Dear Family and Friends,
This July, Joey, Clara and I spent two weeks visiting family and friends in Minnesota. We spent the first week with my parents in Saint Cloud, MN and the second week in Princeton, MN with Joey's parents. Clara did such a good job traveling on the airplane and being in new places, and we were able to find a lot of fun things for her to do while in Minnesota. It was great to see so many family members and friends, many of whom had never met Clara before.
Some of the highlights while visiting my parents included: driving up north to Brainerd, MN for a day to eat fresh walleye at Madden's resort, looking at shops, and visiting some beautiful rural churches, spending time in the children's section of the the Saint Cloud library, going to the Minneapolis Children's Museum, playing with Clara at Lake George and other local playgrounds, visiting with Joey's former organ professor Charles Echols, meeting up with my long-time friend Karen in Maple Grove, and having dinner with our friends Cindy and Mike at their home and getting to see their two precious children.
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| Thanks for letting us enjoy your pool Cindy and Mike! |
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| St. Cloud Library |
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| Lake George, St. Cloud, MN |
Fun at the Minneapolis Children's Museum!
It was also really nice to see my childhood cats Simba and Sassy. Simba is getting quite old, but he is hanging in there and is such a sweet boy. It was special for me to be back in my old house and old bedroom for the first time as a mommy. My parents bought their house when my mom was pregnant with me, and I have so many memories there. I enjoyed looking through old family photos and was startled by how much Clara resembles the way I looked at her age. Clara loved playing with my childhood toys, books and stuffed animals.
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| My sweet Simba! |
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| Dad and Me. |
Some of the highlights while visiting Joey's parents in Princeton included: a party at Joey's house with many of his extended family members and long-time family friends, a trip to the zoo, fun at the Isanti county fair, and riding the rides at the Mall of America. Clara also got to meet her uncle Brad for the first time and see his new house. Joey's mom purchased a large pool for the deck, and Clara enjoyed spending time in that and playing with bubbles. She also really liked their horse and would often look out the window to see where he was. Unfortunately Joey's sister Kim was not able to be in Minnesota while we were visiting, but we really hope we can all work out a way to meet up in the future when we come for another visit.
Fun at the Como Zoo!
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| Grandpa and Clara making grumpy faces. |
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| Clara won a prize for her excellent fishing technique! I guess she has some Minnesotan in her. |
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| Bubbles and Grandma and Grampa Ripka's house! |
Minnesota is a great place to be during the summer. The weather was really nice and there are so many activities to enjoy. As it turns out, we will be returning to Minnesota sooner than we expected, because Joey and I have been contracted to give a violin and organ recital on the Chapel Series at the House of Hope Presbyterian Church in St. Paul, MN in February 2014. It will be a quick trip, but we hope many of our family and friends will be able to attend the recital.
We hope you enjoy the rest of your summer!
Joey, Erin and Clara
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| We thought this was funny. |
