Relaxing Weekend

We didn't do a whole lot this weekend, and it was kinda nice. Emma and I attended a bridal shower for my co-worker on Saturday morning, which was pretty fun.

In the afternoon, John, Emma, and I went and checked out Noodles and Company, which is a new pasta restaurant in town. It was delicious. After that we bought some wedding gifts for some weddings coming up this summer, and then since it was so nice out, we stopped at a park to let Emma burn off some energy.

After Emma went to bed, John and I shared a bottle of wine and had a relaxing afternoon. It was awesome.

On Sunday, we went to church, and then just spent the day at home. I set up some water in a plastic container for Emma with toys in it, and she had a blast playing in that.

Of course the silly girl had to climb in and get sopping wet, but she had a lot of fun!

Today was good, until daycare called and said Emma had a temp of 102.9. So, I left work and went to go pick her up. After a dose of Tylenol, she is doing better. She's sleeping right now, so hopefully she has a good rest of the day. Stupid summer illnesses. 

Later this evening, John and I have softball, it's the beginning of our tournament, so it should be a lot of fun. 

Well, I hope Emma feels better soon, and I hope you all have a great week :)

Emma's Second 1st Birthday Party

That's sort of a confusing title isn't it? Well, after our trip to Duluth, we headed back to my parent's house and had a celebration on Saturday out at my parent's shop. There were quite a few milestone birthdays this summer, so we just decided to celebrate them all at once.

My sister turns 30 later this month, my aunt Janel turns 40, my grandma turned 75, and Emma turned 1. We held a little get-together for all of them, and it was really a good time. It was nice to see everyone on my side of the family and hang out and visit for a while.

Emma did really well at the party. She got some good naps in before heading out to the shop, and she had Jenna, Trevor, and Kyle to entertain her for most of the afternoon. And she got spoiled with present again:

Uncle Ryan- got her a tug boat to play with at bath time and a ball-popping toy she loves
Aunt Rachel- got her a battery operated whale that sprays water and an umbrella stroller
Grandma and Grandpa Kiecker- a riding toy, clothes, -they buy her stuff all the time
Great Aunts and Uncles- shovel and pain, outdoor toys, play smart phone

Auntie Rachel also made Emma a smash cake. This smash cake went about the same as her first one. She made a little bit of a mess, but mainly she was tired and a little cranky during cake time.

It was a great party. At about 8:00 pm I left with Emma to go to my parent's and giver her a bath and get her in bed. She was tuckered out by the end of the day. Everyone else got home around midnight.

Sunday, we went to church (which it was nice to see everyone there, it had been a while since we had saw everyone there). Then we ate lunch, and headed back home. Emma traveled very well back to Sioux Falls, I think we tired her out enough that she was content to just sit still and enjoy the ride.

This past week of work has been absolutely crazy! I put in 45 hours last week, and yesterday I worked 16 hours. So, I have not gotten to see Emma or John much at all this past week. The life of a nurse. Hopefully this next week will be a little tamer.

P.S. How crazy is it that it is the end of July already?? Can summer please slow down, just a little bit?!

Duluth: Day 3

Our vacation in Duluth sure flew by. It was a fast 3 days, but we had a blast. On our final day, we slept in again, which was amazing. Then we went to the lift bridge one last time, saw one last laker go by, and walked along the boardwalk to take in Lake Superior one last time before we left.

After the sight-seeing we checked out of the hotel and then headed to Engel Tower. Engel Tower is part of a park in Duluth that gives a panoramic view of Duluth and Lake Superior. It was absolutely awesome to see. 

After taking in the view, we decided it was time to head for home. We still had a 4 hour drive ahead of us, and we were really starting to miss Emma like crazy. So, we made for my parent's house and once we got there we have Emma the biggest hug and kiss. 

We had a great time in Duluth, and it was really nice to have some time to ourselves for a change. And my parents and sister loved having the time to hang out with Emma. But, we missed Emma like crazy and it was so nice to be back and see her again. 

Duluth: Day 2

Our second day in Duluth was packed full of activities, but it was a blast! First of all, we slept in, which was amazing, since Emma usually gets us up at 6:00 am. After a good night's sleep, we headed even further north (about an hour), and drove to Gooseberry Falls.

Gooseberry Falls is a state park in northern Minnesota, and it is just beautiful. It's main attraction is all the waterfalls, and they empty into Lake Superior, and there are some great fews of Lake Superior. We spent 3 hours hiking the trails, and taking in the sites.

