Picnic, Zoo, Swim

We started our day with a picnic in the park.

Definitely something we don't do enough.  It's funny how tasty your homemade lunch is when you are sharing it with these adorable little creatures.  We could tell it was going to be a hot day but the temperature during our lunch was perfect.  Warm but not humid and as long as we stayed in the shade it was comfortable.

After lunch we walked over to the zoo.

We started with the Flamingos and ducks, made our way to the turtle, seal, penguins and fish.

We made our next stop at the Polar Bear, hit up the other hoofed animals, checked out the tiger and lion and then finished up with the giraffes, zebra, ostrich and of course the monkeys.

The Como Zoo just opened a new Gorilla Forest exhibit.  This new exhibit brings you up close and personal with the gorillas- it is pretty cool.  We were way to hot and sweaty to sit and spend the kind of time I would have liked to there but good news is that we live close and this won't be the last time we are there.

I need to head over there during the week someday on my lunch when the kids are back to school.

After our zoo trip we went back to Kari's for a swim.

The girls and I are sleeping over there tonight since she is watching the girls for me tomorrow while I have to work.  Made more sense than waking up to drive across the city to drop off and then back half way to work.  It didn't take the kids long to get their suits on and head out to the pool.

Mom, Tom, Grandma and Bob came over and were able to sit out at the pool with Kari and visit while the kids, Kim and I went swimming.  

Some fun pictures taken with my new underwater camera!

Taste the Rainbow

It sounded like a good idea with good intentions at the time.

It really did.

Loriann and Molly agreed.  So much to the point that they helped me convince Dave and Ariel that it would be a good idea too.  

The Color Run- The happiest 5K on the planet.

Now, to be fair, when we signed up for this many months ago we had a plan to actually run this 5K.

Then life happened and none of us (well, not the three of us) are prepared.

Thankfully this 'race' is a walk friendly course and rumor has it there are so many people involved that it's hard to actually run anyways.  Whew!  

The plan is to wear white, go through the course and get as colorful (or dirty) as possible.

Throughout the course there are color stations set up- there are also guys driving around in golf carts squirting the race participants with colored water.  

As you approach the station you run/walk under a sprinkling over water and as you move through the color stations you are doused with powder.  The powder sticks to the water and your quest to become filthy begins.

It was FUN!

There were people of all ages and some even brought their little ones out.

We agreed that this would be a must-do with the kids next summer.

That blue stripe in Molly's hair stuck around for a good 5 days after the event....oopie!

We were all given a color packet to toss in the air during the finish-line celebration.

It was super cool to watch from afar but impossible to catch a true image of what it looked like when you were standing in the middle of all the action.

I love this picture!

Me, Dave, Loriann, Molly, and Ariel

Definitely will do it again!  Good times!

Hannah 1, Mom 0 : Go Cart 1, Agustin 0

Kari has taught herself how to crochet.

Kim and Jennie both wanted to learn so Kari had brought them some yarn and needles (are they called needles?!).  Hannah was listening to Kari give instructions to Kim and Jennie and then asked if  she could try.

Kari got her started and she sat at the table and crocheted.

Kim got the hang of it pretty fast and was determined to make this her new hobby.

Hannah made a chain long enough to satisfy her curiosity- she decided this would be her baby's new scarf! 

Next up- THE GO CART!

Brian fixed the go cart a few weeks back and today the girls were excited to show the boys.

Nico, Hannah and Hailey started discussing who was gonna go first, etc and Agustin was in the cabin.  He was not interested in what we were up to....well, to be fair he was interested in what we were doing but not too sure about whether or not this was a good idea.

Unfortunately for the kids, Brian was NOT up here this weekend so the kids had to wait a good 15 minutes before the women in the family could finally pull the cord (you know, like a lawn mower) hard enough to get the darn thing started.

Nico, Hannah and Hailey all took their turns going for rides.  After Nico's first ride he was done.  Glad he did it but didn't feel the need to try again.

It took us a good 10 minutes to finally convince Agustin to let Jennie take him for a ride.....and he needed a lot of convincing!  Jennie promised she would go slow and she held up her end of the bargain.

Hannah and Nico stood at the end of the road, hand in hand, talking.

They have not been able to get enough of each other!  I love that they are so close and love to spend time together. Crazy to think that Hannah is 5 (6 in September) and Nico is 7 (8 in March) and they are the same size.  Hannah might even be a little taller than him.

Cabin! Cabin!

The girls and I headed to the lake tonight.  

We made our weekly stop at the Pizza Pub and then made our way to the park.

Agustin found this hat while at the cabin and wore it all night.  Even while running around at the park chasing his aunties- or sending Nico to do the chasing while he supervised :-)  Someone has gotta man the fort- right?!

Just a few hours into the weekend and these two are already inseparable.

Welcome back to Minnesota!

Kari and the boys arrived today.

For the past few summers they have been coming earlier than everyone else.  Poor Andres still has to work, he will be joining them in the beginning of August.

Although we miss him, it is nice to see Kari, Agustin, and Nicolas for an extra few weeks!

I talked to Kari a few days ago about her thoughts on coming out to our place for dinner tonight and then joining us for Hannah's T ball game.  I was pleasantly surprised when she agreed that it was a good idea.

The girls were SO excited for the boys to arrive and when they finally pulled up all of us were jumping up and down.  Before the car was even in park Nicolas had jumped out - proof that I think they were pretty excited too :-)

The kids picked up right where they left off.  

They got together and before we knew it they had disappeared off to play.

It was nice to have everyone out for Hannah's game tonight- she enjoyed it as well.

It was fun to see Kari and her boys watch how much Hailey has come out of her shell since last year.

