Camping at Lake Auburn Campground

Last month we spent a week at the Lake Auburn Campground in Victoria, MN.  It was nice, because most of the people were camping in tents, like us.  The only thing we didn't like about it was the fact that there were no showers and during the week there were few campers.  There was the lake but it was so full of algae that I would never go in it.

While up there, Alex got to spend some time with a few friends and some family.  It was also our cats first (and last) camping experience.  Click below to see pictures:

Lake Auburn Campground, Victoria, MN

Minnesota

After leaving Atlanta, we spent about two weeks in the twin cities.  We spent a lot of time with friends and family and relaxing before moving to Des Moines.  I took quite a few pictures but my picasaweb page does not have anymore room for photos, so I will have to try and figure out where else to put my photos.  As of right now, I am downloading them to facebook and seeing if I can fit more pictures into my Flickr account.

Anyway, while in Minnesota we took Alex to the Mall of America to go on rides at Nickelodeon Universe, the Minnesota Zoo, Grand Ol' Days Parade in St. Paul, down to Mankato to visit with friends, and a few different parks around the twin cities.

Check out some of the pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bratulich/

Alex's Early Birthday with Friends in Minnesota

Alex celebrated her birthday with family and friends while we visited Minnesota.  Here she is with her friend Megan.  They had a little play date at Haylie's house.  Unfortunately, I could not get them all in the picture.

Today is Alex's 6th birthday.  She was born six years ago today at 1:45 in the afternoon.  She is so excited to have a sleepover party tonight!  I am sure I will be taking many pictures so check back.

Last Weekend in Minnesota

Keith flew up for the last weekend and then we flew back together to Atlanta on July 4th.  On Saturday, July 2nd we went to our niece, Brittany's, wedding at the Mississippi Dunes Golf Club.  It was a perfect day for an outdoor wedding!  The couple looked great!  I loved Brittany's dress, her hair, Vail, everything!  Alex looked pretty good too.  Here she is with her granny sporting her new dress, hat, and sunglasses.  She had a blast at the reception.  We had to practically pull her off the dance floor so we could go home! :)

More Minnesota

Alex and I went to see Abby's 8th grade graduation.  Pictured above is Alex and I with Abby and Keith's mom (Alex's and Abby's grandma).  Alex loves her big cousins, both Zoe and Abby.

Here is Alex with her friend, Megan at Minnehaha park.  The girls are so cute when they laugh.  We had a good walk down by the waterfalls and then the girls played for while at the playground.

We also had a fun time canoeing with Sarah and her daughter Megan on Lake Calhoun.  I love Minneapolis and all you can do here.  I am pretty sure I can't canoe through four different lakes in Atlanta.  Minnesota has so much to offer and after being here I realize I miss it so much, even with the cold, long winters!

Swimming with Haylie

Here is Alex and Haylie having a fun time in the pool.  Alex loves hanging out with Haylie and will miss her very much when we head back to Atlanta.

Zoe joined in on the fun!  The girls had fun pretending to run a restaurant.  They served many delicious drinks decorated with umbrellas.  I felt like I was sitting on the beach in Mexico! :)

Chanti and Ryan

I was happy to be in town to celebrate Chanti and Ryan's commitment ceremony.  Chanti is a good friend from high school that I have kept in contact with throughout the years.  Not so much since I have been moving around but it was so nice to see him and the many other high school friends who were at the ceremony and reception.  The ceremony was at the lovely Guthrie theatre with an overlook of the Mississippi River in the background. The reception was held across the Washington Ave above the restaurant, Spill the Wine, and was catered by Sawatdee's Thai Restaurant.  The food was so good, I loved the pad thai!

More pics from Minnesota Visit

I got to visit with my friend, Shelly, that I have not seen in a long time.  We went to high school together and even worked at the local McDonald's together when we were teenagers.  She has two girls who have grown so much since I last saw them.  They were great with Alex and showed her how to play "dead mummy" on the trampoline.

We also met up with our friends Jim and Becky and their daughter Beth in Mankato.  We visited Sibley park which has also changed so much since we were last there.  The park has been redone in a farm theme.  The girls got to pet and feed horses, ducks, and fish.  We later stopped at Coldstone Creamery for some yummy ice cream!