On the way back, we stopped by Betty's Pies, which is world famous for...you guessed it, pies. We stopped for lunch, and each had a slice of pie, which was amazing. 

We then stopped in Two Harbors, which is a city located about a half hour north of Duluth. They have a harbor where the lakers load and unload their cargo, so we went and checked that out. They also had a walkway out to a lighthouse that was pretty cool to check out. 

On our way back into Duluth, we stopped at the Glensheen Historic Estate. I toured this mansion 13 years ago, but I didn't remember a whole lot about it, so we decided to take the tour again. 

Basically, this super rich couple built this mansion back in 1908. They were world travelers, and they brought back wood, marble, and ceramics from different parts of the world and used them in their house. The family donated the mansion to the University of Minnesota Duluth, and now they have restored each room to how it looked in 1908. It's pretty impressive to walk through.

There were also a couple murders that took place in the mansion back in 1977. Elizabeth Congdon was the only living heir, and her son-in-law murdered her nurse and then suffocated Elizabeth with a pillow. So, there are always some interesting stories surrounding the Glensheen Mansion. 

The back of the  mansion

They backyard

The view of Lake Superior from the backyard

The Laker we saw while at the Glensheen Mansion

The boat house

The gardner's house and the carriage house

The carriage house

After touring the Glensheen, we headed back to the hotel to take a break from all the action. We had had a busy day so far! After freshening up a little, we headed out from our evening dinner cruise. 

We ordered tickets to the dinner cruise a couple evening earlier. We boarded the Vista Star at around 7:00pm and were served a nice meal while touring the harbor and learning a little more about Duluth. 

After the meal we were free to walk around the boat, and we went upstairs to the deck, and were able to watch the sun set over Lake Superior. It was beautiful!

We ended the day by watching one more laker pass under the lift bridge, and then we called it a day.

Our second day in Duluth was awesome, but it was super busy. We were pretty shot by the end of the day, but we sure made the most of our short trip to Duluth. :)

Duluth Day 1

John and I went to Duluth this past week. On Tuesday, we drove to my parent's house, which is about halfway to Duluth, and spent the night there. The next morning, we left Emma with my parents and headed out to Duluth. Neither one of us had been away from Emma for more than a few hours, so it was a little tough, but it was nice to have a little Emma break and have some time for ourselves.

I had been to Duluth about 13 years ago with my family, so I remembered seeing some things, but it was really nice to go back and we did a lot of things that we never got around to doing on our family trip. John had never been to Duluth, and if you have never been to Duluth, I highly recommend going. It is such a beautiful trip.

We arrived in Duluth at around lunchtime, and we checked into the hotel and then ate at Grandma's , which is a bar and grill located along the pier. After lunch, we decided to check out the lift bridge, If you have never been to Duluth, the lift bridge is a bridge that goes up for the big "lakers" to get through, and then comes back down to allow traffic to get across the water.

One of the main attractions in Duluth, is watching the large ships or "lakers" come in and out of port. These ships carry coal, iron ore, and grain to other ports in the Great Lakes. These ships are huge! They are 1000 feet long, 105 feet wide, and 56 feet deep. It is amazing to see these ships move in and out of port.

John and I infront of the Lift Bridge

The Lift Bridge

The Lift Bridge all the way to the top

The schedule of all the ships coming in and out for the day

There is a pretty awesome museum that is located next to the lift bridge that has all sorts of information about the bridge and the ships that come in and out. It also talks about some of the wrecks that have happened on Lake Superior, which is always interesting to read about. We spent a couple hours in there looking at all the information and all the scale models of the different "lakers", we are such nerds.

Lake Superior is the other great attraction to Duluth. Lake Superior is huge and beautiful, and cold. It's average temp is 39 degrees F, which is freezing. I put my feet in the water, and it was cold! It sure is beautiful to look at.

Our view from out Hotel room

Light house

After walking along the boardwalk and taking in the sites, we toured an older "laker" ship that is no longer in service. It was really cool to see the entire ship, and hear some history along the way. 

Believe it or not, this ship is not used anymore because it is not large enough compared to the newer ships

We are on one end of the ship, and you can see the other end, quite a ways apart

After the tour, we did some souvenir shopping, and then went to Fitger's Brewery for supper. I got fish tacos that were AMAZING. It took forever to eat there because it was really busy and the power went out in a good portion of Duluth, so their credit card machine was not working either, which caused problems. So, by the time supper was done and we walked all the way back to the hotel, we were pretty beat. We had done a lot of things in the short time we had been in Duluth.

We called it a day to get rested up for the next day's adventures.  More Duluth adventures to come in the next post!