This is our VACATION POST!!!!!! This is the second post in a row now where I sit here and marvel at how happy we are and how lucky I am to have all the blessings we have.
The Graff Summer 2023 Vacation was absolutely Amazing 🤩 😍 !!!!!
We were gone for 2 weeks and it was glorious. Here are all the videos that dallin and I took put together into one video compilation to save time.
This was some stuff before we left for vacation (Once again I'm reminded of that Jason Mraz song where he sings, "You don't need a vacation when there's nothing to escape from" because this section seems almost as good as the vaca section.)
I got a bubble machine for only like 12 dollars but it did an incredible job of pumping out some major bubbles! It was a hit with both the kids and dogs!
Look how cute they are in the cart together at the store. They play so nicely together and both steer the car. They do so well in stores now.
That was the before of the hair..... this is the after! We decided to give up on trying to grow his hair out and I am so happy we did because his new hair cut is so cute. I love the little line on the side
Dallin put his phone on selfie mode and put it behind his head while he was driving to see if kinder was awake or asleep and she did this face hahaha
Selena and Jaxson babysat for us while we went on a date and it was so cute because coop wanted to cuddle with jaxson before bed and kinder loved reading, eating, and snuggling with selena
CUTEST LITTLE GIRL OUTFIT EVER!!!! (I gave in and bought it because I was having one of those moments where I thought, "she's growing up so fast and this is the last time I'm going to ever experience the baby phase so it's worth it to just buy the outfit and take her picture in it" -And I'm so glad I did because I can be so cheap that I need to spend at times to fully enjoy this phase with the kids. I mean come on, it was only 14$. )
I was so glad selena and jaxson were able to babysit for us so we could go there because it was incredible.Below you will find cooper's new favorite science experiment. He loves playing with raw eggs. lol
He loves cracking them on the side of the bowl and feeling the gush and seeing if the shells float and stirring/breaking the yokes, etc. It was so cute seeing his eyes light up when the egg first fell out of the shell and he immediately said "again!" and after that "more!" After that, he stood on a chair at the sink and was fascinated by the soap and water and everything washing down. He's done it twice now and I think it's so cute that he knows he has to ask because one day he brought me the eggs from the fridge and said please mommy lol so I'm so glad he didn't just get to crackin cuz that'd be messy. But anyway this screen-free life has been helping his curiosity. I'm thinking we may start to do like 15-30 min in the evenings but he does well with or without it so i'm not worried. He watched it on our trip and he was still fine without it so I think the long time with no screens kindof broke him of the habit.
"I LOVE YOU THANKS POINT" -Cooper
This was cooper's gymnastics ceremony. We just joined so it didn't make as much sense for him but for everyone else they get a medal and show their parents what they learned once a year. So he got a medal and a popsicle and he seemed happy lol
lol
This day GG got us a golf cart and that was so fun! We saw my childhood friend Katherine and that was like a crazy blast from the past. (I felt terrible because I forgot her name) But it was so fun on the golf cart because it takes you a different route so we hadn't seen some of the stuff.
It made me so happy to see kinder do things side by side with coop. She's growing up and so smart so it makes her so happy to be able to walk and do things too. You can tell she wants to. And she's trying so hard to talk too. I was thinking "what if she turns out to be a little cow girl one day and wants to do barrel races and stuff?!" becaus she was so happy on the horse. it was adorable.
I seriously feel so lucky to only live 11 minutes from thanksgivng point. Its my happy place lol
huge peacock
sheep
nick and luca, luca and gianna
The three boys (lol pretzel, cooper and luca ) on the beach 🏖️
S'mores! This was our kids' first campfire with smores experience! It was very hard for them to not touch it lol
Dallin got them sparklers for the 4th of july and then that became cooper's stick for the next few days that he was obsessed with. (Dallin was worried about how sharp it was so he said that he had to go sword fight the tree and not go near people lol so coop was sword fighting a tree for hours)
They both loved the smores but holy cow was that messy
Of course we had to get matching USA outfits for the kids!! Getting pictures was very difficult but here's what we got....
He is so brave and has really good balance!
Kinder was mostly there for the snacks..... 😂
luca and cooper on the "boat" together
kinder's turn on the paddle board
cooper was so impatient like "hurry up and get off sis i want to go on the boat again" lol
At first luca was scared of the water but cooper's enthusiasm rubbed off real quick and before we knew it he was all about it and jumping in just like the rest of us.
Dallin an dkinder
cooper was very brave with the water so I had to tell him he cant go passed the dock.
