Home, Happy and Tired

Phew! That was a LONG adventure. Eric, Quinn and I just returned from our two week exploration of the great state of MINNESOTA. It was such a nice, long and relaxing trip. We stayed with Eric's sister Tamara in Apple Valley and had the pleasure of touring her husband, Mike's, office - also know as - The Target Corporate Office. It was certainly a treat for me to be able to walk around another corporation's stomping grounds. Clorox is the only other headquarters that I've been in so it was fun to see the differences and similarities between the building, cubicles, elevator banks, and overall use of space. (Mike, I'm pleased to announce that Target passed with flying colors!)

We stopped by the Mall of America for a day where we met our dear friend Morgan and her mum for lunch at dear old Bubba Gumps. Then it was off to the heart of the mall with all 12 explorers to see the craziness of it all. We explored the Build-A-Bear factory where Quinn's cousins Katie and Zack helped build 'Charlie' and outfit him in the coolest duds around. Eric checked out the log roller coaster with Zack in the middle of the mall, and got sufficiently soaked. And aunt Julie joined Eric in getting soaked, only her's was on accident (thank you crazy lady who doesn't know how to look before turning around in line with a very LARGE drink at McDonalds.)

Our journey took us 6 hours South-East to the beautifully remote Nauvoo, Illinois. A journey that Quinn did not enjoy AT ALL and was very vocal in queuing us into this bit of information. We enjoyed all that Nauvoo had to offer, especially the live performances and play places for the kids. We experienced the vast assortment of food options - McKee's (I'm all for local businesses but I just can't recommend this place) and The Nauvoo Inn's buffet (highly recommended!), along with the fudge shoppe (two thumbs up) and a stab at the custard shop (CLOSED! uggh!).

Vocal Point - BYU's male a Capella group - was performing and we just so happened to be able to nab tickets for it. It was a close one though, the place was packed! (also highly recommended)

And while we were in Nauvoo I got word that my dad had had a mild stroke. :( Talk about scary! Here we are in this super remote, itty bitty place with barely any cell phone service and this happens. Luckily, it was super mild and he is doing really well now, but seriously! My best friend just lost her dad and I was having serious panic attacks that I would be mourning the loss of my father right beside her. Its a sad thing to loose a parent, and I'm just not ready to deal with that yet. That's a warning to you dad, you better get all better, kay?!?

Three days later we repeated the very long, very noisy drive back to Minnesota where we three ventured out on our own to the Minnehaha falls located just past Minneapolis. The 'falls' were really just one 'fall' and a whimpy one at that, but still a welcome and beautiful adventure.

The last few days of our adventure were spent leisurely lulling about the house, attending Zack's baseball game and having Family Home Evening followed by some of the best desserts ever! Thank you Tamara for you amazing baking abilities!

A quick 6 hour flight back to OAK landed us exactly where we wanted to be and an even quicker 15 min. car ride brought us HOME. :)

Like I said, Phew! That was a whirlwind and a happy escape for the summer. I cannot say thank you enough to my super star sister-in-law and her family for putting us up and putting up with us for two whole weeks. Thank you , thank you!

And now, its time for a nap. Good night y'all!