Ok so NOT as long awaited as DECEMBER… which I WILL cover BEFORE this December comes about… I hope! But I figured before I shared my Mom and Step-dad’s visit I REALLY should cover Karyn and Lauralee’s. The intrepid duo drove from Red Deer, Alberta all the way down to the Grand Canyon and back again. With a stop off of a week at our house in sunny Minnesota – in the summer – when Karyn is NEVER here (for some reason MOST of her visits occur in the middle of winter… who goes from ALBERTA to MINNESOTA in the winter? Well one of the most amazing aunties ever of course!).

We made sure to show them a little bit of the state – our favourite beach of course.

Karyn and I ducked out for our usual extensive Mall of America shopping – sadly one of my favourite stores is gone now BUT we did manage to find some hidden gems, spend a little cash and walk ourselves into the ground. SO – good day!

Did NOT purchase

BUBBLE TEA

We 3 adults joined Ken for an adult lunch. And some MORE shopping (poor Lauralee).

On my birthday (June 24th) the ladies watched our kids so we could go out for a lovely dinner.

First flowers that are REAL since our wedding!

Karyn drove us to the YMCA a few times and spoiled us horribly. So workouts and playing did not falter. Seriously, this has to be the healthiest summer EVER for this family – 2 miles either way, lots to do while there. ALL GOOD!

Karyn brought us a marvelous car full of gear. Canadian stuff, stuff from her childhood. Which put Trinity right over the moon. (the shirts she brought for us are in our Canada Day pictures on the post for Canada Day of course.)

We checked out the Como Zoo – because really when we did a comparison the animals at the pay zoo were not enough to make the donation only zoo less impressive. PLUS they had BUTTERFLIES!!!!

Trinity snuck off with her god mommy and Lauralee for ice cream and Mommy snuck off with Karyn and Lauralee for frozen yogurt. So there was even some sneaking around! 

It was a wonderful visit, and as usual, not long enough. But then again, I doubt there could be a visit that we would feel was “long enough.” I am just so grateful they added us to their pilgrimage south. Now enjoy the rest of our pictures! I couldn’t resist adding more!

We totally took way too many photos at Como… but with Karyn there and TWO cameras… who can blame us??

Japanese Garden!

The bonsai were beautiful too.

So many wonderful animals! Tortoise and big cats and all! 

So many critters!

And so many happy kids!

Of  course I snuck the above picture in from the day before! this zoo trip was well worth the multiple attempts.

June 25-26

We started our Tuesday with the rather fun activity of making paper fans… we took rectangular pieces of white paper (in hindsight cardstock may have been a better choice) and drew Independence Day themed pictures… fireworks, flags, etc. We then used an accordion fold and stapled it at the base. Another idea out of one of our books. But something I remembered making as a child myself! Fun!!

Serious designers

July 4th themed!

We had a Lego magazine come in the mail (we have a couple of their free subscriptions). This was geared at the younger group so the 3 littles sat down and enjoyed it together.

Gavin was totally in the puzzle mood. We got some lovely new ones in our latest package from Gammie!

We played around with some different brands of bubble soap. Sadly still not as good as the machine’s brand!

Got some sun though

There was a little time for a dino dig as well! But we kept it rather sedate as Wednesday was a day with a big plan!

THE ZOO!!! We made plans to meet up with Steven and Quinn, and then once Bree got done work and such we added in Lily and mom.

We had sun, rain and fun in the rain! It was terrific!

Drowned rats, happy but drowned

Sunning Sea Lion… be sure to check our zoo overflow HERE.

YOU CAN CHECK OUT THE REST OF OUR PHOTOS FROM THE ZOO HERE.

Ken got to relive a bit of his childhood and made a plastic mold in one of the machines they have around the zoo. We made a gorilla. The plan is to get a different one each visit.

I am just so pleased… Ken’s anniversary present got here as well! A special t-shirt based on a saying I saw on a Grumpy Cat picture off Facebook. He was well pleased!!!

Where I got the saying from… Grumpy Cat