Andrew's Visit

My brother Andrew took his first ever solo flight to visit me for my birthday. He wanted to check out a MN winter for himself. The week before he got here we had an entire week with above freezing temps which is VERY strange for February. About 75% of all the snow had melted. Also, Louie, Kinsley and myself were all sick with the flu. I felt bad that Andrew had come on such a disappointing weekend but everything actually worked out pretty well.
I picked up Andrew from the airport on Thursday evening. The next day I picked up the girls early from school (they had an early release day) and we went to our gym to play in the Neighborhood. It's geared for elementary-young teen kiddos and they had a lot of fun. Kinsley had a blast exploring.

Andrew trying his luck in the batting cages.

Andrew bouncing on the individual trampolines.

Brooke showing of her bounce moves.

Rachele practicing her 3 pointers.

Kinsley in the toddler area.

Her new favorite toy... slides!

I think Brooke and Andrew had almost as much fun in the toddler area as Kinsley.

Rachele was sooo over it. :)

Brooke was exhausted after all the fun!

The next day, Andrew, Kinsley and I went to Chuck E Cheese while Louie tried to sleep off the flu. Kinsley was feeling much better and I was not feeling very good but better than Lou. Andrew said he'd go to Chuck E Cheese so Kins could have some fun... funny how he got his tokens and we didn't see him for about an hour! Ha!

Taking a quick break to pose for a pic.

Andrew spent some time on Saturday exploring what snow was left in our backyard. He had to be very careful to avoid all the dog poo! When the snow melts, guess what's left??? An entire winter's worth of Trout, Striper and Hope's little gifts!!

Well, Andrew's prayers were answered!! On Sunday morning, we woke up to a blizzard. We got about a 15 inches of snow over Sunday and Monday!!

The snow was really coming down!

Andrew said he was going to take some snow home with him in his suitcase. :)

Monday was Andrew's departure day. His flight had not been canceled so Kinsley, Andrew and I (carefully!!) made the 1.5 hour drive to the Minneapolis airport only to spend the next 9 hours there.  Andrew actually managed to get on his first flight, 2 hours late, back away from the gate, only to have it canceled! He actually took off around 8:30 that evening, 6 hours after his originally scheduled flight. Kins and I got home about 11. It was quite the adventure.  It's amazing he got out at all! I guess those pilots are used to taking off and landing in snow!

This was around 1:30 that day. Those are planes out there!

Overall, we had a really good time and we were so glad Andrew came to visit us!! Kinsley just cried and cried when Andrew got on the plane the second time. He's so good with her and such a loving uncle! :)