Saturday, June 12, 2010

Sophia at 14 months

Fishing with Grandpa Krohn


One of the highlights of the May for the boys was to go fishing in the canoe with Grandpa!  Jeff's parents live near a lake and so the river outlet runs down below their back yard...which is both fun and scary for a mom!  Anyhow, they dug up worms one day and Grandpa took them out fishing...they all caught little fish and were so excited!  Grandpa Bey gave them fishing poles to use...and believe me, they are definitely getting some use out of them!!

Mall of America

So the boys had Lego gift cards they got from Grandma Bey for Christmas...so while Jeff was in Denver, I embarked on an adventure with them.  The only Lego store around here is in the Mall of America...so the 4 kids and I went to the Mall of America to use their gift cards and have some lunch.  It is such a HUGE shopping mall, but they did soooo great!! 

Sophia's first time at Eagle's Nest indoor playground

She really wasn't so sure about the ball pit...she kept sinking down and couldn't get up...it was hysterical!

WE'RE BACK IN MN!!!!!!!!!!

May 3, 2010

We arrived in MN last night and wow, it's good to be here!  It's nice to come back to familiar beds, smells and a whole new change of clothes that we haven't had to wear or pack for the past 8 weeks!

Sophia has a Dr. appt today, it's a weight check appointment and she is 14 months old today as well.  She weighs 15 lbs. 13oz!!  She has gained a little, but is still off the charts for her height and weight...by off the charts, I mean WAY below that lowly, puny 3rd percentile line.  She is my petite peanut...what can I say!?

I love you sweet Sophia!!!  And it's good to be back in tick country! Yuck.

Krohn Road Trip...one week left!

April 28-May 2, 2010
Medora, ND

We are finally in Medora.  It's cold.  We've had cold weather nearly this entire trip...rain and wind.  Nevertheless, we are finally in Medora.  Have I said that we are finally in Medora?  I repeat myself because not only do we get to spend time with my parents, but it means our trip is almost over!!!  My favorite things about "home" (home is where my parents are) are the cozy house my mom and dad have, coffee with my mom in the mornings, hugs from my dad, and just hanging out.  I have the best parents in the world!  We got to the driving range at Bully Pulpit once, but mostly we just hung out trying to keep peace between 4 kids and a new puppy!! 

Krohn Road Trip...given up on counting days

April 22-27, 2010
Douglas, WY

My old stomping grounds...yet I have no roots here now since my parents have moved away.  It's a weird feeling coming back to my hometown and having to stay with friends!  In any case, we had a great time in Douglas...we stayed with the Porters (he was my Jr. High Principal!!) and had many great meals with good friends and supporters.  One highlight was hanging out with good friends and their kids, catching up, talking about Peru, and life.  We are so blessed.

Krohn really long Road trip 2010...Days are all blending together now

April 15-22
Denver, CO

After leaving my grandmother's house, we drove to Denver where we got to see a TON of really great friends! We stayed with Tabitha and her kiddos and boy did they have fun together.  Not only did we enjoy meals and coffee with friends, but I got to speak at Tab's school which is always so much fun to be back in the classroom!!

One of our other highlights was that we got Sophia's ears pierced!!  I know that some may frown upon that, but since she was born in a latin culture, where it's very common to have their ears pierced as infants, we decided to go ahead and do it also.  Many people mistakenly call her a boy (i.e. "well hello there fellow") and so this should hopefully clear up any confusion!  She looks adorable and we absolutely love her!!


Thanks to everyone who made our trip such a blessing!!  We'll see you again in June!!!

Krohn Road Trip...and all nighter!! Days 40-41

April 12, 2010
Modesto, CA-Grass Valley, CA-Rawlins, WY

We left Barry and Barb's house and headed a bit further North to Grass Valley, CA to meet up with a friend of mine, and former Gymnastics/Tumbling Coach.  She was my coach when I was 5yo, and it's amazing that 33 years later we are back in touch and she is one of our supporters on the mission field!!  It was SO incredible to see what Cheryl does, she has such an incredible ministry and is obviously doing a great job with the girls that live in her home.  We spent the evening telling her small group about our ministry in Peru, it was a good time of fellowship and we felt very loved and appreciated.

After leaving Cheryl's house, with chains that someone lent us-it was raining at their house and this particular gentlemen knew we would be going over the pass between Truckee, CA and Nevada and might need chains, we headed out around 9pm to drive all night to get to Wyoming.


We didn't make it far, Jeff was exhausted and ended up falling asleep around midnght at a rest area.  The rest area was basically a hole in the ground with a door.  Needless to say, I didn't go to the bathroom all night long!!  Jeff slept until around 3am and we started driving again.  He pulled over around 6am and I started driving.  We finally made it to Rawlins, WY (where my grandmother lives) that afternoon...it was a long trip!

