Okay, I've been a horrible blogger and not posted for over a month. Sorry! Things have been busy around here! Let me catch you up...
My second Mother's Day was very fun! We celebrated with a grill out at my parents with my whole family. Abby, Lily, and Claire (above) had tons of fun playing outside and even tried a little Bocce Ball (below). Ryan and the girls got me Season Four of "The Office," which I love but haven't had time to watch much of yet. Maybe when the girls are teenagers... Dare I dream?
Next up, we all headed to Green Bay and I got to spend some time with Amanda before her Baby #2 arrived (which he did just a few days later! Welcome, Sampson Donald!) Here she is with her mom, Lynn, and son, Atticus, in her parents new and amazingly awesome house.
It was so great to relax and just hang out with Amanda again! Ryan took the girls, which was very nice.
Don't worry, though, he had plenty of help as he was staying with Grandpa Wayne and Grandma Sharon. Luckily, I also got to hang out with them a bit, too, and we all had a great time! See how happy Abby is about it?
The next weekend, we were still in travel mode, so we headed to Lark Toy Store, about an hour and a half away, in Kellogg, MN. It was a really cool place! There was carved trolls and such on the walls...
... and a carousel to ride!
Daddy helped Abby ride the goldfish, but Claire didn't want anything to do with it. I tried to get her to ride the loon but ended up in the bench behind it when she made it clear she wanted nothing to do with the loon!
There was lots more to do at Lark Toy Store! We then amused ourselves by making the girls try on hats from their large unusual hats selection.
Abby made a very cute Viking girl, and Claire can't wait to grow up to be a cowgirl!
Next up was the June 7th Cam Fam, where we celebrated Father's Day and Jason's Birthday. Jason was pretty excited about the Wii he got from wife Jill and daughter Lily. Hey, Jason, when can we come over and test it out for you??
Papa also loved the picture holder he got from his grandgirls. Hey, Grandpa, the bib goes on the babies! Oh, well.
The celebrations didn't stop there! This past Saturday, we met Uncle Scott and Aunt Emma at Como Zoo to help celebrate Emma's birthday.
It was so great for the girls to see them! We had a very great day at the zoo and even got another chance to ride a carousel.
This time, I rode on a horse with Claire and she did much better. Abby, however, did not seem to enjoy herself quite as much, so Ryan ended up holding her for most of the ride. Even Scott and Emma got in on the carousel action!
Claire (below) and Abby also got a chance to ride this little bucking car, next to a monkey, elephant and giraffe. They both weren't sure what to think at first, but then got pretty happy about it.
After all that excitement, I was about as exhaused as this here lion!
What a treat then to go get my very first pedicure that night! My colleague Sarah Kurachek and boss lady Jennifer Valley joined me in the pampering.
Here's the finished product! I'm the one in the blue flip flop with Blushingham Palace nails. JV is in the red with brown, sparkly toes, and Sarah got the dark red toes. Very nice!
JV and Sarah headed off to a wedding reception afterwards, while Ryan and I took the girls and JV's adorable son Demetrius to the drive in. We saw Up and Night At The Museum, which were both good -- I think. It's kind of hard to focus on the movies with two 16 months old and 1 seven-year-old in the back seats, but reagardless, we had a good time!
Finally, my two favorite things about it finally being summer are: 1 - the girls can walk themselves to the car (more a developmental thing than a summer thing, I guess, but I'm sure this would be harder to do in Winter), and 2 - it's warm enough that we don't have to bundle up to eat our breakfast in the sunroom (no, we did not do this in Winter, of course! But it was cold enough on those May mornings to need a hat and jacket).
Whew - I think we're all caught up now! Thanks for hanging in there!
We also got to see the new Africa exhibit, which included feeding a giraffe! Ryan showed Abby how it was done. Both girls weren't sure they quite liked having a giraffe so close, but he grew on them quickly.
We also checked out the Splash Pad the zoo has going now. Lily, who is used to the water park by her house, got right into it, running through the water and sticking her face in the spouts. (my sister also took a cute video of Lily playing in the water. Check her blog for the post - coming soon!)
Claire and Abby weren't so sure what to think of the water and generally cried anytime we took them near it. They did okay on this wagon ride through the water that Ryan took them on (aren't daddies great?), but still weren't convinced. Guess we'll have to visit Cousin Lily and play in their water park more often to get the hang of it!
Happy Father's Day to all you fathers out there!
... and Val, and meet their beautiful baby Kendall! And their dog Harley, who is too small to be photographed, I believe.
We also got to meet Erik and Katie's very sweet dog, Archie...
We then headed back to the cities to celebrate with my side of the family. My Aunt Pat, whose house we were going to gather in, continued the trend of sickness by ending up in the hospital the night before with a bad infection of some kind, so we impromptu met at my Aunt Joy and Uncle J0e's house, conveniently right next door.
There were many fun things to play with, including our cousin Lily (above), bunny ears, bunny and chick sippy cups, little bunny and chick books, and a coffee table at just the right height for climbing!
Claire's rash seemed to be bothering her a bit, so we took her dress off and she seemed content just cuddling with Daddy. Abby, who started walking sometime in the chaos of the last few weeks, was thrilled to run around and play with all her cousins and aunts and uncles.
We are back to normal today, and hopefully we'll stay rash-free for a while! Hope everyone had a great Easter!
