The Robole Family: November 2014

Football

We were able to see two of our nephews play football this fall. One a high school senior captain and the other in flag football. We brought the kids to see Zach (#2) play in his last regular season game. We are very proud of his success! Also we checked out Reed on his flag football team.

Lucky to catch this run by Reed

Duluth Weekend

The last weekend of September we took a road trip to Duluth. Our intent was to see some fall colors, though we did see some, we spent much of the time with activities for the kids. We drove up after swimming lessons on Saturday, checked in and headed right to the Great Lakes Aquarium. I was really impressed with the variety of stuff to do and see. It was educational and entertaining, they could have played in the water all day. After the aquarium we walked across the parking lot to spend some time at a really unique playground. Just one injury later we headed to dinner followed by time in the hotel pool.

On Sunday morning we drove to Brighton Beach to throw rocks into the lake, or skip rocks, depending on who you are. It was a hazy morning so it was even hard to tell where the lake and sky met. Then we drove to Spirit Mountain to ride the Timber Twister. It was crazy busy there so only one time down for each kid took us 2 hours. Then we had a picnic lunch at a playground and then spent the afternoon at the Lake Superior Zoo. Because we are members at the MN Zoo we got a nice discount. As soon as we entered we could hear the tiger making noise, too cool! I was a little worried by some empty cages outside but once we went inside it was spectacular. I could have stayed even longer but by mid afternoon we needed to head home. What an adventure!

Great Lakes Aquarium lobby

Dru as a ship captain

Fishing for...fish

Great Lakes replica for water flow between them

From an actual shipwreck

Keep it upright or tip it

Saltwater fish

Park outside of aquarium

Swimming at the hotel

Ready to throw rocks

He could do this all day every day

our beauty

Lake Superior Zoo: check out his pose :)

thank goodness this isn't real

The kids took this train ride

not quite chimps

He befriended this sheep

Peacocks were wandering around outside the sheep enclosure

A goat and a boy on a bench

He let them pet a hedgehog that was on its way to a birthday party

Orchard Field Trip

On September 26th I was lucky enough to help out with the kinder field trip to an apple orchard. Leo rode the bus with his classmates and I met them there. He loved the bus ride (and may have been his favorite part of the whole day). They had a quick lunch and then the kids were allowed to play on the park for a little bit. Each class (there are 6) had its own tractor and hay wagon. The orchard staff did such a good job keeping it simple for the kids. They each were able to pick one apple at three different stops and then one small pumpkin. At the end of the wagon ride they gave the kids a small cup of apple cider. The orchard had the timing down so after 2 hours they were back to the buses. It was fun to be able to help out.

Zoo with Maddy

We met our new friend Madeline (who we were lucky to meet at the zoo this summer) and her mom at the zoo on a beautiful September Sunday. Here are some of the highlights. This was the first carousel ride for all 3 kids, it is a new feature at the Minnesota Zoo.