Claire's Wedding and a Trip to the MN

We traveled back to the Motherland for my cousin Claire's wedding over Memorial Day Weekend.  Well, actually we had to stop off in Wisconsin for the wedding, but don't worry, we scurried back across the border just as soon as we could  :)

The wedding was outstanding.  We got to see lots of family and it was a truly beautiful wedding celebrating two lovely people.  The kids were real troopers, sleeping in four different places over the course of the trip.  They were a bit overwhelmed at times, but really hung in there like champs and had plenty of fun in the process.

Once again, it was a real whirlwind, so I didn't get as many photos as I would have liked.  I need to be better about bringing my camera so that I can capture all the memories of the kids with their family.  These photos were either taken with Phil's iphone or lifted off of my Aunt Bethy's facebook page.  Enjoy some of the highlights...

Waiting for the wedding to begin.

Phil and me at the reception.

My cousin Nicole is missing from this photo, but this is the closest we've come to having ALL the Vanden Boom girl cousins together in...well a long time.  Very cool photo.  We could have included Clara, but she's a different generation.  And she was in bed.  Mostly the second reason (you'll notice Adam crept in there)  Left to Right:  Lauren, Shawna, Kenzie, Me (and Adam), Claire (the beautiful bride!), Addie, Maddie, Carlie, Jacque, Grace, and Brooklyn 

The day after the wedding, we proceeded to the Lake to spend some time chilling with The Fam.  It was very relaxing and the kids had an AWESOME time with Grandma and Grandpa and all of their aunts, uncles, great aunts, and great uncles and second cousins.  There were a lot of them!

Here is Clara with Aunt Jessie.  Jessie fashioned this head piece out of her sweater to protect Clara's little head from the sun - hilarious!  Clara kept it on the entire afternoon.

Grandma and her girl.

Adam enjoying his Unco Matty and his second cousins.

Here's a picture of my dad chillin' but check out Clara in the background on my mom's lap.  Excellent.

Investigating the boat with Grandma.  The kids spent a good part of the afternoon just hanging out in the boat.

Down in Albert Lea, Adam had a very memorable experience - he got to sit on Shelley for the first time!  I was so proud of him because he was not scared at all and totally loved it.
He also got to take lots of walks with Grandma, feed the chickens and collect eggs with Grandpa and play with lots of toys in the yard.

Shelley wasn't the only animal Adam was interested in riding.  As you can see, Adam and Birdie (my parents' dog) have really bonded.  I couldn't believe Birdie just let Adam sit on her like that.

Mama and Clara enjoying some beautiful Minnesota weather.  Grandpa Casey got Clara started on her golf game this trip.  There's room for improvement.  She'll just stick to driving the cart for a couple more years.

Good times with the grandparents.

These last two shots kind of wrap it all up.  The kids were so tired from all their fun that they both slept for two hours on the plane ride home!