Because You Can Never Get Enough...

I'm sitting at home today -- my first day of vacation (I'm off for 10 days, yeah!) and "Little Man" is sick.  He woke up in the middle of the night last night throwing up...yuck!  That went on all--morning--long.  He hasn't thrown up for several hours now but is still complaining of his stomach hurting.  At the moment he is sleeping peacefully.  I guess this isn't exactly the way I envisioned kicking off my vacation (we were suppose to go to the county fair actually) but, hey, better now then next week when we are actually on vacation.

"Feisty Girl" woke up for a nap several hours ago and has been playing ever-so-quietly ever since.  She is normally so wild and crazy (and LOUD!) that I sort of dreaded having her here at home today while "Little Man" is sick, but she has done wonderful -- it is almost like she knows, senses, that he isn't feeling well and has decided to tone herself down a bit for the day!

At any rate, in our attempts to keep quite "Feisty Girl" and I started taking some random photos around the house today.  My wonderful husband bought me flowers the other day and "Feisty Girl" has been eyeing them ever since.  Today she asked if she could smell them, so I took them off the counter and brought them down to her level so that she could see them up close.  I took a few pictures and this was one of my favorites:

She's just so gorgeous! :)

Summer Time Fun - Part 2

Shortly after our trip to Valleyfair, we found ourselves on another one of our annual summer treks -- this one to Wisconsin Dells, WI. Every year we visits the Dells with friends, renting a 2 bedroom condo on Lake Delton at Wilderness on the Lake, which is part of the Wilderness Hotel & Golf Resort.

There is a ton to do and see in the area. We enjoy it mostly because the kids knock themselves out all day long at the waterparks and then by the time we are all ready to return to the condo the kiddos are generally dead tired! That means that us adults also get to have some fun -- generally playing card games, chatting the night away, and enjoying an ice cold beverage or two.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from our most recent adventure:

Stoney Creek Inn - LaCrosse, WI
(We stayed here one night on our way to Wisconsin Dells)

Enjoying a Cracker Barrel Rocking Chair (and computer game!) as we wait for our table

Kickin' back, playing giant-sized checkers

Miss "Ash" (my best friend's youngest daughter)

Ahhh....water at last!!

My best friend and her daughters

Our group (minus us moms!) at Wizards Quest

"Feisty Girl" & Mom

"Little Man" (I think this was approximately his 100th trek across the lily pads!)

Summer Time Fun

Every summer for the past several summers a group of us have loaded up our families and headed to Valleyfair Amusement Park in Shakopee, MN, for a day filled with nothing but fun and laughter.  This year was no exception! 

There were 17 of us this year (about our normal number) and while trying to coordinate things with a group this large can get hectic at times, our group tends to do exceptionally well together!  We managed to maneuver the entire park for over 10 hours straight with our entire group in tow most of that time...with an occasional splitting off/apart for bathroom breaks, a stop a the nearest "treat" stand, or a reapplication of sunscreen.

Everyone from the littlest tot ("Feisty Girl!) at age 3, to our oldest member (to remain nameless, but inching ever closer to the big 4-0!) had a blast.  Here are just a few of our pictures from the day...

"Feisty Girl" Lookin' Sweet as Ever!

"Little Man" & His Daddy Riding the MONSTER!

Young Love?

"Feisty Girl" and "LaLa" Taking a Hot Air Balloon Ride

   

Buddies!

"I'm watchin' you!  Don't even attempt to take a drink of my Icee!!"

The Important Things in Life!

"Little Man" was asked to complete an art project during one of the summer camps that his child care facility puts on every summer.  The kids were asked to make something that represented the things that were important to them.  "Little Man" made this:

So have you figured out what is important to little man?  Alright, I'll help out here (working left to right, top to bottom):

1.  Monopoly...yes, he does like a good game of Monopoly
2.  Dad and Mom...quite possibly in that order! :)
3.  Soccer...Ah, yes, his newfound obsession with everything that is soccer!
4.  The Nintendo Wii...a tried and true favorite
5.  Money...well, of course!!
6.  Castles...interestingly enough, his love for castles (and all things medieval, really) has been around the longest...well maybe after his love for Dad and Mom anyway!

"Little Man," you make my heart melt!

A Little Glimpse...

We had an extremely busy July and are happy to be moving into the month of August, although I wouldn't be being honest if I didn't say that I'm a little bummed that school is going to be starting up just a little more than one month from now.  I'm not one of those mom's (yet!) who can't wait to send their kids back to school -- in fact, I'm the exact opposite.  I dread sending them back...it means the end of summer, less time to do fun things together, and back to the normal "routine."

I'll be posting more information about our summer thus far shortly.  Until then, here is a glimpse of where we have been and where we are headed:

Way to Go!

This post is a little late, but back at the end of June "Feisty Girl" was tested by her preschool teachers on both colors and shapes.  They were happy to report (and we were happy to hear!) that Emma knew all of her colors with the exception of gray.  She also knew all of her "standard" shapes so she was tested on some additional shapes and also knew all of those with the exception of the hexagon.  Her teachers, and Mom & Dad are very proud!