Thursday, June 28, 2012

Some funny stories and photos to share today!

Max is always styling, but the swimsuit and cowboy boots are definitely one of my favorites. Here he was mad because Rory was in his way and he wanted me to take a picture of him riding on the skate board.


It's amazing to me how quickly my kids recover from complete and utter disappointment to over the top joy. Shortly after this photo he started screaming at me to take a picture as Rory had moved. Greatest thing ever!


We've been spending a lot of time outdoors and near water as the temperatures have been very warm. I found the kids actually playing nicely with the hose the other day. Usually one of them is squirting the other and there is screaming and crying involved. So naturally I had to snap a photo of Max and Rory actually enjoying themselves. Of course, as soon as Max wanted to switch and get Rory she suddenly lost interest. But hey, it worked for a while.


And last, a sort of long story that dates back to Key West. While we were in Key West, Florida for Stacey and Steve's wedding we received a gift bag when we got there that included Gold Bond Medicated Powder for the men to use to help cut down on sweating in certain private areas. It came with a warning that the women weren't to use it as it is medicated and will cause pain. Fast forward to last weekend when we had a few neighbors over for the bonfire and s'mores. We're telling this story while we're all hot by the fire and joking about how I was obviously disappointed not to be able to walk around with a bunch of powder hanging out around my swimsuit area. It was a good laugh, a nice silly story to share.

So imagine my surprise when the next morning I find this sitting in my house!


Chris saw it the next day and absolutely had to buy it for me. You guys? I was laughing so hard it hurt. What are the odds?! So I left it in the entryway and had told the story to a few people and shown them the bottle. Idiot me, when will I learn? Yesterday, while I was outside grilling our family dinner and Dusty was running late to get home the kids decided to help themselves to the Monkey Butt powder and covered themselves and the basement.


My husband, God bless him, cleaned up the whole basement mess while I went for a walk with a friend that evening. Rory's hair? It still has powder in it. That stuff really works because a pool, a hose, a shower, and leave in conditioner have yet to remove the quick drying powder. Combing her hair has been miserable for both of us, I've pretty much given up until it's out.

I guess I won't get to walk around this 4th of July with powder hanging around my swimsuit area...Oh well!

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

We finally walked the last, elusive trail at our state park. The trail follows the river up to the waterfalls and we discovered it's really boring. There isn't much for hills, the scenery doesn't change, and it just drags on. Both kids were not amused on this walk and it was probably one of the longest walks we took, figuratively, as they were whining pretty much the entire way.

Of course, it didn't help that Rory's skirt slipped off of her repeatedly. I mean, I would complain about that too!


When our trail met up with the trail to the waterfall I saw something scurry across the path and Rory and I ran quick to see. You guys? Say hello to the cutest little raccoons ever!


We could have gone up and pet them we were so close. Of course, I wasn't about to let that happen and I was really nervous that the mom was somewhere nearby ready to pounce so we took a couple pictures, watched them climb a bit, and continued on our way.

The waterfalls were busy too! There were people in their swimsuits walking along the falls, swimming underneath them and sunbathing on the rocks. We also watched some climbers scale the cliff next to the falls. We've watched this one other time and it is still really cool to see.


After that we made the trek home where I sang just about every song I could think of in order to keep the kids motivated for the long boring walk back. And when we got home? Rory passed out, you know, across the stroller in the garage. You think this was her sign that I should have brought it?


I don't think we'll be taking that trail again anytime soon. We're hoping to canoe or rowboat on the river with Auntie TaTa and I can't wait!

Monday, June 25, 2012

Today we decided to continue on our summer streak and hit up a different park and beach area. We started out at the playground where the kids roamed around playing in the sand, climbing and sliding. I never once was asked to push a swing, you know they're busy than!



After that we headed to the beach for a sandy lunch. And I literally mean sandy, everything you touched magically got sand on it. Rather hard on the teeth for the record!


After that we had some fun splashing around. Both Max and Rory worked on their back floats (neither are very successful - yet). We dug pools, we built mountains, we ran for the warmth of our towels, and then we did it all again.




It was a perfect summer day.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Last night? We roasted marshmallows.



We ate s'mores leaving sticky gooey marshmallows on our faces.




The kids helped Daddy keep a nice big warm fire.



At midnight we finally all crawled into our tent in the backyard where we giggled about farting noises, shushed each other, and then finally fell asleep.



Yes, she really was sleeping with her head off the air mattress. No wonder she was the last one to leave the tent.


It was a good night and will lead to a great nap today!

Friday, June 22, 2012

Today the kids and I brought Auntie Rosie to the Minnesota Zoo! Max took our first photo, that would be me, Rosie and Rory with the giant buffalo, I know it's hard to tell from how far away we are.


The kids had fun pretending to be tigers since the actual tigers were laying in the shade somewhere unseen.


The main event at the zoo was their big Dinosaur exhibit which Max was really excited about. That is, until we got there, then he got a little nervous when they got close.


The kids eventually warmed up to the exhibit and requested that we even go in a second time, we sure got our money's worth!


Auntie Rosie even had a little fun posing for us.


We also stopped at their farm and visited the farm animals. Naturally the goats were a big hit.


Max loved that they'd nibble on his fingers.


We stopped at the zoo's splash pad and the kids had fun running through there in swimsuits.



Auntie Rosie even got an ice cream cone and shared it with us!


