Category Archives: My Family

Have Jetlag? Go to a giant Steam Threshers Reunion!

Nick got back friday night and we went to a giant flea market on saturday morning!

I did not get any good pics but I never even saw the whole thing.

I did get a super yummy cinnamon roll though! That night there was a possible Aurora Borealis so I went out and watched for it.

His parents and some of the kids came out for a bit also.

We never saw it but I loved taking pictures of them looking at the sky. The next day we went to the Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion!

We had gone several years ago and I really wanted to make sure we went on this trip when I found out it was going on at the same time.

Nick’s dad went also with all his brothers kids and we accidently went to opposite sides of the event.

It is huge.

We could not find each other for a while and I was pretty sure my kids were going to mutiny.

Thankfully we finally figured it out! I can’t really blame them, everything is better with cousins. There are so many things to see and do there!

They even have an old time village with a blacksmith shop.

Nine kids!

And we didn’t lose a single one…

The twins have some pretty bad allergies so one of them figured out right away being anywhere near the threshing was a bad idea!

She walked over, looked at it, and started sneezing. We ended the event by swapping some kids and then when we got to our opposite sides remembering that our oldest had our keys…

Ha

Dunton Locks and Tagging Monarchs!

I started figuring out right away that my plan to sleep in my in-laws camper with the girls while Nick was gone would mean less sleep for me.

Ha

But having extra help around was priceless! We went to a place called Dunton Locks for our first full day without Nick. I tried to not run around all day but at least have something fun everyday. The kids also enjoyed getting to spend a lot of time with cousins! The next day we went to a prairie wetlands learning center and ended up being there while they were tagging Monarchs! They educate the kids on what to do and why and let them catch them for them to tag! 9 kids all with giant nets was a bit chaotic but we survived and most caught one. The tag is a little sticker on their wing.

This helps them find out if any of the butterflies from Minnesota made it to Mexico!

After they are done tagging they let the kid decide if they want to release it from their hand or face. Most left pretty fast so it was hard to get a picture but some stayed a long time!

This was such a fun, unexpected treat!

I felt like this should totally have counted as a field trip…

HA

While Nick was on his way to Poland…

Nick needed to go to Poland for work so we decided that we would move up our trip to Minnesota(and miss the fall colors!) so I could stay up their with the kids while he was gone.

We got there Friday night and he left Sunday.

I of course started trip planning right away when we decided to go up there.

I basically keep the kids and I busy to deal with him being gone.

I was super excited when I realized that we got into the Hjemkomst Center for free with our ASTC membership!

I have wanted to go back every year since we first went but it cost too much to get so many kids in.

We dropped off Nick at the airport and went right to see the viking ship!

My father in law came along to see it and help me wrangle kids 😉

I like the replica of a church they have outside also.

The youngest three were getting a bit antsy but we made it through the tour.

We were told they might have stored dead bodies during the plagues in this outside area.

Yikes.

I am so thankful that one membership has gotten us into so many different places though!

This is how most of our family pics go, let me know if you want tips so you too can take amazing pics like this…

What was funny about Nick going to Poland is that he had also gone to Poland 4yrs before almost to the day.

We had just gotten the twins a few months before and it had gone really, really, badly so I was thankful this time went better.

Stay tuned for what we did while he was gone, if I got any sleep with three kids in a camper with me for five nights, and pics from one of my favorite places!

I might have looked like this a few times that week…