Sunday, September 10, 2017

9 on 9/9!

Apparently, a 'Golden Birthday' is a thing now... (it never was when i was a kid, i think). It is when the age you turn on your birthday matches the day of the month. So, yesterday we celebrated Johan's Golden Birthday when he turned 9 on the 9th (perhaps he had a Platinum Birthday since it fell also in the 9th month)?
Asked how he wanted to celebrate he said he wanted a day out with his family. So, after having donuts for breakfast (good start, eh?!) we meandered to the Mall of America, via lunch at McDonald's (he had every other option under the sun!).  The boys spent the day on rides at the MOA (Ericka and I were parked on a bench watching and taking pictures).
The mall now also has a giant ropes course with a zip line that was tall enough to make anyone queasy. 
We finished the evening having dinner at the Rainforest Cafe where he was surprised by the restaurant (someone tattled) with a giant ice cream 'volcano' dessert. 
Johan said it was the best birthday ever.  That's good. Because for your Golden Birthday you get no do-overs!  
















Monday, September 04, 2017

Stockton Island

At the tail end of summer vacation we took a trip to the Apostle Islands. From Bayfield, WI we took a boat out to Stockton Island where we camped for a couple of nights. It was the boys' first backpacking trip (although we didn't hike very far with our backpacks).  The boys enjoyed the days on the beach at the south side of Lake Superior, including the requisite rock throwing. 
We also had some excitement when a young bear worked its way into the camp ground by the boat dock. Mama bear was nowhere to be seen. Whew!
We may be building on this to add some longer hiking in the future! 
The trip was completed with a visit to the Portland Malt Shop in Duluth! 
















At the fair

As is now an annual tradition, we spent an afternoon at the Carver County Fair. We spent the time checking out a variety of farm animals (Johan is especially fond of the cows), eating unhealthy food, and checking out farm equipment. And of course, there was also the demolition derby! A wide range of vehicles were smashed into each other but our favorite was probably the smaller cars.  They didn't last very long... 
We're already penciled in for 2018! 











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