We made it to the dolphin show where we got front and center seats. I don't think we could have asked for a better viewing.


And Max and I grabbed a quick smooch during the show!


We also visited the aquarium which just recently opened back up. The kids had fun looking for sharks.


The butterfly garden was also a big hit as we searched for all the different varieties.


We spent almost 7 hours at the zoo today, which is way longer then I've ever spent at the zoo with the kids. I'm exhausted and the kids are too. So tonight? We're camping in our tent in the backyard and having a bonfire. I mean, if you're going to do summer you might as well do it big. Right?!

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Today the kids and I were running errands, and for the third day in a row Rory has decided that the public restroom is where she should do her business. So three times now I've gone into the bathroom with Rory only to have her turn around and declare loudly, "I have to go potty and poops. I need privacies!" And if I dare suggest going in with her or say another word she'll even more loudly interrupt me stating again, "I NEED PRIVACIES!"

So yes, you can say the last few days have been slightly embarrassing and also pretty comical when we go out.

And with that story, I think I'll share a couple more stories from the past couple weeks.

Max, Rory and I were walking at an outdoor mall and there was a girl, maybe 16-18 years old, that was walking towards us. Max spotted her right away and pointed her out because he liked her sparkly orange tank top. When she walked by Max yelled "Hi!" to her and Rory quickly followed suit. As she walked past? Max turned around and yelled to her, "YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL!" You guys? How adorable is that?! The girl turned around blushing and didn't say anything but I waved her off, she was a bit too old for him anyway. (Hee hee hee)

Lastly, remember how I walked the kids down the busy city sidewalk to go to a bar where they could run around while we waited for the rest of the wedding party to finish up photos? Well, when we walked in the bar Max started getting excited because they had cattails there. He was telling everyone this and we're all looking around trying to find the cattails while Max continued to point towards the cattail-less bar. It finally dawned on me what he was trying to tell us, so I asked him if he wanted a kiddie cocktail. Man was he excited! (How in the world did my kid know he could get cocktails at a bar? Seriously, this is not a regular stop for us.)

Hope you had some laughs, these kids sure do some funny things sometime and it's fun to relive them. Well, except for the bathroom situations, that's been a daily occurrence, I can stop reliving it any day now and be content.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

The kids and I have been keeping ourselves busy these last few days. We've had lunch with Auntie, we
visited an indoor playground, we went to the beach and today we got our pool time in.


Yes, even Mama went into the pool, it's hot and humid over here!

The kids also washed their cars.




I even made it out to the garden to pick a few fresh vegetables for dinner tonight. Too bad I found Rory hoarding them all!


The rest of the week should hopefully be a bit more mellow. Maybe even a day of movies and popcorn, now that is something I could get in to!

Sunday, June 17, 2012

So our crazy weekend is wrapping up finally and I have a moment to breathe, if only a moment. On Friday I posted this photo to Facebook with my excitement of Randy and Ashley's wedding.


I had a really great time at the wedding but to be honest I had much higher expectations for myself and what I'd be able to do. And the reality? I spent most of my time being a personal assistant to my 4 and 2 year old children as I ushered them to and from the places they needed to be, continued to help them with smooth transitions and worked vigorously to keep them as clean as possible for as long as we could. In other words? I'm exhausted, I didn't get nearly as many photos as I had hoped, and while I certainly had a good time, I was extremely glad to get to the reception where my parents and sisters would be to help me manage the kids. (I love you guys, thank you again!)

Now, with that long winded explanation of my day I'm ready to show you some of the photos I did get. Get ready for a photo overloaded blog post and my apologizes if you didn't make the blog but the 44 photos I posted to Facebook can't all go here too.

We started out with photos at a local park. My family? We clean up nice if I say so myself.


Here is the gigantic wedding party. If you look closely you'll see Dusty right in the middle next to the bride. He was the best man after all!


The kids did really great walking down the aisle. They never stopped and continued walking on, although, Max was behind the girls with his pillow pushing them if they slowed down!


The gorgeous bride and her father. Seriously she was stunning!


And then, you know the most boring part about the wedding. (And the official part.) Where the priest gives his blessing, the bride and groom learn about the sacrament of marriage, and all the other things that go on while us parent's are obsessively trying to keep the kids quietly entertained so as to not distract anyone around us.



And then they KISS!


Afterwards there is a flurry of activity as you try to get the best man and a groomsmen to the next set of photos while a bridge has brought traffic to a stand still. Then walk with your kids along a busy city sidewalk to get to a bar where they can run around waiting for photos to be finished. After that you load up, do everything in your power to keep the kids from falling asleep in the car for the 15 minute ride because you know they will be bears if they only sleep for minutes before the reception. And then you pose with the ones you love for a few more photos.

My family!


Suzanne and all her girlies!


On to dinner and speeches. Dusty was the last of 4 speeches so while he was funny he was also respectful and kept it short and sweet. I know he had more he wanted to say about Randy and Ashley but he still did a great job while also respecting his audience!


Then? We dance!




And then a couple hours after their bedtimes, the kids start asking to go back to Grandma and Bopa's, so you load them up, kiss them goodnight, and spend the rest of the evening trying to catch up on everyone you've missed out on while living one of the busiest days of you life. Oh, and you also dance until your legs cramp up!

Congratulations Randy and Ashley, we couldn't be more excited to have a second Ashley Cochran in the family!