2013 District Convention

We just got back from the District Convention in Rochester. The theme was "God's Word is Truth".  Three encouraging days of spiritual food and good association with family and friends. We had Bible Dramas, and demos and interviews and wonderful symposiums and some new releases. We had 43 baptized including some dear friends. 

Here are a few photo highlights. We also get a Circuit Overseer visit immediately following to continue the momentum. 

Noah and Ali at the hotel Thursday night when we arrived:

Jaklynn in her wedding dress:

Me and my Siamese:

Overview of the auditorium:

Interview of Claudia and Issac:

Two Noah's and Hunter:

Me and Connie...friends since we were 4:(her boys above)

Noah and Lance and Bryce at their pool burning off some energy:

Me and Noah getting ready to meet Brent at the auditorium on Saturday morning: 

We all 3 grew up together and got baptized on the same day 30 yrs ago this year. Kristine came down for the extra morning session just to see me and Connie and take a pic. Fun!

They had the D'Lorean out Saturday evening for pics and a huge inflatable screen playing Back To The Future later in the evening in Peace Plaza area. 

More swimming and pool time 

Noah and Gramma Kathy on Sunday:

Walking back to the hotel Sunday evening. We stayed an extra night. Look how tall Noah is getting!

Then on Monday instead of heading straight back to town we took some detours to where Brent's family grew up. We visited the little country cemetery where Brent's grandparents and great grandparents are buried. There were some really old headstones there too from the 1800's. interesting to see. 

Great grandparents:

Grandparents:

Then we went to Oxbow park to a cute little zoo:

After a late lunch at Panera it was time to head for home. See you in the fall Rochester area...

Back to reality... 

Oh yah. One more pic from first mtg back during (sub) CO visit ( Noah had the Bible Reading that night too). Megan and Nehemiah visiting still from the weekend. 

Timber!!

We have had a very large tree in our front yard since we moved in. Never loved it, but it was there. Messy, dropped branches and cottonwood type fluff. Always made us nervous in storms hoping a big branch wouldn't come down. But it was the tradition tree for back to school pics etc. 

Well, end of an era. 

Tree guys were in the area and we have been talking about taking it out. The timing all fell into place. Me and Noah dug out the rocks and bricks around it last Tuesday and the guys came and took it down. Cool to watch! Very professionally orchestrated. All kinds of equipment. 

Before, during and after. 

One final pic in front of the tree:

No more tree!

Nelson Family Vacation part 4 of 4: back to the cities

Thursday 7/18 we had to check out of our little condo on the mountain at Eagle Ridge in Lutsen. We love it there. I think that will be a place we keep returning to. We made our last big breakfast there and finished packing up to be out before 11:00 am.

It sure was a foggy departure!! Wow. Made it a little easier to head out though to not have perfect weather to leave. 

We started the jaunt back to town with some extra stops planned to get some more Park stamps and patches for Noah. When we visited Split Rock last trip he didn't yet have his Book so that was one of the stops then we would see what other parks we could reach on the way back. Once we got past the lakeshore (just past Duluth) wow what a temperature change!! Hot hot hot!

The day got longish with the heat and some parks that took us off course and onto slower routes. Once we did Taylor's Falls we agreed we were done on the treasure hunt for the day.  It was in the mid 90's and we were all tired of driving. Poor Brent got a bad sunburn on the arm out the window (unfortunately it was the injured one too).

Once we got home we unloaded to repack a bit for our weekend adventure. We were going to stay in Shakopee and do 2 days at Valleyfair (the theme park substitute since there would be no Disney this year). The guys decided they had enough of their longish hair that bugged them during the week so went for quick haircuts while I regrouped to downsize cases, get rid of dirty clothes and put our leftover food away. My mom was there too since she was watching the Fur Babies for the week (they were VERY excited to see us). 

Repacked and simplified we headed out again. Didn't get in to Shakopee until after 8 pm. After a few challenges with check in and our door lock not working in the room to let us in (they came to fix immediately) we finally got dinner (and a free beer) at like 9 pm at one of the restaurants at the hotel after a very long travel day. The waitress told Noah he could play pool for free with the leftover balls from a previous game. ;)

 No swimming tonight though the pool looked good to Noah in the Atrium. Off to bed for another day of adventure to come. We got a package with discount park tickets too. 

Friday 7/19 we got up and had a great complimentary breakfast at the hotel ( much more than the usual cereal and bagel table) and got on our way to Valleyfair. 

We didn't go last year so Noah was excited to start the rides.  Thankfully the crowds seemed light. We started with Renegade. Unfortunately technical difficulties made for a long warm wait. Some other favorites from the day were Wild Thing (Noah finally agreed to try it and loved it), Power Tower, Xtreme Swing, The Wave (you will get wet, you may get soaked) and Noah and I did Soak City water park. Brent sat out of that due to getting overheated in the afternoon and doing The Monster which TOTALLY did not agree with him.  Mostly good day though it was hot. We did IMax and a musical show to cool down and ate at retro Coasters Diner. Brent hung there with the A/C for a while to feel better. We left a little earlier than planned and headed back to the hotel to swim. 

Noah's first time on Wild Thing:

After The Wave:

Ran into Josh Tooze & family...Brent and Noah had to show him they've missed him. LOL (and they were soaked at the time since they just got off the Wave.. ;-)

Saturday morning we all were dragging a bit after our week of fun, and decided at the last minute to check out early and save our park tix for another day in August when we could go less tired and Brent felt better. We all agreed on it as a good plan. Noah had said that except for Disney this had been the best vacation ever...can't argue with that...I'll take it!  It was good for us to have some family time away from the daily stresses. Brings us all closer together again. It is a good thing.

A few farewell shots of our hotel - our room looked over the Atrium (on 2nd floor)

from out our little atrium door:

So homeward bound to chill in our own home with the Grammies stopping in and our Fur Babies super excited to have us back. 

My mom said Delia (cat) sat on our suitcase we left since Thursday. She want going to chance getting left behind again. They were happy to have their family back. 

Home Sweet Home after our 950 mile adventure ...for a while anyway. ;)

(Full set of Pix will eventually all be uploaded to https://nelsonpix.shutterfly.com/)