Little Canada Days

Our preschool group went to the train museum at Bandana Square this week. The kids just loved it. There was a huge model train set up that took up nearly the whole museum space. There were several buttons throughout the place that the kids could push to do things like light up a police car or lift up a railroad crossing bar.






This bell sounded like the signal you here when a train is coming.



Daughter-in-a-box



On Saturday went to Little Canada Days and got to see a joey among other animals at the petting zoo.



Then our kids got transformed into animals (D is a kitty and M is a puppy, just in case you couldn't tell).



Part of Little Canada Days was a car show. There must have been about 300 cars there! We enjoyed walking around and looking at them all (they just kept coming and coming into the fairgrounds). D and M especially liked this interactive one where they could draw on it with chalk.



Saturday evening we went to a wedding. The kids enjoyed getting down and dancing.

Progress at the Cabin

Sit and spin fun at the cabin.

We worked hard last weekend to get the cabin ready for when Steve's parents come to visit. The tub is in! Let the sheetrocking begin.



The door is up on the bathroom! Privacy! Well...kind of...there's no door handle or lock yet, which means a little person is bound to follow you in there.



Steve's parents came into town the following Friday, and we went up to the cabin for an extended weekend. Here are the boys connecting the pipes for the tub and shower.



The kids just can't get enough of being in the water. Snack time with a cookie from the Rock Creek Cafe.





The sheetrock has been painted. It's finally coming along.



We've been wanting to go berry picking at a local berry farm, but their hours, 4-8 pm, haven't worked out great for us. Finally, the weather was nice and we made it over there this weekend. The blueberries were out of control (I think we could live off of the fruit from just one blueberry bush) and the raspberries were plentiful as well. The kids loved picking (and eating) the fruit.







Grandma and D had a tea party with Lorna Doone's and Fresca in the new tea set Grandma gave the kids.



M wanted in on the party after waking up from his nap.



The fixtures are in! Now we can finally take a shower scrape the popcorn ceiling?! Ugh. Just when I thought we were done!

Story time with Grandma.



The ceiling is scraped, mudded, and painted. The shower curtain rod is installed...



...and the shower curtain is hung. I did take a shower in it today...heavenly!

Summer Fun

We went up to the cabin this weekend and spent some time at our friends' cabin in Grantsburg, WI. Their two boys are the same ages as D and M and do preschool with us. D and M had fun splashing around the shallow water and D loved hanging out on the large tube.







She also attempted to climb a tree when we looked away for a moment.



The "Let's Take a Nap" game strikes again.



Some pictures of the progress of the cabin shower/bathroom.



The reason we had to take out the wall--so Steve could get out from behind the shower after installing it.





Yeah! Pushed into place (for good this time!) There's still a lot of work to do though...



On Monday we visited our newly remodeled library that just opened over the weekend. Here are the kids outside in the children's reading garden.





Here are some pictures of D playing soccer.





On Tuesday, our preschool group went to Como Zoo. We had fun in the butterfly garden--one even landed on my bag.



The highlight of the trip was definitely the Sparky the seal show.



That evening, the kids and I met my friends Terry and Dan and their kids (ages 8 and 12) who were visiting MN from Alaska at Snail Lake Park (Steve had a softball game).







Our little fashionista.



Taking a swing at t-ball.



My friend had Tim Mahoney play at her husband's birthday party. I've never quite seen D and M cut a rug quite like they did that night. Here D is teaching M how to twirl her. Future ballroom dancers?

Fire Fighters and Pilots

Our preschool group took a tour of the Roseville fire station on Tuesday. They must be very brave indeed, as they let my children hold an axe!





Even though it was an incredibly hot day, one of the firemen got all of his gear on for us to see.





Sitting in the firetruck.





Petting the dalmation.



After the firestation, we headed over to the Harriet Alexander Nature Center. They had a room full of things for the kids to touch and play with, like these animal puppets here.



Finally, we went to one of the new playgrounds at Central Park. The bouncing pogo sticks were a favorite.



On Wednesday, we met Steve for lunch at one of the wading pools located near his work. It was a great day to cool down in the pool.







Our brother-in-law Bill was able to spend some time with us today as his flight today took him to Mpls and didn't fly out again until tomorrow morning (he's a pilot). We went to Nelson's in Stillwater for ice cream--our favorite and the best deal in town.