Krohn Road Trip...Days 38-40

April 10-12
San Francisco, CA-Modesto, CA

With SF in our rearview mirror, we headed North to Modesto to meet up with our good friends, the Anthony's!  Jeff has known Barry since college and we were lucky enough to have them visit us in Peru during our last year there.  Nathan & Matthew were actually to be returning from a mission trip to Mexico while we were there, but they had give up their rooms to us, so we were glad to have a place to stay.

It was a super relaxing time with Barry & Barb and their boys, we enjoyed catching up, Jeff & Barry golfed, we went to church with them, and enjoyed some fun times over meals together.  There was also a mini "guys only" jam session in their garage one night...you can tell the boys had a great time!

Dim Sum in San Francisco!

April 10, 2010
This morning was to be our last morning in San Francisco...which was actually an okay thing because it was pouring rain!!  We had the wonderful opportunity to meet up with June Chin, a friend of ours from many years ago when my Aunt & Uncle introduced us to her and her husband.  PQ (her husband) was an amazing architect, designing many of the things you see around San Francisco (the Trans-America building, the Cable Cars, Candlestick park, etc.)...he passed away on Superbowl Sunday, I wish I could have seen him one more time.



Dim Sum was so delicious, and the owner was fantastic with our kids!  He arranged their chopsticks together with a rubber band and a piece of paper so that they would stay together and they could use them to eat.  The funny thing is that they ended up using them the entire meal!!  We enjoyed a variety of food, got stuffed to the gills, but mostly enjoyed hanging out with "A.J" as she told the boys to call her (Auntie June).

San Francisco!!!!!!


Today we got to meet up with more of my friends from the March Mommies board.  Lisa and her hubby flew down with Owen from Seattle, and Shannon and her family drove down from Sacramento to meet up with us at the San Francisco zoo!!!  It was a great time, not only did the ladies and I have a nice time getting to know each other better, but our kids and hubbies got along great!  Ryan (Shannon's son) is around my boys age, so they all had a great time hanging out and running around. 



After we left the zoo, we went back to our respective hotels and got ready to head back down to the Wharf area and to Ghiradelli Square.  We had reservations to eat at a nice restaurant there, but when we arrived and looked inside, we realized that we might not be that welcome...with 6 adults and 7 kids ages 9 and under!  So we found a semi-clean 50's diner right next door and plunked ourselves down. It wasn't as nice of dinner as we hoped, but the clam chowder in bread bowls was amazing!  It was so wonderful meeting these gals and their kids/husbands, I'm so blessed to know them!!

Krohn road Trip...Days 36-38

April 8-10, 2010
Santa Clarita, CA-San Francisco, CA

Let me begin by saying that I LOVE San Francisco...it's one of my top favorite cities in the world.  We drove up from the LA area and the first thing we did was drive over the Golden Gate Bridge!!!  The boys were SOOO excited, and I felt like a kid myself as we got closer and closer to it.  We took a couple family pictures and then went into the city to drive down Lombard street (AKA "the crookedest street in the world") which we all laughed and screamed as we went down.  Right before it was our turn to go, a car turned in front of us and so we ended up looking at the back of that dumb car the whole way down, but it was still very cool.

After driving down Lombard, we headed into the Union Square district to find our hotel.  It was situated in an uber cool part of town, right near Union Square and the Dragon's Gate, which is the official entrance into Chinatown.  I think we got the smallest room in the entire city, but it's a blast being here so I don't even care!!

Once we got our bags in and set up the pack and play, we donned our walking shoes and headed towards Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39.  I snapped tons of pictures on the way...and sadly lost them somehow in the downloading process. *sniff sniff*  It was an awesome walk, venturing out in such a great city!  The boys loved the wharf area, we saw the sea lions and then took them (the boys, not the sea lions) to eat at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company with a stellar view of the bay!!  Can you believe it, we got a table right next to the window...at sunset!!!  Amazing.  We then walked over to the cable cars and stood in line for a long time listening to some panhandler's attempt to sing and woo us over.  Not so much.  The boys loved the cable cars, and we were all exhausted by the time we got to the hotel.

Tomorrow we meet up with Shannon & Blake (and family) and Lisa & Owen (and Dan)...I can hardly wait!!!

Krohn Road Trip...Day 34

April 6, 2010
Running Springs, CA-Santa Clarita, CA

I spent all morning giving my blog a makeover with Mende (as she gave hers a makeover as well).  Jeff and Dave went skiing and the boys played Legos downstairs.  Sophia slept and I am thankful.  After leaving Dave & Mende's house, we drove a short drive across LA to Santa Clarita where we stayed with some friends of Jeff's parents.

I had never met them, but they were extremely welcoming to our family and their kids (teenagers) were so gracious to play with our kids and help with Sophia.  I'm very thankful that I got to know this family!!