Nearly 4 years ago, we traveled to Duluth to hand deliver our dossier (all our adoption paperwork) to the Colombian Coordinator at Lutheran Social Services. We dropped our documents off on October 24, 2011 and on that very day our documents were shipped off, bound for Bogota. What a journey the next 4 years would be as we waited for our little niña!
In August of 2015, we were back in Duluth...this time as a family of 5! We spent a day in Canal Park touring the William A. Irvin, the flagship of the US Steel's Great Lakes Fleet which carried iron ore and coal to the Great Lakes ports for over 40 years. What a huge vessel! It was a first time on the ship for all of us.
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| Next to the William A. Irvin |
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| Rose modeling a fishing hat |
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| Cole modeling a sailor hat |
It was quite an adventure touring the ship, making our way up steep staircases and narrow passages with 3 little ones in tow.
After the tour, we walked along the lake to Grandma's restaurant for dinner. Along the way there, we lucked out and were able to see the Minnesota Slip Bridge raise to let a boat through.
After a delicious meal, we headed back to our hotel for bed.
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| Good night, Duluth! |
The next day we spent the morning at the pool - playing in the kiddie pool, swimming in the big kid pool, zooming down the slide and warming up in the hot tub.
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| Good morning, Duluth! |
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| Rose and Shane playing in the pool |
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| Cole splashing Rose and Shane |
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| Owen enjoying the water |
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| Cole in the kiddie pool |
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| Our little mermaid |
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| Here comes Owen! |
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| SPLASH! |
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| Warming up in the hot tub |
After lunch we took a drive up the North Shore to Gooseberry Falls. The drive was timed perfectly with Rose's nap time. Actually all the kids nodded off which made for a very quiet relaxing scenic drive. It was a beautiful day at the falls.
Owen could have spent all day there, climbing on the rocks, wading through the water and enjoying the great outdoors.
The next stop on our adventure was the Split Rock Lighthouse. The kids had fun exploring the visitors center and the lighthouse.
The next day was our last day in Duluth. We decided to visit the Lake Superior Railroad Museum before heading home. We had first been to the museum on our trip to Duluth to deliver Rose's paperwork, so we were excited to visit again, this time with Rose! The kids had a blast exploring the trains, playing with the train tables and other toys, and Cole even got to "drive" a tractor (his favorite part!)
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| Farmer Cole |
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| STOP! |
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| Cole putting out a fire |
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| Rose playing with the train table |
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| Hold on boys! |
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| The train engineers |
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| Rose playing with the toys |
I even captured a few photos to compare just how much our family has changed - four years older AND plus one!
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| Then... |
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| ...and now. |
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| Then... |
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