Friday, July 30, 2010

Minnesota 2010 - WARNING! LONG POST!

This is a LONGGGG post, but there's so much to tell!

Two weeks ago, Colby took her first flight up to Minnesota to visit Aunt Kim, Aunt Kendall, and cousin Jacob! She did great on the flight. We had books to read and flash cards to sort through, but I think she was glad to finally get to MN where she could stretch her legs.

She loved playing with Jacob, and every morning that would be her first word..."Jacob?"...it was time to hit the ground running and play with all of his toys and her favorite book, "Dinosaur Roar!"...which we just bought yesterday.

Kim and I had grand plans of doing Jacob's 3yo pix and Colby's 18 mos pix. Jacob was a much better sport than Colby.

Below are MANY of my favorite pictures from our trip! Thanks for checking in!

Hair lotion and a diaper....I'm all set to go this morning!


We went to the water park near Kim's house. It was Colby's first time. She LOVED it! Here she is trying to follow Jacob up the big-kids-slide.

Jacob going down!







Splash!...not that Colby minded. She loved it...would hop back up to go again immediately.




I can do it myself, Aunt Kim!!!


See! I'm a pro at going down the slide on my own!



Weeeeeeee!





She loved it!....so much so that she wasn't patient with waiting her turn. There was one little girl who was scared of going down the slide on her own; so, Colby helped her out by pushing her. I had to apologize profusely for my 18 mos-old bully.



Jacob surveying the situation.




I went down the adult slides....and paid for it....I had a sore neck for a week afterwards!...but it was still fun!



Aunt Kendall chillin' out.



Jacob was everywhere!



One of the days in MN we went to the neighboring town of Gully for the 100th anniversary of their town celebration and parade. There's 100 people in Gully, and the parade was still going on 90 minutes later! These people are proud!!! We left to get something to eat at the Oof-Da-Taco stand!



What's a Oof-Da-Taco? Think of an elephant ear that isn't sweet with all the taco meat and fillings on top!


What does Oof-Da mean? It's a Norwegian term that roughly translates to "Oh C&^p"....or "D^%m"...you get it.


I actually found and bought my sister Kim a mug that says "what part of Oof-Da do you not understand?!!!"


Aunt Kendall riding between two tired kiddos on the way home from the water park.




Tired Kiddo #1.



Tired Kiddo #2.




I can't seem to escape the Gnomes.


This is the old tractor behind Kim's treeline that we attemped to do pix with. This is the only picture that has my child somewhat smiling in it...and, of course, there's a grass coming up in front of her face. Geesh.



The rest of the pix are of her trying to run away. here's Jacob trying to corral (sic) her.



I WON'T stand by that tractor...I WON'T do it!!!




Look at me...on the big kid swing all by myself. She did pretty good too...she only fell off once towards the end of probably 15 minutes or so.



After going down the slide on her own at the water park, she wasn't about to accept help on the swingset slide.


Not sure what Jacob got into here!


Climbing up the stairs again to the slide!




And, we tried AGAIN to get pictures with the tractor....with the same results!



Rotten to the core!!!!


Playing a song for Kim and I. I think we ended that performance pretty shortly.







16 comments:

Anonymous said...

What great pictures at the water park! They look like they both LOVED it! She is becoming quite the adventurous one! It is crazy how jacob hated it last year and this year he was all over it! They were so cute playing the piano! Thanks for posting great pictures!\

Love - Ben, Kori, & Amelia

Cydil said...

Wow, Kelly! Your little girl is growing up! What gorgeous hair! I'm seeing more and more of you in her!

The Allen Family said...

Oh how fun! They both looked like they were having a blast. She's so cute when she is walking away from the tractor =)
Love,
Christy

The Allen Family said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting these, Kelly! Even though we didn't get the ideal picture of Colby by the tractor, I still love these and think they show so much of her personality!!!!
She is too funny!! mmmmmmmama!!!

Jacob keeps asking if we can go to the airport to pick Colby and Amelia up - apparently you and Kori don't rank as high as they do!

Thanks for coming up and thanks again for the pictures!

Kim

Jen Robinson said...

Awesome update, Kelly!!! :)

Here is the definition of Uff da---Uff da (can also be spelled uff-da, uffda, uff-dah, oofda, ufda, ufdah, oofta or ufta) is an exclamation of Norwegian origin that is relatively common in the Upper Midwestern states of the United States. It roughly means "drats," "oops!" or "ouch!", especially if the "ouch!" is an empathetic one. In Norwegian Midwestern USA culture, "Uff Da" translates into: "I am overwhelmed." It has become a mark of Scandinavian roots, particularly for people from North Dakota and Minnesota.

Sorry--as a MN Norwegian I had to give the exact definition via Wikipedia!!! :) Basically when you get done eating an oof-da taco...you feel like saying "Oof-da! I'm full and I can't move!!!" Glad you had so much fun up here in God's country--THE GREAT STATE OF MINNESOTA!!!!

Oh and Colby is such a doll!!! She may look like her dad, but she seems to act like a Rankin!!! :)

Love
~Jen

Anonymous said...

I was laughing out loud with the pics as well as the commentary. You did a great job on the post and seeing these 2 cousins in action.
Connie

Grandma Budke said...

What a great tour you had in Mn,I loved each picture ,especially those of Colby insisting on NOT with that tractor! That girl knows her mind,I
am sure.The water park pix were all super!!!Love to all of you,Grandma B.

Anonymous said...

Loved the post! She is so freaking cute!!!!! My favorite is of her running from the tractor! I've seen that look a time or two! :) My other favorite is of her going down the water slide cuz you can see her chubby little legs! I love it! Too cute!!!!

Carolyn

Anonymous said...

Oh yeah, and I will never uncover myself at the waterpark again! Thanks!

Kim

Anonymous said...

The pictures are so good Kelly!! I loved the water park ones and the details!!
Thanks for coming up...we had lots of fun!! And maybe next year Colby will actually let me touch her..haha :)

Love
Kendall

Anonymous said...

Jen Robinson you crack me up. :)

Brittany said...

These pictures are great!! I love the ones that capture her anger towards the tractor, but I think my favorite is the one Colby looking over her shoulder on the swing. And I am so jealous of her beautiful head of hair!! Looks like everyone had a great time at the waterpark, too! So neat that you guys can all visit each other so much! Glad the kiddies all get along so well :)

Rhiannon said...

These are great Kelly!! I love fair food, so I'll have to put an oof-da taco on my bucket list!! :)

Anonymous said...

love all these. I was laughing out loud at her refusal to have her pics taken. HILARIOUS!!! All of the pics are really good though. I love her hair, she is soo adorable. And I agree with some of the other comments that she is starting to look more like you!
Erin

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