Disney Live

on sunday of this last weekend, we took the kids to see disney live at the nokia theater in downtown los angeles. the show started at noon so we jumped in the car straight from church and made the trek to see the show. it was a really cute production. the show was about mickey and minnie and a talent show they were in search of talent for. we saw lots mickey, minnie, goofy, donald, cindarella, woody, jessie and buzz from toy story and tigger too. william sat well and was engaged by the show for the most part (he's our wild card these days- never quite sure if he's going to get nutty on us or what). we did have to bust out the sour patch kids about 3/4 of the way through the first half and he did a little jumping between laps, but he was a trooper for the most part and had a good time.
we hit a little traffic on the way home but we didn't mind. william was out like a light before we even got on the freeway and maddie chatted the whole way home about the show. gotta love L.A.!

Preschool- take two!

i don't know where the month of september has gone. this month has been a blur. it's hard to believe october is right around the corner. mike has been busy with work and has traveled quite a bit this month and for whatever reason, i fell of the blog bandwagon. it's not that i didn't have the time on my hands to keep up, i just didn't have the motivation. the biggest thing this month was that my little maddie started her SECOND year of preschool. she was so excited to get back and she loves her new teacher.gotta love the first day of school--- hip, hip horray (as William would say)!

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.