Our day at the fair

The kids and I went to the Great Minnesota Get Together yesterday (a.k.a., the state fair). We hadn't been there since Will was born so I was excited to spend the day there. The weather cooperated VERY well and it was a gorgeous day. Warm in the sun - cool in the shade.

We rode the bus to the fair because I hate driving in the twin cities where I don't know where I'm going. Plus, the kids enjoyed riding a big bus. We got to the fair at about 9:00 am. First stop was the Minnesota Public Radio booth where they took our picture.

They we headed over to an area near the Grandstand where Radio Disney was supposed to be setting up shop for the day. Online it had said the first 4,000 kids who stopped by after 10:00 would get goody bags. Well, the goody bags weren't much to sneeze at - some magnets, a bag, etc. However, Radio Disney was going to be putting on a little show at a near by stage so we hunkered down and stayed to watch. There was a dance troop that performed to some songs from Camp Rock and High School Musical - movies that Katie happens to LOVE. So she rocked out to the songs and because she was SO into it she got a Jonas Brother's necklace given to her. :) (Eat your heart out Sarah!)

Then they called for some kids to come up and dance onstage - hardly anyone went up...I suggested to Katie that she go on up. I think I just finished my sentence and next thing I knew she was OFF! Can't keep Katie from 'performing'.

Here Katie is showing off her moves to the "Hoedown Throwdown"

We listen to Radio Disney A LOT. It's a good radio station, not many commercials. Here in the twin cities we can get it on AM 1440. Each day they announce a 'code word'. During their call in contests kids can call in, say the code word and win a prize. We happened to hear that morning that the 'code word' for the day was locker. After Katie danced to a couple songs they asked if anyone knew the code word. I told Katie to run up there - she knew it. She got to say her name into the microphone, as well as the code word. That would have been prize enough for her...but she also won a whole set of back to school stuff - folders, notebooks, ruler, pencils, eraser, sharpener, pencil bag - all covered with Disney characters. :)

To round out our day we rode on some rides, played some games, ate corn dogs, pizza, french fries, crab cakes and cotton candy. A nice finale for our summer before school starts next week.

Friday Funny

In honor of the Minnesota State Fair which started yesterday....

Goofing around

Some days there is not too much to entertain the kids. Luckily, now that they are older they can somewhat come up with ideas to entertain themselves - even if it's only for 15 minutes. They really like to have a playmate in each other and it's so wonderful to watch them spend time together.

The kids put on a puppet show for me last week.

When Will is by himself, he has trouble finding constructive ways to pass the time.

A weekend in Iowa

This past weekend we spent visiting family in Iowa. It had been about 2 months since our last visit so we were excited to get back again.


On Friday the kids were able to get acquainted with their baby cousins who had gotten lots bigger since we saw them last. Katie liked talking to them now that they were making sounds and squeals. Will thought they were ok - he didn't pay too much attention to them, which in our experience is better that way.

Emily and Ethan - 4 months old (Jeff and Erica's twins)

On Saturday night the kids and I went to my cousin's wedding reception and dance. My cousin Megan and I were very close when we were kids - sleepovers and all that jazz so it was fun to see her all dressed up and happily hitched. Of course the kids had a good time - dancing and running around the ballroom.

I tried to get Katie to drink a Kiddie Cocktail, but it had 'bubbles' in it so she wouldn't touch it. I, on the other hand, was taken back in time to when I was 7 or 8 and went with my parents out to eat. It seemed like once a week we'd head over to Prairie du Chien's Blue Heaven and the bartender - (who I can't remember his name, but it was always the same guy) - would make me a Kiddie Cocktail with extra cherries. So, I got a full dose of nostalgia with my wedding drinks - which were free. Will discovered he quite liked them and sucked my last one down before I got much of it.

