Minnesota Trip #3

Ben and I just returned from a third trip to Minnesota this year... this time, the reason for the visit was multi-purposeful... of course it's always great to see family, but I wanted to travel with Ben to my parents one last time with JUST ONE KID (oy!) and also we had to leave our house in Santa Barbara as we had some construction projects going on here that we too chaotic to live through. We put in all new (gorgeous) bamboo floors and completely renovated, gutted and revamped our downstairs bathroom to make room and add in the washer and dryer to live in there (has always been in the garage, which I have never understood and always felt slightly irritated by). So this was our moment... we planned it all out, set up the dates, ordered the materials and Ben and I left Steve to deal with the chaos and management of it all.

Pics of Before/After to come... for now, some favorite MN pics of our last time home this year (as you can see, it was quite busy with tractor riding, lawn mowing with poptop, baking with grammy, riding horses, hanging with friends, fire pit, making s'mores, swatting mosquitoes and being with everyone!)... and a few pics of my last time travelling on a plane with just one very, very well behaved and easy to travel with little boy named Ben. (thank you portable DVD player & iTouch!) :)

Minnesota Trip in May

It's been a crazy, crazy, crazy month and I haven't had time to breathe much less blog, so I've chosen to breathe and blog when the time came. The time is here - a long 3 day weekend (thank you so much for 3-day weekends) ahead - it's time to get caught up on blogging and Caputo life!

We headed to Minnesota (Ben and I first for a week and then Steve joined us for the long weekend) to finalize my Grandmother's burial of her ashes from her passing away in December and to celebrate with my brother and new sister-in-law at their wedding party/reception post-St. Thomas wedding in January. It was a fabulous trip - a nice blend of relaxing, seeing friends, hanging with my parents and spending quality time with Ben in wide open spaces. We went fishing, long walks in the woods, sat on the swing by the river, painting, baking, lots of baseball, bike riding, tractor riding, gardening and of course EATING!

Here's some of my fave pics in no particular order... there's way too many to post, so just a snapshot of a great trip!

That 4-letter word.... SNOW!

We had a blast in Minnesota with the snow - was very, very cold most of the time, so we made the most of our time outside with some sledding and snow-shoeing... Ben wasn't sure what to think of the snow at first (notice the picture - Ben vs. Snow), but quickly got into it. It also just was luck that the weekend we were there for my grandmother's memorial was the Vasaloppet ski race. This is the 2nd largest Cross Country ski race in North America and it's held in my little 4,500 person town in Northern Minnesota. It's our "claim to fame" and It's a huge community collaboration/celebration and we went to the start of it at 8 am. It was FREEEEEEEEEEZING, but very very fun to be a part of the hoopla and tradition!

Some fun pics in no particular order....

Minnesooota trip

Our travels to Minnesota brought about many new experiences.... first and foremost, I travelled alone with Ben for the first time. All went amazing...he was such a little trooper and with Elmo on the DVD player, crackers and apple juice next to him, all was good!

The trip back proved otherwise... Steve joined us in MN for the last few days and then we flew back together. We were grounded on the take-off area for 3 hours before getting in the air... it was quite a scene (computer problems or something), so we made the best of it and again he did a great job of remaining patient and calm. (I wish I could say the same for his parents!) We ended up missing our connecting flight, then delayed again and finally got home to SB around 8 pm. It was quite a day, but he powered and we're all the stronger and more flexible for it!

All in all the trip was great... my parents have a stunning 5 acres that sits on the Snake River in northern Minnesota and being the incredible green thumbs that they are, it was just beautiful and so peaceful to be there with the gardens, the fountains, the quiet. Ben has really created a sweet connection with his grandparents... grammy & pop-top!

We packed it all in -- saw tons of friends and relatives and as I said, Steve arrived and we headed to Wisconsin for his 1/2 marathon. He shaved 12 minutes off of his last race time and did it with a smile through the POURING rain!

Here's a few of my favorite shots...