Alex got some more playtime with her friends Megan and Sarah.  Here are the girls having a fairy tea party.  My friend, Sarah took some great photos of them and posted them on her photography blog.  The girls had a blast dressing up like fairies and running around the park.

I have so many more pictures to post.  We are staying in Minneapolis until July 4th and then we will back to Atlanta to enjoy the fireworks.

Visiting the Twin Cities

Alex and I are now in Minnesota visiting family.  I never realized how much I missed it here until now!  So far we have been very busy.  We went to the Pinkalicious Musical at the Stages Theatre in Hopkins for Alex's friend, Haylie's birthday party.  The girls had a blast!  The picture below is of Alex and her other friend Megan with the pink flowers!  Afterward, we had lunch at my favorite sub place in the cities, called Big 10.  I met Becky, her mom, and daughter, Beth at Big 10 the next day.  I just cannot get sick of that place and am now having a craving just thinking about it.

Alex has gotten to spend a lot of time with her cousin Zoe and has already had two sleepovers!  The girls have so much fun together!  Alex can't wait until she has another sleepover with Zoe.

The picture above is Alex and Zoe at a park near my parents house in Apple Valley.

Above is Alex with her other cousin, Kaylee.  Alex had a sleepover with Kaylee at Keith's mom's house in Woodbury this past week.  The girls of course had a blast and Alex can't wait until her next sleepover with Kaylee.  Our trip is full of sleepovers!

Today we went to the Minnesota Children's Museum with Haylie and her mom.  The girls had so much fun, especially in the Lego section.  I think we must of spent over an hour in the lego section alone.  When it was time to go, Alex was very upset.  She definitely wants to go back again before we head back to Atlanta.

Yesterday (yes, I know the pictures are out of order) Alex and I met Megan and her mom Haylie at Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis.  I just love the Minneapolis lakes.  We met at Tin Fish, a restaurant right on the lake and had lunch, then headed to the playground for about three hours.  The weather has been in the 70's which is perfect for sitting at the park all day.  Sure beats the 90+ degree weather in Atlanta!

Minnesota Zoo

This past Tuesday Alex and I went to the Minnesota Zoo with Janet and her daughter Haylie.  We hadn't been there all summer so we were excited to go!  Alex's favorite animals were the Wolverines and Coyotes on the Minnesota Trail as they we're really the only animals we saw that day that were active and weren't sleeping.  The girls also spent a lot of time at the new playground by the Grizzly Bear exhibit.

Look at this huge stingray!  It's bigger than Haylie!

Rosland Park with Megan, Alex, and Haylie

A few weeks ago I met up with my friends Janet and Sarah and their children Megan and Haylie at Rosland Park in Edina.  The girls had so much fun at this park!   Especially the teeter-totter!  Alex is sure going to miss playing with her friends when we leave!  We are meeting them again tomorrow morning at this same park!  I posted a lot more pictures to my facebook page.  You can check them out there.

More Pictures from Dinner with Jecci

This is Jecci in her college apartment, cooking us dinner!  Yes the kitchen in her apartment is a little dirty!  That's ok.  The whole place brought back a lot of memories from when I went to school here.  I really miss the U of M.

Alex thought she would give the chop sticks a try.  Didn't work out so well, so she ate the rest of her meal with her fork!

Keith, Alex, Jecci and, I.  I have finally gotten these pics off of my camera and about 90 other pictures from the last few weeks.  I will try to post more soon.

We are leaving for Atlanta on Sunday!  We are so excited!

Dinner with Jecci

Last Sunday night we had dinner with Jecci, our Chinese exchange student from the 2007-2008 school year. *Side note- Her name isn't actually "Jecci", it's Mengjia, but since nobody can pronounce it she just has everyone call her Jecci.*  We found out that she came back to the states to go to college at the University of Minnesota, where she is majoring in Math.  Alex of course didn't remember her and was a bit shy, but did warm up to her after about an hour.  One of the things we just loved about having Jecci stay with us was her cooking, so she cooked us a great chinese meal!  We brought home leftovers and ate all of it!  Yummy stuff!