On Sunday the weather turned beautiful and the kids had a great time out at the farm. They went on four-wheeler rides and ran around outside in general. John took me for my first four-wheeler ride in about 3 years. We explored some new land that the family recently purchased and checked out John and Jim's fencing job from that weekend. I also got to drive the four-wheeler, and didn't do too badly. I almost threw John off the back, but once I got the shifting under control it was much better.

Katie and Will pretending to take a ride.

"Mom says I have to be HOW OLD before I can drive a tractor???"

Friday Funny

Katie's Week

Katie has had a busy week. This whole week she has been going to Vacation Bible School for the first time. Our church has 4-5 VBS programs throughout the summer and this one was JUST for preschoolers (3-5) who hadn't started kindergarten yet. From 9:30 - 12 she is there all week and having a great time. As long as they sing songs and make crafts - she isn't complaining.

Lots of schools are starting this week - good luck to all who venture back. Minnesota start until the day after Labor Day. Since it's a little later than usual this year, that means school doesn't start until September 8th. Katie starts September 10th. She has an assessment day either September 8th or 9th where she goes to the kindergarten center to be evaluated on her reading and math skills. That way they can get a sense of where she's at for placement in classroom groups, etc.

What's that? You want a picture? Sorry - this is all you get today. :)

Good movie, rough morning

Ratatoullie was on tv for the first time Saturday night. It's a Disney movie about a rat in Paris that has a passion for cooking and helps a poor young man fool everyone into thinking that he is a great chef. It really is a nice movie.

Katie has seen it before, but she was behaving well so I told her she could stay up to watch it. It didn't get over until 9 so that was going to be a bit past bedtime.

Will was also transfixed by the movie and literally did not move.

Our late evening did make for a little rough start on Sunday morning - BUT, we did make it to church for the first time since May so it couldn't have been TOO bad.

Friday Funnies

Up, up and away

Here was the view above our house this morning.

Katie and I were excited to see the Goodyear Blimp (thanks to the PGA), but Will...not so much. He said the blimp was "sceewey" at first. Now, he seems ok with talking about it, but it'll be back tomorrow I'm sure so I hope he still isn't freaked out.

FORE!

Is that how you spell 'fore'? I'm talking in terms of golf. This week the PGA Championship is at Hazeltine Golf Course, which is not too far from us. They say 98 of the world's best golfers are here. As you can see, I think we could give them some tips.

This past weekend the four of us went to a nearby driving range so John could get some practice in, and so the kids could burn off some energy. It wasn't busy at all so we were able to have our own little area. John had clubs (obviously), Will had clubs (lefties!), and Katie had clubs.

Katie got some good shots off, considering the clubs were big for her. She wasn't getting frustrated...much, and that's always a blessing. Will was having a good time - playing in puddles and throwing the balls. And believe it or not, I rocked those golf balls. I hit about a dozen and each one - I kid you not - went straight out, up in the air, about 100-120 yards. I quit while I was ahead.

Check out that form!

We were lucky Will didn't clock anyone with his club.

Weekend of Parties

Last Saturday was our friend, Jamie's 30th birthday. (Our friend Laurel also turned 30 on Monday!!) Jamie's husband threw her a surprise party at a nearby rec center. Since ice skating is one of her favorite activities, he reserved an entire rink just for us.

That blur in the middle of the picture is the birthday girl. Needless to say, none of us raced her.

Katie had taken lessons this past winter so she was excited to get out there again, and she did a wonderful job of staying vertical. I don't think she fell down once! John got out on the ice for approximately the third time in his life, and I squeezed my feet into skates for the first time ever.

Jamie's Dad was nice enough to escort me around the ice while I held on for dear life.

John took off on his own and also stayed vertical the whole time.

Would we go ice skating again? Yeah, I think so...I'll spend a bit more time trying on different skates to find a pair that fit well. One of my skates fit great - one really hurt. But I didn't mess around much with trying on too many because I was having fun watching everyone else.

