gotta clean off my phone

Apparently I have too many videos and pictures on my phone, time to clean it off.  

Here it goes, what we've been up to lately.....

My two aunts, Jackie & Jo, and cousin, Anthony, came to stay with us for the big USA Cup soccer tournament here in Blaine.  We got to see Anthony play in 2 games (record of 1-1).  "Go Tony!"

Auntie Jackie stayed with Henry one night while Phil & I went to the Kenny Chesney concert at Target Field.  SO MUCH FUN!  It was an absolute blast!  The Zac Brown Band opened for Kenny, which was phenomenal as well.  Oh, how I heart country music!

The Parks & Rec department puts on various activities around the parks in Blaine throughout the summer.  Here we are watching a wacky magician (his jokes were way over Henry's head, but when the other kids were clapping and laughing, he'll join in too).

This week was our last week of Storytime at the library for the summer (Is August really just around the corner?).  Henry gave Ms Mary one big giant hug when it was all said and done.  For some reason, on this date, he was the only boy with 10 other little girlies.  Lucky guy :)  

A few weeks ago, Blaine celebrated their Blazin' 4th Festival.  The parade started right at noon, so I thought we'd check it out for about 45 minutes and then go have lunch and head home.  Nope, Henry stood there for 2 straight hours and watched the whole thing!  Next time I know - bring a blanket!

The following day was the Blazin' Carnival.  Henry wanted to go on the BIG ferris wheel.  I thought for sure we'd get the tickets, get in line, and then at the last second, he'd chicken out (I know his track record and he's been known to be a big talker).  So I made sure we sat and watched it for a few rounds before making any decisions.  Well, he went for it, and really liked it.  He had quite the grip on my leg, but loved the view from above!  You can't go to a carnival without a treat, of course.  Strawberry ice cream it was :)

We've been loving our afternoons, just playing outside in the neighborhood with friends.  Gotta love old school sprinklers here.  This is Ben, who Henry idolizes (he's a "bigger" boy, 7 years old).  They live across the street in the newest house on the block.  "My new friend" he always calls him :)

I walked into Henry's room to wake him up after a nap the other day, didn't see him in bed, but didn't hear him either.  Here he was, snuggled up on the ground, covered up with a blanket, and sweating like crazy!  

The Andover Cinema has been showing kids' movies on Wednesday mornings.  This past Wednesday, it was kinda rainy and chilly, perfect for a movie date.  We went to see Stuart Little, here's Stuart on the big screen.  We lasted about 50 minutes (probably just until Henry got full off his popcorn) and then he said he was done and it was time to go home to play!  

road trip

Saturday was such a beautiful day here, 78* and sunny - you really can't beat that!  We road tripped to Taylors Falls, thought we'd check it out as we've never been there before.  We went to Interstate State Park to do a little hiking and got to watch some pretty cool rock climbing, and had a picnic lunch as well.  

Taylors Falls and their neighboring city, St. Croix Falls, WI were having their annual Wannigan Days celebration (had to look up what a wannigan was - a wooden box that you store food in when you're on a canoe or sledding trip, good trivia for you).  Of course, the fire department was there in full force.  Somebody sure liked shooting the fire hose :)

Oh, do we love these beautiful summer days!

big boy room

Henry made the transition to a new room (down the hall) with BLUE carpet, new bed, new everything a few weeks ago.  We talked it up around here for quite a while before the big day.  In theory, he was loving the idea of a "big boy room" but I still prepared myself for him NOT being a fan when the day finally came to make the move.  I took the sheets off the crib, got rid of them, and closed the door to his old room.  I told him we had to get that room ready for the new baby now.  He's been absolutely great in his new room, which honestly has been a bit of a shocker to me.  There's only been 2 escapes out of bed, once in the middle of the night when he came sprinting down the hall in a panic (maybe he fell out, not sure??) and the other one the next morning when he came into our room and said "Mama, you forgot to come find me, so I came and found you!"

I've been singing "You Are My Sunshine" to him every night for as long as I can remember.  Thank you Etsy for this canvas print :)

America's birthday

Henry's Old Papa and Great Uncle Matt were in town for a couple days around the 4th of July.  Henry couldn't get enough of "man-time" with the guys!  I say this every time he gets to see his Old Papa, but he is so lucky to have a Great-Grandpa who gets down on the floor and really plays with him :)

We were supposed to have a boat parade that was going to go through our lake, so there we were, sitting out on the deck for an hour, it was 90* outside, waiting for this parade of pontoons to come through.....and nothing!  Apparently, we found out later that there were only 4 boats in the parade and they skipped our lake all together, it was a big bust, oh well.  

So, off to the VFW for lunch we went.  Burgers and dogs at the VFW on the 4th of July, how patriotic!

After a good nap, we headed over to the Hausmann's for our annual 4th of July party, complete with lots of water fun and great grilling as always.  It was a hot and sunny day out there, perfect for the water slide!

Jed certainly put on quite a show with his fireworks display in their backyard.  Henry was loving stomping on the snaps the most ("snaps" may be a NoDak term, not sure what they call them here in MN).

By the time we made it home and visited with the neighbors who were out lighting their fireworks, I don't think Henry got to bed until 9:30pm that night, probably the latest night of his life - party animal!

water lovers

Now that summer has officially arrived, it seems like all of our play-dates have revolved around WATER!  We have to take advantage of these water-days while we can :)  

First up, swimming at Baby Izzy's pool.  Izzy is going on 6 months old, and was an absolute trooper hanging by the pool one morning when we came to visit.  A week later, we upped the ante when Phil came with us this time and we had a pizza party on the deck with the Nelson's.  Does it get much better than swimming and pizza, probably not?!

Owen made a trip to visit us at our Blaine beach and splash pad one morning.   Yep, Henry sure is trying to drink from the splash pad here, I know, gross.   

Ben & Kate also came to check out the Blaine beach one day, too.  Kate was such a rockstar, broken arm and all, kept that thing out of the water and played the whole time!

We met Harrison at the Maple Grove beach last week, which was SUCH a nice beach (and they have a huge park nearby too, but we didn't have time to check that out on this visit), it's even chlorinated, which I don't understand how that's even possible.  I would definitely come back here!

Henry sure loves his snacks while he's swimming.  We aren't in the water more than 30 minutes and the boy is "soooo hungry for snack!"