Extended playdate

This past weekend, Sarah and Erin came down to hang out and have a sleepover! Our husbands were all golfing and hanging out in Santa Barbara together so we too made the most of the weekend and enjoyed eachother's company. The kids all had a really good time playing together. They ran around the backyard, went crazy with the little pool, played on the slide and tuckered themselves out.William, Fletch, Fallon, Lucy and Maddie (in order from L to R) licking up some cool treats on the patio. This was our one and only chance to get a picture of them all sitting still for a minute. They are like busy little beavers and constantly moving!It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt. They were all climbing up the slide like this and than sliding down and tumbling onto eachother on the grass. It was so cute. They were giggling and having a blast. Lucky for us, no one got hurt. It was just fun, fun, fun the whole weekend. I say let the husband's leave town anytime. :)

Minnesota overload

Ok. So I realize I'm going on MN overload here but these are the last of some fun photos from our trip. On our last day there, Grandpa took out the four wheeler and entertained Maddie and Wil while I packed up our gear and got ready for the car trip back to Minneapolis.

Grandma Jeanne busted out her cool new margarita maker and mixed up some delicious non-alcoholic slushies and snow cones (nd some with a little tequila as well)!It was a great week back at the lake. I can't think of a more relaxing place to go with the family. We can't wait for our next visit at Christmas this year!

Turtle Races

On Wednesday, we took Maddie and Wil to their first ever Turtle Races in the little town of Nisswa. I remember turtle races from when I was a kid. Every Wednesday in the summer months, the town puts on the event. It's quite organized. You pay $3 per turtle and when they call your number, you go to the center of the race ring which is drawn out on the pavement, pick out a turtle from the yellow buckets and race it! The crowd gathers around the race ring and everyone cheers and shouts. It's a bit chaotic but well worth it. Maddie loved it. The races start at 2:00 so William was in need of a nap and a bit of a handful but we really had a great time anyway. Nisswa is a very cute town. We parked right by this old train caboos that is like a mini-mini museum. You can walk through and check out the memorabilia and imagine what it would have been like to sleep on the train. On the way out, Maddie wanted to take her picture by the American flag.We couldn't miss a shot with Paul Bunyon's Babe the Blue Ox.

This shot was taken right before Grandpa handed Maddie the turtle to hold and she dropped it flat on it's back! Good thing turtles have hard shells. You could tell she felt bad but said it "pinched" her.

I definitely want to make the Nisswa Turtle Races an annual tradition on our summer trips back to Minnesota.

Family...

The best part about our trip to Minnesota was, of course, spending time with family. There is nothing better than that. What else can I say?

Lakeshore fun

Although we didn't have the best weather this year, we didn't let the clouds and off-and-on showers spoil our fun at the lake. The kids still played in the sand and had a ball. Grandma Jeanne decided to take Maddie and William for a paddleboat ride. They paddled over to check out the lilypads and ended up getting stuck! It was quite hilarious. Andrew had to come rescue them. Maddie and I spent time building a sandcastle one late afternoon. The sand was damp from an afternoon sprinkling and was perfect for molding into sandcastle towers. Fun times.

Minnesota Bound

We headed off to Minnesota for a week long vacation at Grandma Jeanne and Papa Mick's lake home. The trip started out with a "bus ride" from the Quikpark at LAX.

The kids love the 2 minute shuttle ride from the parking structure to the airport. They think it's the coolest thing ever. The trip to Grandma's house is a long day of travel. It's a 3 hour plane ride and a 3 car ride once we land. The kids did great and we (Mikos and I) fared ok as well...for the most part anyway.

Maddie's fav

This is Marissa. Aside from Norma, Marissa is Maddie's favorite babysitter. Marissa lives across the street from Mike and Lynda, Maddie and William's grandparents so whenever we're going to go to dinner or doing something over that way, we'll ask Marissa to babysit. Maddie had a blast with Marissa last Thursday when she babysat while we went to dinner for Lynda's birthday. We came home and Maddie was a pro at the new Wii that Grandpa won at a golf tournament. They were bowling and playing baseball. It was awesome. We love Marissa!!

Keep working!

Mike gets a ton of stuff delivered to the house for work so you can only imagine the loads of cardboard that builds up in our garage from the boxes. About once a month, Mike "tackles" the garage on a Sunday afternoon and breaks down the boxes to recycle. William and Maddie love to help. I'll peek out in the garage to see how things are coming along and I'll hear Mike saying to Wil, "Keep working!" and William will repeat that saying in his cute little 2 year old voice, "Keep working!" The whole thing is pretty cute AND it keeps them busy for an hour or so.

What's this?

My new favorite show is Design Star on HGTV. It's not on until 10:00pm Sunday nights which is late for me but I don't have any other "shows" I'm into right now and I really like the judges so I make the sacrifice to stay up late and enjoy it. On my way to bed last night, I checked in on the kids as I usually do before turning out the lights each night. When I peaked into Maddie's room, I started cracking up! After I tucked her into bed, she'd gotten up and put on this sleep mask which is something she usually plays with when she plays doctor. I thought it was so funny that she actually fell asleep with it on! I couldn't stop laughing and woke Mike from a deep sleep to tell him about it. She is such a crack up sometimes.I mean, I wonder what made her think to get up and get this mask from her doctor bag?

Good ole' Martian party fun

Our dear friends Carter and Meegan Devol were in town visiting two weekends ago and as is becoming a fast tradition, we all got together over at Jason and Michelle's house for some good family fun. Carter and Meegan moved to Northern CA about 2 years ago but Carter's family is here in Southern CA so they make the trip down several times a year. The Martian's is a natural place for us all to gather when they are in town. They have a great house and an enormous yard that I am envious of! Olivia is quite the entertainer and used her creativity prior to us getting there and made a homeade pinata for the crew of kids to enjoy. It was essentially a giant box covered in newspaper and filled with goldfish and fruit snacks and a few other treats Olivia scrounged up.The kids loved it. They couldn't wait to see what was inside. We all had a good laugh hearing the story of how Olivia called her grandma and asked her to bring over everything she had in her snack drawer. The kids all had fun taking swings at the pinata and no one was disappointed at the treats that followed. I think a few lollipops were involved. You can never go wrong with lollipops. You did good Olivia!

Carter, Jason and Mike are long time friends. They've grown up together having gone to jr high and highschool together so it's fun to get a picture of them with their families. Also in the picture are Carter's brother-in-law Tim, nephew Fisher and dad Brent and Jason's dad Vern. What great friends. We always have such a great time when we hang out with these people. We miss the Devols and look forward to their visits and we feel so lucky to live so close to the Martian's! Good people. Lifelong friends. Will be fun to post pictures like this 3, 5, 7 years down the road... til next time!