At the Cabin

On our 3rd day of vacation we visited Tom's family (at the end of the post - I again didn't feel like switching all the pictures) and drove to the cabin. My dad made a sandbox for the kids this year so we spent a lot of time digging in the sand. Thanks dad!

My parents also got a paddle boat this year so we had fun taking it out with the kids.

I wasn't quite sure what Ben was going to do so I made sure to keep a hand on him at all times :) Elizabeth wasn't sure how much she liked it - I think we were a little too low to the water for her comfort level - but my dad and I liked it - and it was a little work out!
Like the huge fish my dad caught?

We did sparklers in the evening, which was a big treat for the kids.

The next day we went in the boat again - we pretty much boated and fished every day!

I liked the lighting right here so I took one of each of my kids,

and my mom :)

The water in the lake is very clear so the kids spent lots of time checking out all the fish.

They also loved driving the boat.

This is the only picture I have with the cabin in it - I don't know why I didn't take one this year!

I had to add this because Ben kept hopping on the bed and telling me he was holding the bed.

In the afternoon before we drove to the cabin we were invited over for a BBQ at Tom's sister Theresa's house for the 4th of July. Here the kids are with most of Theresa's kids - Lexi, Matt and Maddie.

They had a great time playing in the pool with their cousins. Lexi and Elizabeth had fun holding each other in the pool.

This is Johnny, one of the cousins, helping Ben swim in the pool.

Elizabeth jumping off the diving board - with no one in there to catch her - all by herself!

All the kids were dunking Johnny - I just liked this picture watching Ben and E out there with all the "big kids"!

Johnny flipping off the diving board!

Theresa and me

Maddie, Tom's sister Linda, and sister in law Sharon

I wish we lived closer to our Minnesota cousins - the kids had such a great time playing with them and I know they wish we could do it more often.

Vacation Day 2

Our next day in Minnesota was busy visiting friends and family. The pictures are in reverse order but I didn't feel like switching them all :) We spent the afternoon at my Aunt Amy's house with my mom's side of the family. We were having dinner for my grandpa's 82nd birthday. This is my uncle Ross and his girlfriend, my Uncle Todd, and my Grandpa.

Uncle Scott and Evan - Amy's little boy.

This is Evan, my cousin. Jessica and I were so happy to finally get cousins on this side of the family!
Big sister, Emma, my other cousin on this side of the family.

Emma and Evan were all ready for bed so they were staying inside to keep clean. Ben was having fun playing with them through the glass.

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

Grandma and Grandpa with their great-grandchildren. My grandmother is a fantastic seamstress and made the kids these aprons. They love to wear them and beg to cook every day so they can put them on.

Grandpa with his kiddos.

It was quite an adventure trying to get all 4 kids looking at the same time - but we managed it! They were all dressed up for the 4th of July.

My Aunt Amy and Uncle Jim live on a lake so Ben had a great time with Emma digging in the sand.

Earlier in the day we took the kids to Como zoo and met my friend Nikki and her children. We lived next door to Nikki when we were babies until we were 4 years old, and have remained great friends ever since. We see each other every year and we are hoping our kids will become as good of friends as we are. The Como zoo has this fun, fast, merry-go-round that the kids rode on.

Nikki's little girl, Katie. Isn't she a doll?

Her cute little brother, Kellen.

The kids all enjoyed some cotton candy at the zoo. We ate tons of junk on our trip - I guess that's one of the great things about vacations!

Checking out the seal exhibit.

My friend, Nikki, with her daughter.
And oh yeah, another polaroid - my last one. Don't you love our matching t-shirts? Mitch is Nikki's older brother.

It was another busy day, but we all had a really fun time. I'll post about the rest of our trip tomorrow!

We're Back!

