...Yes, I was very excited because this is SUV I want, eventually. Chris and I fell in love with this Tahoe. It was so roomy and was very easy to put Makenzie in there as well as all of our gear. I think Makenzie loved it as well...
Once we got everything in the Tahoe, we head to target to get diapers and food for Makenzie. After we left Target, Chris really wanted to show me around. So we drove around the city and he showed me his first house he lived in when he was a Sophomore in College... 
...Its the Green one! This neighborhood was full of College Student Housing. After showing me around for a few, We all started getting really hungry, so we head down to Canal Park in Duluth. We went to a Mexican Restaurant that was called "Little Angies" It was right on Lake Superior. The food was pretty tasty. Makenzie enjoyed their Mexican Rice that I had on my plate. Right before she would take a bite she would do this really cute laugh.
After we eat, we headed over to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. We got some yummy fudge, and a few other yummy treats. By this time it was getting dark and we still needed to head to our hotel which was about 35 minutes away. We stayed at Superior Shores, its right on Lake Superior. Lets just say its beautiful, here is the view from our room the next morning we woke up...
That morning, Chris wanted to show me more of the city. We ended up going by his University. I would say its about the size of UNLV if not a little bit smaller. His campus is really pretty especially with all the snow around it.
Once we left his University, we went to a well know restaurant. The food was amazing, it was very home style cooking. 
After we ate some very tasty food, we took Makenzie to the Great Lakes Aquarium. She loved looking at all the animals. They did not just have fish in there, they also had birds, bald eagle, rats, spiders, snakes, frogs, and many more. 
Hanging out with the Fishy...
Makenzie with a fishing with a fishing pole. In Minnesota especially, there is a phrase the greatest thing you can teach a child is the love for the great outdoors. I honestly hope she loves the outdoors as much as Chris and I do. After we left the aquarium, we head to subway to pick up some yummy sandwiches, and then we drove to out to an Lighthouse that is on Lake Superior. 
I love Lighthouses and Chris knows that, so he wanted to show me this beautiful one. I'm really not sure why I love them so much but they are just really pretty.
We had so much fun in Duluth. I can't wait to go back up there in the summer, so we can actually explore this beautiful city! The following day, December 8th, We woke up really early to start our drive down to Fairmont. We stopped and got some yummy bagels and hot cocoa, then continued our drive. We told Mama G that we would not be in Fairmont until late, but we surprised her around 230pm at work. Before we got into Fairmont, I emailed her to tell her that we just got to Mall of America, and that we were going to eat and walk around for alittle bit. When we walked into her work, she was actually emailing me back. I think we made it hard for her to stay at work until five, but she enjoyed every minute of it when she got home. Here is Mama G when we surprised her...
After we left Nanni, we headed to see Bumpa at home....
Later that night, we ate some yummy ham. I also surprised Papa Bear with his and Chris's Christmas present. I bought both of them tickets to the Vikings game. It was suppose to be a surprise for the both of them but Chris saw it on our credit card bill about a week later after I bought the tickets...grr...
The following day, December 10th, (Happy Birthday Lindsee...We love you) Mama G had to go to a conference, so the four of us took many naps that day. I was really looking forward to relaxing and that is basically what we did that day. It was ahhh-mmmaaazzziiinnnggg!! Later that night, we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Quiring's house for dinner. We were excited that we were able to spend some time with them since they were not going to be making it to the Gerhardt Christmas Party. Grandma and Grandpa Quiring fell in love with Makenzie. They thought she was just the cutest thing ever...Here are some pictures of Makenzie with her Great Grandma and Grandpa Quiring...
On Friday, December 11th, Chris and Papa Bear surprised us with spa treatments. We both got a 45 minute massage, and then mani and pedi's. I enjoyed spending this bonding time with Mama G. We had many memorable conversations, and I'm looking forward to having this tradition with her every year. 
Later that night, a huge storm covered the entire state of Minnesota. Temperatures dropped into the negatives, interstates were shut down, and there was soo much snow that came down that weekend. I believe there were 22 inches in some cities. Needless to say, the Gerhardt Christmas was cancelled because no one was able to get out of their house because of the really bad blizzard that we were having.
On Saturday, we experienced a blizzard that entire day. We were excepting 25-30 people for the Gerhardt Christmas Party but no one was able to get to our house. Which is very sad because we were looking forward to seeing all of our extend family that we only see once a year, but we are glad that no one drove in that weather, stayed home, safe and warm. Since we had all this food and we were suppose to have a soup contest. Papa Bear invited some of their close friends that live in Fairmont to come over and eat some of the food. Chris and I would like to announce that we are the First place winners of the first annual soup contest. We made a yummy Chili. After we sampled some amazing foods, we placed a few rounds of Catch Phrase. Now let me tell you, Minnesotans definitely know how to play this game. That Saturday, I was glad that I was able to experience a blizzard such like this one first hand. We were able to bond with Mama G and Papa Bear more, they were able to spend more time with Makenzie and get to know her a little bit more. The one thing that made me a little upset about this storm was that the tickets that I bought for Papa Bear and Chris was they were not able to use them. The NFL cancelled the game due to the weather and because of concern about the roof of the stadium collapsing. They were either going to move it to Sunday afternoon or Monday night.
On Sunday, when we woke up that morning. We turned on the news really quick to see what the updated about the game would be and the news reporter announced that the stadium roof collapsed. I did not want to believe but when they started showing footage of it I just was amazed and very thankful that my husband and father in law were not in the stadium at the time it collapsed. The storm finally cleared up and we thought that we would explore the city to see what kind of damaged that Mother Nature did to Fairmont. There were a lot of roads that we were not able to get thur do to all of the snow. While we were driving around we decided that we wanted to go see Grandma and Grandpa Gerhardt. We sat and talked to them for a little bit while we ate Grandma Gerhardt's famous popcorn balls...yummy!
On Monday, we had to head home. We were all hoping that the interstates were not going to be open for us to get to the airport, but they where all open. Which they actually opened up late sunday night.
We had an amazing time in Minnesota and counting on the days when we get to go back for the summer. We will actually have our family complete the next time we go out there, Kayden will be with us then!! I'm really glad that I was able to experience as much as we did on our trip. We had very many laughs, bonding, and conversations that I will cherish for a life time.
***Sorry for not posting anymore pictures of the trip, I really wanted to get this posted! If you are interested in seeing more of our trip pictures, feel free on checking out our facebooks!
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