Here we are, in Jecci's apartment near seven corners.  This place brought back so many memories for me!  I spent many weekends in this area.  I was sad to see that Grandma's had closed down!  It's still sitting there empty.

Sibley Park

We went to Mankato for Keith's dental appointment and ended up meeting up with some friends that Keith used to work with.  They have a little boy that just turned three, named Tobin.  He is such a cutie!  Alex was a little shy around him or maybe she took daddy's advice not to talk to boys a little too seriously! :)  We went to Sibley Park in Mankato.  We hadn't been there in three years and it has changed so much.  Click below for pictures:

Sibley Park, Mankato, MN

Maplewood Nature Center

Today we went to the Maplewood Nature Center and walked around.  It was the perfect day to be outside.  Not too cold or too hot!  Click below to see the pictures and a video I took:

Maplewood Nature Center

Hidden Falls Regional Park

We had Zoe again today so Keith and I took them to Hidden Falls Regional Park.  We didn't do as much hiking around as we did yesterday but we did do a lot of rock skipping.  Keith does a great job of rock skipping, me, I could only get the rock to skip once or twice.  Alex and Zoe just threw the rocks in the water!  We didn't go see the falls, we'll have to do that on another trip.

Click below for pictures and a video of Keith rock skipping:

Hidden Falls Regional Park- St Paul, MN

Spring Lake Park Reserve- Schaar's Bluff, Lebanon Hills Regional Park

Yesterday Keith and I took Alex and her cousin, Zoe to Spring Lake Park Reserve in Hastings, MN.  This was Keith's first time there and he really enjoyed hiking around in the park.  The park overlooks the Mighty Mississippi river and it has a great playground for the kids to play.  We walked on a different path this time and I will say this was not the time of year to be walking in the woods.  The mosquito's we're horrible!  After having a snack, letting the girls play at the playground, and finding a Geocache, we drove to the Lower Spring Lake Park Reserve.  At the Lower Spring Lake Park we we're able to follow a trail to the Mississippi River.  We enjoyed all the hiking and the much needed shower when we got home.  Click below for pictures and a funny video Keith posted:

Spring Lake Park Reserve-  Hastings, Dakota County, MN

Click HERE for the video Keith posted on facebook.  He was trying to be silly by editing a "horror" movie!

Woodbury Heritage House and Garden

Yesterday the weather was so nice! So in the early evening we decided to walk to this little house and garden on the corner of Radio Drive and Lake Road. It's called, the Woodbury Heritage House and Garden. We had driven by this place many times but never stopped to look around! The old house is really cute although we didn't go inside. And there are lots of beautiful wild flowers around the property, along with a garden full of corn and other vegetables. After walking around the grounds we took a walk on a paved path, not knowing where it will take us. We ended up finding a playground and Alex had a ton of fun!

Schulze Lake Beach- Canoeing

Yesterday we spent the day with my niece (Alex's cousin) Zoe.  We started the day canoeing around Schulze Lake.  It was a very small lake but it was perfect for an hour of canoeing.  The girls had so much fun and it was both their first time in a canoe!  So of course I took lots of pictures!

To canoe around the lake only cost us $8.00 which we thought was a fair price.  After canoeing we took a walk along the trail that goes around the lake.  It was such a beautiful day and the weather was perfect!  The only thing that wasn't so perfect was my hay fever!  Allergy season is in full swing and I hate it!  I was pretty much miserable as we walked around the lake!

Later that day we met up with Keith's brother and his family at the Mall of America where the kids played some games in the arcade!

Click Below to see the pictures:

Schulze Lake Beach

Stillwater

Yesterday Alex, Keith, and I headed to the Teddy Bear Park in Stillwater. I have many pictures and a few previous posts from the Teddy Bear Park, but we love it! It's one of the nicest parks and it's located in one of the nicest cities! Stillwater is such a cute little town! We stopped at Leo's and shared a chocolate malt and then walked along the St. Croix River and watched the draw bridge go up so the boats could pass! Here is Alex near the river watching the boats and the draw bridge!