Minnesota

After your trip to LA with mommy and Sophia, you flew to Minnesota to see my family. You didn't know I was going to meet you there. I flew in a couple hours before your flight and surprised you and Sophia at the gate. Grandpa picked us up and we headed to their house.

Then my sister, Caroline came over with her husband (Uncle Larry) and the boys. We were excited to see Jonathan (he likes to go by John now) because he is only 13 but is 6'2" like me. Wow! Here we all are with James.

I did my little Sophia trick where she stands on my hands and I lift her up. Everyone was impressed.

Here's Jonathan and Auntie Caroline. You can see how big Jonathan is.

The next day we went over to their house. They have a basement that is being refinished by Larry. There was a drum kit down there that Sophia loved playing with.

They also had a Wii that I hadn't tried out before. It was actually pretty hard to play.

James was very enamored with you and Sophia. I think he liked the fact that there were some people younger than him to play with. You took a liking to James too.

Sophia also picked up the microphone and tested out her singing capabilities.

One day we went to the Mall of America because they have an amusement park in the middle. Sophia rode the carousel (her favorite). You still can't walk so you stayed home with granny and grandpa. But you had a lot of fun with them.

She also rode something called the Frog Hopper that goes up and down.

And a Red Baron airplane.

Everyone was excited to see you because this was the first time they had seen you. Everyone commented on how big you were.

We also went to a fun little amusement park in the library in Woodbury. It had slides and jumping areas and climbing nets. Sophia just loved it. Poor you had to stay at home again.

Then one day we went to the Walker Art Museum. It's changed a lot since I was there. They built a new addition. But they still have my favorite exhibit which is a big fish made of glass.

Sophia was very squirmy and mischievous so I took her outside of the museum after a few minutes and we played on the steps outside. Her favorite new toy was a Dora and unicorn figurine.

The other great exhibit outside is the giant spoon and cherry. Here's the Best family.

And here you can see how big Jonathan has grown.

We have all the size groups represented in the family.

We also stopped by to see old friends who used to live in Dumbo but moved back to Minnesota. This was before you were born. They moved out a year or so ago.

Sophia kept a close eye on you.

But she got some time in with Henry, their little boy.

And every day we went to the playground near the Best's house. Sophia is quite the climber. I have to keep an eye on her. You are getting so big so quickly that I expect you'll be up there with her soon.

Look how strong she is. She can hang for quite a while on her own.

With a little help she was able to monkey bar her way across.

Afterwards we headed back home where Sophia helped Caroline water the plants. Later we had a bonfire and made some s'mores. Yummy. Next year when we head back you should be up an walking about so you can have more fun then.

Heres some videos...