Minnesota - Part Two

So we'll start with the second half of Friday.  That afternoon after the babies had naps, we headed to the Sever's Corn Maze and Fall Festival with Heather, Jim and James.  This was another place Michael and I visited every year we lived in Minnesota and a place we liked to take visitors.    They have lots of fun activities for kids and a huge corn maze, as well as a big hay bail maze for kids - which Joseph and James just loved!   They also have an exotic animal petting zoo which is neat.  

After the corn maze, we left there and went to the house of our friends Josh and Julie. It was our first time to meet their sweet little baby girl, Aliyah - and boy was she a cutie!!  It was a lovely evening so we ate dinner outside and then went in for some time to just chat and play with the kiddos.  It was so great to see our friends again and hear all about the first 7 months of their experience as parents!

Saturday morning, we went with Heather and Jim to the arboretum.  I had never been during the fall before and it was just beautiful with all the fall colors.   The last time we were there was actually when Joseph was 6 weeks old - the weekend of his baptism when our families all flew up!    Unfortunately, Joseph was very grumpy this morning so we had kind of a challenging time, but we did manage to get a few good pictures.

That afternoon we had a BBQ at Heather's house with our friends from our old church group.  Amara, Sheena, Joe and Marie all came over and we had so fun visiting with them and catching up.   Everyone agreed that it really did feel like just not that long ago that we were there having our going away party in the very same place!  

Then for our last evening there, we went to church at our old church, where Joseph was baptized.  Then for dinner we went to Big Bowl, our favorite Thai place that we would go to so often that I had the number in my phone for quick reservations!     Then that night after the babies went to bed, we enjoyed a night of playing games and just enjoying being together with our sweet friends one last time.    The trip was just perfect and I'm so thankful we got to go and for all we were able to see and do.   It made us realize how much we do miss it there and most of all how much we still treasure all the special friends we have there.   We lived in Minnesota for 4 years and had many special things in our lives happen there - so we will always have a special tie to Minnesota!

 

At the pumpkin patch on the entrance to the corn maze

Michael and Joseph

The Zajicek family  :)

Joseph in front of some corn at the corn maze

James and Joseph playing insdie a big wooden train playset

In the corn maze with Heather, Jim and James (and yes, Joseph is eating hay)

The boys had SO much fun chasing each other thru the maze

Little buddies

Driving the tractor

Hello camel!

Pointing out the over agressive goats

Joseph with baby Aliyah

Me and Julie with the babies

Sweet friends

The next morning, Joseph is still chasing kitty around Heather's house

The little guys eating breakfast before heading to the arboretum

That morning, Heather and Jim proudly wore their A&M shirts in our honor since A&M played Arkansas later that day

Inside the building at the Arboretum

Our little family - the flowers were still so gorgeous

Joseph at the fountain

Best pic we could get with a little guy that's not a fan of posing yet

Me with the flowers (since Joseph ran off).  And for some reason when I saw this pic of myself it was one of those times where I thought "Whoa, I look like a grown up!!"   :)

Michael got some beautiful pictures from the rose garden

Gorgeous!

Me and Heather!

The girls at the BBQ - me, Heather, Marie, Sheena and Amara - such a  sweet and fun group of friends

Jim, Michael and Joe - some of the nicest guys I know!



Joseph getting some holy water from the church fountain whose waters baptized him 16 months ago!

Waiting on the shuttle to the car at the DFW airport - me and my little buddy