Lake Superior Zoo

After a fairly quick drive up to Duluth we made it to our first stop which was the Lake Superior Zoo. We didn't get there quite as early as we wanted but that is to be expected with a potty training toddler traveling with you and a husband who also needs to stop and pee and a wife who planned to stop in Hinckley regardless if anyone had to pee because she really wanted some of their cinnamon rolls for the trip! We also needed to hit the bank in St. Paul before we actually left. Oh well...we made it and had a good time even though it was hot and right over Linnea's usual naptime. I think this Zoo is very comparable to the Como Zoo by us. We ate our picnic lunch by the grizzly bear, saw some sleeping otters, wolves, monkeys, deer, kangaroos, prairie dogs and a whole bunch of nocturnal animals in a dark building which Linnea loved. She also loved the train we got to ride around. it was just a short 5 minute ride around a path we had already walked on but she was in heaven being on the choo choo. And she thought she was a queen since she waved at everyone we went by! After getting hot looking at the animals and playing briefly at the park it was definitely time to get a cold treat and head to our lil Inn on Gitchi Gummi on the scenic drive between Duluth and Two Harbors. Next post will be about that cute place!

One last parade and GG's

Linnea and I headed to the Vadnais Height's Heritage Days parade today with a Lori, Sophia and baby Isabelle while daddy worked on the garage. We also got a run in before that. We may or may not make it to the Woodbury Days parade since we will be coming home from Duluth on Sunday and that is when it is. And we may or may not see the Parade at the State Fair either so this could be the last one of summer. They sure have been fun with a toddler with quite the sweet tooth! It was a nice day to be out at the parade. Linnea came to Target with me after supper too. She chose a different kind of cart today. I should have taken a picture but forgot. She was sitting on sort of a chair out of the cart. Last night when we went to get ice cream my mom and I thought we would let her try the cart with the car the car attached in front so she thought she was driving. I think she loved both! Im pretty sure when she was driving the car she was honking and saying watch out! funny girl.
Tuesday we went to visit GG. I brought some homemade chicken zucchini casserole to share with GG and my parents. Chris doesnt really like it and couldnt come and my parents do like it, I like it and GG always looks forward to a homecooked meal rather than the dining room food. Linnea had chicken fries, grapes and raisins instead. My parents also brought chocolate zucchini cake. Can you tell we are trying to get rid of our zukes? We head to Duluth tomorrow for our 5 year wedding anniversary (boy that went fast)/summer trip so I wanted to use as much of it up as I could! I also made two other zuke casseroles. one to freeze and one for my parents. We have never tried this one so hope its tasty. and of course I made zucchini bread!
Well have a great couple days everyone, we are off to have some fun in Duluth! Pictures and stories to come...

Uncle Brian's

We had a somewhat low key (for us) weekend. Friday we went to a few garage sales after running and playing at the choo choo park and then after nap we brought peach crisp to some dear friends. One of our friends was hit by a car walking across the street in the crosswalk at the beginning of August. She is healing amazingly well and it was so nice to go visit. We even brought the potty chair since we are still working on potty training. It is still going great but she is just most comfortable on that chair so we sometimes bring it with sometimes dont. Daycare has sent home her diapers though! So thats huge! Go Linnea! Saturday I got up sort of early and got a run in on my own. I enjoy running with Linnea in the jogger and know she loves it, but its nice to sometimes go on my own too. I can go a lil farther and its easier. I do miss the squeals of delight whenever an animal of any kind is spotted though. I dont miss hearing, run mommy run. When I am running! guess I sometimes don't go quite quick enough for lil miss. After my run Chris left for the project of the summer...building a garage at Brian and Megan's. Our cousin Gabe who does building for a living was able to come lead the project so Chris spent Saturday and Sunday working hard over at Brian's. Linnea and I visited for lunch and supper. We did some garage saling on the way over and found her a cute tutu! Not many other great things but oh well. We had a good time still. After lunch we came home and I made oatmeal butterscotch cookies while L napped. She really wanted to go back to Uncle Brian's and see uncle Brian, her daddy, papa, grandma, her baby Kaylan and Megan so we did and we brought the cookies. They were really appreciated by the workers! We also went to get the Papa Murphy's Pizza and ice cream for the hard workers. The garage looks great. Still some siding to do and doors to put on but it is up and looking awesome! good job boys! what an accomplishment.

Waterworks!

On Thursday Linnea and I met four of our "new parents connection" friends for some waterpark fun! It was the one in the Battle Creek area not far from my parents house so we have driven by it plenty but never gone. It was a great time! We had swam, had a picnic lunch, swam some more and then had popsicles before heading home for her nap. Im not sure we will get to another waterpark before the end of summer ( I cant believe I just typed the end of summer. It had truly flown by.) Her nap went pretty well for the first one in her big girl bed! I had totally forgot that this would be the first one not in a crib at home. I tried not to make a big deal out of it and she seemed to think it was just normal (besides being about an hour and half later than usual, oops too much fun, I guess!!) She did make some funny noises and talk to her stuffed animals for about 10 minutes but then I didnt hear a peep and had to wake her about 2 hours later. This girl takes after her daddy and LOVES to sleep! And Im not gonna lie, I love her naptime as well. It is two hours I can either workout if I havent already, clean around the house, do laundry, cook, look online for recipes, crafts, organizing ideas, trave ideas, facebook or all of the above!

