No, not the fair.
When we decided to go back to Minnesota in August (partially to avoid being in central Texas in August and partially to attend the GLS Conference at Eagle Brook rather than the boring Presbyterian church where we went last year) it spurred a lot of family to gather in MN at the same time. My parents flew in from Hawaii, my aunt and uncle came in from Colorado, and we were able to connect with Loran’s aunt and uncle from Wisconsin.
It was very family focused since my parents were in town. We packed so much into our time in Minnesota, I can’t possibly write about it all or this will become long, boring and my hands will need therapy. But I can highlight some things.
We drove. We rented a car and got an earlier start out of Austin than we’d planned. The first day, we drove about 6 hours and got to the TX/OK border for the night. We stopped at Rudy’s for BBQ for dinner since we were headed to hot dish country.
And we’re off!
Day two we were up early, and hit the road. A pretty unremarkable seven hours in the car. Many stretch stops along the way.
We did what everyone does when they stay in Kansas City, MO…eat Indian food in our hotel room while the girls played and burned off energy.
Day three with a light at the end of the tunnel. After two noisy nights in hotels, we were ready to sleep in a quiet room. Both nights of noise can be attributed to noisy hotel neighbors who happened to be children. In the past, that would have been SO annoying. Now it’s just annoying. Partially because I’m sure at some point our children have caused someone hotel anxiety. I still don’t like it, but can give some grace. I’ve also decided that a hotel chain that boasts sound proof rooms is needed. I’d stay there. There’s so many other gimmicks out there: specific beds, pillow menus, a certain toiletry line, or even a pet goldfish. But you market a room where you won’t hear hallway or neighbor noise (sideways/above/below) and freeway/airport noise – throw in the nice sheets and toiletries. Best. Hotel. Ever. Seriously, if they can build an elementary school where I can’t hear the noisy third graders above, it’s possible. Get NASA on it, they aren’t launching space shuttles any more, they’ve got time.
On our way into the Twin Cities, Ella was super excited to stop at Chelsey’s house. She made up a little song and was trying to find Chelsey’s house amongst the skyline. Lily slept through the build-up and when we arrived at Chelsey’s, Chelsey opened the door to wake Lily. Lily thought it was me, so of course, used her eyes to shoot daggers over being woken up. She did a double take, realized it was Chelsey and burst into laughter. Both girls ran around Chelsey house, up and down the stairs, making themselves right at home. We couldn’t stay long, we had to drop the girls off and get settled with Nana and Papa before Loran and I headed back downtown to catch our good friend Josh’s Fringe show which had received the encore performance. We were really excited to make the show, and met up with Nathan, Emily, Chelsey and Barry for some theatrical hilarity surrounding the assassination of Abraham Lincoln…
True to our word, we did sleep well in our quiet bedroom.
What would any parent do after arriving at their destination after three days roadtripping it in the car? If you answered: ditch your children, you’d be correct. Loran and I took advantage of the loving childcare that was available and headed downtown for the night. We cashed in some of Loran’s hotel points (thanks business travel!) and stayed at the W Minneapolis located in the Foshay Tower. As we were enjoying our ability to lay on a giant bed and watch Jeopardy! on a weekday we were surprised by a bottle of champagne on ice (probably sparkling wine and not actual champagne, calm yourself wine snob.) and truffles (of the chocolate variety, not fungi), throw that on top of our room upgrade we received and this free hotel night was really paying off! We enjoyed the view from the top of the Foshay and the interesting little museum (Mr. Foshay had a bit of scandal in his life). We hopped a cab and met Chelsey and Barry at Freehouse for dinner. It was awesome. We were able to sit outside, enjoy good food (like whipped meat!) and good company.
Loran and I were super wild and after dinner returned to our hotel where we lounged and watched Austin Powers Goldmember – because when else can we watch a completely stupid and inappropriate movie without having a small person interrupt it a million times. It was heavenly. We were able to sleep in (to like 8!) and then went downstairs to Key’s Café for breakfast. Hello, caramel roll! Pretty impossible to find outside of MN. Keep your cinnamon rolls, caramel is where it’s at!
