Minnesota so far

We have now been in Minnesota for one month.  It may be that this was the longest and shortest month of my life.  Moving in, meeting new people, settling into a routine, and exploring this new place we now call home has made for an interesting month.

 This is our new house here in Plymouth, Minnesota.  It's actually the back side of our house, but the kids (well, all of us) were so excited to have a fenced in back yard complete with a fort that here is where we took all of our pictures.

 Even though we started paying rent as of June 1, the movers didn't bring our things until the 8th, so we had a week to kill while living in an apartment.  Chase hadn't yet started work at Target, so our main job was to keep us all entertained while we waited for our stuff.  Though frustrating, it did allow us to explore the area.  Above is the beautiful French Park, just located off Medicine Lake.  There is an amazing playground and a beach that we enjoyed . . . until Logan fell in.  Swim suits next time!

One day we took a rainy 2 1/2 drive to Duluth, an industrial town located on the shore of Lake Superior.  There we took a train ride with the kids. It was really fun, especially in the outside car even though it was only 46 degrees!

 Moving day finally arrived, and we quickly began to settle into the house and our new routine.  One of our favorite things to do is to walk to Schmidt Lake Park that is about 5 minutes from our house.  There, the kids love to go down this big slide.

One of the best parts about living in Minnesota are all the lakes.  Our friends the Taylors have a wonderful backyard that goes right up to the lake, and they were nice enough to invite us over for an afternoon of boating and playing in the sand.

One weekend we were hit with some terrible thunderstorms that not only knocked out our power, but flooded our local streets and knocked out a great number of fences and trees.  Here is our next door neighbor's beautiful tree that fell over due to so much water and wind.

One of the most exciting things that happened to us was finding out that baby # 3 is healthy, due Nov. 14, and is a GIRL!  We are so excited for her to join our family.