Travis and Millie's Wedding Ceremony

Friday night we headed to Duluth for Travis' wedding. Following dinner downtown Duluth, we took a walk along the peer:

It was a beautiful night for a walk and very busy. We've never been to Duluth during summer tourist season so it was a bit of a shocker to deal with all the people and traffic!

The famous lift bridge, we saw go up and down while we were on the peer:

Watched a ship come in and blow its horn right in front of us - LOUD!!!

Saturday morning we headed further north to Beaver Bay. Travis and Millie decided to get married in the 'fish house' on the property of a resort they were going to stay at Sat. night.

There was a cute little water fall near the parking lot:

Nature calls - one of the blessings of having boys! (Emmit's little buns are peaking out)

 The happy groom. (I took this before Millie showed up and realized I didn't get a good picture of her!)

Brotherly love (for the moment)

Gerrit and Emmit loved the location of the wedding. The water and rocks made for a great playground. I didn't think so as this took place before pictures and I didn't bring spare clothes along!

A view of the fish house from a little walking path the boys and I found:

This was a little more tame way to pass the time, and a dryer option!

The view of the ceremony from my side: 

Jacee was Millie's attendant and Connor was Travis' (that's Connor's head).

A view from inside the fish house:

Following the wedding we had lunch near the resort. We headed back to Duluth and went swimming. We went to Fitger's for dinner - yummy food and better beer!

After dinner we went to Spirit Mountain, a local ski resort in Duluth to go on the Alpine Coaster. It was a highlight for all of us. The boys were not too apprehensive to go with us either. They both wanted to ride with Adam but Emmit won the coin toss and road with Adam first.

We had so much fun, we went again. This time switching partners. We controlled how fast we went with the break. If you didn't use the break, you were going about 26 mph. Adam and I both used the breaks a bit, but Connor (who hung out with us after the wedding) did not! Bob and Geri even went on it too. 

Emmit was mad he couldn't go again (thankfully it was closing as it was going to break the bank if we paid for more rides!). We promised the boys we would come back as the slide is open year round. They can not wait!

Sandy Pines 2013

Better late than never regarding July at Sandy Pines.

Emmit enjoys hanging out in the loft:

The boys were excited to use a Christmas gift frequently during the week:

Emmit a bit disappointed he can't hit the ball as easily as his brother:

Classic digging a hole at the beach with Ella and Mia:

Emmit went to dig for buried 'treasures' at the volleyball courts. It was sponsored by the rec dept. He stuck to one area but did find a few coins:

Opa helped a little too:

He could play on the monkey bars all day (so could Mia):

Emmit wasn't quite sure he wanted to be in the deep with Ella and preferred to chill on the beach:

Eating a snack on the soon to be decorated float:

The kids loved playing on the trailer, pre decorated:

Before the fireworks, we had a few sparklers of our own:

Adam doing his sparkler dance:

Emmit got the hang of the sparkler too:

We went to the water park too - the water was a bit chilly:

 The cold water didn't stop Emmit and his curiosity:

Gerrit bravely sat on the water sprayer despite the cold:

Emmit almost got wet:

Before we left for MN, Opa brought the tracker that was going to pull the big trailer:

 The boys enjoyed sitting on it and 'driving'

This is the first trip we made which we didn't use the pack n play. Both boys received sleeping bags at Christmas when they were at the age of outgrowing the pack n play. They liked having one side of the loft to themselves:

 A fun and fast trip. Hard to relax completely because we knew what was ahead of us - moving! Now that we have moved and getting settled in, we are ready to go back!! I'm taking the boys back for a few days while Adam is out of town.