Tuesday evening we brought the girls to our friend Jake and Katrina’s new house. It was so fun to see them and catch up on their life in the one year they’ve been married. We enjoyed some grilled burgers on the deck and then took a walk in their neighborhood around a huge pond where we had an entourage of city ducks following us. Once back from our walk, Jake started a fire so we could make s’mores. A lot of great one-liners came from the girls as they watched Jake start this fire. We’ve already been asked several times by the girls when we’ll be visiting Jake and Katrina again.
Wednesday, we all convened in White Bear Lake for family photos. It was the usual craziness and fun, except we were all dressed well. Lots of laughing, except from Lily who was over with pictures shortly after they started, so she’s actually crying in a few of them. We were able to enjoy some of our White Bear favorites like Cup and Cone and a walk around town. It made me miss things like tall trees, the color green, lakes, flowers, double digit temps. The simple things in life. This also was the last day my cousin Jake would be home. After family photos, they took off for Des Moines where Jake would meet up with friends/classmates and then be on his way to China to teach for a year. It was surreal to think he was going so far away, it was also surreal to be hugging my super tall godson goodbye (not really goodbye, just see you later).
Wednesday evening, we all gathered to celebrate Carol’s birthday. Marla, Mike and Michelle along with Susan and Dallas joined in the fun. Anytime the three sisters are together is a great time. I love these functions. We had dinner out on the deck including a large sheet cake that Lily was convinced was to celebrate her half birthday. The girls loved having aunts and uncles spending time with them.
Thursday and Friday, Loran and I spent at the Global Leadership Summit. The conference we attend yearly that’s simulcast from Willow Creek Church to 300+ locations around the US and then to hundreds of countries. It was great to take in the amazing speakers and attending at our own church meant we were able to catch the energy from the hundreds of other attendees. We were also able to connect with friends. One of my best friends, Marie, joined us and it was fun to not only attend the conference, but catch up with her for two days.
Thursday evening, after the conference, Loran and I headed to Chelsey’s so I could go out with my mom and sister to Wine and Canvas. We had gift certificates to use, and there happened to be a rooster painting that coincided with our reunion. Mom’s got a thing for roosters. While we painted, Loran met up with good friends Adam and Stacy.
There was a little bit of laughter as these roosters came together. Just a little…
Friday evening, Chelsey planned a luau themed party for the family to celebrate my parents’ one year anniversary of being Hawaiians. Everyone came out to Chelsey’s house and Barry took on the monumental task of preparing an amazing pork dinner for everyone.
Lily got to finally play lacrosse with Barry. She’s been dreaming of this day since she got her stick. But, Lily being Lily, she was shy to get started and then wanted to go back into Chelsey’s house to play (because Chelsey’s house is that amazing).
Then this odd box of hats came out. And well, that happened.
Friday was a big day for the girls while we were at our conference. They spent the morning and afternoon with Nana and Papa visiting the American Girl store at MoA for lunch and then went to see Ella and Lily’s second cousins Oliver and Lawson for some playtime. There was a lot of excitement over this afternoon of fun. The lunch was a hit (of course) and playtime was a blast. At one point, in the kiddie pool, Lily ended up pretty wet and Aunt Marla hung Lily’s underwear in the tree to dry…so you can only imagine that we have heard so much (through giggles) about Lily’s underwear being in the tree!
Saturday we had a BBQ at my Grandma and Grandpa Redmann’s house. It was nice to see more family and the girls had so much fun running around the yard and finding frogs and toads. We also played a rousing game of hide and seek that was hilarious to watch.
