Minneapolis/St. Paul trip {Dr. appt. & Ruby's 1st time meeting Nonna, Nonno, & Amy}

Bottineau and the International Peace Gardens

Yesterday we headed out to Bottineau, ND so John could pop in to his 20th High School Reunion and we could visit Grandma and Grandpa.  Boo had to come with us because we couldn't find anyone to watch her- she was hilarious in the van so I had to share a couple pictures of that.

Here she is roasting herself up on the dashboard and below is her trying to get as close to John as she could even though he's the one who pretends not to like her as much as the rest of us.

 

Today we drove up to Canada to see the International Peace Gardens- how is it that I've never been there???  It was beautiful and a perfect day to be there.  Great weather and not too many people.

 

There was a cactus exhibit in a greenhouse that was so interesting!  I've never seen so many cacti in one place.  The kids thought it was fun to act like they were going to poke their fingers on the sharpest looking ones.

 

 

 

 

We tried to get some good pictures of our family for our dossier but my kids have trouble with family photos... there's a lot of blinking, wincing, crazy smiles, ect.  Plus I never like how I look... ugh.

Apparently the kids have no trouble taking pictures with their grandparents though!

We stopped later and went on a little walk and played and rested a bit.

 

It was a good day.

late night in the big city

Ok, still moving along... after the Elf tour and a visit with Santa we looked around the gift shop for a bit

waited for each other to take a restroom break...10pm

(my dad is possibly thinking how crazy it is that we are out at this hour and haven't eaten supper yet to boot!- hence the face) :)

and then set out for a beautiful walk in the big city to find the British pub we planned on eating at. The lights were amazing and there was a guy playing the trumpet on one of the corners. The weather was great(for December) and the kids thought we were having a grand adventure!

Found it!

Fish and chips and pints of beer... yummy yummy!

Then it was back to the light rail(which we had to wait QUITE a while for this time- luckily there were little heaters in the waiting areas because it was a bit chilly at this point) and it was midnight! I'm sure my dad was BESIDE himself but he did a really good job of hiding it.

What a day! I know we will never forget it... LOTS of fun memories and adventures.