Minneapolis Zoo & Aquarium

Our next day in Minneapolis we went to the zoo and aquarium. There were a lot of animals and lots of them we got to see really close!

The aquarium had a lot of fish, dolphins and sharks. It was quite dark, so the pictures are kind of dark. The boys really loved seeing all the bright colored fish!

The boys inside a shark tank!

Minneapolis, Mall of America

Our vacation continued in Minneapolis. The first day we went to the Mall of America and spent the whole day at the Lego Imagination center and the Nickelodeon amusement park. The boys had so much fun!!


Jakob was so excited to go to the Lego Imagination Center and store. We spent over an hour looking at all the Lego sets, building with the Lego and looking at all the Lego displays.

After the Lego store we went to the Nickelodeon amusement park. The boys rode a bunch of rides where we spent the rest of the afternoon having fun!

Levi loves the Wonder Pets and he saw Ming Ming, his favorite Wonder Pet.

Just a few hotel pool pictures.

Yellowstone & Mount Rushmore

As we continued on our vacation, we went through Great Falls, Montana and then onto Yellowstone National Park. It was quite the drive into the Park, lots of mountain ranges and it seemed like it took us a long time to get there. We finally made it to Old Faithful. Luckily, we only had to wait 10 minutes for Old Faithful to go off. Depending on when it went off last, it can be up to 2 hours between blasts.

Jakob and Levi waiting for Old Faithful. They were unsure as to what exactly they were waiting for, but they patiently sat there.

After we left Old Faithful, we stopped for a late picnic lunch by a lake in the park.

Our next stop was Mount Rushmore. Another long day of driving and we got to Mount Rushmore around 5pm. The sun was just to the left of the mountain, so it didn't make for the best pictures, but surprisingly we got some good ones anyway.

Drumheller

This year on our way to Winnipeg, we decided to take a detour and make a family vacation out of it. We started our little vacation in Drumheller, Alberta.

The first day we were in Drumheller we went to the Royal Tyrell Museum, the boys loved seeing all the dinosaur bones, fossils and fun facts at the museum.

The second day we went to the Hoodoos. We climbed up the hoodoos, in and out of the caves and hills.

Levi tried his best to climb around and up the slippery hills, but he is just a little bit too small still.

Jakob was really good at climbing and scaled the hillsides with no problems. He was always way ahead of us! He wished our backyard was like this!

On the way back from the Hoodoos, we stopped at a suspension bridge. It was very windy and the bridge was swaying pretty good, it was a bit scary!

The Fireplace

The past couple weeks, Michael and my Dad have been working on the fireplace. We had tile around the fireplace, but we wanted stone from the floor to the ceiling with a mantle that matched the kitchen cabinets. I forgot to take a "before" picture, but here is the progression of the fireplace reno.

After ripping the tile off, Michael began framing the new area. We added about 8 inches on each side.
Putting up the drywall.

Scratch coat.

Putting together the puzzle pieces! It took a long, long time to see results. Each piece has to be fitted and matched with the ones around it. I didn't realize how much work it actually was!!

Levi's working too!

Almost there!!

Michael and Dad did such a great job!! It looks fantastic!