Christmas morning, we woke up to a beautiful, blue-sky day and happy children anxious to see what Santa had brought!
And then it was off to Minnesota!! (Avery's FIRST flight! Yes, we do everything to avoid flying, which means she's driven across this country, but she finally got to travel in style for once!). We had been looking forward to this trip for quite some time - it's always such a wonderful feeling knowing you're about to be crazy loved on for 9 days!
She actually did great on the way there!
And we ran into Santa when we de-planed! Fancy that on Christmas Eve!
Then it was Larson Family time! (Minus sweet Sammy the dog who went to doggy heaven recently :( )
Benjamin was SO excited to play legos with Uncle Jacob! (Mimi & Papa kept SOOOO many toys from the Larson children's childhood, including a ridiculous amount of legos!)
Enjoying the wet bar in the basement of their new house!
Family dinner with everyone! A rare treat :)
Time for some Christmas gift exchanges!
ALL winter Benjamin would give the same response to the question, "What do you want for Christmas?" His answer: "A UPS driver!" I'm not exactly sure what he meant (probably that he wanted his own personal delivery person to bring him presents each day!), but Mimi & Papa really pulled through with both a UPS driver costume AND a UPS toy truck :)
Some of these pics are from Benjamin's "new" camera!
Another family pic :)
Look at our cute little Cindy Lou Who!
Some more pics from Benjamin's camera:
The kids loved playing with their older cousins (much older, but such good sports!):
Then the lutefisk came out (YUCK):
It was a VERY merry Christmas for these two!!
Adults got a little beer tasting in before the end of the night!
The next day was the Larson extended family gathering!
Cousins!
The next morning, we went to The Local in downtown Minneapolis to watch an Everton match (with other Everton fans, of course!). I got a pedicure in the Skyway during the last half. That was exciting ;)
Benjamin did LOTS of sledding while we were there. This morning, he had a BLAST with Auntie Emma.
Lots of puzzle time...
A trip with Mimi and Papa to a pretty cool indoor playground!
Lots of lego time. Lots.
Matt and I snuck away one afternoon to do a little reading/working at a coffee shop in Northeast....
Then met up with Matt's college buddy and his wife for dinner in the Loop!
And we made a trip to Surly of course (Sara and Dave were kind enough to meet up with us!):
With a stop at Moe's for a late night dinner...
Before a SUPER late night showing of Hunger Games (I can't remember the last time we went to a movie!):
Meanwhile, the kids were having fun, of course!
The next day we went to MALL OF AMERICA!!! Wow, that place is crazy! Mimi & Papa took the kiddos to the aquarium while Matt and I meandered around the Mall. The kids LOVED it.
Then it was back out to the main part of the mall to head to lunch and the amusement park!
Papa and Benjamin are in there getting ready to go up in the air!
Mimi took Benjamin on the Log Chute ride!!! Such a big kid ride, and he did great despite them getting SOAKED.
Avery couldn't handle the sheer number of rides Benjamin was going on... down for the count!
And this kid... down for the count once in the car!
That night Matt and I met up with one of his best friend's from high school (who recently got married!). We met them for a drink at Tattersol, this amazing and hip distillery in Northeast. It was awesome, highly recommend it!
Then we grabbed dinner at the Red Stag, which was delicious!! So great seeing them and catching up!
Don't worry, the kids still were doing just fine without us :)
On New Year's Eve (after going to see G&G Vandervort's new place!), Matt and I had no plans so decided last minute to book a cheap hotel room downtown. It was a great idea, because we had SO much fun! New Year's Eve is typically so tough to get excited about, but somehow, NYE 2015/2016 was one of my favorites! We got ready at the hotel, walked to Sara & Dave's apartment nearby for a drink, then headed to dinner...
Dinner at Third Bird:
Then Matt found some random dive bar that was playing 90s music all night (with no cover, so we didn't know if it'd be packed or dead, you know?). Turns out, it was the perfect spot for us! We danced for almost three hours, screaming to glorious songs from that glorious decade of music ;)
The next morning, we soaked up a little more time together by visiting a great little coffee shop for some more downtime. Also, this place had THE BEST biscuits and gravy I've ever had. (Nicollette Diner, the coffeeshop attached to it serves its food, a little known secret apparently because the diner had a huge waitlist and the coffeeshop was dead and we got our food quickly!)
Then back to the Larson home for our last day together (and for an early birthday party for Benjamin!):
And with that, we woke up crazy early on Saturday to head back to Denver. This flight wasn't quite "great" for our busy-body little girl, but we all survived!
And a few pics from Benjamin's camera on the plane:
Well little lady who won't nap...
Yep, this is exactly how we all felt after the trip!
So thankful for such an amazing time away. We are blessed with such a wonderful family who loves us so deeply.
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