New York City Vacation

Our latest vacation was to the Big Apple! Our group loaded up the LEEP van and headed for the MSP airport bright and early on July 8th. We got in to NYC mid afternoon and got started sightseeing right away! We headed down the block to Time Square where we began our tour.

Clarence and Jeff enjoying the bus ride

yummy lunch at Famous Daves

The "Ball" that drops in Time Square

Group in the middle of Time Square

View on top of the Empire State Building

Lady Liberty

On our final day in NYC we tried to get on the NBC Today show. We actually did make the background of one of the crowd panning shots. The group was really pumped to see Matt Lauer and Anne Curry up close!

Saying farewell to our favorite city out east. The group all had a blast and said they can't wait to get back there again some day!



Okoboji Vacation

This summer we made another visit to one of our favorite places! We headed down to Okoboji, Iowa where we stayed at Fillenwarth Beach. The cabins are perfect for our group as we all get to relax and just enjoy our time.

Relaxing by the pool!

Missy and Molly enjoying the water on a paddle boat

waiting for dinner

Everyone braved the "Crooked House" at Arnold's Park

cheers!

The group took a nice ride on the Queen Mary out on Lake Okoboji. It was so nice to be out on the water and enjoying the beautiful scenery that Iowa has to offer.

Our day at Arnold's Park ended with a nice train ride through the park. Everyone was sad to see the vacation end but it was sure fun while it lasted.

Green Bay, Wisconsin

This summer our group took their first ever trip to the "Frozen Tundra" better known as Green Bay, WI. It sounds like they had a blast and saw lots of neat things.

 Our trip started with a trip to Lambeau Field where we were able to go on a Stadium Tour! We saw the behind the scenes stuff as well as some of the fancy "boxes" that people pay mega dollars for!  

Our whole crew on Lambeau Field

While we were at Lambeau we also did the Hall of Fame tour.This showed the history of the Green Bay Packers and their start up as the A.C.M.E Packers to where they are today. We even got to visit the trophy room!

 We also visited the National Railroad Museum. It was something we all really enjoyed!



Another highlight from our trip was our visit to the Green Bay New Zoo. We got to get really close to the animals which was pretty exciting! Everyone had a great time there and especially loved feeding the giraffes. All and all our vacation was a great experience had by all. We can't wait to go back in the future!

Memphis, TN

Our first day in Memphis started with a delicious breakfast at the hotel, then it was off to the Memphis Zoo! After seeing all of the amazing animals, we checked out the gift shop. We soon got tired of shopping and our stomachs were growling so we went to Kooky Canucks for supper.

The next day we explored Graceland, and took an audio tour. It was very interesting to learn about Elvis and his music! After an amazing pizza dinner, we headed back to the hotel and rested up for our final day of vacation.

Our last full day of vacation started bright and early with breakfast at Cockadoos. Then, we saw the Rock and Soul Museum where we got to wear headsets as we learned about musicians who started out in Memphis!

Our last day in Memphis came fast, much to everybody's dismay. We stopped at the Firefighter Museum, where everyone got to try their hands at putting out a virtual fire. Overall, the trip was a blast but we were all happy to get home!

Wisconsin Dells

Our trip to the Wisconsin Dells started off a little rocky, with lots of detours and traffic jams. But we finally made it to the beautiful Dells! After we unpacked, we headed to the amazing Tommy Bartlett Show, where we saw a man jump through fire on water-skis.

The next day we visited Noah's Ark Waterpark. After a fun day filled with water, sun, and great food, we ventured back to our hotel where we rested up for another exciting day.

Next on the agenda was the House on the Rock, which had so many amazing rooms! We all enjoyed the Infinity Room, even though it made us nervous. We also got the opportunity to see a giant octopus whale, a butterfly room, a circus room, and a ton of cool lights.

Our final day was an exciting one! We stopped in Wabasha, MN and visited the place where the movie Grumpy Old Men was filmed. Then, we learned about our national bird at the National Eagle Center. Once we arrived home, we were all anxious to see our friends and family, and to sleep in our own beds!

Disney World, FL

Our vacation to Disney World was an exciting one! We had to get up at 4:00a.m. in order to catch our flight. Once we arrived in Florida, we caught the Disney Magical Express which took us straight to our Pop Century Resort. During our 5-day vacation, we managed to see an abundance of major attractions! Our first stop was the Epcot center. Here, everyone enjoyed the variety of rides, and seeing the beautiful underwater creatures. The rest of the trip was packed with amazing shows, restaurants, and parks; such as the Tower of Terror, DINO Land U.S.A., Hollywood Studios, Peco Bill's Tall Tale Inn and Cafe, and Mickey's Toon Town. We all had an amazing vacation, but we were sad to see it end!

On the scene from a movie set!

Pocohantas!

DINOLand, U.S.A.

Epcot Center!

The Seas with Nemo and Friends

Branson

Our trip to Branson, Missouri started bright and early when we left Mankato at 7a.m. Once we finally arrived, we checked into our hotel, then walked over to Pizza World for supper! The next day, we got to explore the beautiful sites in Branson when we got to Ride the Ducks. Each of us even got to drive the boats! Throughout the next four days we saw tons of amazing things. Some of the major highlights included the Waltzing Waters Show, Dixie Stampede, the Kirby VanBurch Magic Show, Ripley's Believe It or Not, the Brett Family, and the Hamner Barber Variety Show. Overall, the trip was an amazing experience and we all created memories that will last a lifetime!

After the show, we got autographs and a picture with Hamner and Barber!

Richard and Timothy loved quacking their quackers.

Florida Keys & Dolphin Research Center

Our trip to Key West started off with a smooth plane ride to Miami. Once on the ground, we gathered our stuff and rented a van to drive to Key West arriving to Hanks Cay around 8pm.

On Day 2 we ate breakfast at IHOP and everyone loved it! We went to the Dolphin Research Center only to find out that they were full for the day so we made reservations for tomorrow. Our group was a little bummed but we decided to make the best of it and headed back to the hotel where we spent the afternoon in the hotel pool and relaxing in the hot tub. That night we treated ourselves to dinner at the Barraccuda Grill.

Finally on our third day we got to go swimming with the dolphins! Our dolphin was Talon, the grandson to Flipper, the famous TV dolphin!

We spent the following day at Key West. We took a trolley ride through the Historic Site of American Company. After that we went to the Key West Aquarium and Museum. There we got to pet a shark and some of us even held a baby alligator!

We were all sad that our trip had to come to an end but on our final day we packed our bags and said goodbye to Florida. Even though the weather was as "tropical" as we had hoped, all vacationers agreed that it was an experience they would remember forever.

Disney World at Christmas '09

Our trip to Disney World started bright and early at LEEP. Once we got to Florida we checked into our hotel, Disney Pop Century where we couldn't wait to get settled in!


On our 2nd day in Florida we went to Animal Kingdom where we got to see Finding Nemo the Musical and the 3D Bug's Life Show! In the evening we met Goofy and Donald Duck and watched an amazing firework show over Cinderella’s castle.
On the 3rd day of vacation we stopped on over at the Magic Kingdom and shopped down “Main Street USA!” During our visit we met the “Incredibles” and watched a Monster’s Inc. show.

On Day 4 we ate our hotel and headed to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The High School Musical performance and an American Idol Experience were pretty awesome! Later that night we headed over to watch another amazing firework show which was a perfect way to end our visit to Mickey's house.
On our final day in sunny Florida we packed our bags and headed North to Minnesota. Everyone had a terrific time at Disney World and definitely didn't want to return to the blustery Midwest!