Hello America!!

Totally late on this post, but we came back to the US on July 2nd. We were late taking off and then our luggage took forever, so after our 14 hour flight to Detroit, we missed the flight to Minneapolis.. UGGGGHH!!!! Thankfully, we were all upgraded to first class, but it meant waiting around for an extra 3 hours :( Best part of it was that Brady was able to go into the cockpit and meet and take some pics with the pilots and get some wings, which he thought was pretty cool!

On our way to my parents house we of course had to stop at Zanz (for Chad) to eat some chillitos. We then drove past our house. It's very weird seeing your house, but not being allowed to go in it!! It looked ok so that was nice to see :)

Was able to celebrate the 4th with a bunch of family for our traditional pool party. Our little fishy went down the slide for the first time and even without any floaties!! Got some sun, ate great food, and enjoyed the company.. Great day!

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Kids with Auntie Val

Stayed with my parents for a week and had lots of fun!! Went on a pontoon (or as Brady calls it- a 'tuna' ride!) at Gramps and Sharron's house. The kids even got to drive it :)

Some strawberry picking..

Brady and his twin (aka cousin Connor!!)

Grandma Nathe with her grandkids

And of course a summer just isn't a summer until you've hit up a fair and watched a parade!! We headed over to Andover Fun Fest for a parade and played on the Bouncy Heaven :)

Best treat ever thrown from the cars- Freeze's!!! It was sooooo hot!

Bouncy Heaven- In total there was probably around 15 different one's!

Then off to watch Grandma Nathe play her softball game. They won the first game, but the next game one of the teams were a no show so her team decided to be nice and play again for fun. But.... they were short a player, so Chad was recruited, tennis shoes and all!! LOL

Chad, Brady, and cousin Connor watching Grandma

43rd consecutive year of playing softball!! Grandma playing first base on a co-ed team :)

Chad on deck

Ended up going 3 for 3 with 4 RBI's!!! Made us proud :)

Grandma and Chad- Teammates

After spending a week at my parents we headed down to staying with Chad's parents for a week. On the way down to Mankato we met the Decker side at Como Zoo to have a picnic and check out the animals. It was HOT, but fun :)

Chad and kids with Great Grandma Decker

This summer in MN was HOT.. We're talking high 90's and miserable humidity with heat index in the 110's!!!! We thought we came hear to escape the hot Shanghai summer, but obviously we were wrong :)

Since it was scorching we went to Waseca Water Park with Grandma and Grandpa Reed. It was definitely refreshing!

Brady and the turtle slide- They became good friends, that's all he wanted to do!

Within walking distance from his parents is the baseball field for the Mankato Moondogs, a minor league team. Rilynn enjoyed the goofy entertainment between innings and Brady was really into the game!

Zooperstars entertainment- Rilynn had me in tears she was laughing so hard :)

Brady with the Moondog

Tried to escape the heat so we met up with Rochelle and the kiddos for some bowling. Kids all had a great time and I also had the best game ever!! 131 :) Not the greatest, but good for me and PLUS I beat Chad! LOL

Ceci, Nilla, Holton, Rilynn, and Brady- They all missed each other!

After talking with Nilla, Rilynn finally decided she was ready to get her ears pierced. Unfortunately, both places only had one person working so she had to go the hard way (one at a time), but she was such a trooper!! Cried for a little bit, but has done great with them :)

Getting ready

First side

So pretty!!!

Playing outside at Grandma and Grandpa Reeds

Grandpa Reed brought his truck over for the kids to get a ride and honk the horn.

We were lucky enough to get together at the Haefner's lake with a bunch of great friends. We all brought the kids, had a BBQ, and went boating and swimming. Then we all went home and dropped the kiddos off and headed downtown for a kid free night. It was a FUN day, plus a great tan :)

Rilynn amazed us again as she went on her first tube ride! Nilla and Rilynn went together while Trev and Chad were in the boat. She said it was so fun :)

There they are!!!

Nilla and Rilynn

Before we left Mankato we were able to get the Reed side together for a great pizza dinner at Jake's!! MMMM... Was great seeing everyone and can't believe how big all the cousins are getting!

Had to say goodbye to Mankato and then off to stay in a hotel in Woodbury for the week as Chad goes into the office to work. We had a bunch of dentist and doc appts so it was nice to be 'home' to get those done. However, was a very sad and strange feeling driving past our house and not being able to just go in :(

Thanks to our great neighbors who scored some great seats to the Twins, we were able to all go together. It was again very hot, but we had access to the Legends Club which had AC so it was all good :)

Next day we brought the kids and went out to dinner and went back to our neighbors house to play like old times! Once again, very strange being 2 yards away from our house and not being able to go in. However, not sure I'd want to see it now anyways as I really don't want to see it yet, since there would be nothing that could be done if something was wrong! Soon enough :)

Ellie and Ethan- Our neighbors- Now that Ethan is getting older all the kids had a great time playing together!! Can't wait until we are home- Watch out girlies, the cul-de-sac boys are quite the lookers :) LOL

Rilynn and Ethan :)

We were also able to make a drop in trip to Knowledge Beginnings to visit the kids' old teachers and friends. Was a great visit!!

SSHHHHHH, but also had a little fender bender with Chad's truck on my way to meet him for dinner. As much as I complain about the 'beast' it won against her piece of junk :) Truck was fine, unlike her broken headlight and smashed grill! Once again Chad- was not my fault! Although, pretty sure he'll never let me forget about it. LOL

And lastly, before leaving Woodbury was able to get together with 6 of my old co-workers from Blue Cross.. We had a great night, with TONS of laughs :)

Back to my parents for Chad's last weekend in MN before heading back to China :( We went to the Mall of America for the day with my parents and Valerie. Kids had a blast meeting some of their old buddies at Nickelodeon Universe.. LOL

Diego ride

Way up high!! See Rilynn?!?

Spongebob and Patrick

Bumper cars. I think they had a little too much fun hitting each other :)

Kids with the Backyardigans

Dora and Diego

Wonderpets

Blue's Clues

Chad and I went to get some gifts for our driver and ayi at the Minnesota store.. We come back to Grandpa and Brady chilling watching the belly dancers!! LOL

Doing a little dancing

Can you find Chad and Val? LOL- We missed Val and Grandpa going on the rollercoaster before this, but Grandma was able to get this great pic :)

Great minds think alike- My sister bought these for Connor and I bought Brady's :) They really look so much alike, it's crazy!! Rachel also found out while we were here that they are having another BOY!!! Can't wait to see if we'll have triplets!! HA

Bye Daddy :( We'll see you back in China on the 17th!!! WE LOVE YOU :)

Chad left this morning. Kids are at auntie Val's for a week. I'm enjoying some time at my parents for the week. Leave to head down to Mankato to drop the kids off for a week, then back up to my parents on the 5th and stay until we leave on the 17th.. It's been great seeing everyone and doing lots of shopping!!! Chad and I went into the grocery store and couldn't believe how cheap the food was!!! We wanted to bring it all back with us :) $2 box of cereal, $3 box of graham crackers, $1.50 box of poptarts... Are you kidding me!?!? LOL - However, pretty sure we've gained 10lbs being here making sure we are getting our fill of all the food we can! 3 weeks to go :)