We let Will go out on the ice in just his shoes, but he wasn't too crazy about it, surprisingly. He got more of a kick out of the balloons and the food.

On Sunday I left John and the kids while I went to Wisconsin for my friend Julie's baby shower. It was a long drive, but quiet and peaceful without the kids. I can't wait to go visit again after the baby is born in October!

A true sign of summer

One true sign of summer is corn on the cob. I got some GREAT local corn on the cob at the store last week and we dined in the butter dripping goodness of it all. It was Will's first attempt at corn on the cob, and he was pretty excited when he saw it.

"COW!" he yelled once his plate hit the table.

"Yes, you feed corn to the cows?" Will's favorite activity is to feed corn cobs to the cow's at Grandma Mary's. And while he can't eat THAT corn, we wanted him to sink his teeth into the stuff on the table. It took a lot of convincing (he REALLY wanted to feed it to the cows), but finally he took the plunge and never looked back.

Anticipate....

We got our new computer. Soooo...it should be easier to do updates, etc. At least we shouldn't have random things disappearing and it should take less than 20 minutes to boot up and get to a web page.

What does that mean for you? Not a whole lot. I mean you may see a misspelled word here or there because typing on a laptop (yes, we got a laptop) is quite different.

So hopefully by tomorrow I'll get some pictures on here from this past weekend - it was loaded full of fun parties. Maybe I'll have some PGA stories too. This week, the PGA Championship is a stone's throw away from us. Should be able to see the blimp, etc.

Caught on film

I snapped this one of Will a couple days ago because it took me back to when I was little.

I remember this was my TV position whenever we watched TV. We had a big old console television which sat on the floor. Two knobs to turn - the both changed channels, but only one did anything. Whenever you wanted to turn it on, you have to use a needle nose pliers to pull out the button...then wait for the picture...then wait some more...a little bit more...ok now here it comes. You'd have to open the little compartment that flipped down because you might have to adjust the color, done with knobs in those days. (At least it was color, right?)

Anyway - I always laid on my stomach to watch TV in those days and just for a moment - Will brought that all back.

Day out with Thomas

This past weekend we were planning to head down to IA, but ended up staying here so John could finish some work. He worked Saturday and then came along with the kids and I to see Thomas the Tank Engine and go for a train ride.


It ended up being a perfect day and the kids - especially Will - had a great time. It was a good thing John decided to come with us because I wouldn't have been able to do it by myself. Why, you may ask? I blame it on the bottle of wine I polished off Saturday night. At the time, it seemed like a good idea. Kids are in bed...free bottle of wine from my friend, Shelley...tasted YUMMY...what could go wrong? First of all, I'm not much of a wine drinker - I'm all beer, baby. I guess I wasn't 'sipping' the wine, I was drinking the wine...gulping the wine. I went to bed soon after the end of the bottle, was in the bathroom soon after and then just decided that was a pretty good place to sleep....even if we do have ceramic tile in the bathroom. So thanks to my wonderful husband we made it to Thomas on time. He got the kids' breakfast, got 'em dressed and drove us all there.

Mr. Wonderful and the kids. :)

John took a picture of me with the kids too, but I'm doing the blog and I like this one better, ok? :)

The fresh air did me good and it didn't take me long til I was feeling relatively ok. We took a 20 minute train ride, complete with whistles that spooked Will at first, but he was on a train so all was good.

Yes, I know, I take too many pictures.

Katie and Will went on a smaller train ride as well. Katie held Will's hand...

Meet Sir Topham Hat...Will was freaked out by this guy and wouldn't even stand 10 feet away from him. Can't blame him - he does look kinda weird.

See those little rugrats to the left of us? There were 3 of them and they had THE MOST ANNOYING whistle even invented. John wondered why the hell someone would buy their THREE kids such a toy. And it was probably $8 or some ridiculous amount as everything was overpriced there. It did NOT help my head, I can tell you that. We soon crossed the street to get away from them.