The farm was so fun because both kids got to ride ponies!!!!! That was the cutest thing I think I've ever seen. Kinder was soooooo happy. They both were actually. Cooper remembers the name of his horse today! I can't wait for that area of thanksgivng point to grow cuz it's kind of small right now but they still loved it!!
Does it get any cuter than that?!
Went to brunch with "kiminee" as I used to call her and it was sooo fun. Theres something about old friends wehre you get together and it's as if no time has passed. I missed her and it was so good being together again. She's such a good person. (As we were sitting there I noticed my cooperating teacher on the wall next to me from my student teaching lol I keep being reminded of all the strong roots I have here in utah and it hasn't happened in so long that it kind of surprises me still. Kim and I also saw another group of guys from dance we knew at UVU too. It was so nostalgic for me to drive through orem to meet her because I have so many memories there. Utah will always have a peice of my heart because I have so much history here.)
Flying with kids is not for the weak
Cooper was happy as a clam to be watching shows again since he hadn't in so long when we flew to Fargo. Kinder, on the other hand, was a like a wild animal. She wanted to walk, crawl, climb, take dallin's glasses, throw any object she could find, jump, squak, etc. She was happy, but holy crap she was everywhere. The most energy ever. And we thought they would sleep, but no, they both stayed awake until we got in the car with shelly to go home so it was like1:30 am before they slept.
This picture is the only time toys pacified her at all. 5 seconds later she was on to the next thing. It was hilarious but soooo exhausting. She was entertaining everyone on the plane 4 rows back because they were all grandparents so making them laugh, doing peekaboo, jumping, tongue out, etc.
Lake House Week
We made plans almost a year ago to do this with Nick and Gianna and so much has changed unexpectedly since then but I'm so glad we were still able to make it happen. It was a blast! It was perfection. You have to know going into it that you're still taking care of a 3, 2, 1 year old but even with that consideration it went well. It was exhausting at times adn I wouldn't call it relaxing, but I am so so so glad we did it. I think it was highlight of cooper's life! haha he was in absolute heaven. The house and lake were perfect for him and he loved the water.
This was him and dallin on the paddle board. (Dallin gets father of the year award for agreeing to take him for ride after ride endlessly)
Went to walmart to get jackets because it was chilly and all they had was jean jackets so I guess that means more matching pics for these cute kids
On the right really far out is dal and coop in the kayak. On the left coop wanted to try standing up on the paddle board
This is cooper "fishing" (there was no line on the pole) But he still felt official lol
the sand was so soft! It was such a perfect house for little kids because there werent weeds or rocks and it was a very gradual decline
Cooper and luca were such good friends by the end. They would play hide and seek, copy each other, we danced to music, played with toys, etc.
We got to see them feed the cougars and the moose and bison so that was really cool. (watch the video to see that because they had them trained it was cool)
Only one we're missing in this picture is peanut
We went to a park and restaurant one day and I finally got my cheesy pickles ! lol not as good as the brew tho
We were so sad to leave when it was over
Time with Mama and Papa
That's how cooper says grandma and grandpa. Anyways when we were in wahpeton/breckenridge we went to parks, the zoo, out to eat, etc. They smoked pulled pork for us and it was amazing!
cooper spraying his trusty spray bottle :)
Then we went to chalk the walk and it was seriously amazing what those artists are capable of! They made it so that they look 3d!
This was at the zoo. Cooper got to go in with the turtles and pet them!
He asked to take a picture with papa and then wouldn't smile. I think maybe he wanted a picture but then he was trying to be like those football players when they take team pictures and they all have a serious/mad face lol maybe he wanted to look tough in the picture?
He got to pet the donkeys and feed the ducks
We got to see them feed the cougars and the moose and bison so that was really cool. (watch the video to see that because they had them trained it was cool)We got to go to Blaine's 2nd birthday party out at the farm! We had so much fun and we miss them. They took us on a tour of all the farming equipment.
Cooper was in heaven when Grandpa took us out to his barn and let us ride four wheelers and go in his tractor and just mess around with everything he has in there. Cooper was in heaven. He loves climbing ladders and playing with tools and brooms and stuff so everything in there was interesting to him. He also loved 4wheeling! Dallin and I loved it too. It's been so long since we've done that! Probly since Nebraska! Because my dad took coop in SV but we didn't go.
Dallin's face is so happy in that pic :)
Kinder's birthday
We couldn't really do a full-on birthday party for kinder, but we met up at the park with alyssa's family and played, ate, and did a smash cake.
