2 Weeks without the boys!

Our house sure has been quiet lately.  The boys went to Texas with the grandparents for two whole weeks!  Carter and I have never had just one child to take care of... it was a new experience.  :)  Annabelle has been spoiled rotten with attention for two weeks, and after speaking to the grandparents, so have the boys apparently!  I will put a post together with their trip photos later.  Carter and I took a trip to Wisconsin last weekend for a wedding.  It was fun to travel with just ONE kiddo.  We are lucky that all three kids are excellent travelers, so we took our time getting there and getting back.  It was about a 700 mile trip.  Here is a map of our entire route:

We drove to the Twin Cities and stayed in St. Paul the first night.  The drive was really pretty, and my goofy husband wanted to stop and have his picture made with corn to show how tall it is getting.  :)

Carter wanted to eat at this place called "Mickey's Diner" in St. Paul which was made famous in the Mighty Duck movies as well as several Food Network specials.

 

From here we drove to Amery, WI to stay in a cabin near Lake Balsam for the wedding.  Thursday's festivities included a hike and a campfire (both firsts for Annabelle!).  Here is a picture of us on the hike...

And the group of us hiking along the St. Croix river...

Friday we went with a fun group of new friends to the Chateau St. Croix Winery for a tour and tasting (YUM!) and lunch in town before attending the rehearsal dinner.  Saturday was the wedding, and we had an amazing time.  It was supposed to be an outdoor ceremony, but just as the bride was about to walk down the aisle the sky opened up with rain so they quickly moved the ceremony into the church.  At the reception Annabelle slept through dinner but woke up in time to dance!  She looked adorable.

On our way home we drove a little bit out of the way to Chippewa Falls, WI to tour the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewery which is home to our favorite midwest beer.  The tour was free and included three tasting coupons!  I wish we had taken a picture at the Leine Lodge.  Darn... we'll have to go back there to get one!  Seriously, though... they have 7 brews available year-round and 4 that are seasonal.  I have yet to try one I didn't love and I'm really not a beer drinker. 

From here we drove along the Mississippi river for one of the most beautiful drives we've ever taken.  It was slower but absolutely worth the time.  We kept seeing these gorgeous churches in several of the small towns, so we finally stopped and took a few pictures.  This is the St. Boniface Catholic church in New Vienna, Iowa.  Folks... we're talking a population of 400 people and a church like this.  Amazing.

Once we crossed back into Iowa we stopped at the Field of Dreams movie site which about an hour from where we live. 

It was a really fun getaway... one we probably wouldn't have attempted with all three kids.  Carter does want to take the boys back to the Field of Dreams site, but I want to make sure they have seen the movie first.  My favorite quote from the movie... "Is this Heaven?  No... It's Iowa."