The Great Minnesota Get Together

I can't believe it's been almost 2 weeks ago but I'm just now getting around to "scrap booking " our trip to the MN State Fair. We actually went on a great day this year. Matt took a couple days off for our trip to the Dells so we were able to go in the middle of the week versus a weekend...makes a huge difference! Also, usually when we go it seems to be close to if not in the 90s and it's just so hot and icky with about a million people all around. The day we went I don't think it got into the 80s, ahhhh relief! :) It seems like we didn't even do a lot of stuff there this year, no going into all the buildings or exhibits or anything like that...which honestly is fine with me. The second we walked in the big gates Matt was scoping out a Cheese Curds stand, I am pretty sure that he would be completely happy just going there to get those. So after we finally found them Matt was set and decided we should then hit up the barns. Wanna know my least favorite part of any fair? The barns! I am not a country girl and can't stand the smell of animals and, well, their poop...and when there's about 200 pigs in a non air conditioned barn, it gets bad. However, I knew Alexa and Braden would love them so we headed over to the swine barn to check out the "largest pig" which I still am not sure was alive, he was huge...and smelly. We also saw a mommy with about 15 little piglets running around and eating and that was cute.

After that Alexa was so ready to hit the rides. Some of her favorites were the bumper boats...

And the swings.

But the all time favorite this year was the Giant Slide! Matt and I took turns going down with her and I think if wasn't for the fact that it was $4 each time we would have spent the rest of the day there. Of all the times I have gone to the fair I don't think I ever went down this slide before, not sure why though because it is the coolest thing ever. I wish we had one in our back yard. And seriously, whoever invented this thing was a genius and has got to have a lot of money!

Just a few more pictures I thought were cute from the day...

And you always know is was a successful trip when the kids don't even make it out of the parking lot before passing out! :)

I Heart Blogging

The reason I started blogging was pretty simple. Two reasons actually. 1) To keep our families updated on our children. 2) To document our kids growing up so we can all look back on it someday. Since I didn't do so hot at baby books and scrap booking I thought maybe I would keep up a blog a little better. Well what do you know, it worked. :)

What I didn't know would happen when I began blogging was that I would meet some really great women. Women that are a lot like me. Other moms, wives, daughters, friends...just girls trying to live life and blog about it. It's weird to call someone I have never met in person a friend but I find myself doing it a lot now. And weird or not, I think it's pretty awesome.

Yesterday I got to meet one of my bloggy friends. I actually got to know her through a relatives blog so although I have never met her before she wasn't really a "stranger" I guess. Or maybe that still counts, I don't know. Either way it was cool. She has a daughter almost the exact same age as Alexa and twins (boy/girl) who are just a little younger than Braden....a match made in heaven? I think so! We already talked about getting together again soon so the kids can play and us mommies can get some much needed adult time too. :)

Another wonderful mommy blogger I have got to know is Bethany at Crazy Days...Sleepless Nights. She is fabulous...one of those people that only has wonderful things to say and can always make you feel good about whatever is going on. She's great and apparently she thinks I'm okay too because she gave me an award!

The Splash Award is given to alluring, amusing, bewitching, impressive, and inspiring blogs.

When you receive this award you must: Put the logo on your blog/post. Nominate up to 9 blogs which allure, amuse, bewitch, impress or inspire you. Let them know that they have been splashed by commenting on their blog. Remember to link to the person from whom you received your Splash Award.

So here are MY nominations:

Sonya at Ladybugs, Butterflies and Boxing
Kathryn at The Flammes
Shannon at this mama's journey
Amanda at i am mommy
Katrina at Sevin Family
Jen at our daily lifex4
Rachel at Wherever you go, go with all you heart
Carma at Carma Sez
Mimi at He & Me + 3

To all my nominees: Don't feel like you have to participate, just know I think you and your blogs rock so that's why I am passing it on! :)

Remembering

We will never forget.

Water Park Capitol of the World

This past weekend we got to go on a little family vacation to the water park capitol of the world. Perfect timing since Matt is going back to school next week, it gave us some good quality bonding time. Anyway, our friends call us up and say "Hey, you guys want to go to WI Dells over Labor Day?"and we were like "Oh, we don't know, let us think about it. Umm, YEAH!" They have a timeshare and things get messed up and somehow they got double booked. So not only do we get to go away for 4 days but it was basically FREE! And not only was it a little hotel room all to ourselves, we walked into a complete decked out 1 room condo complete with full kitchen, dining room, living room, separate bedroom and a bathroom that was larger than our house. (Ok, not really but it was huge... like a woman's dream bathroom.) What made it even better was we were able to bring food to cook there so we saved even more money that way.

So after we got there and I unpacked all of our stuff (does anyone else unpack when they stay somewhere? I feel more at home or something when I do that...and it's just fun) we got our suits on and hit the water. With our passes we had access to like 4 indoor and 4 outdoor parks so that's basically where we stayed the rest of the vacation. The kids LOVED it, especially Alexa. And I'm not going to lie, Matt and I had so much fun too...do I dare say more fun? It did not take Alexa long to just jump in and go. I wasn't sure if she would or I would want her going down the big slides but after about 10 minutes of day one she was flying down them all by herself. I had so much fun just watching her literally scream for hours from pure joy! Braden spent quite a bit of time getting wet too. I think his favorite part was sitting on my lap floating down the lazy river waving to everyone. He made more friends in 4 days then I have my entire life, I guess that's what big blue eyes and chubby checks can do, huh? Anyway, the weekend was perfect. We had fun just relaxing and hanging out and not thinking about anything else. The best part? Our children were angels! The entire time! We still can't believe it. Just kidding....kinda. :)

I actually didn't get too many pictures from the weekend because: a) I didn't want to get my camera wet or taken, and b) I was just having too much fun. Here are a few I did get.





