Resort 2

I feel compelled to tell you the indoor waterpark, exercise rooms, restaurants, golf course, beach and many other places were not photographed because I did not have time.


Kids area splashpad

Pool next to the lake

Sent from my iPhone

Work conference

Summer Trip: Warm Up

What seems like forever ago, I was offered the opportunity (along with ALL of my coworkers, nothing special here) to go to the state wide Adult Education & Literacy (AEL) conference held at a nice resort about 3 hours south of our house. (why does that matter? hang on minute). Because I love stuff like that, I signed up right away and promptly forgot about it. Until I started working on putting together our annual trip to visit family in Minnesota and North Dakota.

Seems kind of crazy, but I love the yearly parade my hometown does every year during Rochesterfest (week long, summer celebration). We tried to catch it last year and were rained out (SO DISAPPOINTED). If I can make it work, we try to get to Rochester in time for that parade along with "Breakfast on the Farm" and various other, less important, events. The problem was the parade was scheduled to start at 6:15 on the same Friday as the last day of my conference for work.

Do the math with me:

3 hours from work conference from our house + 7 hours from our house to Rochester = 10+ hours of driving for a parade. More than once the idea was tabled, written off only to be brought up again. I REALLY wanted to attend this parade. That meant leaving the work conference around 8am in order to arrive in time.

Because I am crazy and my husband loves me (he may be crazy as well), we agreed to make the parade work.

Not only was the actual travel plans complicated, the packing was...difficult (I know, cry with me). Clothes needed for a professional conference are very different from a family vacation. Plus the weather in MN/ND could be 65 degrees or 101000 degrees. This makes it necessary to pack the summer wear, professional attire, AND at least a pair of pants and a sweatshirt.

The work conference was interesting and I gained some new ideas. Plus, I got to sleep in a nice hotel room ALL BY MYSELF for two whole nights. I lead an exciting life people. Pictures will follow in a seperate post. Because I am lazy.

All in one trip

7 bags to the second floor. Is that weird? I'm 3 hours away flying solo at a work conference for the next few days. Secretly, I'm most excited about sleeping all night and sleeping past 5:30am.

These boots are made for wqlikbg

Both kids begged to wear the cowboy boots today. So what if the temperature is 98 degrees?

Milestone

For some time now, Amelia's hair has been long enough for styling. However her patience and tolerance has not been long enough. Any type of hair accessory was immediately pulled out- if I even got that far. I'm happy to report that twice this week Amelia has requested "pretties" AND left them alone. Milestones.

Summer t ball

William is playing t ball this summer for the first time. He had his second game tonight - I almost hate to admit how much I am enjoying this after how much apprehension I had just a few weeks ago. I had a LOT of worries before the "season" started which have now been resolved. No one is competitive. There is virtually no pressure. No one is screaming. The other parents are low key. Everyone laughs at the antics taking place in the field. William's skills are within range of the other kids. There are appropriately frequent breaks for water. No one cares that William spends a lot of time looking at his shoes, the sky or playing in the sand. I take that back. I think John would like to see a little more focus (he is in black right behind William). Overall- a huge relief!