The Road Home [ Wednesday ]

It maybe wasn't the most calm or ideal way to end our stay at the cabin (cue the non-helpful behaviors and in general unable-to-get-alongness)...but we headed out by 10:00.

We had planned one last final outing, and that was stopping at the Lego store in the Mall of America.

That crazy wall art is made from ALL Legos!! So crazy.

They played/built with Legos while I shopped for a VERY short bit. Win/Win.

We got on the road, and drove the rest of the way. A pitstop at a gas station sometime after supper to change in to pajamas and keep on going!

We made it home...safe and sound. 

Good trip, good memories, but also GOOD to be home!

Swimming, Kayaking, Pontoon Ride [ Tuesday ]

When we got back, we went out to the lake. Christian really wanted to try out the kayaks, so we did. He went in his own, and I took Jonah out, then Ben took Noah out. It was so peaceful, quiet, and so beautiful.

I thought we could get a picture of all my boys...but as it turns out Isaac wasn't interested.

But he did look pretty cute standing there next to his Daddy.

Jonah joined the crew out on the raft/dock...look at those guys!!

Painting rocks...until those pesky, mean ol' flies bit TOO many times! 

After supper, we ate s'mores.

The owner's that also lived on the property, had 3 children, one of them was a 5 year old boy. 

He loved to play in this dirt pile...and then showed our boys this! They loved it!! 

The owner's were so generous and kind. After they were finished with supper, they told us they would take us out on their pontoon for a ride. It wasn't necessarily the type of ride that was quiet; without fussiness and constantly trying to keep a 1 1/2 year old and 3 year old to stay somewhat still.

But it certainly was beautiful. So beautiful.

Thankful for this evening, in all the non-perfect yet perfect ways. 

It was a wonderful way to end our time on the lake.

MN Museum of Mining [ Tuesday ]

Tuesday morning we drove up to Chisholm, MN.

The Minnesota Museum of Mining is here, and we heard there was a few BIG, real boy toys to climb on...and there sure was! There was also ALOT of historical information that was quite interesting.

There was a mock mine shaft that we went down into, it was noticeably cooler and had some really cool gear that we tried out. It looked like a tough job to be a miner.

The museum part was so interesting. How they used to go to and from school...in a giant wooden bus sled drawn by horses. An old school room, the way a doctor would do house calls, how two men would saw huge logs in order to mill them, a barber shop set up...just a few of the things we learned about.

Then we went outside to check out the original equipment that was used to mine.

We were able to closely check them all out.

Christian "driving" the huge steam shovel.

A couple of the crew members.

The biggest dump truck I have ever seen in real life in the background.

We look so tiny up there!

I can't even imagine how they actually drove this thing!!

One of these dump truck tires, cost $18,000 (and that was in 2006)!

The sign says it is the largest drag line bucket of its kind.

On the way back to the cabin, we stopped at a park to have a picnic in Hibbing. It just so happened the United Way volunteers were handing out free lunches to kids. They insisted we should take one for each of the kids, and so we did. It wasn't anything fancy, but it was perfect for us!!

And bonus, there was this awesome playground!