Tyler Samuel and Remi Hazel: Road Trip to MN

Well, last May, we bought this beast of a car, not just kind of a big car, a HUGE care, a LIVING ROOM ON WHEELS kind of car... And mama and daddy finally got up the courage to drive to MN, during the night no less! Daddy had this great idea to surprise Grandma Jo and Grandpa David for Christmas, so mama called Uncle Brandon, who got our "adopted grandma Joan" in on the action and after a flurry of emails and 12 hours later, we had a trip planned to MN.

We rolled out of town on December 23rd at 7pm, we got to watch movies in the car and sleep, all night in the car! I cannot explain to you how excited Remi and I were to sleep in the car. We got to watch an hour of tv in the car and then it was time to go to sleep, as we had to be rested for the big surprise, that is when decided to scream for an hour straight. It was at this point that mama and daddy silently though to themselves that they were possibly the most insane parents in the world! But, eventually Remi tired herself out and went to sleep. After one "detour", several driver changes, some peeing behind dumpsters at closed gas stations and many tolls, the MN border was in sight! Of course, Remi and I slept straight through all of this, truly, we were magnificent, we aren't the only ones that think that....

Like I said, the MN border is in sight and all of a sudden, BAM! Bad weather, we had had the best weather possible driving through Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin and then boom! 10 inches of snow dumped on us while driving, it was 3:30 in the morning and daddy was "white knuckling it" the last hour to uncle Brandon and aunt Anne's house. There in lies another problem. In no way did we think we would arrive in MN so early, the thought never popped into our heads, but there we were, in the parking structure next to uncle Brandon's at 4:30 in the morning, doing our best impression of a family forced to live in a van, trying to sleep for another few hours. Needless to say, that didn't work all that well and just after 5 mama sent uncle Brandon the SOS text... Sure, he was woken up from a dead sleep, sure he was confused as hell when read the text, but nonetheless, he saved us from our prison van and brought daddy and me inside. Remi, of course, was still zonked out and slept another hour before demanding to be let out of the carseat she had been in the last 12 hours!

We hung out at Brandon and Anne's place for a bit and then we headed off to Grandma Joan's house, after a brief stop at Target (mama forgot Remi's booster and our snow boots!). You see, Joan was in on the surprise as well, she let us take over her house for the next few days and treated us as if we were family, something we can never truly repay her for! Again, let me remind you that gma and gpa abel have no clue that we are in MN and gma has already made the guilt call to mama about some day being able to all be together for Christmas! Oh grandma, if you only knew how hard it was to hold it together during that call!

That night, we headed off to Phil and Karine's (sorry if we've spelled your name wrong), Anne's dad and wife's house, once again, we were welcomed like family and I had an instant attachment to Phil, calling him grandpa, and sitting in his chair playing with his hair. Again, something our family cannot say enough thank you's for. Now, Remi and I are tired, very tired, but the juice boxes and gushers (something anne is addicted to we came to learn), certainly helped us pull through the evening, before we headed home and crashed for the night.

The next day was the big day, the BIG reveal, the surprise, something that we were all excited to do. Uncle Brandon managed to get gma and gpa up to his condo earlier in the day and while they came in, our little family hid in the guest bedroom upstairs, and of course, that is when Remi decided to cry, but for some unknown reason, gma and gpa didn't hear a thing. Then we came down stairs and honestly, it was one of the best things to be apart of, watching gma and gpa look stunned, grandpa even said "hey guys..." and went about his day before he realized what had really happened. Luckily enough uncle Brandon was ready with his new camera and took some truly candid shots of the surprise!

After all of the excitement died down, the men went skating, while the women stayed back to cook and take naps.. Then the rest of the crew came over, Anne's mom and dad, friends of Anne's, our family, grandma and grandpa, everyone and we all just had the best time! One of the best Christmas's I remember, ok, the only one I remember, but I'm pretty sure it was amazing! And of course, we ordered Chinese for daddy, something he eats every Christmas. After the party had died down, we headed over to the skating rink again, why not do a little midnight skating on Christmas day... Grandma Jo and Grandpa David dashed back to Rochester, to get a few things and then drove back up to Minneapolis to stay the night, just to be closer to Remi and I, seriously, could we be any luckier...

The day after Christmas, we had breakfast with grandma and grandpa, went swimming at the pool in their hotel and then went to a burger institution called Snuffy's. Remi and I were introduced to another great thing... the milkshake! We stuffed ourselves and then went back to Joan's for naps and hanging out. Then it was time to say goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa, as they had to get home (but it wasn't hard to do, as we knew we were seeing them in 2 weeks to celebrate Remi's birthday). We then all hung out at Joans, at more Chinese, hooked up her apple TV, played with her ipad and took her dog for a walk. Now, we haven't mentioned cody, BUT, WE LOVE THIS DOG, this dog is not just a dog, but THE dog, we loved this dog and still talk of him to this day!

The next day it was time to load up the car and drive back to MI, it was a long day in the car. Remi and I ate, napped and watched so much TV that you could see the dead brain cells flying out the window... BUT, we made it back in one piece and it's a trip that we all still talk about fondly.

surprised!

so surprised!

hugs!

more hugs!

it wasn't even our holiday, but uncle Brandon spoiled us anyways... A pound puppy for Remi and a cool car for me

Anne, slugging diet cokes, like only a sleep deprived resident can!

happy grandma and Grandpa

Since Brandon retired, he felt a bit rusty, and asked me for a few skating tips. I think I got him straightened out, but I'm still a bit concerned about his stride...