Duluth 2011-4th of July Weekend

WARNING: This is a very long post with tons of pictures. On the evening of June 30, we started talking about possibly taking our first true family vacation to explore our new state. On the morning of July1, we decided to go to Duluth, MN and we left at 1:30 in the afternoon. It was a wonderful trip filled with many memories. The first night we arrived, we went out to eat and then headed back to the hotel because a crazy storm was coming-the girls watched a movie and we all got a good nights sleep before the fun began.

The first morning, we went to the water park in the hotel. We decided to stay at Edgewater Water park Resort. The pool was inside-pics to follow later in the blog. That afternoon the girls napped and then we took them down to the boardwalk for dinner and a little exploring.

Walking to dinner

Had to bring her purse wherever she went that night

Her new thing when I take her picture "peace"

All of the sea gulls around the lake

My girls and I

Beautiful scenery

The girls

the best family picture we got all weekend-the sun was completely in our eyes and it was hard to see

Peter rode this with us as we went sightseeing

More scenery

Peter teaching the girls how to skip rocks

After dinner and looking around, we went to eat ice cream at this place-it was over 100 years old

First bite

The end result-not too messy

First bite-actually it was her first ice cream cone-she chose chocolate

Final product-one complete adorable mess-it was in her hair and all over her dress too. we had people stopping us and asking if they could take her picture

Harper and Tiki Tom (the hotel mascot)-Adeline was running and crying at this point

The next day, July 3rd, we started at the pool again

My camera lens was so foggy from the temperature change in the pool area

Love this real smile

After naps that afternoon, we headed out for a drive up the north shore of Lake Superior. On our drive, I saw a beautiful old fire truck and I had to get some pics of the girls in front of it.

The old fire truck

Some of the scenery on the drive

After our beautiful drive, we went on a family fun dinner cruise on Vista Fleet. We ate Caesar salad, pizza and ice cream sundaes

The girls were excited about the big boat ride

Eating her ice cream after dinner

Happy girl

My handsome hubby and I

Scenery

Harper and her "peace" sign with her daddy

Girls looking around

We were all dancing machines

Harper tried doing the Limbo

and Hula Hooping

Adeline also tried to Hula Hooping

Harper and I

the cool streets that went straight up a hill

The fun bridge that went up when we went under it on the boat

One of the amazing cruise leaders that Harper adored

Here are some pictures of the water park

Sassy little girl in her leopard bikini

My little girl who loves to pose for the camera

4th of July, we went to the pool and that evening we went back to the boardwalk for dinner and to let the girls watch fireworks for the 1st time.

Future Miss USA's

Ready for the fun night ahead

Girls near the water

After dinner, we went on a carriage ride

The girls loved seeing the horses and having them take us around

CHEESE

Ready for fireworks

We sat next to this most amazing couple-they were grandparents and Adeline adored the "grandpa" here are a few shots of her playing with him.

Laughing

Her first sight of the fireworks

Her first sight of the fireworks with the "grandpa" we met

Fireworks-THE END!