Family Madsen Blog: USA 2016

Madsen family in USA, 2016, was again a success!

It was really fun to see how much more Benjamin understood this year. A few days before we left, he kept saying "Mig Airplane..os alle sammen Airplane" (Me airplane, all of us airplane). As it turns out, Benjamin woke up with a fever the day we were leaving. It seemed to get beter throughout the morning, but as we were waiting for our flight (which was delayed an hour or so), his fever got really high again and he was quite limp and whiny. Luckily we could buy some medicine at the airport and that started working at one point during the first flight and he was just quite calm and happy. Now that we needed 4 seats and there are only 3 in a row, we chose to have window seats for both the boys. So on the longer flight we were across the aisle from each other. Søren had Benjamin, and he was so happy to play with the sticker book he got on the plane after he was clearly feeling better, he also slept some. Silas LOVED that he could watch as much TV as he wanted. I tried to get him to sleep a few times, but he was just so excited and I let him watch TV. He fell asleep about 15 minutes before we landed. (aka. 2 am Danish time).

We spent the weekend at my Moms house, where the boys slept okay getting up between 3:30 and then 5am those days. (With some awake time during the night as well) We spent the days just hanging out and seeing the new area my Mom had moved to. Sunday afternoon we went to visit my Dad and then to our friends Holly and Dave's house.

Some changes this year were that my Mom has moved to a beautiful townhome in White Bear Lake, and therefore had we decided that we would take up our friends offer on being able to stay with them at their home in Medina,,,just west of the cities. Holly and Dave have 2 boys Zach and Adam, ages 4 and 2 (just months difference from our boys).

We spent the 4th of July with them and their friends and also went to the Delano Parade again this year. The following week was filled with lots of shopping, playing and swimming. My Mom unfortunately had some health issues and was at the hospital, so we also visited her there. We spent one day with Julie and Josh and their kids celebrating their daughters 2nd birthday, and that was Benjamins last crabby day of the trip. (He was really crabby the first 5 days, just whiney and wanting to be carried, falling over in tantrums, etc). But something clicked in him after 5 days, and it was so much fun to see how much he enjoyed meeting new people and doing new things. He really improved his language, and it seemed everyday he was saying a bunch of new things. During the first 2 weeks, I was actually sick with a sinus infection and ear infection, so that was fit frustrating that I couldn't enjoy vacation 100%...after the 2 weeks I went to the Dr. and got some penicillin and was better after 2 days. What a relief.

Playground fun! The boys really learned to play together in a new way. It was so much fun to watch. It probably helped that Benjamin just wanted to do everything that Silas did!

Eating breakfast with Zach and Adam

Pool time with the Hedrix family

Beach fun with Westin

Mary's 15 year high school reunion!

Friday night Pizza and Movie Night

Anyway, back to our adventures. We took our little Madsen vacation up north in MN this year. We spent the first 2 days in Duluth, where we stayed at a kid friendly hotel with a waterpark. On the drive up there was a crazy storm and it rained so hard it was so difficult to see the road. We made it to Duluth, but with the downpour decided to change plans and find an inside activity. We ended up at the train museum where we could look into trains and also take a train ride. It was a nice time, the boys really enjoyed playing with the different Brio train areas that were set up, but Søren and I thought the 1.5 hour train ride was a little dull. We got settled in at our hotel and after dinner went down to the waterpartk. It was so much fun to have such big boys that we could do something after dinner! While Søren put Benjamin to bed in our hotel room, Silas and I hung out at the arcade and won some tickets. He thought that was so fun and it brought back a lot of vacation memories for me! The next day we hung out at the water park, took naps and then headed to downtown Duluth where we walked around Canal Park, playing in Lake Superior, looking in some shops, having ice cream, seeing the Lift Bridge go up and down many times and a nice dinner at "Grandmas." The hotel stay went well, Benjamin woke up quite early, so I took a 5:30am walk with him to the lake while the others could sleep.

Evening arcade time...I like being the big brother

5:30 am walk to the lake

Brio trains!

Lake Superior

Lift Bridge

On Wednesday morning we went up north another hour to some of the State Parks where we camped and hiked. The boys napped in the car and we went up to Tettagouche State Park first. There was an awesome swimming hole and the boys loved to splash around and build rock sculptures/buildings. Then we could go to our campground and get set up. We had a cart in campground where you could pack all your things in a big wheel barrow thing, and then walk to your a little more deserted campsite. It was a great spot we got, close enough to the car and bathrooms but still looked like our own little spot. It had a few shade trees, which turned out to be good not for shade but as a rain shelter, as we had some rain both evenings right while we were eating. The boys took it well and just enjoyed hanging out, but our hotdogs buns got pretty soggy! The next days consisted of lots of hikes and rocks. We took a good hike from our campsite up to the lighthouse and on the way back Silas got to choose the route and found these cool steps that went right down to the lake. It gave a beautiful view of the lighthouse and another opportunity to buiild rock figures. We also went to Gooseberry and saw the beautiful waterfalls there. Silas and Søren had some good bonding time as they took an hour long hike together as I sat on a bench with a sleeping Benjamin. Friday we headed back to the cities, but not before one more trip to the lake!

Split Rock Lighthouse

Our Campsite

Lots of fun in a a pack n play...in a tent!

That weekend involved 2 family get togethers. It was fun to see family members from both sides of my family and get a chance to chat. The Brown family get together was held in Forest Lake, and there was a chance to swim and take a boat ride, which we enjoyed a lot.

Boat ride

The next weeks went quickly and consisted of lots of swimming, in the pool at "our" house, and a waterpark...luckily as the weather was really warm a few day...95 degrees F or 35 degrees C! Søren and I celebrated our anniversary with a nice dinner out and some alone time shopping. We also had a longer date where my Mom watched the boys so we could go to Sonshine Music Festival and hear some great Christian bands. Our favorite was For King and Country....they were awesome and gave a great show. We got rained on quite a bit when we first got to the festival and spent the 2nd concert in the car, but then it cleared up and we had a beautiful evening together under a blue sky!

Some other highlights were going to see the new Vikings Stadium for an open house. It is really beautiful and amazing! Silas was sick in the morning so he stayed home with my Mom so he could regain energy to see the Lion King in the afternoon. He ended up feeling better and going to the musical, but he wasn't quite fresh. It was a bit dissapointing, but we were glad he got to see it after all.

The last days were spent relaxing, packing, playgrounds, seeing a movie (Finding Dory) and saying goodbye to friends a family. Another great vacation!