MEA

For this past MEA weekend, we headed up north to Chris' grandparents' house. We always go up there for this long weekend in October (unless we're sick, of course) and since our colds were behind us, we were excited to join the rest of our extended family in Lancaster, Minnesota. I had fun relaxing with Hannah at Grandma and Grandpa's house while Caleb and Jack had a great time running around the hunting camp nearby. The guys were busy building and fixing deer stands for this upcoming deer hunting season in November. I was not too surprised to hear that our high-energy golden retriever (Jack) was the first dog to try out a deer stand--and all on his own, mind you. It just goes to show how much he loves being a part of hunting and also hanging out at the hunting cabin! :)

Some highlights from our weekend:

The Ranger and the Hunting Cabin




Can you tell that the kids are having a BLAST?? (So are the dads, I'm pretty sure!) Caleb was so excited to see that his second-cousin, Sean, was also up north for the weekend. Those two had so much fun running around and getting dirty. Caleb also always has a great time with his cousins, Paige and Kyla, so it was extra fun to have them staying at Grandma's with us. :)

All the Food

We definitely eat a lot when we're up there and we love it. For me, it's because I'm so relaxed---I just snack and snack. Hannah was enjoying the honey jumbo cookies all weekend and REALLY enjoyed the ice cream cone that she shared with Grandma Sue on Saturday night.


(Believe it or not, this is Hannah smiling.)

The Sud-Saver

Hannah took her first bath in the sud-saver.


This is a tradition that every grandchild has done at least once when they were little at Grandma's house. Hannah LOVED it!! And, although he won't admit it now, Caleb was pretty jealous that Hannah got to take a sud-saver bath and he didn't. :)

The Kitty


This little cutie showed up outside on the doorstep on Friday afternoon and decided to stay. We didn't feed it at all, since we knew that would REALLY make him stick-around. Peggy and Floyd didn't want a pet and although they begged and begged, Paige and Kyla were not allowed to bring the kitty back home with them either. We may have considered it if Jack hadn't tried to eat the little guy on two separate occasions, so needless to say, we will not be getting a pet cat anytime soon. This little kitty was just the cutest thing, however, and was really making us all think about taking him home with us. He would sit outside of the door and "mew, mew, mew". When we'd step outside, he would sit on our feet and purr as soon as we would pet him. I have to admit, I was a little worried about where the cat would stay as the weather got colder but luckily, he ended up finding a really great home. And, coincidentally enough, his new home is with my friend's father who lives nearby Chris' grandparents so I'm REALLY glad this adorable kitty is now living with someone I know. :)

Grandma and Grandpa


Last, but certainly not least, we always love spending time with Grandma and Grandpa (or Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa as we've had to start calling them since Caleb gets confused otherwise). Our time with them always goes by too fast and makes us look forward to the next time we can visit them. We love you guys! Thanks for letting us take over your house for a few days! :)

It was a great trip! I also think that I forgot to mention that it's a 7 hour drive up north from our house to theirs. It's not a bad car-ride since we stop often and have a DVD player for the kids to keep busy with. Of course, this was our first time driving up there with a potty-trained 4-year old and we didn't factor in all of the "potty breaks" it would take to spend 7 hours in the car. On the way home, Chris and I were intensely listening to the Vikings game on the radio but were interrupted about every 30 minutes when Caleb would say "I have to go potty AGAIN!" We obliged him almost every time but realized quickly that it was more the novelty of seeing the different gas stations than an actual need for Caleb to go potty. Hopefully he'll be over that phase by the time we make the trip again in May but who knows? By then we may be playing the same game with Hannah! (I'm exhausted just thinking about it!) :)