The finale

After our long weekend in Madison, we came back to the cities and then Lindsay and Rob joined us 2 days later. (I warned that the month of August was a bit of a whirlwind--are you exhausted just reading about it yet?)

After arriving for dinner on Wednesday night, we attempted to get to bed at a reasonable time since Rob had a meeting in Minneapolis early the next morning. Linds drove him to his meeting and then the kids and I met up with them at the Mall of America for some rides, a bit of shopping and lunch. 

(Poor Rob had to wear his suit all morning--but he was such a good sport about it!)

The kids were ecstatic

Although this ride looks like a bit of a 'kiddy ride' since the cars are small and the track is as well, once it gets started, it basically is like 'crack the whip' around the corners. And the kids were in hysterics the entire time!!

There were several rides Wyatt and Sadie wanted to go on that Blake was to small for, so we watched and took pictures instead!

Sadie really wanted to go on this ride but Wyatt didn't, so Sadie got to pick who would go on the ride with her--and she picked Uncle Rob. They had a blast on it as it extended far above our heads, but once they got off, they couldn't stop talking about this woman next to them who kept screaming "Stop the Ride" the entire time!! Kinda freaked them both out a bit!

(Blake is sitting next to Wyatt in the truck)

And the final and most anticipated ride of the day--the Pepsi Orange Roller Coaster. My kids had been talking about this for days! I couldn't get any pictures while the kids were on it, so my picture of the pictures will have to do!

And finally on the toddler roller coaster, just for Blake.

We went back home for a quick nap for Blake and left Linds and Rob to do a bit more shopping. Once Matt got home from work, we headed to the MN State Fair!! It was opening day and Lindsay and Rob's inaugural trip to the Great Minnesota Get-Together!!

Wyatt loves the Pronto Pups and had his very own Papa Pup this year!

This was how we ate dinner....attempting to get to the Lumberjack show in time

But we made it!!

We got Lindsay her much-anticipated corn-on-the-cob...

..and then raced over to the giant slide, hoping to beat the impending storms.

And beat it we did. We all had a blast on the slide, until the last 1/4 of the slide when Sadie's foot came off the rug and was scraping against the slide. We got to the bottom and her screaming was deafening. We moved off to the side and saw that she had a good sized burn on her foot from the friction of the slide. It was pussing and oozing and looked incredibly painful. Matt poured some milk on it, which helped, but she was in pain for a few days from that!! (Blake is still talking about!)

But Sweet Martha's cookies and some cold milk make everything better, don't they??

Already forgot about the burn!

And anyone who knows Blake knows just how much he loves his milk--check out that focus in his eyes! I don't even know how many glasses he had that night, but he was a happy camper!

Friday morning, Matt headed to work for a few hours and Lindsay went to see her 'soul-mate' Steph (more on this in a moment). Rob was training for a marathon, so he had his longest run up to that point to do in the morning. It was a really hot day and we knew it would be tough for Rob. So the kids, along with our neighbors Gracie and Lillie, piled in the car and we drove to meet him when he had about 3 miles left. The kids were all hanging out the windows cheering with pom-pons and I was honking the horn like crazy, trying to keep his mind off the heat and the pain of it. We raced home ahead of him and the kids wanted to make a mock finish line for him to cross. (The last 3+ miles of his run were uphill, with the steepest point just before our house) The kids loved it and Rob said it helped him out as well.

For the next hour or so, the kids held the finish line for each other and took turns running through it!

Now back to Lindsay's soul-mate Steph....they met when they were both single, working at Target Corp. and living similar lives (they quickly learned they had A LOT in common--both born in Green Bay, both went to Green Bay Christian School, Steph went to UW-Madison and Linds grew up there, both were in BSF...and the list goes on) They became inseparable and both families adopted each other as their own daughters. So when Lindsay moved to New Zealand, it was a tough for both of them. But they always pick up right where they left off and next year, Steph and her husband and their three kids will be living in New Zealand for a year while her husband does a fellowship, so they will get to see lots of each other. 

Steph's inlays live on the river in Hudson (where Lindsay actually lived with them for about 6 weeks before she left for New Zealand), so they all hung out there during the day on Friday. Once Matt got home from work and Rob and the kids rested, we headed over to their place on the river for dinner with the entire Schmitt family.

Blake and Charlie--shirtless and having fun together!

These two were so cute!

I wish I had taken more pictures, but I actually forgot my camera and Steph took all these. We had a great dinner with the Schmitt's (minus Bill who was on-call) and then went out on the river to grab some ice cream at Selma's in Afton.

Yes, Blake and Charlie were a bit rambunctious. 

We got off the boat and realized that neither of the little boys had shirts or shoes....oops!

Thankfully Selma's didn't seem to mind--and boy do they have great ice cream. It's only 7 min from our house and we probably went at least once a week this summer--my personal favorite flavor was Sea Salt Caramel Nut. It was delicious!

Matt, Linds, Rob, Steph and her father-in-law Tom

Can you tell the kids loved having Uncle Rob and Aunt Lindsay around to dote on them?

Saturday morning, we went on a family run. Matt, Rob and I ran and Linds and the kids biked. And although our runs with the kids are never quite the same, it was so much fun to be all together and working hard together. When we got home, we stayed outside and played baseball and cricket for several hours and it was possibly the most fun we had the entire time they were here. 

That evening, Bill was finally able to join us and we had Bill and Steph and their kids over for dinner. Sadie was elated to be with the girls again (Claire and Ellie)

And Blake and Charlie had a blast--yet again!

We stayed up way too late talking with Bill and Steph and Rob and Linds, but it was well worth it. The next morning, we knew they would be leaving and wanted to soak up every last minute with them. I took a few pics the next morning before they left, as this was what we did in much of our downtime...Wyatt became an UNO-maniac and wanted to play all the time with anyone who was willing!

A few pics with Lindsay and Rob right before they left

This is more representative of our time with them..

A final few pics....the kids attempting to hitch a ride with Lindsay and Rob so they wouldn't have to say goodbye.

Whew---I finally made it through the month of August! We had a great time with Lindsay and Rob and I think our entire family was surprised by how hard it was for us when they left. Just about everyone in our family was in tears for quite awhile. Matt and Rob had become good friends and we were also so grateful for the influence Lindsay and Rob had on our kids--all these things made it that much harder for us to say goodbye to them, but thankful for the time we had!