Coin Carnival!

Last Friday was a very fun day for the two of us and the friends we met up with at the Coin Carnival in Woodbury. Linnea played just about every game there, got her hair crazy painted, jumped in the bounce house, had suckers and tootsie rolls, "participated" in the puppet wagon show and randomly saw Dylan and Ian and a few of our other friends too! By participated I mean she was roaring like a dragon just because she saw a puppet dragon (I didn't know dragons and lions sounded so similar) and showing off her dance moves over to the side of the wagon where no one else was. by the way, no one else was roaring. She was a piece of work. I was very proud of her for trying every little game there and waiting her turn which can be very hard sometimes. We definitely got our money's worth!

Pierce County Fair

Saturday after Linnea's nap we got out the door as quick as we could to head to Ellsworth for the Pierce County Fair. What a fun time it was! Jenny, Naomi and the twins were there and so was Papa Dave, Grandma Sarah and Aunt Allison. We ate fair food right when we got there and then found the petting zoo and pony rides. What a blast! We walked around a bit after that had some corn sold by Dave and Sarah's church, had some ice cream and then walked around a little bit more to see the horses and then we had one tired girl so we headed to Grandma Sarah's house and had a sleepover. And guess what Linnea did? Slept on just a mattress on the floor...pretty close to a big girl bed. She did great. We were even in the same room as her and she didn't get up to "visit" us. Yay Linnea! We woke up and walked down to the cute coffee shop about two blocks from their house. Papa Dave cleaned off his old wagon and L thought it was pretty fun to ride down in that BIG wagon! Sometime we will have to get all the kids in. Im pretty sure 3 little girls would fit just fine! After breakfast and playing inside and working on our sommersaults we decided to go the playground near gma Sarah's. Linnea has lots of fun climbing, sliding and of course swinging. She also tried the outhouse...she tried it at the fair too. I have to say she is pretty brave for going in them. She hasn't actually peed in one yet but she is darn good at trying. She is darn good at this whole potty training thing actually! More on that in its own post. Its a big deal. We had lunch with Grandma Sarah and then headed home. Linnea stayed awake almost the whole way home but zonked out about 5 minutes from home. She was able to get back to sleep for her nap. After nap we had some cereal for dinner and headed to the Central Park Amphitheater for the Okee Dokee Brothers free concert again. Lots of dancing and fun was had by Linnea and I while daddy stayed home and converted her bed to a "big girl" bed. We figured since she did so well at Grandma Sarah's we may as well go with it! Again...I will have another post on that big deal dedicated just to her and her big girl bed! Fun times but a little sad at the same time...she is growing so fast!

Saturday Live!

Saturday Live! is Linnea and I's new fav activity on Saturday mornings. I wrote about it one other time because we have just gone one other time but have been so happy with it both times. The Central Library in St. Paul hosts it and it is a great library for kids. I havent had a chance to check out the adult section but Im sure thats nice too. This past Saturday it was fun with Wendy's Wiggle Giggle and Jam show. Linnea really got into it! Here is a video.

A busy week!

Monday night we went to the library, Tuesday night was the Twins game, Wed was something but I can't remember what and Thursday we went to visit GG and bring her DQ since it was the Childrens Miracle Network day! Linnea also brought her very own pink bag. I really need to get a picture of this. She so badly wants to wear it as a purse and so badly wants to put a bunch of books and movies in it. However, when it gets so full, it gets very heavy so then everything needs to come out because she isn't strong enough to carry all of that. Then it is too light and it falls off her sort of nonexistent shoulder...so we eventually get about 3 things in it and it sort of stays up. Sort of. Enough to make her happy and feel like a big girl. So off we went to GG's with her pink bag. We had an okay visit. Linnea was running back and forth to the potty which is fine at home because we have her lil potty chair. I didn't bring her potty chair because it was just me and I had to also bring in all the food and Linnea's diaper bag (which now has just extra outfits, snack and activities in it!, photo albums for GG to look at and sometimes I end up carrying Linnea so I could not carry a potty chair too. Anyways, needless to say we spent more time in the bathroom than visiting with GG. At least we did have luck once going potty on grandma's big toilet! Linnea rode on GG's lap to the elevator to end the evening. Thursday during the day we went to a Puppet Wagon show which was at a park so we spent most of the time playing at the park and then having a picnic. All with my friend/coworker/teacher I worked with last year! Deb heard so many stories about Linnea and wanted to meet her so we finally got together and they met and really hit it off. L called her Debbie! very cute! I unfortunately don't have many pics besides this one of the puppet wagon...I will try to get a picture up with her bag!

