Boating and then Bye Bye - A Great Week in MN

We went out with a bang in Minnesota. On our last day, my parents dear friends, Veronica and Ralph, invited us on their boat for a day on Lake Minnetonka. It was lovely. My parents have raved about that lake over the past few years and I am so glad we got to see it ourselves. Wow! The homes on it are indescribable! The lake is huge and the water is very nice. Ralph, our captain, showed us quite a bit of the lake and stopped frequently for swim breaks for the boys. It was a wonderful day. We had an early flight the next morning so planned to wrap up our day on the lake around 7:00 in order to get the boys bathed and in bed at a decent hour. We were having such a large time that we scratched that plan and then decided to prolong our night even further by going out to eat. I'm not one to be real strict on the kids' schedules but can't say we usually take them to restaurants at 9:30pm either! We ended up having such a great night out. We laughed so hard at ourselves. We were the most disheveled looking family walking into the restaurant. Windblown hair for all of us (the guys tried to fix that with bottled water and a comb in the car but no real progress), bathing suits, wet clothes on top of our suits and a look of being on a boat for six hours. Lookin' good! The icing on the cake was the fact that poor Daddy lost one his front teeth! Long story short, he had a temporary tooth while awaiting his permanent crown. The temp broke but since it was a Sunday there wasn't much he could do. We felt bad for him but it didn't stop us from laughing hysterically every time he opened his mouth. I'm sure Daddy is wishing I didn't share that story but I never want to forget that fun day and night and I can't help it if part of the fun was at his expense :) We love you Daddy! Thanks CC and Day Day for a wonderful week! It was a blast!

Drew loves boating!
CC and the beautiful scenery.

Ralph, George, Day Day and the boys. Fun guys!

Ralph was so sweet to the boys!

Love those guys!

David chowing down on some fried chicken. We realized this was his first piece of fried chicken. Big fan!

Enjoying some swim time.

Captain Drew. Ralph seriously let Drew drive for the longest time. He was so patient with Drew and taught him a lot.

He sleeps! We laugh that David is the most active kid around. Here's proof that occasionally he does crash!

He sleeps again. Our flight home departed at 7am. It was an early morning. David was WILD the first hour or so of the flight. I'm sure the plane full of Monday morning business travelers appreciated the overhead light clicking on and off two hundred times. David eventually crashed and so did I! Entertaining him in flight is exhausting!

More Spoiling - Pool Parties and CC's Birthday

The fun continued in Minneapolis the next two days! On Friday we went to Daddy's office in the morning to visit him and meet some of his friends. The boys were most impressed with the popcorn machine and ate three bags leaving the contents of at least one bag scattered on the floor. Not sure if we'll get another invite to Mystic Lake Casino or not. Then we went out to lunch before resting in order to get ready for a fun night of swimming. One of Daddy's co-workers and friends invited us to his home for dinner and some fun in the pool. It was an absolute blast! We go to the pool here quite a bit but there is something different about hanging out at a private pool. We all enjoyed playing on rafts, swimming around, eating delicious snacks and dinner, eating some more and having a few margaritas. It was a great night! Thanks to Rick and Teresa for opening your home to us. On Saturday we went to the movies. George and I saw Friends With Benefits (very cute by the way!) and CC and Day Day took the boys to see Pooh. David also saw quite a bit of Bridesmaids and a few minutes of Friends with Benefits as he and Day Day toured the theater trying to keep David entertained. I guess Pooh wasn't cutting it. After the movie we got ready for another pool party. Mom and Dad's dear friends, the Walick's, and some other of their local pals were getting together for some grilling and pool time. David only swam for a short while but Drew was a fish as usual. There were some adults in their 20's who cooincidentally taught swimming lessons for years and enjoyed having Drew in the water with them. Drew always leeches on to the oldest people he can find and in this case it worked out great! Another highlight of the day was celebrating CC's birthday. We were in town a few days prior to her big day but couldn't resist the chance to celebrate in person! We had a great little party complete with decorations, gifts and a delicious cake.

We went to lunch at a Mediterranean restaurant that had some belly dancing for entertainment. Our table was as close to the mini stage as you can get (see CC and her friend Cathy in the background). The boys' reactions were absolutely hysterical! Drew was embarrassed and wouldn't watch. He put his head on the table and turned bright red if you even mentioned watching. I was shocked that a four year old would even know to be embarrassed by a grown woman dancing with a bare belly. David, however, was enthralled with it and tried to get even closer throughout the "show." Thank goodness she invited kids to join her for the last dance. David quickly stepped on stage but what did he do? Not dance, not smile his dimply smile. No, he stood completely still and picked his nose. Nice. I didn't get a pic of him doing it because I was about to pee my pants. I did get his statue stance though :) Drew join in on the dancing? No way!

Swimming Friday night. Day Day and the boys had a blast floating around, doing raft races and swimming.

CC and the boys pretended they were part of a sea lion show (we saw one at the Como Zoo the day before) Here they are coming up to the side of the pool for their treats - I had Goldfish.

George enjoyed the nice pool too!

Their backyard was like a resort! Rick is getting ready to grab the pizzas out of the outdoor oven. Yum, yum! We enjoyed having a front row seat at the bar.

Another shot of their gorgeous yard. You can see Day Day chillaxin' :)

Enjoying a delicious meal!

CC's birthday! The boys were so happy to give her balloons (from David) and flowers (from Drew).

CC showing off her birthday decorations the boys colored.

My beautiful Mom, looking nowhere close to 60!

CC listening to her recorded storybook from the grandkids. She loved it so much! It really did turn out cute. Whitley, Drew and even David did such an awesome job "reading" the pages. To get it just right Cristie and I would read the page and then have one of the kids repeat it just as we pressed the button. We were surprised when David tried to participate so we gave him a page too! So adorable!

