My Girls: Twice The Fun: fun up north

Olivia and Violet’s last day of first grade was on June 3rd. As a special treat, I dropped them off at school that morning so they didn’t have to ride the bus. They were pretty excited about that! Before we left, they wanted to take “last day of first grade” pictures. They were determined to do a whole bunch of silly poses. Below are a couple of my favorites. They enjoyed their first grade year, they loved their teacher and learned a lot! Toward the end of the year, they really enjoyed math class and a pretty determined to finish their math workbooks over the summer.

We didn’t have child care on June 4th and 5th, so we headed up to Duluth for a few days for a little family getaway. Olivia and Violet had never been to Duluth so they were pretty excited, although they said that one of their friends told them that Duluth had a volcano erupt (ha). We left home the morning of June 4th and stopped at Jay Cooke State Park on our way to Duluth. The swinging bridge over the St. Louis River was pretty neat! We went on a 3.5 mile hiking trail which seemed like 10 miles long due to the terrain. :) The girls were troopers though and were pretty determined to make it the whole way. They really enjoyed searching for deer, fox, bear and other tracks. It had rained the day before, so footprints were pretty easy to find. They also loved climbing on the rocks near the St. Louis River. Jamie and I had to drag them away from the edge a few times though, we were very nervous because they did not show any fear….I love this picture of Jamie pulling on Olivia’s jacket because she got too close to the edge. It really captured the moment!

Not so close, Olivia!

Hiking by the St. Louis River

Bear tracks!!

Crossing the "swinging bridge"

After we left Jay Cooke, we drove to Duluth and checked into the Edgewater hotel and waterpark. We reserved a two queen room, but they upgraded us to a 2 bedroom suite-yeah!! The girls were pretty excited to head down to the waterpark. They had a blast! I was amazed that they had any energy left!

On June 5th, we headed to Gooseberry Falls in the morning. The girls were pretty excited to see another state park. When they first saw the falls, they were really in awe! And of course, they were pretty excited to see lots of rocks to climb on again. It brought back memories of when my family visited Gooseberry when I was young! We went on a two mile trail walk which was fun. Jamie and Olivia split off on their own on for awhile, and saw a deer in the woods. It was a relaxing morning surrounded by some beautiful scenery!

Violet

Olivia

Family picture by the falls

Climbing rocks again!

When we left Gooseberry, we stopped at a scenic overlook so we could see Split Rock Lighthouse. It was a cool view!

From there, we headed to Canal Park in downtown Duluth. The girls wanted to see the Lift Bridge and also watch ships come in. And also climb on more rocks!!! We saw the bridge lift two times, they thought it was pretty awesome. Then we returned to the hotel for more waterpark fun! Olivia went down the big tube slide once and said she didn't like it, but Violet kept going down it over and over. Violet also tried a big body slide for the first time and thought it was fun!

Climbing on more rocks in Canal Park

Watching a big ship go under the lift bridge

Fun in the waterpark

Splash!

Violet coming out of the big tube slide

Olivia going down a slide

The next morning, we spent a little more time in the waterpark and then made the 3 1/2 hour trek to Alexandria for Mercedes (Jill's stepdaughter) and Jon's wedding. Olivia and Violet were super excited to dress up. Their personalities came out with their hair though - Violet wanted hers curled and fixed like a flower girl, while Olivia just wanted hers brushed and put in a ponytail! :) They both had a fun time and especially enjoyed the dance. We headed home the next day, after a stop at my cousin's daughter's graduation party. We had a fun family weekend but were pretty tired out by the time we got home!!