Sunday we met our friends Alex and Christy at church. It was our first time visiting the EBC campus at Coon Rapids High School. It felt so unsettling to be on dreaded Cardinal territory. But, attending Eagle Brook was so life affirming and made me realize how much I so miss that church. I basically sobbed through the message. One part because of message relevance, the other parts, missing EBC. After church, we took the kids to a nearby park. Ella, Lily and Hunter took off towards the park like the buddies they are. They played and played until it was time to get Brooke home for a nap. As we were leaving, Hunter wanted to say goodbye to each girl and said, “Have a nice time in Texas!” So cute!
That afternoon, we headed back over to White Bear for some lake fun. Despite the fact that it was overcast and windy (ie: so cold for us Texans) we got the swimsuits on and got our boat fun on! I left my phone in the house. We got into the boat and Ella goes right to her favorite spot, front and center. She grabs the bars and yells, “Hit it!” I also taught her to say, “I’ve got a need for speed!” There was basically no speed Rob could go that was fast enough for Ella. We flew across and around the lake, did circles, bumped across our own wake. Once or twice had to grab Ella and Lily so they didn’t bounce out, and Ella just kept yelling/laughing, “Hit it!”
Lily had shown interest in the jet ski and once she saw Barry take off full speed (not really, all within the speed limit) she wanted on. Barry took Lily and my dad out, but was smart enough to grab the green key (the one with the speed governor). I said a little prayer as my four year old took off across the lake, but she was sandwiched between Barry and my dad with a life jacket. Enjoyed some grilled steaks and fixin’s and then a rousing game of giant Jenga. Even the party a few yards down started cheering for our amazing moves. We completely defied physics.
The evening, we enjoyed family dinner at Gutt’s with Nathan and Emily. The girls were enamored with Emily and did not want Nathan and Emily to leave despite that it was way past their bedtime. Such great family times.
Monday was pretty low-key. I drove Loran and the girls around my old neighborhood. I showed the girls where I grew up, my elementary school, parks I used to go to. The girls loved seeing and hearing about my childhood. It was run. Later that afternoon, we visited 3M, and it was fun to see those friends. I definitely have known more of Loran’s coworkers at his past jobs than this one, so it was nice to catch up with everyone, and even more so for Loran. We were going to attend the Twins game, but the weather was not looking favorable. Instead, we opted for Chinese food at Chelsey’s while we watched the game. Some rain did move through, but we were happy to be dry and eating Chinese food.
Tuesday, the girls and I headed down to the Minnesota Zoo and met up with my parents. It was a perfect day. Not too hot, nice breeze, sunny and not overly crowded. We had to stay ahead of a few larger school groups, but it was totally manageable. We had a blast, but the girls were running out of steam at the end. It was pretty hard to do our goodbyes in the zoo parking lot. I tried to not get teary as my parents buckled the girls into their car seats knowing we wouldn’t see them again until Christmas.
Wednesday morning was go day. We had to drive two full days to get back home before Ella’s Meet the Teacher night on Thursday evening. We got a decent start on Wednesday morning and made good time, but 9 hours, not accounting for stops is still long. The girls did awesome though. No whining (or little whining until the end). We stayed in Joplin, Missouri, which is unfortunately noteworthy for being hit by an EF-5 tornado in 2011. After dinner at our hotel, we went down the road to their big city park/playground that also serves as a memorial to those affected by the tornado. The park was gorgeous and filled with families. A huge playscape, definitely one of the tallest structures I’ve ever seen, along with walking trails, basketball courts, a pool, and signs and statues memorializing the tornado. It was hopeful and sobering all at once. And while the recovery continues, hence our hotel being full of insurance claims adjusters and volunteers, the people of Joplin are just fantastic. These are folks who really know what matters. Just all around nice, and caring. I’d definitely stay in Joplin again, but hopefully we won’t be pulling 9 hour drive days again.
We’ve already booked a car and GLS tickets for next year in August in Minnesota. This time we’ll do the drive over three days both ways, two was just too long. But road-tripping wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, and not dealing with airports was nice.But it was nice to be home, in our own beds, in our own kitchen, back into routine…which seemed quite boring after the action packed near two weeks of our trip.
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