Not only did we have all the water parks but they had a HUGE indoor dry climby play thing. It was so much fun and it was nice to take a little break from water like once a day and play there instead.




And when you think you couldn't possibly have anymore fun in one day, you get back to your room and play some more...in the shower. :)

Wordless Wednesday

10 Things I Will Miss

Even though Summer isn't technically over for a couple more weeks, Labor Day is kind of the "unofficial" end of Summer. Which would mean Summer is over as we speak. This does not make me happy. There is always a few really nice days throughout September and even into October though so no worries yet, right!? Besides, Fall can be a really great season. In fact, it is one of my favorite seasons (you know, after Spring and Summer) and really the only bad thing about it is that it means Winter is next. Anyway, here are 10 things that I will miss about Summer:

1. Eating out on our deck. I love our back yard, we are on the edge of our development and our deck is looking out towards the woods. It's so peaceful and honestly who doesn't love eating outside in the fresh air. Bonus: No messy floor to clean up after dinner!

2. Water activities. We have spent a lot of our summer having picnics at the river, going to the beach, slip-n-sliding, and just hanging out at our house with the pool. Our kids love the water, they will totally miss it too!

3. Flip Flops. I am one of those people that break out the sandals at the very first sight of Spring...and once they are out there is no more socks for this girl. (Which can mean a couple days of super cold feet when our wonderful Midwest weather changes by 60 degrees in a day.) I don't even know how many pairs of sandals/flip flops I own. I have them in every color, even though honestly I wear my black Croc flip flops almost every day. (They are wonderful AND look nothing like original Crocs!)

4. Summer food. Nothing beats juicey watermelon and fresh corn on the cob.

5. Hosing down our highchair outside. No kidding, I do this sometimes on a daily basis. Braden is one and the highchair gets messy...enough said! I'm not going to really pick favorites on this list, but I would have to say this one might be really close to the top.

6. Walks. We go out walking a lot in the Summer. We walk to town, to the library, to the park, pretty much anywhere we can. My favorite is our Sunday walks with all 4 of us to the gas station to get a newspaper.

7. Storms. I love listening to the thunder and rain, especially during the night. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of our tornado sirens going off and 1 inch hail hitting our house but a good thunderstorm is awesome. Bonus: We don't have to water the lawn and it's green as can be!

8. Playgrounds. We spend so much time going to new and different playgrounds and also hanging out on our own swing set right in the back yard. It's a great inexpensive (FREE!) way to spend hours. Alexa and Braden could slide, swing and play in the sand forever if we let them. And being able to step right out our back door and swing anytime we want is awesome too...yes we have played in our sandbox many times while still in our jammies! :)

9. The sun. I love the long days of summer. The sun is up when you wake (well, sometimes) and it's stays out late. I love it. I don't like when it gets dark at 5:00pm, it's so depressing to me, and it makes me tired...I think.

10. My husband. The end of Summer means back to school Matt goes. It can be hard on all of us...Matt is so busy working full time and going to school and every week there is a 3 day period when we won't hardly even see him because he is gone all day. I miss him, the kids miss him and I know he misses us too. It can make for some long semesters but we make do and he will finally be done this coming May and we will have him all to ourselves again!

What does everyone else miss about Summer?
You know, unless you live in Texas and you have been waiting for Fall to come so you can go outside. :)

Reason #174

Why I need a mini van...

Alexa's suitcase
Braden's suitcase

2 life jackets
Bag of beach towels
Large duffel bag for our clothes
Pack-N-Play
Stroller
Backpack full of books
Bag of food
Bag of wipes, paper towel, dish soap, misc.
Bag of inside toys
Bag of pool toys
Alexa's sleeping bag
Case of water
Case of pop
Matt's laptop
My laptop
Small cooler
My huge bag/purse
3 blankets
and 1 stuffed puppy

And all of this is suppose to fit into our Pontiac Grand Prix.

Oh yeah, and 2 sleeping children too!

Somehow we made it happen...I really worked my magic on this one! :) Does every other mom in the world have a minivan but me? I mean, there are many other vehicles I would rather have because no one buys a van to make a fashion statement, you know what I mean. I never wanted a van until we found out I was pregnant with Braden, then I was like "hmmm, I think I could handle one of those!" The thought of carrying a baby, diaper bag, purse, bottle, sippy cup, sunglasses, and car keys while holding onto a toddler's hands trying to unlock and open the car door just doesn't sound like a whole load of fun to me. Then I picture me pushing a little button and viola, doors open. Does it make me sound crazy to think that is a truly fabulous thing? Besides I could totally handle a DVD player and stow and go seats too.

Someday all my dreams will come true. (And by the sounds of Matt's car, I don't think it's too far away!) :)