Day One

This past week we flew to Minnesota/Wisconsin to visit family, friends, and my parent's cabin in WI. We got up really early Thursday morning to make it to our 8 am flight. My dad used to fly a lot so we got to wait in the Admirals Club for our flight. They had a kid area with computers, snacks, and a TV for cartoons so the kids were in heaven. Elizabeth packed her own backpack (mine from Kindergarten) with all her babies and special things she wanted to bring on the trip. She felt very grown up. Ben was enjoying himself before our flight. We got on the plane and then had to wait...some technical issue that got solved...but it put us an hour behind or so. I didn't get a great picture of Elizabeth on the plane, but we were lucky enough to have my parents fly with us up to the cities so that made all the logistics easier.

The kids got a kick out of the subway that we had to take to get to the rental car. I think they thought it was pretty cool to stand in the middle of the subway car and just hold onto a pole.

We first went to visit my dad's side of the family. Here my mom and the kids are hanging out in my Aunt Jan's living room.

We got some family shots of everyone who was there. This is my Aunt Jan (my dad's sister), my Grandma B, Uncle Mike, and in the back row my cousin Dan. My cousins Lisa and Andy had to work.

This is our group with my Grandma. My grandpa couldn't make it, he was back in Wisconsin.

This is my Aunt Sue with my cousin Casey and Casey's kids - Brooklyn and Cain. We haven't seen Brooklyn and Cain for years, so it was so much fun getting reacquainted with them. Elizabeth and Ben had so much fun playing with them.


Me and Casey. We're just missing Jessica!
I went through my pictures and found Polaroids of us and Casey when we were probably in 4th grade. Don't you love the glasses - and the pose!?! (I'm not sure what we were thinking...)

I'm the one in the back - just in case you can't tell me and Jessica apart.

My dad and his mom.

Elizabeth and Aunt Jan. We get to see our family only about once a year so we were really excited that we were able to get together.

Elizabeth and Brooklyn got along quickly - bonding over dolls :)

After spending the afternoon at my aunt's house we headed over to our long time family friend's house. My parents actually went to high school with Jo and Jeff (the parents) and we grew up with Lauren and Lindsay. Lauren is one year younger that me and Lindsay is maybe 3 years younger.

Their house and backyard are absolutely gorgeous and we had a great dinner in the backyard - enjoying the cool weather!!
This is Lauren and her husband, David.

Here's Lindsay and her son, Carter. He's so cute! I didn't get any pictures of Lindsay's husband.

Another picture of Carter - look at that face!!
Oh yeah, another picture! Do you like my cursive? I never did have the best handwriting. It's Lindsay, Lauren, and me feeding their little brother, Michael. He's now in college - time sure flies. Again - I have such awesome fashion sense, don't you love the bandanna around the neck? And this is why I HATED glasses - I look so awful in them!! Funny to look back at how we have all changed. My mom has some really cute pictures of all of us at age 3 and 4 but this is the first time I got my own camera, so this is when my pictures start!

We had a great, busy, first day with little to no sleep so we headed to my Aunt Amy's house to sleep. Sorry for the tons of pictures - I actually took more than 450 on our week long trip so I am trying to par it down!

Playing with Drew and Josh

Last night we were about to start getting ready for bed when we got a call from Drew and Josh asking if we wanted to come down and play with some water balloons. It was still pretty early in the evening and we will be out of town for a week, so we thought we'd better go play. One of the favorite things for the kids is their trampoline.
They love the tramp! Ben isn't allowed to go on with the "big kids". He's so light compared to them, and he's a little too wild and accident prone so he gets to jump by himself.

While Ben was jumping the kids were running races across the lawn.

He looks surprised by how high he's going - doesn't he??

Here they are doing water balloons. I didn't get any great pictures - but they loved it. The thing is the kids run through water balloons so fast! They pretty much just grab one and smash it on the ground so it took about 1 min. and we were through the entire bowl. It was fun while it lasted!

Can't you just see what Drew is thinking - "I'm going to get you Elizabeth! Ha ha ha!!!"

So, no posts for the next week. We're going to the MN/WI area for a week to visit family, friends, and my parent's cabin. I'm sure I'll have a lot to post when we get home! Have a great week!