places we've been

A collection of 683 posts

family

moving day!

After 2 weeks in Grenada the boat was finally in good enough shape for us to move aboard. But first... one last breakfast at the cute little pastry shop at our resort. Braden had to make two trips to the boat because our rental car couldn't hold all our stuff.

family

coming together

We've spent lots of hours working to get the boat ready to go. Finally I feel like it is all coming together. Yesterday we checked off a bunch of tasks, and today we celebrated with a beach day. This was our medicine cabinet. I mentioned before that the guy who

family

easter at hog island

We took a short dinghy ride over to Hog Island for Easter. There was food, drinks, lots of people and live music. Not long after we got there a family showed up with a couple of kids. They came right over and asked Olivia if she wanted to play. Turns

family

best day ever

Olivia officially declared today the best day ever. It started off with a sailing lesson for Emma. I heard that a guy did sailing lessons right at the resort we are staying. I texted him yesterday and he told me just to come on down today. Lessons were free on

family

slow going

We knew when we left there was still a lot of work to be done on the boat. There were some unfinished projects by the guys working on our boat. some boxes that still hadn't arrived and lots and lots of cleaning and organizing. We booked a cottage for a

kids

throwback thursday (april 6, 2022)

A true sign it is spring in Minnesota...

family

treasures

The previous owner of our boat was from France. He sailed the boat all over the world. When he brought the boat to Grenada in 2016 he planned to return and sail some more, so he left pretty much everything on the boat. Most of it was cleaned out before

family

big day

Today was a big day. After over 8 years sitting on the hard our boat is finally in the water! There is still some work to be done before we can go anywhere, but we're celebrating this as a pretty big victory. Our future YouTubers checking their videos. Celebration lunch

family

grenada

On Saturday morning we boarded a one way flight to Grenada! Meanwhile back in Minnesota we got 8"+ of snow. We're renting a cottage for the week while we clean, organize, finish projects and unpack at the boat. Our boat sat unused for 8 years... so there is a lot

family

almost there

On Tuesday we packed up a lot of suitcases and headed to Florida for a couple days to visit with family we haven't seen in a long time. While we were at the gate the girls got a special invite from the pilot to come to the cockpit before the

places we've been

flashback friday to 2011

Braden and I have done a big boat trip before. In December 2011 we took a 3 month leave from work and sailed our boat to the Bahamas. Back then we didn't have the girls, but we took our cat Ethel. During our trip we made 3 stops in the

kids

throwback thursday (march 23, 2022)

kids

throwback thursday (march 9, 2022)

kids

tooth fairy?

Every one of Emma's adult bottom teeth have come in behind her baby tooth. This one was no different. Usually it doesn't take long for her tooth to get loose once the new tooth starts coming in, but this one is all the way in and her tooth still wasn't

kids

rides rides rides

We spent President's Day at the Mall of America riding rides with our friends. Lots of rides. 6 hours of rides. It was a long day. Olivia is just at 48", which meant she can finally do every ride. That includes the Sponge Bob ride that goes upside down. This

family

happy valentines day

Braden and I celebrated Valentine's Day a day early with a fancy wine dinner with some friends. Some of these dishes sounded kind of gross, but everything was delicious. Our favorites were the 3rd and 4th courses. It was a good thing we did because after that everything went downhill.

family

tubing

Remember when I said Olivia has become fearless? Last year she wouldn't tube at all. Today she went the full 2 hours... and didn't want to leave when our time was up.

family

great wolf lodge

The girls didn't have school Thursday and Friday, so when our friends asked if we wanted to spend a night at Great Wolf Lodge we figured why not. This is one of those places that every time we go we say we're never going again... but after a couple years

kids

throwback thursday (february 9, 2022)

family

daddy daughter dance

Olivia has been looking forward to tonight for weeks. The daddy daughter dance! The dance was fairy themed, so she wore her wings... and a crown, of course. Braden said Olivia usually does a little dancing, but she really just likes to do the crafts.

family

reptile show

Who knew we would be the people attending a reptile show? But here we are... I was expecting this to be like any other expo. We'd walk around, look at stuff and that was it. I didn't realize just about every vendor booth would be offering to let the girls

kids

chinese new year

In 1st grade the kids learn about Chinese New Year. They end their lesson by making a dragon for the Chinese New Year parade through the school. They all got to pick 3 jobs they would like to do for the parade - head, body, dragon tamer, banner holder (Emma

kids

lots of snakes

The girls didn't have school on Friday. A few days ago I saw that the place with the YouTube channel where Emma got her snake was going to be doing a program at our library. So... of course we had to be there! He brought a lot of animals we

kids

throwback thursday (january 12, 2022)

family

out and about

We've been spending a lot of time at home with Emma not feeling well. Now that she's feeling better (not 100% yet... but way better than she was) I was itching to get out of the house this weekend. On Saturday we ended up at REI. We have a huge