2009-3-26 to 2009-3-28 Spring Break in Duluth

During Spring break, Kara, Hailey and LeAnn headed to Duluth for a few days. It was just the three of us, as Mariah was enjoying her break down in the Alabama Gulf Shores with some of her friends and Ray was traveling to the Philippines, Taiwan and China for work.

We left on Thursday morning and made a couple of stops along the way. In North Branch there is an outlet mall, so we decided to go into a few stores. We got on the road again and then it was time for lunch, so we stopped at Tobies in Hinkley. They are famous for the delicious caramel rolls, of course, we bought some for later.

The Radisson was our final destination which we found with the help of Ray’s GPS. I can’t go anywhere without it now…what did we do before all of the convenient electronics. Kara and Hailey were impressed by the “sleep number” beds that were in the rooms. They used the remote to get the bed to feel just right.

Hailey and LeAnn went down to the pool and we were the only people swimming and using the hot tub and sauna.

That evening we headed down to Canal Park to find a restaurant for dinner. We had discussed going to Grandma’s, but unfortunately they had a band playing and it was very loud. We wandered down the street to Green Mill for pizza. As we were getting seated, I noticed a familiar face…a Mom that I know from Eagan.

The next day, we headed to the Great Lakes Aquarium and spent a few hours walking around and looking all the exhibits. We watched the river otter feeding and another show where the staff introduced and talked about the green-winged Macaw. We also went through the seahorse exhibit and learned that the female deposits the eggs into the male's small pouch and the male fertilizes the eggs internally. He carries the eggs until they are ready to hatch, then releases fully formed, miniature seahorses into the water. Seahorses are among the only animal species on Earth which the male bears the unborn young.

On Saturday, we checked out of our hotel and made our way to Glensheen, The Historic Congdon Estate. We went on a 2-hour tour of the carriage house and the home with 39 rooms where Chester and Clara raised seven children. The house had many features built in the home that most people didn’t have, such as electricity and the vacuum system. We will have to tour the mansion in the summer just to see the beautifully manicured grounds, gardens and lake view terrace.

We made it back home and were greeted by Mariah as she had gotten home a couple hours before us.

2009-3-26 to 2009-3-28

During Spring break, Kara, Hailey and LeAnn headed to Duluth for a few days. It was just the three of us, as Mariah was enjoying her break down in the Alabama Gulf Shores with some of her friends and Ray was traveling to the Philippines, Taiwan and China for work.

We left on Thursday morning and made a couple of stops along the way. In North Branch there is an outlet mall, so we decided to go into a few stores. We got on the road again and then it was time for lunch, so we stopped at Tobies in Hinkley. They are famous for the delicious caramel rolls, of course, we bought some for later.

The Radisson was our final destination which we found with the help of Ray’s GPS. I can’t go anywhere without it now…what did we do before all of the convenient electronics. Kara and Hailey were impressed by the “sleep number” beds that they had in the rooms. Here they are with the remote in their hand trying to get the bed to feel just right.

Hailey and LeAnn went down to the pool and we were the only people swimming and using the hot tub and sauna.

That evening we headed down to Canal Park to find a restaurant for dinner. We had discussed going to Grandma’s, but unfortunately they had a band playing and it was very loud. We wandered down the street to Green Mill for pizza. As we were getting seated, I noticed a familiar face…a Mom that I know from Eagan.

The next day, we headed to the Great Lakes Aquarium and spent a few hours walking around and looking all the exhibits. We watched the river otter feeding and another show where the staff introduced and talked about the green-winged Macaw.

On Saturday, we checked out of our hotel and made our way to Glensheen, The Historic Congdon Estate. We went on a 2-hour tour of the carriage house and the home with 39 rooms where Chester and Clara raised seven children. The house had many features built in the home that most people didn’t have, such as electricity and the vacuum system. We will have to tour the mansion again just to see the beautifully manicured grounds, gardens and lake view terrace.

We made it back home and were greeted by Mariah as she had gotten home a couple hours before us.

2009-03 Hailey's First Swim Meet

Hailey has joined the school swim team this year. Although she has always loved to swim, she has never swam competitively.

In her first meet, she swam in the 50m freestyle and then the first leg of the 200m freestyle relay. She was hoping to do the breaststroke, but not this time. The coaches will change up the lineup in each meet, so hopefully she will get an opportunity.

The swim team is both boys and girls, although they only swim against kids of the same gender. There are a total of about 45 kids on the team, with about 12 of these on the diving team.

You can watch Hailey swim in the video below, she is in lane 5, second from the top.