A trip to Minnesota

We have been so blessed this summer.  One of the major ways God has blessed us has been through our travels.  We have been given the opportunity to travel and visit so many people who are important in our lives.  The weekend of June 14-17 was one of those trips when we traveled up to the Twin Cities and Rochester, MN.
Jon flew to St. Paul on June 14, to attend the MN South LCMS District Convention.  He was representing the Lutheran Hour Ministries booth at the convention.  While he was there he was able to connect with many people who know his dad or even his grandpa while they served in congregations in that district.
Jon was also able to meet up with his buddy Bruce Kraay.  Bruce was a groomsman in our wedding and is from Holland, MI.  Bruce happened to be in the Cities for a wedding, so Jon and Bruce met up for lunch and played a couple games of cribbage just like old times.  (In high school, Jon and Bruce would often meet for breakfast at the Zeeland bakery and play cribbage)

Bruce and Jon at Pizza Luce downtown St. Paul, MN

While Jon was at the convention, Chelsea stayed at home and helped with our church's VBS.  Christ Lutheran's VBS had over 500 children attend this year!  It was amazing to watch God work in the children's lives. Chelsea helped with the 6th grade, who instead of participating completely in VBS, they participated in servant events in the neighborhood.
On Friday, after the conclusion of VBS, Chelsea drove to Minneapolis to meet Jon and her good friend, Margaret.  Our goal was to scalp tickets to go to a Twins baseball game.  However, the tickets were still too spendy for our tastes so we made our own fun.

Margaret and Jon sitting in a huge glove!

Target Field!  We were excited to see it up close.  Although we didn't get to go inside the stadium, we did see/hear a Twins home run!

Margaret is one of Chelsea's oldest friends.  They went to Trinity (elementary school) and high school together in Kailspell, MT.  She is currently in the Physical Therapy School at the Mayo Clinic.  This summer, her first clinical is in Minneapolis.  

As we were walking by a restaurant, we were distracted by the GIGANTIC chocolate cake some nice ladies were eating for dessert.

Margaret and Chelsea outside the Shout House; Chelsea is holding a souvenir glass she got to keep for the drink she ordered.

For a late dinner and some entertainment, we went to the "Shout House," a dueling piano bar.  Jon had been there once before and Chelsea had heard that dueling piano bars were pretty fun.  We were not disappointed!  In the front of the restaurant are two pianos facing each other.  The wall behind them was a huge ceiling to floor mirror so the audience can watch both pianists play and sing at the same time.  You can request and pay for your song to be played.  The pianists were awesome and Chelsea was amazed at how many songs they had to know; not only how to play them but also SING them!

The fun didn't stop there...On Saturday, we picked Margaret up again and went to the Mall of America where we met Bruce's parents, Kevin and Patricia Kraay for lunch.  We went to the famous Rainforest Cafe.  It was so nice to visit with the Kraay's who since high school have been an extended family for Jon.

After lunch, we visited a few stores in the mall and then hit up one roller coaster!!!

After that, we made our way to Rochester, MN where we saw and stayed with Beth and Andy Hanson (Jon's sister and brother-in-law).  We also spent some time with our friends, the Maragos family.  Every year, we help out with the Maragos family's Gyro (yee-row, NOT ji-row) stand at the Rochester, MN Greek Festival in late August.  We are excited to come back to Rochester in about a month and a half!

The Maragos' were so kind to take us out to dinner.  Starting from the right side and going around the table:  Mariya, John and Connie.

We went to a restaurant called Twigs.  Josh Rohde (Mariya's boyfriend) was our waiter.  He gave us tips on the best food to order.  Good job Josh!  The food was delicious!

Mariya works at Disney as a character performer in Florida.  So cool :)

John was an usher in our wedding and recently moved back to Rochester, MN so Jon and John will get to see each other more often!  :)

On Sunday, we went to church at Redeemer, where Beth and Andy attend and where Jon's dad was a pastor for many years.  We were able to connect again with some good friends.

Bryce and April Beckman with baby Adelaide.

After church we headed to Austin, MN to visit Jon's grandma.  We enjoyed spending some quality time with Grandma Schleicher at Pizza Ranch.  She LOVES going to Pizza Ranch because of the wide variety and she always makes sure to get a piece of fried chicken!  As you can see she is doing very well!  Jon asked her many questions about her parents and sisters.  She also had 4 sisters, just like Chelsea does!

Andy, Beth, Grandma, Chelsea, and Jon

Grandma and Chelsea

After our visit, we traveled back to Lincoln and to the heat that seems to be constant every single day.  We also celebrated our friend, Valerie Schick's birthday with a cake and our make shift candle :)  Happy Birthday Val!

Jon holding Very Berry Delight that Chelsea made.  Chelsea is holding an automatic lighter that Val had to blow out.  :)