Longer than the trip itself

Yes, another riveting installment of my vacation log...
As we drove into Minnesota, and the Twin Cities, I saw familiar sites. We headed up I-35 through St. Paul and saw that the hospital at which I did my internship, and had my first real job, is going through major construction. It looks to be almost double the size that it once was.
We drove to Grandma's place. This was my first time to my mother's new senior apartment. I can see why she likes it so much. The apartment is in a nice quiet neighborhood, the neighbors seem friendly , and the apartment itself is just the right size for her.
We spent the first day hanging out and chatting, and watching the construction site next door.

The second day in Minnesota was the annual family reunion. It's my mother's side; her siblings, their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. It's a LOT of relatives all in one place. My mom has 15 siblings. Seriously.
Everyone lives in Minnesota except for me, and a few odd-balls that moved across the border into Wisconsin. I guess that I'm the black sheep of the family.
As usual, the food is delicious. This is one family that knows how to throw a pot luck. Mmmm , the food was good.

We camped the next couple nights at my best friend's house. They live in a rural area outside of St. Paul, so the dogs could roam, and the kids could play outside and make as much noise as they wanted. Here are a couple photos of Emma trying to corral the pony. The pony didn't enjoy it, but luckily, Emma was too fast to catch.


My city kids fished in a pond on the farm. Within 10 seconds of throwing a line into the water, they would have a fish. My kids are going to think that is the normal way to catch fish.
We picked apples in the orchard

and rode in the wagon through the cornfield, and saw real-live Tonka trucks.
The weather was perfect, so they ran through the sprinkler.

The kids (and adults) had a blast.
Roxie was exhausted.