Celebrating our 8th anniversary in Quebec City.

After loads of planning, Dave and I were on our way to Quebec City for 5 days of wandering, exploring, eating, drinking, and just enjoying life away from the daily grind. 

This was our second trip to Canada, and we've decided, we are Canadian-ophiles. We love the history, the European feel, the French language, the close proximity to home, and virtually no jet lag. We stayed in a great hotel near the Frontenac and wandered the streets near our hotel as well as in the Le Petit Champlain District. We took boat tours, wandered through farmers markets, hiked 400+ steps to eat cheese and baguettes at the base of a waterfall, watched fireworks, toured Il St Honorat, did a beginner's yoga session on the beach, had long lunches, and made up our own progressive dinners in order to maximize our eating adventures while away from the kids. I'd say it was basically a dream trip. 

Its been a couple of years since we have had an extended trip without our kids. We have so much fun together, our adventurous and interests jive. Its so good to reconnect and regroup and remember why we chose each other 8 short (but sometimes it feels long ;) years ago). I'm thankful for a husband who holds doors, carries my jacket and my purse through the city, sees the big things in the small, and loves me just the way that I am. 

The kids did great at home with Courtney and Allie during the week- hard to believe in just a few short years we will have three kids in school full time and traveling will seem easy peasy ;).

Loads of couple photos to follow:

Anniversary flowers from Dave. 

Market.

Romantic vineyard lunch with Philippe.

Le Chute. 

Frontenac peace sign for Greta. 

Yoga on the beach. 

Airplane beverage at the 1608 (fave happy hour spot).

Promenade, so gorgeous with the changing colors. 

Charming. 

Pumpkin photos for the kids. 

Montmorency Falls. 

More adventures. 

Baguettes at le chute. 

Thats me! 

Frontenac photo.

I was gaga over this street, this is one of 50 photos. 

Wandering in Quebec City.

Meanwhile- at home... 

20 year reunion

Its hard to believe it has already been 20 years since I graduated from high school. We had a great celebration with a small group on Friday before the official gathering on Saturday. It was great to reconnect with old friends whom I rarely see as well as those I bump into more frequently.

Cheers to 20 years- can't wait to see where we all are at the next one.

Boat fun. 

Jamie sandwich.

11/12 (one on the phone ;)).

Twinning at the reunion.
All fun and games until Maggie switched the name tags :).

Sunday recovery day- Isaac helps with my kids. 

Meanwhile, Dave and Sully take in their first NFL game.

Matt and Cassandra's wedding weekend.

After months of anticipation and excitement, Matt and Cassandra tied the knot. Their wedding was near Glencoe, MN (about 1.5 hours west of Minneapolis. We stayed in a small Air B&B in Wakonia, MN as lodging closer to the venue was almost impossible to find. We enjoyed the small town/suburb with lunch near the lake, playgrounds, and plenty of R&R, it was really a great little get-away. The wedding weather was perfect, the layout was lovely, the kids held it together for the first half of the ceremony, but crumbled during the second (hangry + wedding is a hard concept), we were happy to sit long enough to hear Dave do a reading (Sully was so proud) before we made a swift exit. The speeches were incredible and the dance (the small portion we made it to) was hopping- I was so bummed that we couldn't last even a smidgen longer (the kids were spent). Overall, it was a beautiful day. We're so happy for Matt and Cassandra, and that she is officially part of the fam.

Fancy Bucca dinner fun. 

Greta is our pasta professional. 

Still learning the ropes ;).

Photo shoot while the ceremony was still taking place
(after I removed them and fed them cookies).

Fam photo- Christmas card candidate for sure. 

Sweet sisters. 

Date night. 

The London crew.

Getting the wiggles out before the long drive home.

Greta starts preschool and other Munce happenings.

Greta started her last year of preschool with her typical excitement and charm...until it was time for us to leave. Ugh. She is going four afternoons a week this year and I'm optimistic that as she gets into the swing of things, she will be great.

We've also been filling our time with family picnics, more karate, soccer, piano, and now gymnastics (for the girls) and ninja academy (for Sully). We are officially booked solid this fall and anxious for the kids to start finding some faves so we can start weeding some things out.

Catching up with some photos.

Impromptu Brookings trip. 

Four super scary dinos.

Sweet trio.

Grandma Helen and her crew. 

First day- go get 'em Greta! 

Annual 'first day' photo of my girl!

So grown up.

I got to have lunch with my kindergartner.
Green beans and all ;).

One on one afternoons with my Piper. 

Greta gets in on the action this year! Go Starbursts!

Post game exhaustion - it was 90 degrees (in September)...yuck.