Last Minute Trip to North Dakota

Last Sunday night on Father's Day, Henry, Hannah, my mom and dad, and Danielle packed up our Traverse and hit the road with 1700 miles round trip ahead of us!!  Danielle and I decided at the last minute to join my parents on a road trip to North Dakota to attend our step grandfather's funeral. 

 

On the way to Dickinson (which is pretty much to the Montana border) we stopped in Lakota for a visit with Grandma Marilyn!!  She didn't know we were coming, and so surprised!! 

 

 

My travel partner in the back seat of the Traverse.

 

Grandma Marilyn!!  We drove through the night, and arrived at the farm in Pekin around 4am.  Got in a few hours of sleep and then spent the day visiting with family!

 

 

Visited with Great Aunt Ellen and Uncle Fyllis.  They were celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary that day!

 

Being silly on the trampoline.   

 

Fun with cousins! 

 

Adventures on the farm in the big town of Pekin (population 200).

 

Grandma Marilyn and her sister Ellen.

 

Playing on the piano at Grandma's farm.  So many memories here!!

 

My cousin Nicole came to visit and we got to see baby Ava and Nathan.

 

Love her rolls. 

 

We took off for Dickinson around 4pm for our 4 hour drive.  Saw some storms on the way. 

 

Got checked into the hotel just before the storms hit.  Grandma Deaner swam in the freezing cold pool with the kids. 

 

Dad and his brother Don at breakfast Tuesday morning before the funeral.  The kids met Grandma Mavis for the first time. 

 

Kids sort of behaving before the funeral.  Too many miles in the car finally caught up to them.  Just in time for the service. 

 

Selfies with Danielle in the funeral home.

 

Clinton was in the Military, so we got to watch a salute.  The gun shots were loud on the kids ears.

 

Right after the lunch we headed south to South Dakota, saw buffalo, and some buttes. 

 

My travel partner - he slept great on the drive.  Me, not so much.

 

Break at Mount Rushmore!  It was a bit out of the way, but totally worth it.  It was nice to stretch our legs, and see the 'Great Faces'.

 

Last pic before getting in the car again for our 10 hour drive back to DM ahead of us. 

 

Bathroom break and souvenir stop. 

 

We got back at 3am on Wednesday morning.  1700 miles in under 3 days.  Tiring, but worth it to see all of our family. 

 

Schmidt Annual Family Vacation 2013

Last weekend we met up with all of the Schmidts at Lake Panorama for a nice relaxing weekend.  Deb and Dale rented a great lake house for us all to stay at, which had so much room for all the kids to run around.  We played games, lounged, played at our own private beach, the guys golfed, fished, each family took a turn preparing a meal, and the kids played and played.  

Lake Panorama is such a great place to meet up at.  Unfortunately, the rumor is that the Lake association will no longer let house owners rent out their houses, so this may be the only time we are able to rent a house here.  

Long hill down to the water - luckily there was a golf cart to take this 36 week prego lady up and down!

The kids played and played.  The hill didn't stop them. 

Andy got the fire pit going. 

Kids with Grandma Schmidt. 

Any where Jill stood at the smoke followed!!  It took us a little longer to get the fire going the second night. 

See me - there on that chair?  I pretty much didn't move from it the entire weekend.  It was heaven, especially since I was on day 7 of the worst cold ever, and today and on day 14! 

Our little firecracker. 

Grandma Schmidt made Kate and Hannah matching dresses!

The entire crew.  

Thank you to Deb and Dale for treating us to such a great weekend.  I am so lucky to have married into such a great family.   

First Schmidt Family Trip

Last weekend we took the kids to a water park resort about 90 miles southeast of Des Moines.  Andy actually came up with the idea a few weeks ago, and sent me a link to Honey Creek Resort.  They have a winter wonderland special for a 2 night stay, and I also saw there was an annual Kids at the Creek event the weekend we picked to go.  This was the first time that just our little family has gone on a trip just the four of us.  We are so lucky to have our family live so close to us that we typically go on vacations  trips with our families.  Inside joke, but Andy only allows us to call it a vacation if the kids aren't along! 

The kids were super excited to go on 'cation'.  I was a little nervous about sleeping all 4 of us in the same room, and the first night was pretty rough since I made the bad decision on sleeping in the same bed with Hannah.  That girl does not stop moving and always has to be sleeping ON me.  So the second night I slept in the other bed with Andy and all 4 of us slept all night, and didn't wake up until after 7am!  We brought along our little kid blow up mattress for Henry which worked perfectly (except for it makes loud noises when they move, so when he starts to stir around 6:30am you hear every time he shifts).  Not sure how we will make it work with a 3rd - I guess pack n play in the corner??  Even cozier!

One thing to remember is to definitely pack a big cooler with breakfast items like milk, go gurt, snacks, etc.  They only have a little snack shop onsite, and then a really nice restaurant.  There is nothing else close by as this place is out in the boonies.  So we saved some bucks by eating breakfast in the room both mornings.

Eating and watching the sunrise.

