthinkable...

(and he's in his underwear again..hmmm...)

...boy did he love it! and boy did he look mischievous!

Some other exciting news at the homestead, especially for Grace, were these little baby robins that took up residence on the porch. They learned to fly while were were there and Grace was mesmerized! For a couple of days any dull moments you would find here sitting at the window watching them. She alerted us when she thought they were falling out of the nest too. Turns out they were leaving the nest to spread their own wings. It was a sad day for Grace!

We celebrated all of our together time with one last hurrah...and sleepover at Grandma's for our last night in MN! These cousins sure do love to spend time with each other!