The big kids had their conferences and fall break in mid-October. They both received good reviews from their teachers so they were rewarded with a purchase from the Scholastic book fair in the library. You can't beat a new book or poster!
After conferences we picked up Leo from day care and hit the road for South Dakota! We stopped at a gas station in Baldwin and saw this sign hanging by the bathrooms. We all laughed at this Missing Pigeon report and couldn't believe that her name was Lucy. I hope she was found safe and sound.
We paused for another stop at a rest area in Minnesota on our way out West. Leo enjoyed jumping on the rocks and we all admired the fall foilage.
We made it to Grandpa Glen and Grammy Sharon's house just in time for some Rummikub.
On Friday the children baked cookies ...
and visited the pumpkin/squash patch. :) Here is the finished product - Roman decorated this sweet Ace Frehley character from KISS. Hahaha!
You guys, some how 20 YEARS have passed since I graduated from Augustana College. I was planning to attend some of the festivities over the weekend and gave the children a quick tour of campus on Friday afternoon.
We stopped by the iconic Ole the Viking statue.
We visited the Mikkelson library - I spent many hours working in this building back in the late 90's!
We reminisced about my days on the 4th floor of Granskou Hall.
We snapped funny pics with the Homecoming cutouts.
The kiddos were impressed that I still remembered my mailbox combination for PO Box 628 all these years later. Hahaha!
We also paid a visit to Bergasaker Hall - the OG of dorms. Roman asked, 'Mom - why does that one room have a pyramid of pop cans in the window?' LOL - not pop cans. ;)
While we were touring - Mom and Leo were picking up Jules + Abby.
We always love our cousin time in SoDak.
These guys are too cute!
It was Esther's Birthday so we were eager to celebrate!
This precious 7 YEAR OLD opened her gifts from us before heading out for a night of FUN.
Ihad to include all of these snaps because her face was so surprised and goofy! Hahaha!
Where do you take a bunch of kids to celebrate a brand new 7 year old? Pizza Ranch of course! ;)
The big girls loved it.
And the little guys did too. :)
Such a fun party!
You can't go to Pizza Ranch with littles without stopping by the arcade, am I right?
I mean look at this carpet - truly a Fun Zone. ;)
Thanks to Grammy and Grandpa for splurging on arcade games!
We split up into various groups for cousin sleep overs - yay for new jammies and shared robes.
After a hearty breakfast ...
We zipped over to the Augustana campus for a Homecoming Parade. :)
Love watching a parade with my baby.
We got lots of candy and saw some familiar faces - and Roman only got a little bit of teasing for wearing Packers gear in Viking territory! Hah!
After the parade some of the crew headed to the Washington Pavilion for a spooky science event.
Halloween treats? Yes, please!
Roman is obsessed with VR headsets these days so you better believe that he had a good afternoon with this getup!
Roman: 'Mom - Take a picture of me and Peter burning our butts!'
Can you tell that I have a 9 year old son? Insert eye roll here.
We played in space,
We rode dinosaurs,
and stood in a tornado. What a great afternoon!
Later that evening, Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Glen generously watched the children while I ducked out to attend a reunion event. I had to laugh at my name tag - as you can see, there was a slight misspelling! LOL! Man, I can't believe how quickly 20 years have passed!
The next morning we headed to church and coffee hour.
Leo did some coloring projects and we hopped in the car to return to Wisconsin.
