Winter in Duluth for Work and for Fun: Bentleyville Edition

Jolly old St. Nick made a return visit per the usual.

As he does every December 6. 

Theo got a Frank Lloyd Wright shapes book, motorcycle duplos, christmas pajamas, an ornament and an applesauce pouch.

Meadow got an ornament, a Princess in Black book, unikitty legos, a Frozen kinderegg and gingerbread pajamas. The tooth fairy also came that night.

The kids added their ornaments to their tree.

That night we drove up to Duluth for some work and fun. The first attempt at shooting my aerial 360 near Bentleyville ran into some technical difficulties. With that shoot postponed we met up with G.G., Grandpa, Blake and Daniel at some bbq joint in Superior.

My parents happened to be in the town the same weekend as us. We had planned to do the shoot quick while my parents watched the kids, then head out to eat. The shoot was taking way longer than planned so they took our kids with them, but we ended up meeting them at the same time anyway.

This place was in the outskirts of Superior.

I'm the only one who got ribs.

I didn't realize that we were coming here for fish.

That's what you do on Friday's.

At a BBQ joint?

I'd come back here for the bar. Maybe try the fish next time. The ribs were just OK.

Visit Duluth put us up in a hotel for the night. 

At first they couldn't find our reservation. They had us booked under Buska. 

Sweet dreams little dude.

It looks like we were having fun, but I was up with a puking Theo all night. With the bad luck with the drone and Theo being sick we almost went home early.

My parents had a view of the lift bridge and Bentleyville from their hotel window. This is what we got.

The town gets booked up during Bentleyville.

Scott picked up a new drone and Theo seemed to be feeling better so we stuck around. We met up with my parents fancy hotel room at Pier B.

Then we drove to the nearby high school and took a shuttle over to Glensheen for their Christmas Market.

Today was the Duluth Winter Village at Glensheen.

Hey Holidazzle, this is how you do a winter market.

I'm shooting winter shots for Visit Duluth and this was the perfect opportunity to get some photos.

Theo looked like he was getting sick again after puking all night. Somehow he made it through the rest of the day.

You knew Meadow was going to get herself a s'more.

The Christmas village in the carriage house was so cute.

One vendor was a toy store. Meadow wanted this little princess figure. I asked her if she brought her money and she said, no. Grandpa did.

We were ready to eat and Theo was getting too heavy to carry around.

Mama's boy.

Theo was not happy about having someone else hold him.

We shared a giant pretzel.

I got Swedish meatballs.

Brooke and I had to get back to hotel to shoot the drone shot. We left Meadow with Brooke's parents and headed back.

They were going on a tour of Glensheen.

This beautiful sunset came out of nowhere.

After having issues with my drone the night before we flew without a hitch.

Check out the whole 360 I created for Visit Duluth here.

Theo was a good boy while Brooke was my visual observer.

We hung out at the hotel for a bit while we waited for everyone.

They spent a long time at Glensheen.

We were supposed to go to all-you-can-eat-sushi but it was getting late.

And your dad would not eat it.

My parents picked up Jimmy John's instead.

Then we headed to the Norshor Theater for the Wizard of Oz. Daniel had created the projections for the show and got us all free tickets. It was a pretty good show. Even Theo loved it. I was worried he wouldn't make it through the show. He only got a little antsy near the end.

We were having breakfast the next morning when Theo puked again. Note to self: no juice, not even apple juice when your kiddos tummy hurts.

I thought he was just tired. Poor guy. We had to take our food to go.

We met back at my parents hotel to find Meadow checking out the outdoor hot tub. She had stayed with my parents at their hotel.

We ended up eating our breakfast back at Brooke's parents hotel.

Not with Brandy.

No, Brooke's parents just bring booze with them on trips.

I stayed back with Theo and watched a stream of the Packers game.

Blake wanted to take the rest of us to a Norwegian Market in Knife River. We stopped at an Estate Sale on the way.

This house was super cool. Hard to tell with all the stuff but the kitchen had a little breakfast nook with views of the lake.

The dining room had this crazy ceiling.

If it wasn't $195...

The addition on the old house was done in an art deco style.

You have enough stuffed animals Meadow. She did get a learning clock and some barbies.

This market was much smaller than yesterdays.

Inside the tent there was crafts to do. You can bet Meadow wanted to do them all. She made a wired heart ornament. The instructor was so impressed that Meadow was able to do it herself. I said this is her element.

Heart waffles for Meadow.

Across the way was the Troll Village.

There was an obstacle course for kids that Meadow did 5 times.

Hey it's Marina road.

Everyone came back in time to visit Bentleyville.

We weren't planning to stay this late, but we promised Meadow we'd take her to Bentleyville this weekend.

Actually I had to get shots for Visit Duluth. Brooke might have not known that.

The slip between Pier B and Bentleyville would be a sweet ice rink once it froze over.

We took the shuttle from Pier B which was a total joke. We waited longer than it would have taken for us to walk over.

I thought it was fun.

Missed you, Bentleyville.

Could come just for the cookies.

My dad couldn't believe everything was free.

Theo got to ride in the stroller. Poor kid still hadn't eaten much this weekend.

I couldn't believe how busy it still was for a Sunday night.

Mrs. Claus's line was way shorter than Santa's. I kept urging Meadow to tell her what she wanted for Christmas so we could skip Santa this year. She chickened out though.

How could you skip the popcorn line?

My favorite part is roasting marshmallows.

They split the paths this year for a side romantic lane.

I think Theo enjoyed the stroller as much as the lights.

And finally getting to eat.

We took the shuttle back then drove on back to Minneapolis.