Babies on the brain

No, no, no, we're not pregnant! For heavens sake no! Our neighbor Amy had a baby boy last night and Maggie and I went to the hospital to visit them after dinner tonight. Of course Mags wanted to hold him the whole time so I kinda lost out. Oh well. I'm so glad someone on the block has a new little one so I can get my fix!

Yesterday Dean and Michele rolled outa here headed for Texas, never to return. I have their key and garage door opener, so now we can party in their empty house! Just kidding, we would never do such a thing! They did find out they were having a baby girl though. Jacob was right all along. : )

Today it was hotter than the blazes and is supposed to be all week long and through the weekend. Saturday is Fandango, so I guess we'll all sweat it out. We reserved a bouncy again and a firetruck and ambulance are coming for the kids to check out too. Oh, and the face painter will be here also. All in all it should be a good time. I'll make sure to get some pictures to post next week.

A visit from Grammy and Poppy

I guess it was 2 weekends ago now, I completed my triathlon (.4 mile swim, 15 mile bike, 3 mile run). 1 hour, 51 min. I think that's at least 30 min. faster than when I did it 5 years ago, and my goal was 2 hours, so I feel pretty good about it. My neighbor Paula did it with me and I beat her by 10 minutes!!! Yeah! Below is Maggie sporting the always stylish swim cap that we had to wear, and the free T-shirt, on backwards of course! She and Maya and Daddy came to watch and cheer me on.
Jacob has gone to Texas. He goes every summer for a couple of weeks and stays with his grandparents and cousins. So, to celebrate his leaving, all the neighborhood kids who are around during the day went to Chuck E. Cheese the day before he left. They had a great time eating bad pizza and playing games and collecting tickets. Mags and Maya had more fun on the cheezy rides than the games but they didn't care. Mags ended up with only 23 tickets, but that was fine because the only prize she wanted was a sucker, and luckily those were only 10 tickets! Michele and Dean leave on Tuesday. The moving truck came today so now they have an empty house for a few days. It will be very sad. They were great neighbors. Still haven't sold the house.

Grammy and Poppy came last Friday afternoon. Monday morning we left for the North Shore. We stopped in Duluth on the way up and went to the aquarium there. Not worth it. It was sooo small, and was way to pricey for what they had. Oh well! The girls got to touch and hold a turtle and we watched a huge barge go by out one of the windows facing Lake Superior. We stayed in Two Harbors, just north about 20 min. of Duluth in a hotel and traveled the next 2 days up to the 3 state parks within 30 min. north. We went hiking, threw rocks in the lake, and checked out the Split Rock Lighthouse. It was a relaxing and fun time. Maggie said her favorite part of the trip was swimming in the hotel pool. (of course!) We've also been to Lake Elmo, and today, the zoo.

Tonight during dinner, Maya finished up and was playing on the couch. She kept popping up with this huge grin on her face. I had to run and get the camera!

Poppy and girls were wrestling in the grass in the backyard. We told them to "take him down!"

Here's Maya at Lake Elmo. Half of the lake is basically a wading pool so she can goof around and play in the sand. She had a great time. Maggie and Poppy went all the way out to the ropes and the deep part. We got a spot under one of the giant umbrella's and had lunch and watched the girls play in the water.
This was just funny. She discovered the vent by the front door and her hair was just a blowin' in the wind!

A busy weekend

A busy weekend indeed. Daddy took Thursday off and had a four day weekend! The weather was hot, hot, hot so there were trips to the pool and runs through the sprinkler. We had lots of fun.

This picture is from a couple of weeks ago. Mags finally got her princess balloon from DisneyWorld re-inflated!!! She was so excited. But then as she was running through the house, it snagged on something and ripped a hole in it so that was the end of that. : )

Hot days call for the hose! Watch out or you'll be wet!

One day, daddy and Maggie went to a St. Paul Saints baseball game. They had a great time, but apparently didn't watch much baseball.

For the 4th, we had a block party/going away party for the Culpeppers. We BBQ'd, played games and lit off some fireworks in the cul de sac. The kids made Parade Sticks, and then had a little walking parade around the street.

Smoke balls were the biggest hit with all the kids.

Miss Priss chillin', ridin' a pony.

One evening they were driving me so nuts while I was trying to make dinner, we made masks out of grocery bags. It kept them busy!

Maya had her 18 mo. check up today...2 months late! She had a low grade temp and so didn't get a shot, but that was all right. She weighed a whopping 22 lbs, about at the 15 percentile, and has dropped to around the 50th percentile for height. Her newest word is "whoops"!