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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Thursday, July 25, 2013

A Weekend Away Part II

Last weekend, we took the girls on a mini vacation. The girls had been begging to go to a hotel for months, and since summer is quickly disappearing, we decided to pack up the bags and head to Brainerd for a few days.
 
We took off in the morning, and got into town early afternoon. We grabbed a bite to eat and headed to the course. (mini golf, that is...) Pirates Cove is the place to be for golf! The girls slowly tried to figure out the whole golf thing, but it went more like this: Maria would put her ball near the hole and hit once then pick it up and be done. Emma would bring her ball to the hole and push it in with either her club or her hands. It was pretty entertaining. Either way, they enjoyed themselves and all the pirate decor!


 
 
That night, we hit the pool. This was probably their favorite part, seriously. Next time, we might as well just go to a hotel nearby! ;) They swam for over two hours before we headed up to the room to order pizza. The girls hung out in their "bedroom" with the "hot pool" and watched cartoons while waiting for the pizza to arrive. They loved this "hot pool" because the water coming out looked like a waterfall!

 
The next day, we had breakfast and were off to the pool again for some final swimming before we checked out. Once we got all packed up, we were off to Paul Bunyan Land! We went here last year and decided to go again because it is the PERFECT place to bring this age of kids. They rode all the rides several times, visited with Paul Bunyan, and hung out at the petting zoo. It was a great day!





 
Our final stop of the day was an ice cream shop! YUM
 
Then back in the car we went to go home. It was the perfect vacation for us. Two days was just right to have some fun and not get too overtired. And Natalie was a trooper! She enjoyed her first of many vacations as well!
 
And I leave you with our family picture from our trip. Last year, a certain young lady in our family was crying her eyes out during our family vacation picture... this year you get...
 

 
...her butt. Yep, the memories! :)

3 comments:

Sarah said...

What fun! Looks like the perfect getaway for your family of five :) And the last picture, I died laughing. Good times and great memories.

The Staples Family said...

Ahhh... I finally got back to your blog and couldn't believe how much I missed! The busy life of a mom of 3!!! I'm so happy to see your blog to keep up, and your girls are just so precious. I especially loved the last picture, which was hilarious!

Sue said...

I am laughing hysterically right now Katie....Maria, oh my! Looks like soooo much fun and great memories.