Nana grew up on a farm in Minnesota and our kids nor Chris had been out there, so we decided it was time! The Caldwells, Nana, and Grandpa all flew out on the same flights as us.
We headed to Glencoe first to see my aunts Linda and Sharon. My cousin Joel lives in Colorado with his wife Grace and kids Augie and Inga. We were so glad they were able to be out in MN at the same time! We went to a pizza place for dinner and the kids enjoyed sitting together. Their excitement came out a bit louder than necessary ;) but they'd been cooped up the whole day traveling.
Unfortunately my uncle Dale passed away about a week before we flew out. He'd always had such a beautiful garden so it was sweet to take a walk through it to see the fruits of his hard work.
Willow loved hanging out with all the kids! She'd even learned all of their names before we arrived. :)
Concrete being poured makes for a fun activity for the littles! Chris provided the narrative for them. I miss those days!
Inga loves the hedgehog that Nana made for her. It had a 4-word name but I've forgotten it now.
We enjoyed hanging out for a bit at a local park. It was great!! There were other kids there with a moms group and they all played together, which was sweet.
Even the adults played!!
The kids decorated the sidewalk outside of Linda's house. Augie and Inga brought their bikes and were kind in sharing for the others to have a turn.
We enjoyed the afternoon at the local pool. It was quite the community pool! There was so much to do and the kids (and dads) had a great time. It was sweet to see how many bikes there were from kids who live nearby.
Glencoe has an amazing BMX track! I wish I'd gotten a video or better pictures of the course. The corners were blacktop and the straighaways were dirt. They even had corals at the start line like you'd see at a horse race. It was fun! My kids didn't try Augie's bike but did enjoy running around it.
The walk back was a little long for sweet Inga's little legs :)
We headed out to the farm next. It's a beautiful drive and I forced my children to be off devices for long enough to have a picture of Minnesota in their heads ;) I told them that they haven't quite experienced Minnesota until they've seen a large sprinkler watering a field and been stuck behind a tractor on the road. We never got stuck behind a tractor but we did see a few sprinklers in action!
We stayed at Jim and Barb's house while we were at the farm in Glenwood. My cousin Peder works on the farm and lives with his wife Nicholle and daughters Adalyn and Indy in a building near Jim and Barb. Nicholle was so kind in escorting us around for the few days we were there. Every time she asked, "Would you like to see...." the answer was always YES! Do you want to ride the Gators and move the cows to a different paddock? YES! Do you want to help feed the calf? YES! Do you want to feed the pigs? YES! Do you want to gather eggs from the hens? YES! Do you want to see me tag a calf and give its vaccines? YES! Do you want to go check on the bulls? YES! We saw so much while we were there, it was a true farm experience!
A couple days before we arrived, my Uncle Jim heard the squeal of a baby kitten whose mother had been hit by a car. He graciously took it in and Barb had been syringe-feeding it. The kids gladly took over that responsibility when we arrived and smothered it with lots of love and attention!
We took the Gators out to the stream and the kids enjoyed playing for a bit.
Nicholle grew up on a farm and does a lot of jobs around the farm too. She brought back memories of hearing my uncles as she called out to the cows (Cumboss). It's incredible to see them come running!
Nicholle and Jim got this guy into the field where he belonged, then he had a few words to tell them what he thought about it!!
This was when we checked on the bulls but didn't have hay with us. This guy had something to say about that!
This calf's mother is 14 years old and wasn't producing enough milk. The kids enjoyed helping to feed it.
They sell soy beans that they grow and some beef but the rest of the work is growing corn and hay to maintain the nearly 900 acres of land that they have!
The cows all looked at Chris as though he had a powerful message he was about to deliver! He opted not to lecture them about methane emissions and climate change ;)
The kids decided the kitten should be named Cookie (because it was so sweet). I'm not sure if that's what Barb decided after we left, though :)
Cooper faces off against a cow!
Adalyn and Indy had such great attitudes about all of the farm jobs. It was sweet to see them so comfortable with the animals and daily routines.
I'm proud to say that I gathered eggs from the white hen without her pecking me, as Nicholle warned that she does!
Barb gave us a tour of her garden. It was great to have her pickles again!
We took a little hike, with the intention of getting to one of the highest points in the county. Between tall grasses, thistle scrapes, and non-motivated kids, it didn't happen ;) but we did enjoy the time together.
We enjoyed a little time playing in Lake Linka. There were two other kids there with a fun blue jumping pad which they graciously shared with the kids. Their grandfather is actually one of the guys that built Petra's house.
She's like a kid-magnet!!
I love this picture of joy on my mom's face :)
4 of the 5 Gerde "kids." Unfortunately Sharon had COVID and wasn't able to join us on the farm.
We enjoyed a pizza dinner at Petra's house with the whole family. Peder even took the kids in his tractor to help bail hay. He even let ME drive!!
We were so grateful she chose to spend so much time with the cousins she never sees!
All the 2nd cousins in one place! Left-to-rightish: Hannah, Silas, Tenley holding Lettie, Owen on the fence, Adalyn holding Indy, Willow, Hunter on the fence, Bionca holding Shiloh, Inga, and Augie.
All the cousins: Joel Kristy, Kim, Peder, Petra, John
I wanted to show the kids the house that Nana grew up in. We weren't able to go inside but it was sweet to see.
The back door that we always went in through.
Sometimes Willow has a sense when someone needs a hug.
Tenley and Bionca showed us their sheep that they'll show at the 4H competition at the end of July.
There's always barn cats! These kittens would let you hold them, though.
Peder showed us his combine and other equipment. He's definitely investing a lot in his machinery!
Love those happy clouds, blues, and bright greens!! (taken from the car)
On our final evening we headed to Starbuck for their 4th of July parade. It was a candy parade, which is always a hit with the kids!!
We ended up finding Petra's family, which was a fun surprise.
Bernie was in the parade too (above the B on the sign) and tossed us extra popsicles and a water bottle too!
We'd been watching a cow in early labor in the morning, then thought we saw her water break. Jim and Nicholle moved it into the barn (aka "maternity suite") and Peder checked to make sure everything was "aligned." When we got back from the parade we went to the barn to check on her and she was 2/3 of the way through delivering her calf! I'll keep the pictures G-rated but it definitely put the final bow on our farm experience! Chris and I stayed around until she took her first steps about 45 minutes later.
It's a hard, slippery process of getting up!!
Here are some flashbacks from probably around 1986:
Peder and I recreated this one:
Joel and I recreated this one (thankfully they have updated playground equipment!):
We can't thank our Minnesota family enough for a great time! It's definitely a lot to ask, barging in with 10 of us at once!! We hope to see you all again soon!!
We'd heard about the "double decker" Taco Bell that has a drive thru similar to a bank teller. There's only one location....in Minneapolis! It was only 5 minutes off our route to the airport, so we gave it a try. We didn't realize that if you were ordering regularly at the drive thru, you didn't get the "bank teller" delivery. So, we downloaded the app to order a drink so we could drive thru again as a mobile order and experience it. It was cool but definitely not as fast as they made it sound in the article I'd read. Nonetheless, I'm glad we tried it.
Unfortunately we came home and I tested positive for COVID...followed by Chris a few days later. Thankfully we had mild cases!