First we hit up the Kids at the Creek event.  It was $3 per person to get in, and there was a small room with inflatables, a room where you could learn about different animals and make a footprint in clay, and then a room set up with different games where you get tickets and pick out a prize at the end.  All perfect stuff for kids their age.

Trying to knock the cup over (this one was impossible).  The ladies running the tickets loved our kids, so gave them a ton of tickets for the prizes even when they didn't win the games.  Very nice of them.

Hannah lovin the inflatables.  Henry had to push her bottom up over the first hill, but she could do the rest of it after that.  Usually she says 'Mommy do it!' but this trip it was 'Henry brother do it!'. 

We went back to the room for snack, and then got ready for water park time.  As you can see, the kids were pumped. 

Hannah all ready to swim.  Henry jumps right in and starts swimming like a little fish, but it took Hannah a little bit longer to warm up.  By the second time we went down there that night after dinner, she was much more comfortable and would go down the slide all by herself.

The kids climbed up on this fish and kept falling off and laughing for a good 15 minutes.

Going down the pirate ship slide.

See that blob under the water - that is our little fish Henry.  He is so good in the water!  2 more inches taller and we wouldn't have had to go in with him in the 3' pool area. 

Great trip overall.  I highly recommend this to anyone in the area that is looking for a quick, affordable getaway.  The kids had so much fun, the food at the restaurant is actually really good.  We hit up the pool first thing in the morning on Sunday, checked out right at check out time, and had an awesome brunch at the hotel restaurant before we hit the road at nap time.  Kids were exhausted and slept the entire way back. I definitely see us coming back again next year.   

San Fran 2013

Two weekends ago Andy and I boarded two different flights (due to flight vouchers that we had on different airlines) and headed out to San Francisco, California.  I had never been, and it had been a few years since Andy had been, and it was time for our active vacation - so this was the spot we picked!  Since Andy likes to stay busy, and I'm happy sitting on a beach, we try to mix it up each trip.  And boy did we stay busy....I wrote down what we did each day and will try to document the best I can for you all!

With the 2 hour time difference, we were up at 5am on Saturday morning ready to go.  We got ready and hit the streets before the sun was up.  We found this awesome place for breakfast called Sears Fine Dining.  We had the best pancakes and french toast, sipped coffee and hung out until the rental car place opened up.  We got our car and got on our way.  On the way out of town we traveled down Lombard Street, which is the most crooked street in America - 8 hairpin turns.  It was crazy and on a steep hill!

Andy slowly driving down the street.  Luckily it was bright and early so not much traffic was out and about.

We crossed the Golden Gate Bridge.

And then made our first stop at Muir Woods.  I loved this National Park.  The trees are just gigantic and the scenery is just beautiful. 

One big tree.

Practicing my photography skills - this picture sums it up though - so pretty out there!

After Muir Woods we traveled up the Hwy to Sonoma Valley, we had lunch at a delicious vineyard called Solbar in Calistoga, and then traveled back down through Napa Valley.

It is so beautiful out there, and the amount of vineyards is just amazing.  When we booked this trip back in October, we didn't know I was pregnant at the time - so it was kind of my worst nightmare to be pregnant in wine country - but that just means I will have to come back when I'm without child!

Beautiful day in Napa.

Vineyard along the way.  The mustard flowers were just beautiful.

We drove over the Bay Bridge on the way back, hit up Golden Gate Park, and stopped at the Ocean.

We couldn't resist a drive past the actual Full House house - and then we had dinner on the bay.  Clam Chowder of course.  And yes folks, that was just the first day. 

Sunday was another beautiful day.  We took a Ferry ride over to the island of Alcatraz.  Got a great view of the San Fran skyline on the way over.

Alcatraz.

Learned so much history on the audio tour.

Outside the main entrance.  Definitely recommend this tour for anyone traveling to San Fran - but get your tickets a head of time!

We then walked to Pier 48 and had more awesome seafood at Scoma's.  Clam chowder, lobster bisque, calamari, and crab cakes.  My dad would have been in heaven. 

We were so close to Ghirardelli Square after lunch that I couldn't resist a warm brownie sundae.  Andy didn't think there was anyway I could eat it, but I proved him wrong. 

We took a cable car ride down some pretty steep streets, and landed at Union Square where we sat in the Square for 10 minutes just enjoying the sunshine.  We decided our backs and feet hurt too bad to walk any further, so we caught the movie Les Mis at Westfield Mall.  I mean when do we ever have time to catch a move on the fly like that??!!  After three hours of resting, we continued our walk back to Chinatown, where we ate at House of Nanking, which was amazing.  Then to bed by 8:30.

Monday the plan was to take it easy - but that didn't end up happening.  We started out with a walk to breakfast at Honey Honey, then we caught a free tour given by the Public Library Association called the Fire and Earthquake of 1906 walking tour.  Very informational and got to see some cool buildings.  We then took a small break, and then hiked up to Coit Tower to take in the beautiful city views.  Andy was just fascinated by the bridges, so I got a picture of him with the bay bridge behind him.  We then hung out in a park for a bit, had some gelato at Naia Gelato, and had dinner in Little Italy.

Awesome trip - we definitely saw all there is to see in San Fran, ate awesome food, and walked off all the calories we consumed!