A Much Cooler Twins Game

Tuesday night we went to the Twins Game again. They lost again...but it was a good game at least. And it was against the Red Sox, who are a very good team. We had a great time and were much more comfortable weather wise! the last time we went was one of those 100 degrees days with 100% humidity or something ridiculous like that. Tuesday it was about 50degrees cooler. I even put my sweatshirt on near the end! oh how I love cool summer nights! My parents had 8 tickets to the game. Four in their normal season ticket spot and 4 in the lower level. So we all (Erik, Dylan, my mom and dad, Brian, Megan, Kaylan, Chris and I) took turns in each spot. Linnea stayed home and had a movie nigh nigh with Grandma Sarah and Aunt Allison. She may or may not get to game this season. She certainly has been to a ton in her life, I feel like we need to keep the streak alive of at least a game every year of her life so hopefully we have one more game in us. And hopefully the Twins can win a few more!

Once Upon a Time...

Just a cute story to share. One night last week as Linnea and I were doing our bedtime stories I finished reading our pop up Halloween Book. yes a Halloween Book, I never put it away so sometime she picks it out...all year long! Anyways...it is a super simple book and Linnea decided she wanted a turn to read it to me. So she opened it up to the first page where there is a pumpkin that pops up and she confidently in a playful say, "once upon a time, there was a pumpkin!" And she did this on every page but changed pumpkin to whatever to the picture was! so cute and creative since not many stories we read begin with "Once Upon a Time."

Free Energy, Letterbox and a baby bunny

Well I may as well post about last weekend before this weekend starts! I don't know where the time goes! Anyways...last Friday we went to a free concert at the Lake Harriet Bandshell and it was sooo sooo fun!!! We saw a band called Free Energy which is one of our favs not only because its super great and fun music but Chris knows two of the band members from High School. We even said hi to the singer afterwards..groupies I know. We also saw them at Pitchfork last summer but certainly not for free! Anyways...we met up with a quite a few friends and had Linnea sleepover at my parents house. I think everyone had fun! Saturday morning I went on a run and then we went to get Linnea and did a letterbox and had a picnic and played at a park. My mom joined in on the fun! I was so happy to find the letterbox! First successful one in a while! Linnea enjoys helping with the stamping. Later on that evening Chris saved this cute little bunny. He was mowing the lawn and saw him and put him in the grass so L and I could see him when we returned from the Choo Choo park. She got a kick out of the lil guy and did good job petting him gently. All this was just Saturday! Sunday I think we just tried to get stuff done around the house, ran and played at a park and worked on potty training! It is now Thursday and she has been wearing undies for 2 weeks straight (except nap and night time). Doing awesome with the pee, now we have to figure out those number 2's! Unfortunately she had two poopy accidents in her undies at daycare Wednesday.

Katie and Isabelle's Beach!

Friday morning we had a super fun playdate with Katie and Isabelle! The girls were so cute in their strollers as us mamas pushed them down to the beach! Then me, Katie and Linnea swam and Isa played in the sand. We played/swam up an appetite so walked home for a lunch cooked up by Katie while the girls played. (They even played nigh nigh and both cuddled in Isa's bed with books! so sweet! We ate and then headed home for nap. It was a great morning! The ride home however, was quite traumatic for my little one! She was getting attacked (well in her eyes) by a mosquito. She had three bloodcurdling screams/meltdowns caused by this dumb bug. she just stared at it while it bit her. Stared and screamed while I tried to tell her to smoosh it. I even pulled over at one point but in between cries she let me know the bug was gone now. She has never been one afraid of bugs, but I guess when it is crawling on you and biting you thats different than seeing them on them on the crown. Makes for a stressful drive but we made it. Linnea has been doing awesome with potty training and had been dry all day. Even went potty at Katie's on the big girl toilet! But these stupid mosquitoes scared the pee right out of her and we had one wet girl/carseat when we got home. Oh well. Thats what the washing machine is for. No car accidents since and it has now been 3 days and quite a bit of time in the car. Go Linnea!

Washington County Fair!

This past weekend was the weekend of my favorite county fair! Linnea and I and whoever can join us have gone every year on the Thursday of it because that always happens to be family day so there all kinds of kid friendly activities. We made it to most of the Okee Dokee Brothers concert and so did my dad, our friend Andre and my friend Lisa with her twins and niece. The girls did some dancing during the music and then when it was done spun a wheel for a sucker! These suckers came with us as we ventured to the petting farm where we stayed for quite a while! We then colored with some chalk, played a few kid games and then had a picnic lunch by the camel which the girls were very interested in. After lunch we looked at more animals such as goats, pigs and cows! We were getting kind of hot and almost done for the day but decided we needed some ice cream! So we had that which gave us enough energy to get through two of the exhibit buildings which is quite impressive when you have 3 3.5 year olds and one 2 year old with you! The toddler/preschoolers let us know they had had enough so we headed out after a great day at the Fair! fun times!