Can't wait to spend more time with these guys!

Oh NO!

Over the past few weeks there have been notes at Hannah's school that kids have been out with strep throat.

1.  I really appreciate knowing

2. I figured it was only a matter of time

A few days ago Hannah started waking up with a hoarse voice.

This morning when she woke up it was hoarse and didn't get much better as the morning progressed.  I picked her up from daycare and her voice was still scratchy.  I asked her how she felt and she said her throat hurt a little bit.

With Kari and the boys coming home tomorrow I knew I had to act fast.

I brought her into Target's Minute Clinic and she tested positive for Strep Throat.

I knew all of those years working in Peds would pay off :-)

It took a while for the Nurse Practitioner to confirm the test was positive so not sure if it was a mild case or if we just caught it right at the beginning but I was happy to be leaving there with antibiotics- and a kid who overall felt pretty good!

Three's a party!

Hailey was overjoyed to see that Abby and Lexi were both at T-Ball tonight.

The excitement grew when she saw that Lexi brought the same baby and baby carrier!

It took all of 2 minutes before they warmed up to each other :-)

One- Two- Three- SWING!

Until next time

This was a GREAT weekend!

The weather was mostly perfect and the company couldn't have been better!

The lake looked so calm today as we were leaving.  I can't wait until we finally get our boat out!!

Ready for a comeback?!

 

We had a few rebirths this weekend at the lake.

1.  Kristin and Bobby drug the PaddleBoat to the lake, gave her a good scrubbin and took her for a spin out in the lake.  This thing hasn't seen water in years!

2.  Kristin, Kim, Bobby, Joe, and Brian moved the dock and boat lift back into place (they had turned and moved during this last week- what a headache). 

3.  Brian completed the work on the deck and it looks FABULOUS!

4.  The go-cart made it's first run down Maple Knoll (and second, third, forth, fifth....sixteenth....)

Summer HAS officially started!

There are many signs that summer has officially started.

The sounds of lawn mowers and chain saws, the smell of sunscreen and bug spray, the fact that baseball is on TV almost every night, shoes are traded for flip flops and coats are traded for sunglasses.  Weekends mean trips to the cabin and almost every meal includes corn on the cob.

But it isn't really summer until you have had the first swim in the lake.

It was a perfect day for the water.  The water was a perfect temperature and although the lake is still full of weeds it sure didn't stop us from enjoying our day.

 

Brian spent ANOTHER day working on the deck.

Hope he realizes how much everyone appreciates this!

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July! 

or

 Happy Celebrate America! as Hannah would say

The girls and grandma comparing iPad backgrounds

 Mom and I took the girls for a walk today.

Well, actually mom and I walked while the girls drove their Barbie car....must be rough, huh?

They loved it and even brought along their iPod so they could play music.

Things were going so smooth so we decided to take the long route.  We got to the half way point and needed to turn around.  It was Hailey's turn to drive but the car wasn't moving very fast....uh oh.

We wondered if she had put it into slow mode or wasn't pushing all the way down on the pedal.

Nope, no such luck.  We were running out of battery power.

SHOOT!

Hannah and my mom started walking back to the cabin a little faster so they could get my mom's van so we could hitch a ride back.  I leaned over and started to push the car and with Hailey pushing on the pedal we were actually moving pretty good so we decided to try to make it, or at least as far as we could before we would be stranded waiting for grandma and Hannah to rescue us.

When we got back onto the main stretch of road Hannah turned around and saw that I was pushing, she immediately came over and told me that she could help and she took over pushing.

WHAT A KID!

We made it back and didn't need grandma's van after all but I think we will think twice about doing that again.

 

 Brian worked hard today on the deck so when it came time to head into town to see the fireworks it seemed appropriate for him to stay put and do some relaxing (finally!).

We went to Braham, about 15 min away.

It's such a small town that I am pretty sure we were the only ones there that nobody knew.

The girls did great while we sat and waited for the show to start.  

The sky was FULL of fireflies.  At one point you could look into the field and it actually looked like glitter, it was super cool.  It's been a while since I have seen fireflies and pretty sure this was the first time the girls were actually exposed to them where they cared enough to watch for them and point them out.  They were pretty interested.

The show started a little after 10 and lasted for 15 min or so.  

Pretty sure summer has officially started!

 

Let the vacation begin!

Looking forward to a nice long weekend at the cabin!

Brian hopes to finish the deck and the girls and I hope to get our first swim in.

This is the first weekend in a long time that I can remember coming to the lake without feeling guilty like I should be trying to bring some work to get done (not saying that I ever do or ever have but doesn't mean the feeling doesn't stick with me all weekend).  I plan to just be here, with my family, enjoying the cabin the way it was meant to be.  Disconnect and soak it in....well, there might be a little Candy Crush played....don't judge.

2nd Base

Hannah's friend Julia was playing 2nd base tonight.

Once Hannah got on base they were super excited to see each other and they sure made the most of it.

They stood there like two little teenagers gabbing away while waiting for the batter to hit the ball.

Not sure what they were talking about but they were really into their conversation.

Absolutely LOVE watching these little kids have their own interactions!

Hula Hoopin' Booty Shakin'

New style of hula hoop- stand, bend, shake booty

This little girl is FILLED with personality.

She is generally a VERY happy little girl who can entertain herself for hours.

She is the perfect amount of silly mixed with just enough 'monster' to keep you on your toes.

She can be sweet or sassy at your request and loves to make others laugh- although will only entertain you on her terms.

Shy as can be but still very friendly and will say hi to almost anything/anyone she comes in contact with.....she just needs to be the one to make the first contact.

I couldn't imagine our family without her in it.