Beth Marie's 9th Birthday

On October 15th, our baby turned 9 years old!  Hard to believe it's been 9 years since we first laid eyes on our darling daughter.  She's growing up to be such a beautiful little person.   

Beth Marie, at 9 years old, you are turning into such a wonderful little lady.  You are a delightful companion for your Mommy--I love having a little girl to share my days with.  Your birthday was such a fun day for our family to celebrate 9 amazing years with you!  You are such a treasure...

 Mmm...  Pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting and caramel drizzle. 

We usually party with the cousins on Beth's birthday, but this year they all had the chicken pox.  Beth was very exposed before her birthday, so we were thankful to have a healthy girl to celebrate with!  We decided to take the whole day to go up to the Cities as a family.  Here's our pretty birthday girl in front of the Mill City Museum in Minneapolis.  We would highly recommend this place!  This is the sort of thing we love to do on our vacation time--explore a fun place while learning a little history.

Here, Beth Marie is overlooking the burned-out Mill.

Beth and Mom at the Mill City Museum.

Daddy and his girl at the Mill Museum (overlooking St. Anthony falls)

Mill Ruins Park (Stage 1).  This was such a cool place to walk around.  It makes your imagination go wild to think about what all of this was like 100 years ago.

Ruins...

The ruins has sidewalks where you could stroll--and for anyone who's interested in photography, this area would have no end of potential!

The burned-out remains of what was once the world's largest flour mill.

The Stone Arch Bridge and Mississippi riverfront.

Mike snapped this picture quick on our walk back to the car.  Cool, huh?  :-)

After our time on the historic riverfront, where else would we go but the Mall of America?  And where would a little girl want to go at Mall of America?  The American Girl store, of course.  Here is Beth proudly displaying her purchase--a set of doll crutches and a cast.  Well, you can't see the contents of the package in this picture.  But, we all know that it makes no difference what's in the bag...  However small of a trinket it may be, the greatest thrill is getting a bag that says, "American Girl" and walking around the mall with it.  :-)

To complete the day Mike and Elizabeth rode this contraption.  I'm not sure what it's called, but I think we all recognize it.  It's the one that blasts you 30 feet or so into the air and then plummets you back to the ground...repeatedly.  I'm not sure why you would want to pay money to give your guts a beating, but they found it enjoyable from what I could tell.  Thankfully, they did this before supper at Ruby Tuesday's.  A great day was had by all.  We love you, Beth Marie!!