What a great weekend! The girls and I chilled at home on Friday night and watched Mamma Mia for the 26th time. Sat morning I took Rachel to the Downtown Farmers Market. We were there for almost 3 hours and only saw half of the vendors. Rachel enjoyed all the dogs walking around and I picked up a few good deals. Afterwards we stopped by Sonic and picked up lunch. We took it to Jones Park and enjoyed a nice picnic outside by one of the ponds. We spread out a blanket and enjoyed some sunshine and after we ate we walked around the pond and looked for frogs. When we got home we packed our bags and the girls and I went back to Cascade to see Aunt Sarah and Scott went to a concert. Rachel was SO excited to see Aunt Sarah again.

Saturday we slept in, played outside, went to the pool for a few hours and Rachel and I took a gator ride with Grandpa down to the back woods...and almost got stuck. A perfect day! Sunday we met up with Sarah and her nephews, Sam and Ben, and took all of them to the River Museum in Dubuque. Annie went totally crazy the minute we walked in and she saw the huge aquarium. She ran over to the turtles and started screaming. Needless to say the rest of the visit was spent chasing her around from exhibit to exhibit. We stopped by Happy Joes for lunch and ate some much needed BLT & Taco pizza...awesome. Next stop, Grand Harbor Water Park. The kids enjoyed a few hours of swimming before we headed back home. Annie went down a few of the larger slides with me and Rachel was thrilled to have Jena all to herself. Quick stop at DQ for some ice cream and a quiet ride home.

Grandma & Grandpa Strang are going to take Rachel camping later in the week. They have a whole bunch of activities planned for her so I'm sure she'll come home exhausted. She's excited to have a few days with G&G and no little sister around to bug her.

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad, hope you enjoyed your day!




River Museum


Grandma's barn quilt


Annie enjoying sweet corn and yelling at
us about something.

Summer

So, I'm pretty sure no one is bothering to even read this blog anymore since I haven't posted in almost 3 months. But, I'll entertain the few of you that might still care and catch you up on our summer so far.

Summer vacation...ahhhh. The girls still have to get up early in the morning and go to daycare but no worrying about homework, lunches, early dismissals. Rachel has enjoyed most of the summer playing outside with Sammy. They spend many nights on Sammy's swingset or looking for bugs. They both went to camp in early June for a week and had a great time. Since this was their first time at a camp, we decided a day-camp would be best. They had an overnight stay on the last night and we decided we'll try more overnight stays next summer. Rachel must of had a great time based on the condition of her clothes each night. I've never seen a kid come home so exhausted and covered in mud from head to toe.

Annie has been a very busy girl this summer. She's in the stage where she runs, the minute you let go of her hand or open the front door...she's gone. But we've enjoyed a couple nice afternoons at the pool and Cherry Hill park. She's turning TWO this month and she's already discovered her independence. She doesn't like the word NO so when she's told it she usually comes right over and puts her finger in your face and says...'YOU STOP!!!" Yep, two years old. We are contemplating if it's time to put away the crib and get out a big girl bed but I'm really dragging my feet. The crib is the one place she can't get out of, yet. She sleeps well in it and she doesn't seem to mind being in it so we might wait a few more months. We even thought about potty training, for a few days. She went potty three days a row at daycare but refused to at home. After awhile she seemed to just forget about. We won't push her. I'm sure it will be a long and exhausting battle and I figure we're better off to just wait until she's ready.

My one goal this summer was to run at least ONE 5k and by the end of summer Ill have ran four. I am by no means the fastest runner out there and I've been beaten by several kids and a few dads with baby strollers but I never thought I could ever run a mile again, especially since I haven't ran one since my senior year in high school. Now, if I can just convince Scott to run with me....hah.

We took a few days off for Cascade's 175th Celebration in June and enjoyed a few days at the farm. The girls slept almost 12 hours each night and they enjoyed countless golf cart rides with Grandpa. It was just the type of vacation we needed. We are planning another mini-vac before school starts again. We are taking the girls to the water park in Waterloo and staying overnight, weather permitting! Rachel will start school in a few short weeks so it's time to buying new supplies and start thinking about fall clothes. Ugh, I dread the thought of trying to get her back into shoes, socks and jeans!!!

I promise I'll TRY and keep my updates more frequent. Just don't hold your breath!

Rachel's bday cupcakes