Back from the Midwest

Dad had to fly to Minneapolis for some training for work on Wednesday. Since our friends the Hoppes live there we figured why not buy Mom and Charlotte a ticket as well. Mike, Hayley, and Piper opened up their home to us and asked us to stay with them while dad worked. Sounds like a great idea to us.

And it was a great idea. Charlotte had a blast playing with Piper. Late Thursday afternoon we all went to some crazy gym in Minnesota called Lifetime Fitness. For some reason it didn't seem like a gym. Maybe it was the giant outdoor kids pool and water slide. Or the indoor kids pool and water slides. Or the fact this place is as big as a whole city block. Yes mom wants to move there just to join the gym. I cant blame her. This was the coolest gym dad has ever seen.





Thursday night we put the kids to bed and we had some grilled chicken. Of course Charlotte seemed to eat almost everything Hayley and mom put in front of her (with the exception of the Marmite on toast, its a New Zealand thing and is an acquired taste). Sorry Hayley, salty yeast spread the color of molasses on my toast just doesn't do it for me or for Charlotte. But we did try it and appreciate the New Zealand culture.

Friday Mike took us to lunch at a place called Yum! Yum was exactly what Charlotte kept saying as she ate the spectacular grilled cheese and the ginourmous cupcake. It was certainly a big hit. Afterwords the kids went to a park on one of the 10,000 lakes in Minnesota and played in the perfect weather. Seriously, it was probably 78 degrees, sunny, and dry. One of those perfect summer days that we just never seem to get enough of.

Friday night we grilled out at the Hoppes and had some more great grub. The nice thing about visiting with the Hoppes is they are also foodies and really appreciate some good food. Plus we always know they will have some sauces or something that we have never tried and are certain to love (like the Maple Chipolte sauce from VT). Saturday morning we went out for coffee and then came back to the house to pose the girls in their new dresses that Hayley had made. Thank you so much for the beautiful dress.

All in all dad's review of the trip was an A+. However he has to give it a score of A- due to the horrible service of Northwest Airlines and the Minneapolis Airport. The lines were horrendous and they just were not friendly. Ohh and of course our stroller was not ready for us when we got off the plane after finally landing in Boston. Instead they decided to put it with the rest of baggage so we had to hold Charlotte while we waited 35 minutes for our baggage to arrive.

Seriously, thank you Hoppes for having us and we are glad we were finally able to meet Miss Piper. Now its your turn to visit us in NH. :)

For now these are the only pictures of the trip. More to come shortly.