Minnesota

From the second we arrived in Minnesota we were knee-deep in silly kids!

 



Our four kids got along great.  We took a break from the RV and stayed in the Pellegrene's guest room at their new lake house in Annandale.  I was so happy to be with my BFF Jaime, but we were also happy to watch our families play.  It was sooo much fun!

Leaving their dock, ready to cruise!
 

 



Vinnie cracked us up wearing goggles while he rode!

We spent our days on the pontoon, watching the kids tube...

Vinnie and Brady



Liv and Ty yelling "Faster!  Faster!"



...swimming in the pool...


tough life

...fishing, cooking healthy meals, and just hanging out.  Pete even got in a 20-mile run (have I mentioned he's running a marathon when we get back?) 

Jaime and Joe are expecting their 3rd baby within the next few weeks.  We wish them all the best with what's to come!!  We certainly wish that they didn't live so far away...

 

Thanks, Pellegrenes, for the hospitality and memories (and my new mother's necklace)!  We love you!

Wisconsin

After driving through Canada, we made our way to Minnesota with an overnighter in Wisconsin.  This is where we hit our first "road block."  Gucci hurt her paw somehow during a run with Peter and began limping.  By the time we got her to a vet in Madison, WI, it was very swollen and she couldn't walk on it at all.  The vet was unable to determine the cause but we put her on painkillers and antibiotics and now she's back to normal.  It calmed her down quite a bit for a few days, though! 

 

Note the booty.



We decided to stay the night in Wisconsin so that she could rest.  We found a super fun campground complete with a BMX track and raft pond. 

Peter would time the boys around the track and they would try to beat their personal records.



The raft pond was a new experience to the boys and their favorite raft was actually the flat one they could play "king of the raft" on and Brady discovered that he can do flips off the side!  (Our little daredevil...)

 It was all fun and games until poor Bray got attacked  by a horsefly on the top of his head and I had to jump in and save him (even though I was already showered and fully clothed!)  Those darn flies hurt! 



We also took a canoe down a quiet river into a lake.  Brady took a nap and the big boys used their nets to fish for minnows. 

 



The beautiful sunset made up for all of our bug bites!  This was the view from our campsite.





Next stop:  Annandale, MN to visit Jaime and Family!!

Niagara Falls

After visiting the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, we headed to Niagara Falls.  This was the destination that Brady anticipated the most and he was not let down.  The falls really are remarkable both from above and below.

 We toured above the falls in a trolley,

and below the falls in the "Cave of the Winds" tour and on a "Maids of the Mist" boat.



It was invigorating! 





We scored a beautiful day to get wet and cool off!

Viewing deck and elevator



Look closely for the boat at the base of the falls.  It gets close (and we got soaked!)

 

Next stop Canada then west across the northern states!!!

Cooperstown

We left Hanover, NH and our week stay with the Gonnerman family and headed to Cooperstown, NY to see the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Our visit was brief but we enjoyed learning a bit about the history of the game and seeing some of the old time stuff.

The kids particularly enjoyed watching the Abbott & Costello "Who's on First" routine.

 

 We couldn't figure out why the town was so crowded. Becky even asked: "Why's everyone wearing tie-dye shirts?" As it turns out, there was a Grateful Dead concert that night. We decided to play along and sported our tie-dye shirts at the local pizza place. People assumed we were going to the show, but we're not quite ready to introduce them to "the Dead!"

 

We fumbled with this darn picture for 2 days and it wouldn't cooperate, sorry you have to turn your head!

 

We still have a lot of blogging to catch up on so bear with us...missing our family and friends!!

The Lawsons

After the 4th of July and a wonderful stay with the Lawson's (thanks again for everything guys, we had lots of fun!!)

Ty, Tanner and Brady

 

The kids playing together. 

            

       In the pool with Mike       

                                                                                                  Becky, Peter and Amber in front of    Plymouth Rock.

Tennesse to Boston

Once again, we were unable to post due to lack of  service/Wi-Fi...we are now on the East Coast so we should be able to finally stay on top of things...
We last left off at Graceland...

Our boys happen to be huge Elvis fans so they enjoyed touring his house as much as we did!

 

 

Afterwards we met up with my cousin Scott who lives outside of Memphis- I hadn't seen in about 15 years!

 

Then we were off to Nashville...the boys took a 3 hour nap so that they could stay up late and "party" in downtown Nashville...

I was sad not to be able to break out my boots and line dance, but I will surely be back; with hat, boots and friends!! 

 

 

Upon leaving Nashville, we headed for the Great Smokey Mountains.  This National Park located in the southern Appalachian  mountains of eastern Tennessee and is absolutely majestic.  We stayed in a super-fun campground with water slides, but a thundershower cut our fun short.  We ran back in the pouring rain getting muddy and soaked and a bit frightened from the rumbling thunder! 

The next day, Peter met up with his long-time friend Shane whom he hadn't seen in 6 years for a round of golf while I took the boys to a water park in Gatlinburg.  We had a blast testing our courage down some steep and fast water slides, and floating around the lazy river.  We had so much fun, we forgot to take pictures except for this one of the boys earning their 4th National Park badge.

 

 

Next was Shenandoah National Park,

another portion of the Appalachian mountains in northern Virginia.  We took two days to enjoy nature,

 

explore trails to waterfalls,

 

 and watch wildlife...

centipede

(note the deer in the back)

 

We also earned our 5th National Park badge!

 

 

Next Stop:  Washington DC!

It took us 1.5 hours to find a dang parking spot for our rig!  Annoying!!  Once we finally parked, we took the Metro, which the kids thought was cool..

Then we rode the "Old Trolley" through the city to tour the sites. 

We stopped at the Air and Space Museum (we easily could've spent the entire day here...) where we saw jets, rockets, satellites and space suits.  We also played with air and telescopes...

 

The Lincoln Memorial was our favorite National Monument. 

 

There happened to be a 150th commemorative exhibit in honor of Gettysburg where the boys met a "colonial blue-coat" who taught them how to salute arms.

 

 

They also earned their 6th badge: "The National Mall" National Monument.

 

On our way to the White House I got ran over by a cyclist while crossing through the crosswalk.  Holy cow, this was frightening and we felt lucky that I didn't wind up in the hospital (just a scratch and a bruise...)!  And for the record, I had the right away.  By the time we saw the White House we were pretty beat, but it was still awesome to see. 

 

(Front of house)

 (Back of house)

 

We left Washington DC, clearly we could've used more time to explore here, but we'll be back one day! We drove as far as we could en route for Boston to spend the 4th of July with our friends, The Lawsons...detour: with buddies Craig, Tammy and Luke!





 

 



Until New Hampshire, may the force be with you.

 



Happy and safe 4th of July everyone, and Happy Birthday America!!