Minnesota Trip

We took off on Sunday afternoon for Adam's grandpa's farm in Minnesota. Not knowing how Avonlea would do on the drive (she hadn't driven more than 20 minutes), we decided to leave after lunch and see how everyone did. Every time we came to a town, Avonlea was still sleeping and Cohen slept a good 2 hours as well, so we just kept going. We ended up going all the way without stopping until we got to Annandale (a few miles from our destination) where we picked up subs for us and Grandpa. We spent the night and then Adam's parents came up the next day. Adam ended up sleeping with Ryan and I got Cohen for a bedmate. I was kind of jealous of Avonlea's Rock & Play!

Assume the (horizontal) position

The boys spent the day playing at Grandpa's house. It is different without Grandma around, but we were glad to get some time to spend with Grandpa.

At night, we went to one of the cousins' house and many members of the family came over for pizza (and mountains of Christmas goodies). They had done their official party the weekend before but we were thankful so many were able to get together again so our kids could play. There are lots of kids to play with (eleven kids age 7 and under with 3 other who couldn't make it) and it's fun to reconnect, even if it's only about twice/year.

Cohen and Isaiah (a few months older)

Karie and Avonlea

Adam, Ryan, and Malachi (a few months older)

Great Aunt Stacy

Alexa (March) and Avonlea (November)

Elisa and me with Elizbeth Karen (July) and Avonlea Elizabeth (November)

The trip home the next morning went smoothly as well with Avonlea sleeping almost the whole time except for a stop at lunch time. Cohen did great too and we had good weather, so we couldn't have asked for a better trip. It was nice having maternity leave during Adam's Christmas break so we could make this trip without taking time off and overall it was fun getting to spend the whole Christmas break together as a family!