In Spanish this phrase literally means "pure life" but is more commonly thought of as meaning "full of life." Costa Ricans use this phrase to express a philosophy of strong community, perseverance, resilience in overcoming difficulties with good spirits, enjoying life slowly, and celebrating good fortune of magnitudes small and large alike. This blog is about our life... Pura Vida!

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Monday, June 18, 2012

Vacation!

This past weekend, we went on our first official vacation as a family! The girls were great! Here's what we did...

We left Thursday morning for our drive to Taylor's Falls. Since it was raining most of the day, there wasn't much to do with the girls there. We ended up finding a petting zoo called Fawn Doe Rosa. The girls LOVED it! They got to pet deer, baby skunks, goats, llamas, and sheep. They also go to see a fox, lynx, raccoons, a hedgehog, wood chuck, several farm animals, elk, and a grizzly bear! We were also chased by geese a good part of the time!


 
We were planning on spending the night in the area of Taylor's Falls, but because of the rain, we decided to drive up north to Ashland, WI a day early. We arrived at our hotel around 9pm, and the girls insisted that we visit the pool. So we went swimming! It was a late night, made even later by a certain little girl that did not like to stay in her bed a bedtime. It was after midnight before we were sleeping.

The next morning, after a morning swim, we made the short trip to Bayfield, WI to check out the parking and ferry out the Madeline Island for the following morning. Joe & his dad were going to be doing an inline skate marathon around the island. It was a beautiful little town on Lake Superior. The girls were pleased, because there was a nice park to play at. So that is where we spend the majority of our morning! :)
The rest of the day included a nice Mexican meal, a nap for daddy and Emma, and exploring the lake shore for the rest of us. Maria loved playing in the water and throwing sticks in and watching them float out. The evening concluded with a take out meal and another round in the pool.


Saturday was an early morning to say the least. The guys left around 5:30 am to drive and catch the first ferry. We packed up all of our stuff from the hotel, checked out and were out of the hotel by 6:45 am to catch the last ferry. The girls like riding the boat. It was a beautiful morning!

At 8:30 am, the guys took off on their 17.4 mile race. They had to skate around Madeline Island two times, which is just over a half marathon. They thought this would be good practice for their full marathon in September in Duluth. Joe ended up place 13th in his division and 1st place in his age group! Way to go Joe!

After the race, we headed back to the mainland for lunch and of course, some ice cream!

Then it was back in the car for another long car ride back to Minnesota. I drove, while the other three napped and eventually we made it to our next stop, Brainard. We found an open hotel and quickly unpacked and headed out for the girls' first round of mini golf ever at my favorite mini golf course, Pirate's Cove! Maria enjoyed playing. Emma enjoyed searching for the pirates and throwing her ball in the hole! :)


Last thing of the night, a little race car driving.

Sunday morning we awoke to a nice Father's day breakfast at the hotel. Then we were off to Paul Bunyan Land. What a great place for little kids. The girls enjoyed their time there very much! They were a little scared when Paul Bunyan was talking with them, but other than that, it was a great day!


 
We then made our way to one of daddy's favorite restaurants, Buffalo Wild Wings, for a late lunch. We enjoyed our lunch and daddy got to watch the Twins, so he was of course happy. It was a great way to end our vacation and Father's Day!