This is Brady after getting into a strawberry drink mix.

When our trip to Boise came to an end, we loaded up the van and headed home with my sister Aunna. We spent 2 1/2 days driving back to Aberdeen. We drove through part of Yellowstone, Montana and all of North Dakota. The drive was beautiful and we even saw a moose on the side of the road. We spent three days in Aberdeen at the water park and Storybook Land and then headed 6 hours to the Twin Cities for the fourth of July. On our first day in the Twin Cities we went to the Mall of America and minature golfing(which doesn't work very well with a two year old and a baby). For lunch that day we ate at The Nook. We found out about the Nook by watching Diners Drive-ins and Dives. It looked really good so we decided to try it out. It was definitly a dive but the food was excellent and the Juicy Lucy was everything it promised to be. The Juicy Lucy is a hamburger stuffed with cheese. When you bite into it, the cheese comes oozing out. It was delicious. The next day, the fourth of July, we went to the sculpture gardens, a historic tour of the Mississippi river which included St. Anthony Falls(the only falls on the Mississippi River), and old buildings(including the old Gold Medal and Pillsbury flour mills). After the tour we camped out on the banks of the Mississippi and had caricatures done, listened to Neil Diamond and Elvis Presley(impersonators of course), ate food and watched the fireworks shoot off over the Mississippi River. Brooklyn barely stayed awake to watch them and Brady slept through the whole show. We had a wonderful day and the weather was great. The next day we dropped Aunna off at the airport. We were sad to see her go. We had lots of fun with her, miss her lots, and can't wait to see her again. Thanks for coming to visit us Aunna! Then we headed back to Aberdeen. We are done with roadtrips for awhile. Enjoy the pictures!

St. Anthony Falls

We started our vacation off by driving twelve hours to Denver to spend the week with Mark's sister and her family, Mark's twin brother, and Mark's parents. Thanks to Emily who hosted everyone at her house for a week. The weather didn't cooperate much while we were there, but we were able to sneak in some time at the Denver Zoo, Elitch Gardens, and the Outlet malls. When we weren't out and about shopping or doing something else we could be found inside playing guitar hero. Brooklyn even got in on the fun. While we were in Denver we were able to eat at some of the resturants we don't have here in Aberdeen and stop at the Cookie Company for some delicious cookies. One of the days we were there Tarah met up with her scrap buddies for a day at the park. We were also able to see our friends the Salts and spend the day with them. It was fun to see their house all put together(they were just moving in last time we were there). It was so good to see all of our friends again and we can't wait to do it again next year. Brooklyn's phrases for the week are: "Arrrgggghhh, I am a Pirate! (we have no idea where this came from) and "Where is dad?" Mom says, "at work" Brooklyn says, "I want to work."