Back in The Mitten

Moving from Minnesota to Michigan was not easy, but ultimately quite worth the challenge since it is now so much easier for us to spend time with family. We have enjoyed several trips to Holland (with time at the beach, blueberry and raspberry picking, the Hope College Science Museum and Dutch Village), multiple play-dates with Grandma and Grandpa with outings to most of the play parks in the metro Detroit and Ann Arbor areas, and lots of quality time with cousins.

With our house on the market, our final days in Minnesota involved being surrounded by boxes and a lot of time away from home; often being kicked out of our house for showings to potential buyers. We took advantage of our inability to be home to do things we hadn't yet made time for (renting a family bicycle at Minnehaha Park and riding the new Green Line Lightrail train) and our friends took us in (thank you to Renee & Scott and Colleen & Owen for feeding us; a bigger thank you to Kristin and Kevin for letting us live in your house for our final two days in the Twin Cities, as all of our necessities for daily living were packed and ready to be loaded on the truck). Before our final farewell, mom and Oma joined Henry and Lucas for lunch at The Center, and then we drove straight through to Oma and Opa's house in Michigan. 

The MN state fair!

We could not make our exodus from Minnesota without hitting the Great Minnesota Get Together (definitely an acquired taste; and we are hooked!) Some liked the Giant Slide more than others, but we all loved the gondola ride (we even got the cow car with the cow bell!), corn dogs and the Okee Dokee Brothers! We'll see you next year, Minnesota State Fair!

Goodbye Minnesota, neighbors and Twin Cities family

As part of the "goodbye" to the State of Minnesota, mom participated in the Great River Ragnar Relay; an overnight, 12 person, team relay race spanning greater than 200 miles along the Mississippi River from Winona, WI to Minneapolis, MN.  

We said farewell to our wonderful Juno Avenue and alley neighbors in St. Paul: Dawn, Tony, Lauren and Ana, Steve, Julie, Ardys and Eugene and Laurie. 

And the goodbyes would have not been complete without a party over at the Miller's house. The Miller's kindly hosted, like on so many other celebrations, game days and holidays.