Although it was unconventional, the kids were very happy. I was happy too because I would have had to stress a lot to pull off a full fledged party while I was traveling.
I thought it was so cute that cooper adn Beckett sat there together by themselves talking for a while lol
Can you believe she is already 1? Me neither.
Here's her one year video. (Get the tissues cuz for me it was a tear-jerker.)
This was the cake smash!
She was eating it like crazy the day before when shelly was making it, but at the cake smash itself she didn't really want it. I swear one year olds can sense that the adults want it too much so they resist. Because everything else she can get her hands on she is devouring. She still eats the dog food, and anything sweet she always takes handfulls and stuffs it in her mouth. So I was expecting her to go crazy for the cake, but alas, I was wrong. lol But at least she looked cute doing it :) Here are some pics of my dad trying to get her to eat it haha
When I look at these pictures the term, "isn't she lovely" fits perfectly. That's why I had to use that song for her video, as cliche as it is. She's just so dang pretty.
She liked playing with it at first, just not eating it apparently.
Coop, then Recoup
Do you like that play on words? Anywho, after spending a lot of time with the kids we wanted to do a kid-free vacation and it was so rejuvenating. We didn't do much but it was exactly what we needed because when you have 1 and 3 year old you don't ever get time to relax. Sleeping in, doing whatever we wanted and eating too much was absolute perfection.
This is the view when we were driving in. (We were so grateful they let us borrow their car. and watched the kids for us so we could do this at all. lol Dallin was hating me as we drove the 3 hours together because I was losing my mind and made him stop twice to pee.)
Eating lunch on the amazing rooftop restaurant when we first got in to the resort
We went to explore the mall of america and I'm glad we did that because it was so fun
This was what the kids were up to in the mean time without us. They seemed to be very happy :)
Although we needed the time away, we did miss them by the end.
We stayed at the 4 seasons and holy cow it was magnificent. This was the view from our room at night.
Our room was by far the best hotel room we've ever had. I loved every part about it
Margaritaville in the mall of america
Pool day! A pool day at the 4 seasons is much different than I'm used to! They offer to polish your sunglasses, bring you food, fruit, drinks, sunblock, put the towel on the chair for you, etc. It's amazing.
I got a new outfit at the mall of america for our date night out at the fancy restaurant
The meat presentation was so cool! She was throwing raw meat around and saying jokes and stuff. The pic on the left was dallin trying bone marrow for the first time! I tried an oyster believe it or not... It was gross.
We went out with nick and g and it was so much fun! We went to thier house after and played a game and then went back to the hotel.
We had the most amazing spa day! That hotel is beautiful and the massage came with essential oils and a scalp treatment and massage
the top rated Mara restaurant. We loved it because we got to try the most interesting foods. It was mediterranean and it was so good!
I thought I had died and gone to heaven when I got this treatment every morning for breakfast. Ahhhhh I miss that so much. I could just roll out of bed, take a few steps to the table, and eat the best breakfast and coffee in the world with a breathtaking view and no troubles.
We watched the most recent guardians of the galaxy movie and the bachelorett while we were there too.
We loved coming back to a clean room whenever we left. They left us these cloths that look like minneapolis to clean our sunglasses and I thought that was cool
The first night we went to murray's steakhouse. We weren't as good about taking pictures on this trip but it was because we were too busy enjoying ourselves.
I'm telling you after the last couple years we've had, we needed those 3 days off from kid duty because dang it's been a marathon. When we came back poor shelly was exhausted and she was very familiar with the "peacock noise" that kinder likes to make. lol needless to say even if it's only 3 days.... it's my lifeline lol
Flying home
Flying home was waaaay worse than flying there. Kinder was on an even worse tear than she was on the way there. I swear when toddlers are at the age when they can move on their own, being forced to stay on someone's lap is torture to them. We were lucky they both napped during the trip. Even though they didn't get as much sleep as they normally would, it was better than nothing. We left at 8am and got home around 6:30pm so it was A VERY LONG DAY. By the end of the last flight dallin had to take over with her because I was so frustrated. I swear I walked 10 miles through the minneapolis airport to make her nap. lol but we did it. We survived. And it was so worth it for the incredible vacation we had.
We all slept like babies when we got home because wow we were all sooooo tired.
I am so happy to be home again. I missed my bed and the dogs. Michael and Sari are saints and watched the dogs for us the whole time. We owe them an arm and a leg and they are the sweetest people. Anyways, I'm off to bed. See u next time!
-Syd :)
