MN Reunion - Part 2

On Day 4 of our time in Minnesota, Jason and I took Jaden and Cody on a day trip to the Twin Cities to visit some friends. The rest of the family spent time at the Mall of America. We started our day by meeting our good college friend Heather (also my former student teaching partner) at one of her family's favorite parks. It had been quite a few years since we had seen Heather. We had never even met any of her 4 kids, so it was great to reconnect. We swam for a little while in the splash pad, but the morning temps were still too chilly for that to be enjoyable for long. So instead, the kiddos played on the playground in their swimsuits. 

Heather's 2 oldest kids, Grace and Eli with Cody and Jaden

The Minnesota weather was gorgeous that day, so we enjoyed an outdoor picnic too.

After lunch, we met Heather's husband Dave for sightseeing and an ice cream dessert at the nearby Minnehaha Falls. Beautiful!

Seeing Heather's family made me wish that we lived closer to one another! I am so thankful, though, for those kinds of dear friendships that can pick right up where they left off, even if several years have gone by. :) 

Here are a couple of group shots from our morning together.

Micah, Grace, Cody, Jaden, Eli, Lydia

Heather, Eli, Amy, Jaden, Jason, Cody, Grace, Dave, Lydia, Micah

Following our time with Heather, we drove out to Stillwater, MN, an eastern suburb of the Twin Cities, to meet up with Jason's close high school buddies, Mark and Troy and their families. Troy and his wife Christa hosted us at their beautiful home for a tasty barbecue dinner. Jaden and Cody had a ball on their backyard play equipment, though unfortunately got bitten like crazy by the mosquitoes!

I had never met any of Mark or Troy's children or even Mark's wife Sarah, so it was a fun time visiting with their families. And when these three guys are in the same room, they sure are entertaining! :) 

Mark, Jason, Troy

Mark and Troy's families have all girls, so Cody and Jaden got to experience all kinds of girl toys that evening-- including this extra-large playhouse in their backyard. Our boys loved it!

Lauren, Anne, Rebecca, Cody (itching at a bug bite, poor kiddo!), Ellie, Jaden

Our whole group. Fun times! 

When we returned back to the guest house that evening, we enjoyed swapping stories with the family about our day and then jumped into a game of Wits and Wagers. Gotta love the late-late night adult time. :)

The next day was our family's last in Minnesota. We spent a good portion of the day just relaxing together-- reading books,

playing games,

coloring pictures (Jaden and Cody were elated when we uncovered a Curious George coloring book with Grandma's boxes of toys!),

...and of course, playing with vehicles on the front porch. What is it with boys always liking to lay their heads down to watch the wheels on their vehicles? Jaden and Cody have done this since they were so little, and all my nephews do too! I always get a kick out of this funny habit.

That morning, we had snack on the balcony overlooking the backyard. The wide open yard, leading out into the fields really made us feel like we were way out in the country. It was quite a peaceful setting.

Before lunch we all drove out to Austin to see Grandpa and Grandma's apartment. The 6 Schleicher grandsons particularly enjoyed their tall inflatable air mattress.

Since Great-Grandma Schleicher lives only a few doors down the hall, we dropped in to say hello to her as well.

Ryan, Cody, Great-Grandma, Nathan, Ian, Isaiah, Jaden

Next we stopped at one of Austin's biggest tourist traps...

At first, we were unsure of how entertaining or interesting this museum would be, particularly for the young ones, but it turned out to be a wonderful place to stop! One of our first activities was to measure how tall we were according to SPAM cans.

Then we raced against the clock to see how fast we could package and label a can of spam. We were all pitifully slow compared to the actual factory speed.

While the adults were happily occupied with these activities, the little ones were loving their time at the SPAM playplace and this play kitchen.

Ryan, Jaden, and Cody were very determined to fill this grill with as much food as they could!

Later that afternoon, we had a special visitor come to the guest house-- Grandma's brother Bobby. Prior to this day, the boys and I had not yet had an opportunity to meet Uncle Bobby. Bobby lives in a special care facility for individuals with mental disabilities. He is very high functioning but does not speak many actual words. Bobby's two caretakers came along with him for this special outing. We found out that Bobby loves to play catch and build with Duplos. These were two activities that the young boys could do with Uncle Bobby.

Earlier that day, the little boys colored pictures that they presented to Uncle Bobby.

They also sang "Jesus Loves Me" for him.

We enjoyed having the chance to meet this special member of our family!

Each evening, Aunt Beth and Uncle Andy drove over from Rochester to spend time with the family. They were great playmates for all of their nephews. Uncle Andy and Aunt Beth even gifted our families with some new yard games that the boys all loved trying out.

On our last evening all together, Jason organized a game of "Grass Ball," a version of baseball, with his brothers. What a perfect field for these guys!

Of course, we couldn't let the week go by without taking all sorts of family pictures...

The orginal Schleicher 6
Beth, Matt, Mom and Dad Schleicher, Jason, Jon

the grandchild photo that did NOT work! :)

Everyone was MUCH happier after dinner! :)
Jaden, Ian, Grandma, Isaiah, Grandpa, Nathan, Cody, Ryan

The entire Schleicher/Hanson clan

Our time went by all too quickly, but we cherished all of our memories with family. Thanks, Mom and Dad Schleicher, for being such great hosts for us this summer!