Up North

Daddy & Mikayla eating lunch at a rest stop while Mommy nurses Nolan in the car.

Mikayla & Nolan enjoying the king size bed at the hotel
Mikayla modeling her princess swimsuit
Nolan & Kate Nowak getting caught up on all the gossip
Kate eating breakfast
Kate & Nolan hanging out with Shauna
Nolan says: "Hey Kate, gimme my toy back."
Kate Nowak
Kelly Johnson holding Nolan
Beth Isensee with her son, Zae
Chris Johnson hangin' with Nolan
Jessie Nowak & her daughter, Kate
Nolan & his warm, fleece outfit

Beth reading with Zae & Nolan

The kids: Sylvia I.,Andy J., Mikayla A.,Zae I.,Max J., getting ready for cartoon time

Max Johnson & Mikayla eating breakfast...mmm, bacon!

Zae...are you looking at me?
Mikayla on the moose in Duluth




We spent the weekend of October 8-11 Up North. We rented a 4 bedroom condo with three other couples & their kids for Friday & Saturday night. Randall & I took an extra day & drove to Duluth on Thursday & arrived about 2:30/3pm & checked into the Edgewater Hotel & Waterpark. I was in the hotel room most of the time with Nolan while Randall & Mikayla enjoyed the waterpark, so I didn't get a lot of waterpark pics. Our hotel room overlooked the waterpark, so I was able to see some of the fun. Unfortunately, while Nolan was napping in his pack'n'play I stepped out onto the glass enclosed balcony of our room, closed the door & when I tried the room key to get back in, it didn't work, so I was locked out of our room. Luckily, I brought my cell phone with me & called the hotel to come rescue me, but after 10 minutes passed & still no sign of help, I called Jessie (her & Nick had a room across from ours) & she came to my rescue & got an extra room key from the front desk. Randall & Mikayla enjoyed the waterpark Thursday afternoon & Friday morning before check out, then we went to Perkins for lunch with Nick, Jessie & Kate Nowak. After Perkins, we drove up to Tofte, MN where we rented a 4 bedroom condo at Aspenwood (#6528) & spent time with our friends: the Johnson's, Nowak's & Isensee's. All total we had 8 adults & 7 kids. It was a fun weekend but definitely went by way too fast. Driving north we saw plenty of beautiful fall colors, but woke up to snow on Saturday morning. The drive home on Sunday was a long one. I wanted to stop in Duluth & do some shopping on Canal Park. We also stopped for lunch at Old Chicago before leaving Duluth, but once we started driving home & were just north of the cities near North Branch, we ran into construction on 35W. It took us about 45 min/1 hour to go 8 miles. Factor in stops for nursing, diaper changes, potty & gas and our arrival home was about 9 or 9:30pm, even though we had checked out of the condo at 10am. Needless to say, we were tired on Monday morning when it was time for the work week to begin again, but it was nice to get away & spend time with friends.