Birthday Boys

In the past week we've had the privilege of celebrating 2 birthdays. Brady turned 8 on June 13 and Logan turned 6 on June 18.
As always, they had their special date nights with Daddy. This year was at the Mall of America, and if you follow me on Facebook, you probably saw all the cute pictures of that on there.
Logan also lost his first tooth this week, so it's been an exciting month for us!

Happy Birthday boys. I can't believe how quickly you guys are growing up!
We'll be having the party tomorrow, inside, and away from those awful storms :).

First lost tooth 6-19-13

June 18, 2013



June 13, 2013. Brady wanted a Mohawk for our last day in Myrtle Beach.

Travel Tidbits

We returned from our 3rd big vacation in the past year on Saturday night. The trip was 8 days long, which included 4 days of travel and 4 days at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
The driving days were long, but very interesting, so I wanted to share a few tidbits about those days alone.
We traveled through Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

Here is what we saw and found interesting...

- Toll roads are expensive and annoying (as much as $4 we paid at some)

- Bob the Builder was played on the DVD player at least 5 times through--and it's not a short movie.

- Charleston, WV is beautiful, and a place that both Peter and I thought looked like a great place to live.

- I hate when kids eat in the car--we never normally do, except on vacation, and even then it's dry cereal only. Yuck!

- In North Carolina, along the roads we traveled, there are groups of extremely run down mobile homes (from around 1960-1970) where people live. It was actually very sad.

- In South Carolina, there are tons of billboards for canned collard greens, vidalia onions, and other assorted southern canned foods.

- Illinois was our least favorite state by far. I can't stand Chicago traffic or the speedy and unsafe drivers.

- Nexus 7 tablets saved the day many times, especially with the ability to charge them while driving.

- Marshall still loves to page through little books to pass the time.

- We spotted every license plate except Alaska, Hawaii, Montana, Delaware, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Idaho, Vermont, and New Hampshire.

- Palm trees are my favorite by far

- I LOVE being a time share owner and can't wait until we decide to upgrade a little more.

- We love doing road trips and we're going again in 4 months.

- Peter and I agree that it would be ideal to live within a days drive to the ocean (ideally south, but anywhere really).

- Different fast food places and grocery stores, including: Bojangles chicken and biscuits, Waffle House, Red Burrito, Chick Fil-A, Food Lion, Piggly Wiggly, Publix...

- The Smokey Mountains--they were the best in the fall through Tennessee, but pretty great last week as well, in Virginia and West Virginia.

- Amish people that we came across in MN, VA, and WV.

Our longest days of travel were from Farmington, MN to Gallipolis, OH and back. This route was 846 miles and 13 hours (this did not include the hour lost on the first day or gained on the last day). We left home at 5:30AM on Saturday and arrived in Gallipolis around 9PM EST. On the way home, we left Gallipolis at 5:30 AM EST and arrived home at 8PM-- we stopped only 4 times on the way home, for gas/food/potty.

10 Years Ago Today...

This N That

Dandelion bouquet

Getting our first bonfire started with some friends

Hot dogs in the backyard

Wearing some of the new pjs that Grandma made

Hope you all are enjoying this late spring too. We have to make the most of everyday the sun shines!
See you when we get back from Myrtle Beach in a couple of weeks.

Cozy Coupe

Best toy for a little boy = The Cozy Coupe

 

Our family became proud owners of our first coupe back in 2006, when Grandma and Grandpa decided that Brady had to have one (even though he wasn't even walking at the time).

The coupe first stayed at Grandma's house, but not long after, we realized that we would have to make room for it in our tiny townhouse garage--and we did.

Fast forward about 4 years, and Grandma and Grandpa came through once again with yet another coupe. This time they were fortunate enough to find one on the curb for free. Now Brady and Logan each had one! At some point, the cozy coupe gas pump was even purchased, making the coupe even more enjoyable to play with.

 

Here are a few of my favorite cozy coupe pictures from over the past 7 years that we've owned it (them).

 

 

Oct. 2006 Brady

 

Summer 2008 Brady
 

Summer 2009 Logan

 

2009 Brady 
 

2 coupes!

 



Summer 2011 Marshall

 



 

 2011 Logan

2012 Brady and Logan

 



Car Wash 2012

 



2012 In the basement.

 



May 2013 Logan and Marshall

 

It's Been Awhile

It's been awhile since I last blogged.
I've been really busy and haven't had much to blog about.

Before I dive back into the blogging world, I'd like to share a little about what we've been up to in the past month and a half.

Sports:
Brady and Logan are both involved in Track and Field right now and they are loving it! Peter is even coaching Brady's team. I'd like to say thank you to all of you who have come down to watch them run--they really like having fans :).
Marshall is also taking a gymnastics class right now, on Monday mornings, which he is SO excited about!
This summer Brady and Logan will each be attending a week long basketball camp. They will also be taking swim lessons later in the summer.
I think that is it for sports for now, so here are some pictures.

Church:
Our whole family is wrapping up with BSF for the season. It was a great study of Genesis this year for all of us. This was the last year that Logan will come with me on Wednesday mornings to the woman's group. Next fall he'll be going with his Daddy and Brady on Mondays.
Vacation Bible School at our church starts the week of June 24. I know my boys are excited to go, and I've been praying a little about some friends that we could invite along.

School:
The school year is quickly coming to an end, with the last day on June 4. Both boys continue to do well in school and both are sad about it ending so soon. Logan's class will be putting on a music program this Friday afternoon, and Brady's class has one next Thursday--it never gets old seeing them sing with their classes :). Brady's class is going to the Children's Theatre on Friday and Logan has a field trip to the MN Zoo in the end of May (I even get to come along for that one).

Summer:
As always, we are anxiously awaiting the official return of summer to MN.
Yesterday was very helpful with the near 100 degree temps--we even got the pool out.
Picnics are already in full force, parks have been visited, walks have been taken, and I am back to my morning runs--just a few more weeks until school is out so I can have my boys with me everyday and enjoy the freedom to do what we want--all the time!!
Also, we will be heading out on a family vacation in June to Myrtle Beach, SC, to celebrate 10 years of marriage and an 8th and a 6th birthday as well.

Duck:
I'm not sure if you remember me talking about the duck that nested by our front door last year or not, but she came back this year. Last year was not so successful for her. She laid about 7 eggs, but a mean crow came and took them all while she was out one day.
This year she came back and things went much better. This year our duck sat on her nest all day (except when she went out to eat in the evenings). She was also much less afraid of us--we were able to walk right up to her and we all talked to her everyday.
One day while she was out for dinner, we were able to get a good picture of her 12 eggs.
Then, last weekend, 11 of the 12 eggs hatched and the baby ducks were born. Apparently baby ducks dry off and head straight for the water after being born, so I don't have a picture to share.

This is a picture of the duck--look in the upper left.

Happy Easter

We had a fabulous time spending Easter with family this year. First, we spent the morning with Laura and Jason at church for a wonderful Easter service. Then we drove up to Blaine to have some brunch and do some egg hunting with Laura and Darron and the boys' cousins. After that, we stopped by Grandma and Grandpa's house to play for a bit and have a light dinner. We were home just in time for some good teeth brushing and a good night's sleep before returning back to school today.

Brady and Logan had spring break for school last week and boy did we enjoy it!! I can hardly believe that school will be over in just 2 months...crazy. I could swear that each year goes by faster than the one before.

Face Painting and Stuffed Animals--courtesy of the Farmington Easter Carnaval.