July

Summer, where did you go?  

I'm pretty sure this one is going back to the end of June.  Phil's dear friend, Curt, got married to a lovely young lady, Amy, at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chaska.  Such a beautiful day at a beautiful venue for the beautiful and happy couple!   

July 4th - it's all about the red, white, and blue, right?!  We started the day out right!

Once again, we went to our friends', Jed & Tara Hausmann's for their annual 4th of July get-together. We had a hot and sunny day outside, perfect for "the pool" as Henry calls it every year!

Jed always has an impressive fireworks display and fabulous food on the grill, as well!  The kids enjoyed some fishing down at the creek too.  

Thanks to Sonja for some tickets to the St. Paul Saints game at CHS Field.  It was my first time ever there, good times!  Henry brought his glove, ready for every pitch, hoping for that foul ball :) 

It was Superhero night when we were there.  Look at Lydia, admiring Mudonna T. Pig aka WonderWoman!

Oma & Opa took us out on a boat ride one Sunday morning on Coon Lake.  We WERE having a good time, until Miss Independent had to drive the boat BY HERSELF and also wanted her life jacket OFF NOW!  After that little incident, it was time for Lydia and I to head home.  

Henry and Phil stayed to do some fishing, and they were quite successful!  I got multiple pictures like this one throughout the morning, showing off all their hard work!  Henry just couldn't quite get too close to the big fish yet.  He said, "I'm sick of catching big fish.  I want to catch more little fish!"  Oh, what a problem to have :)

I've had a Bucket List going throughout the summer of all the new places I wanted to check out.  Here's one of the splash pads, at Andrews Park, in Champlin.....  

.....and another splash pad, at Emerald Park, in St. Anthony.  

They would go back and forth between the splash pad and the park, then we'd always bring a picnic lunch before heading home :)

Kenny Chesney returned to Target Field this summer, sweeeeeeeeet!  Oh my, I LOVE me a good country music concert :)  Luckily, I found a pair of cowboy boots in my closet that I bought in college and wore once.  So, 15 years later, they worked perfectly for the occasion!  I just knew I saved them all this time for some reason.

Lydia, oh Lydia, you little stinker :)  So, she got her little paws into the sunflower seeds that the big kids were eating one day outside with our neighbors, and of course, shoved them in her mouth when I tried to take them away.  It didn't seem like a huge deal at all, she coughed/choked them out of her mouth as I was trying to dig them out and we went on with our day.  Two days later, she woke up wheezing pretty good.  I thought it was either a horrible coincidence that she now has some sort of virus, or she possible aspirated a sunflower seed down into her lungs 2 days prior.  Fast forward about 8 hours and she's in the ER at Children's Hospital.  We got admitted overnight, then she had a date in the operating room with the ENT surgeon, who found 3 little pieces of seed, 2 stuck in her tiny little windpipe and 1 down in her lungs.  As soon as she was out of surgery, the wheezing was gone, good to go, back to normal.  Scary!!  

Our sweet neighbors brought her over a bouquet of sunflowers the day she got out of the hospital :)

the Dells

We made out first ever trip to the Wisconsin Dells last month with some great friends.  We stayed in a  condo with 3 other families at the Wilderness Resort.  Oh my gosh, it was an absolute blast!  I was a little worried that there wouldn't be enough activities for the wee little ones to do while we were there, but thankfully I was so wrong.  Once again, we lucked out with beautiful weather, 85 degrees and sunny each day!  At the Wilderness, there are 4 separate outdoor water parks and within each of those water parks were slides/pools/splash pads/etc for all ages to enjoy.  Phil and I even took down a few water slides!  We enjoyed plenty of good food and drinks at our condo, as well!

Violet and Henry enjoying a little iPad time over breakfast :)

Calvin, Tommy, Henry, Ben, Anna, Lydia, Kate, and Violet.  

Henry just looks up to those two big boys so much :)

This slide was a BIG hit with Henry.  He went down it again and again and again and again!  It was the perfect size for him to enjoy it on his own.  He and Phil also went down a few of the big tube slides together! 

They had the cutest little play areas for the babies!

This was one of her favorite slides, many times over (contrary to the terrified look on her face here).

Henry and Violet were LOVING this pool.  I'm pretty sure they jumped in for a couple straight hours.  They had to have been exhausted that day!

Oh, what a fabulous trip with friends!  Can't wait to do it again sometime!

at the cabin with the Krumps

For Mark & Mary's birthdays this year, we all decided to rent a cabin on Nelson Lake in Hayward, WI for a long weekend of fun!  We had such a beautiful weekend to enjoy the great outdoors, full of plenty of sunshine.  We spent most of our time relaxing at the cabin, eating and drinking plenty, cruising on the boat, fishing, or playing at the beach.

One evening we did head into town for dinner.  Here are the cousins after dinner - Greta, Lydia, Gabriel, and Henry.  Oh man, these cousins all had such a great time with each other.  Greta & Henry just LOVE being together!

Who needs water to paddle board?  Not this girl :)

There was a tiny little beach area, which was just 2 miles from our cabin.  It was perfect for the kids, and they had the place to themselves each morning.  

Mark & Mary brought their boat and "the torpedo" also made the trip.  It had been probably 15-20 years since the last time I had gone tubing, so I had to get on "the torpedo" and give it a whirl!  Here are Phil and Greta, chugging through the water.  Henry also got on with Phil at one point.  How brave of those two little ones!

We had to enjoy a fire with s'mores one night, of course! 

On our last day there, we made a stop at the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame in Hayward.  Henry is sooooo into fishing right now, so I thought he'd really get a kick out of this place.  I loved the huge fish statues!  Here's the one where you had to climb quite a few stairs to peek out of his huge mouth.

Oma, Lydia, Henry, & Opa.  You can't tell Lydia to "smile" or she closes her eyes and looks down like she's doing here :)

Biiiiiiiiiig fishy behind us!

The kids were singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" here, and you can see they're rowing quite fast :)

Teeter.....

.....Totter

One last stop before heading home - West's Dairy for some fabulous ice cream.  Two thumbs up from Henry and it appears Lydia is giving it many fingers up :)