The boys were so proud listening to the book.

CC helping David pass out cookies at Saturday's pool party.

David with friends Cathy, Deb, her grandson Mason, and Veronica.

Spoiled Rotten in MN - Twins Game and Como Zoo

We spent a week in Minnesota toward the end of July. Like every visit there, CC and Day Day spoiled us rotten! We had a fun outing every day and also squeezed in a couple of visits to their neighborhood park, lots of delicious meals and of course tons of love and laughs. We arrived on a Tuesday night. The flight was comical as we knew it would be. David was a piece of work! We decided to be cheap and have him sit in our laps (he'll be two August 10th so this was our last chance to get away with that). We quickly realized he is too big and active to be confined to a lap. Always imitating his brother, he wanted his own seat and seat belt so we squeezed him in between us so he could buckle up like Drew. David's behavior wasn't necessarily bad, he was just extremely loud and full of energy. I could see the folks around us giggle and think, "Been there, done that." They were very kind and told us not worry but I'm sure after two hours they had their fill of David and my constant attempts to calm him down. We laughed wondering how many of them updated their Facebook status after that flight. Oh well, the flight was on time and we were thrilled to see CC, Day Day and their new Grandalade, Dad's nickname for his Escalade purchased solely to cart around his Grands. We had a nice ride to their house and finally got the boys calmed down enough to fall asleep close to midnight EST. On Wednesday, Dad took George, Drew and I to a Twins game. The new Target Field is very nice and we really enjoyed the experience. Minnesota was experiencing extreme heat for a few days (described in the USA Today as the hottest place other than the Amazon Jungle. Seriously? Minnesota???) We made the best of the heat by drinking lots of cold beer, cooling off in the misting fans and taking over some empty seats in the shade:) Mom and David stayed behind since the game was during his nap time and we didn't think he would sit still for a baseball game. They had a nice day playing with all of the toys she had for them. She had a little riding school bus that David drove around their unfinished basement. So, it was a great day for all of us! On Thursday CC took us to the Como Zoo while Day Day worked. It was our second trip to the Como Zoo and it was a hit once again! Here's pictures from our first two days of the trip...

Super cool Target Field!
Twins gear, face painted and cotton candy - ready for the baseball game!

Drew and I with a super fan.

Fun for Drew!

This cracked us up! It was the hottest day ever! We were walking the concourse to stay cool when Day Day found this chair (for the security guard) and popped a squat.

CC went to the library before we arrived and picked out some great books. She read to the boys every night in this chair.

Fun day at the Como Zoo!

The zoo has a kiddie park with tons of rides and a splash zone. It really is a fun place. We had a great day!

Drew's first roller coaster! It was pretty tame but still more than I can handle.

David loved the rides! Everything was "My car, my train, my boat."

CC braved the teacups :) David is on it too but is blocked by Drew.

Waiting for the tilt-a-whirl to start. Drew was embarassed by my screaming.

David's favorite, riding the train with CC.

Drew had an absolute blast in the splash zone. He quickly made friends with some big kids and was livin' it up.

Happy 60th CC!!!

CC, Grandmother extraordinaire, turns 60 today! Happy birthday Mom!!! The kids love a birthday party and they love their CC so Cristie and I decided to have a little party and send it to CC via our blogs. We got together and played, had pizza, decorated cupcakes and then ate our treats. We sang too of course. Enjoy CC! We wish you the best of birthdays! You are loved so very, very much!!!!

Drew and David showed Whitley their library books while Cristie and I prepped the party.

Let the mess begin!

Whitley did a nice job of putting sprinkles on her cupcake :)

Drew too!

David refused to sit down in the chair! CC would not have liked that one bit!

Our CC cupcake display :)

Jillian Returns

We had awesome company the middle of the month. George's sweet Goddaughter, Jillian, visited from New Jersey for a week! She came last year but I figured we scared her away. I mean, what 17 year old wants to spend a week in this house? I teased her that she only came back so she could also go to Judy's for a week to shop and lay at the beach when she left our place. She swears she loved it last year and couldn't wait to come back! So sweet! We were all thrilled to see her. It didn't take long for David to wrap her around his little finger. He called her named constantly, even more so when I asked him to go to bed or do something else he wasn't a fan of. The way he said her name was adorable. Imagine saying Jillian as one syllable - that's it :) Her first morning here she awoke to the boys talking outside of her room. It was about 7:15, not terribly early but still early for a rising high school senior during the summer. I begged the boys to leave her alone but they were so eager to see her. She was a good sport and woke up early each day to be with them. The week flew by! We went to the pool quite a bit, played outside and one day we went to the UNC Planetarium and then had lunch on Franklin Street. We all enjoyed the Planetarium and Jillian and I laughed about how much we learned as well! George, Jillian and Drew went to Greenville to visit ECU one day. They had a great time and came back with pirate t-shirts and temporary tatoos. We were sad to see Jillian go but hope she will come back one more time next year before college?!? Thank you Jillian! We miss you!!

Me-Ma and Drew at the USS North Carolina. George and Drew drove to Wilmington to meet Judy for the Jillian switch. They all went to the USS North Carolina and Drew absolutely loved it! He has invented so many battleship-type games with his boats since then and has added the Navy to his list of things he's going to be when he grows up.
Darling Jillian and Drewby.

Jillian and the boys at UNC.

David points to The Magic Tree House Space Mission show at the Planetarium.

Cheese!

Jillian gave the boys Toys R Us gift cards when she arrived so later in the week we ventured to the store for them to pick something out. Drew chose a Star Wars volcano. I didn't read the instructions very well or probably wouldn't have approved the baking soda/vinegar/food coloring lava but we sure have had fun with it!