The Funnest Place West of the Mississippi

Last week, Bauer had a couple days off of school so we made the most of it and took a trip to Minnesota! So far my plan to keep us so busy that we hardly notice Matt being gone is going pretty good!

Anyway, here are the random pictures of us hanging out at my mom's house.Ah, the life of a 5 year old. "Yeah Mom, I'm just hanging out here with all my cool toys, spaghetti sauce on my face, and a basketball Easter basket on my head."And, of course, Cadance isn't one to be left out of all the fun!Bauer found out on this trip that his cousin, Bryce, is also an Angry Birds addict!Kids hanging out before bed time! Bauer and Bryce played so well on this trip! They usually do for a while, but then the fighting starts. I think it helped that a) they were older and b) we were only there for a few days!Could our smiles be any bigger?

Playing with the cool disc shooters that Grammie bought for the boys. We had such a good time and I'm so glad we went! And the best part?? My sisters didn't know we were coming! My mom and I kept it a secret to make it more fun (who doesn't like surprises?)!

My mom told my sisters that another friend of ours wanted to meet at McDonalds for lunch on Wednesday so we could get everyone in the same place. I got there early with the kids with my mom coming in a few minutes later and we made sure to get the table that was nearest the bottom of the slide. We waited for about 15 minutes before my sister Rachael got there with Bryce. As soon as we saw their car Bauer, Cadance, and I quickly climbed up to the top of the play area. After Rachael and Bryce came in and sat down I told Bauer he could go down the slide and I followed right after him with Cadance in my lap. I told him to make some noise going down the slide so that Rachael would at least be looking at whatever noisy kid was coming down! As soon as we flew out of the bottom of the slide we yelled "Surprise!!" (probably louder than we needed to) and Rachael looked over at us but didn't know what to think at first! Then she realized that she really was looking at us and she jumped up with the biggest smile on her face and ran over to give Cadance and me a hug while Bauer ran over to Bryce who was hiding under the table. He doesn't really like loud noises or a lot of commotion!

Hannah got there with her boyfriend about 10 minutes later but she already had her suspicions thanks to an accidental anonymous tip. By the time I popped out of the bottom of the slide she had already seen Bauer and was busy telling everyone else that she had been right to be suspicious! In her defense, she did give me two big hugs and told me (several times) that she was happy we came to visit.

It was so much fun to surprise everyone!! And, if there's anyone out there who would like to return the favor, I like surprises, too!