4th of July

We went to my parents on Saturday to celebrate the 4th of July. Here are the dads relaxing...



...and the cousins playing together.



The kids had such a fun time pulling each other on the green raft.



A future job directing air traffic?



D trying out the new water wings.



Playing with Daddy on the green raft.



Papa took the kids out for a pontoon ride and they both got to drive the boat.





Cute cousins!





M and sweets are kind of a dangerous combination. First, here he is with a chocolate covered cupcake (love the goatee!)...



...then with red velvet cake. Yikes!



Sparklers!





On Sunday, the fourth, we hosted our annual 4th of July party and headed to Central Park for fireworks at dusk. D quickly made friends with one of the older boys and they held hands as they walked to the park from our house. Cute!



D thought the fireworks were very loud and kept worrying that M would be woken up by them at home (our neighbor came over to stay with him while he went to bed).

Great Harvest

D took it upon herself to carry up and fold all of M's laundry. The pile may look a little messy in the picture, but she actually did carefully fold (as best she could) each piece of laundry, underwear included! M kept coming over and wanting her to play and she kept telling him "No, I can't! I'm busy folding the laundry!"



On Tuesday, we took a tour of the Great Harvest Bread Company in Linden Hills. It was neat to see all of the equipment they use to make such large quantities of bread. I especially loved seeing all the giant equipment, like this dough hook...



...and these mixers.



Peeking in to see rising dough. M could have easily fit into that mixing bowl.



Tuesdays are their slow days, but they still had plenty of loaves going 'round and 'round the Ferris Wheel-like oven. Mmmm...hard to resist anything at this store!



After our tour, we headed over to the Wild Rumpus bookstore (super cool--live animals walking around everywhere!) and then Sebastian Joe's for a little ice cream treat and a ride aboard the turtle in the outdoor garden.



That evening, we went to go watch Steve play his softball game. M is so happy to have a mitt and ball just like daddy!



On Friday, it was quite warm out and we turned on the sprinkler to cool down.

More Cousins and the Teddy Bear Band

John and Ronda hosted a picnic at their house to spend more time with our family from Texas. D and M both loved getting to know their cousin Michael better. They had a great time playing with him on the sports court in their back yard and invented a new game--stuff the basketball under your clothes. Michael helped D to score her first goal (and hold a stick for the first time). Michael's high school hockey team won state this past year in Minnesota and he will be attending Colorado College this coming fall. Maybe we can see him play in a game there when we go out to visit Steve's family in Colorado Springs! Hip hip hooray! D made it to the letter Z! There was a miscommunication about the time and place we were told to pick up Chino and Mercedes from the bus station (we were told St. Paul at 5:45, they were in Minneapolis at that time waiting for a bus to take them to St. Paul, which arrived at 7:10), so we had some time to kill. We were close the the state capitol, so we got out and let the kids run around a while. D striking a pose. It was "Touch-A-Truck" evening as part of Rosefest on Sunday. The kids got to go in a fire truck, garbage truck and this tractor. Part of the evening festivities included a family favorite--the Teddy Bear Band.

Rosefest Parade and Fort Snelling

We went to the annual Rosefest parade on Monday. D got so excited when she finally saw the first group coming down the road.



M spots a police car.



Waving the flags they got at the parade.





D getting "vulcan-ized".





Our homeschool preschool group went to Fort Snelling on Tuesday. We practically had the place to ourselves...I'm guessing because we chose the hottest day to go to a place with absolutely no trees or shade. It was H-O-T!



Inside the circular tower.





Playing with toys children would have used during this time period (a wooden boat) and doing the laundry. The kids were totally wet after this, but the cool water felt so good on such a hot day.



We asked questions to one of the actors at Fort Snelling.

Playing with the Cousins

My mom and dad hosted a picnic so the family could see our cousins and aunt and uncle from Texas who were in town. D and M enjoying their time in the water at Grandma and Papa's.



M went fishing for the first time ever. He had a blast touching the fish before throwing them back in. Papa helped him reel in sunny after sunny.







D enjoyed catching fish, too.



D went on the inner tube behind the boat with the big girls (cousins Maddie and Ana). Unfortunately, once out on the open water, the tube flipped over and they got trapped underneath. Ana rescued D out from under the tube, but I think it will be a while before she gets back on one again. She refused to go back on it for the rest of the boat ride.



M and Andrea observed from the dock.



Here they go!



D and I go for walks a couple of evenings a week for some girl bonding time and some exercise for me. After a fun day in the sun, on the lake, and playing with cousins, D actually fell asleep a little over half-way through our walk. She never woke up once the rest of the night! What a tired little girl. Notice she is holding Oso and Cinderella princess shoes, which she insisted on wearing on the walk.