I'm bringing Xanga back - drop a comment if you're with me!

I thought I'd do one for Zack too...

1. Zack loves peanut and honey sandwiches, mackenroni and cheese, shushi and Indian food (spicy stuff)
2. Zack sits down on his little chair to hit the T-ball (or to throw it).
3. He is a great helper. He loves to vacuum and dust. He helps with laundry and cleaning bathrooms. He helps me cook and bake. He empties the silverware by himself (with a little direction). And yes, I'm a slave driver.
4. He loves to play hide and seek, but he can't seem to get the hiding part down. He jumps out as soon as I say ready or not!
5. He likes to color. I'm hoping he takes after me instead of Ben in the craftsy artsy department.
6. If you ever ask him what he wants to do he says "pway and pway" (play and play)
7. He's been to 10 states and he's 2 years old.
8. He never wavers in saying that he's having a sister....we'll see in a couple of weeks!
9. He has a tender heart and always prays when he hears a firetruck or sees police lights. (Dear God, please help those men to be good...)(good meaning, all right)
10. Cars, trucks, fire engines, trains and motorcycles (basically any vehicle) are still his favorites, despite Ben and I having absolutely no interest in any of these.

He tags the same people I did...but he double tags Ethan...

We drove to Minneapolis last week to visit Scott and Kami and little Sophie. She is 7 weeks old and so precious! As you will see by the percentage of car pics of Zack, we did drive a lot. He was a little trooper. He is AWESOME in the car. He just plays, reads books, looks out the window... It was only the last day that he was a little bit crabby. We had so much fun. We were gone for nearly 10 days.



We went to Burger King (obviously) but Zack wasn't quite satisfied so I gave him some trail mix. He ate all the 'candyland' (m&ms) and raisins but when I got him out of the car at the next rest stop I found all the nuts underneath him (I just think he ate all the sweet stuff first then they spilled - I don't think he was sneaking)



We drove to 'Mountain Rushmore' the first day. The Black Hills are so pretty and there is actually a lot of history there and so much stuff to do...esp for kids. This picture is at Mt Rushmore. I thought this was cuter than the pics of the mountain. There is a boardwalk that goes up to the mountain and you get great views from many angles. It was SO LONG and it is almost entirely stairs...I think more than a mile of stairs! - truly. So needless to say, we were exhausted and decided to just book it to Scott and Kami's. We got there a day early.



Sophie is so sweet. She is such a happy little thing. Zack loved holding her. When we'd place her in his arms, her eyes would get so big. She knew something wasn't quite right...what were these tiny little arms holding her?



Scott and Kami's house is so cute and their neighborhood is so beautiful. They have these parkways everywhere and they are within walking distance of two lakes; one is just a block away. We walked to the far lake one evening. It was so hot, but the lake was nice. Zack had fun splashing and playing in the sand. You can see our little baby here!



Sophie is such a smiley little thing. She really liked hearing Ben's voice, I think it sounded like her dads. She would turn her head to see him. I love how babies this age fall asleep anywhere.

We went to a free zoo and conservatory. It was a very nice clean zoo. Ben and I were amazed that it was free. Ben, Scott and Zack went to a Twins game (baseball). They made it through the 3rd inning. They took the train, Zack loved that. The evening before, we went to Sushi with some friends who had moved there from Salt Lake this last spring. The restaurant was downtown so we were going to take the train. We were standing there, tickets in hand waiting for the train when we looked at the map and realized that the train didn't drop us off anywhere hear the restaurant. So, sadly, as the train was pulling up, we had to leave. We told Zack it was the wrong train. Zack was SO disappointed, he cried and for the next 5 minutes just repeated "that was the wrong train, that was the wrong train". It was so sad. He wasn't throwing a fit, he was just so disappointed. They took the train to the game the following night and when they got home, he told me "that wasn't the wrong train".



We drove to Ben's Uncle and Aunt's house in northern Minnesota. It was about 4 hours, but totally worth it. They are such neat people. Their house and property are so lovely and they are such great hosts that it was so peaceful and relaxing. They have about 250 acres and they built their house by themselves (without borrowing a dime btw - they're not rich, just patient and resourceful). It is so beautiful. It took them 6 years to build it. They have a lake with a rowboat. We took Zack fishing. We didn't catch anything, Zack was a little too chatty. Plus, since the lake was low, it took 20 minutes to 'row' through the lily pads near the bank. Ben ended up using the oars as poles to push along the bottom.



Here are Ken and Barb with Zack on their porch swing. They are Christians and you can really feel the love of God in their home. There is just so much peace there. It was a really nice time. I really enjoyed getting to know them.



We were sad to go, we had had so much fun. We were all exhausted. Our plan was to drive a grueling day to Yellowstone, spend one day there, then get a hotel and drive the final 5 hours home on the third day. By the time we got to Yellowstone, Zack was really done being in the car. While Yellowstone was nice for me and Ben, Zack could really care less that the scenery was beautiful. You do have to do a lot of driving in Yellowstone to get to each spot. We'd get out for 15-30 minutes, look at a geyser, then drive some more to get to the next one. Zack kept asking if we could walk to Old Faithful instead of drive there. So we decided to skip the hotel and make it home while Zack slept. We didn't get home until 2:30 and Zack got up at 8 the next day. We are still recovering. :)



Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons were amazing. We took tons of pictures. We saw a bear too! We actually saw many animals, but I was so excited about the bear. It was like 20 feet from the road. The ranger was there with his gun and spray. It was a black bear and it was eating. When we entered the park, I knew the chances of me seeing a bear were slim so I asked God to please please please let me see a bear. He's so nice. The sunset was incredible. We definitely want to go back and spend some time in Yellowstone.



Zack "changed the dinosaur into a zebra" by putting a finger puppet on the dino head. He is so creative. He just entertained himself in the car. We brought a dvd player, but he only watched one movie. He is such a good little driver. Minneapolis is 18 hours away and when you drive through Yellowstone you add an extra 6. Not to mention we drove 4 hours each way up to Ken and Barbs.