Fun with Sculptures

On one of the last days of the trip, Grandma, Auntie Vicky, Mommy, Miranda, Alice and Elijah made our way to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden while Uncle Brandon headed back to Mitchell and the rest of the guys went golfing.

The sculptures were beautiful and, coupled with a nice lunch right afterward, it was one of the highlights of the trip.

Here are Alice and Miranda posing with one of the more iconic sculptures in the park:

Alice, getting her groove on:

Best friend cousins:

Elijah, making his way through the archways:

Elijah and his Mommy:

Sharing some goldfish:

Playing "chase" through the sculpture garden:

"Well, that doesn't seem right...":

Gorgeous Miranda:

Fun!:

Here are the rest of our photos from our Sculpture Garden Adventures.  Enjoy!

Hopping and Flopping!

One of the unexpected side benefits of the house we rented in Minnesota was the... TRAMPOLINE!  We did not even realize it was there until we arrived at the house, but, boy, we had fun with it!

Here is Uncle Brandon jumping with Alice and Miranda:

Here are our two jumping beans, crawling around, looking for trouble!

Going for it!

Daddy took a turn hopping with the girls:

As you can see from these photos, Alice spent her entire time in the trampoline nose-diving, but she absolutely loved every second of it!:

Mommy spent quite a bit of time playing with the girls in the trampoline.  Here they are playing their favorite trampoline game, "Tickle Kangaroo."  The song goes, "If you don't high five the Tickle Kangaroo... the Tickle Kangaroo's gonna tickle you!"

Watch out girls, there is a Tickle Kangaroo behind you!

As much fun as the indoor swimming pool was, Alice had a hard time deciding whether the swimming pool or the trampoline was her favorite.  These kids have a tough life!

Here are some more trampoline photos.

Red Sox at Twins - Annual Baseball Trip!

It was time, once again, for our annual ball park visit.  This time, we watched a series in which the Red Sox played the Minnesota Twins at Target Field.  Since this series occurred during our Peterson family vacation, the rest of the family were able to join in for a game or two.

Uncle Eric, a big Twins fan, was of course happy to join us for all three games!:

Here are some photos of the Red Sox players getting ready for the big games:

Alice, Miranda and Elijah especially enjoyed seeing the Twins' mascot, "TC":

Here is a photo of Mommy, sitting with the girls:

Enjoying the game:

Our proud little Red Sox fan:

The Vetters come along for the ride, but we suspect we are slowly winning them over to Red Sox Nation!:

Daddy is explaining to Alice how to score a game:

Alice is a great Red Sox cheerleader!

It's not always the case, but the Red Sox gave us lots of reasons to smile during this series:

Here are some more photos from the fun Red Sox games!

A Day at the Zoo

We took a trip to a fun local zoo while we were on vacation in Minnesota.  This has become a favorite activity for Alice and her cousins, and it is something the whole family enjoys.

Here are the girls, getting excited for checking out some animals:

Alice loves being a big cousin to Elijah.  Here she is, sneaking a snuggle:

The whole family had a fun time at the zoo, and we were especially happy to be able to spend the day together:

Here are some more photos of our day at the zoo!

Happy Birthday, Alice! (Minnesota Edition)

Tonight it was time to celebrate Alice's birthday!  She will be turning three in less than a month (so hard to believe!), and since we were with family in Minnesota this week, the celebrations began a bit early.  She chose Toy Story cupcakes to share with everyone. 

Her cupcake frosting turned her tongue blue!

Miranda helped Alice open her birthday presents:

To support Alice's jet-setting lifestyle, Grandma and Papa presented her with her very own suitcase!

Similarly themed, the Vetters got Alice a fun toy airplane:

Uncle Eric hit gold with his present for Alice - a Buzz Lightyear Toy Story telephone!

These girls are too cute and really having a great time together in Minnesota!:

Grandma can't get enough of them either.  Alice is going to miss everyone so much when we head back to Salem:

Each night, the girls say goodnight to the swimming pool!  Here they are, doing just that:

Here are the rest of the photos from Alice's birthday celebrations in Minnesota:  Thanks everyone for your thoughtful and generous gifts.  Alice was so blessed to be able to begin her birthday celebrations with all of you!