A weekend home

After 3 consecutive weekends of traveling... it was finally a weekend home. I ran a 5K with my girlfriends on Saturday morning. Mandy made the three of us shirts that said, M. O. M. on the front, and Move Over Mister on the back. The kids all had shirts that said "Faster Mama". It was way too cute and got a lot of laughs out of everyone running.

Mandy and I had the grand master plan to have her 3 year old Eric hang out with Jim while we put the two one year olds into her double running stroller. That way we could take turns pushing the stroller and go faster. About 2 seconds before the start her 3 year old decided to run the first block with us. Unfortunately he started sprinting and got tripped up by some people in front. So he was crying and Mandy ran over to him leaving me to push the stroller. I quickly realized that this stroller was very different from the one I had been running with. She has the type that can be pulled behind a bike and had the front wheel in swivel mode. I was used to the BOB she lets me borrow that has a fixed wheel requiring me to push down on the handle to lift the front wheel for each big turn. Since it always ran straight, I was able to just push with one hand. This double stroller required two hands and much more concentration. Plus I always start out way too fast with adrenaline for races. So about 1/4 mile into the race we had to go onto the bridge... I took the turn to quickly and the kids bounced over the retaining wall and into the flower bed. This is why they have a 5 point harness! ha ha!

Mandy just laughed... kids were just fine and all we needed to do was pull them back out. She took the stroller duty for the rest of the run. Mel kicked our butt with 29 min... Mandy finished with the two little ones around 31 minutes... and I brought up the rear all by myself at 34 minutes. Eric helped me feel a little better and ran the last block with me. At one point in the race we were going over this walking bridge and some teenagers were fishing off the side. They were watching the runners go by and noticed my shirt and that I wasn't pushing a stroller... They yelled - "where is your stroller slacker?" I dont' even know what I said... but the rest of that run I thought about all the awesome responses I should have said. Next time I will be prepared! ha ha!

The rest of the weekend we did stuff around the house. Lame but so nice at the same time!

Congratulations Blair and Chris!

This weekend we went back to MN for my BFF Blair's wedding. It was a very fun weekend! Jim and I went to the rehearsal Friday night and it was at the same location we had our rehearsal dinner. The weather was much cooler and everyone hung out playing lawn games until dark. Then the party moved to Blair's parents house. People were partying pretty hard since the wedding wasn't until late Saturday afternoon!

Saturday the weather started out beautiful, but about 2 pm the rain came in... And so her outdoor wedding was quickly turned into an indoor ceremony! Blair's response was well this way Chris can't see me until I am walking down that aisle! Such an optimistic gal! The wedding went beautifully and the reception was a great time. I was on the dance floor the entire night as usual, however didn't have as many of the AZ folks as I had hoped... so with some liquid courage I grabbed the microphone from the DJ and yelled "AZ sucks! MN rules". Yeah. Awesome. I was that girl.

Josh was a hit all day. There were a few little tikes including one incredibly smart family who brought an exersaucer in for their 8 month old to play in during the appetizers and dinner. SMART! Josh thought it was really fun to walk from the table Daddy was at, through three rows of tables and around the big long table to sit with Mom. He would have a bite of my food and then head on back to Dad. It kept him happy!

We managed to get a full family picture at the wedding and we all look pretty nice. We couldn't get Josh to smile for some reason... he looks more freaked out at the people trying to get him to smile than anything!

We got to meet Miss Stella Guth this weekend at the wedding. She is my friend Mandy from high schools baby girl. I hope we get to see her again soon!

Our Annual Camping Trip

This weekend we had our annual camping trip with my siblings and cousins. This year we had two little ones along - this trip is changing with each passing year! Lillian is only 4 months old and was a real trooper.

It was ridiculously muggy when we arrived on Friday night. My cousin Pat greeted me with a can of bugspray and said load up. He was right! I avoid bugspray at all costs... but when you are afraid to inhale a mosquito because they are so thick... bugspray was a great option. Poor Josh had so many bugbites on his face - I finally just put it all over his face with my hands... seemed to help a little. That night it stormed really bad. I kept hitting Jim and asking if he thought it was bad enough yet to go to the main office. He kept responding, "No, go to sleep". The lightning was ridiculous and with each flash of light I would count... some were not even 2 seconds before the booming thunder... and there Josh and Jim snored away... About 3 am, I must have yelled because my sister yelled from her tent - "Danielle what should we do?". I laughed but was somewhat relieved to know I wasn't the only one FREAKED out that a tree was going to fall on us, we were going to be struck by lightening, or both! The storm finally passed and we all finally got some sleep!

Saturday we went to the pool and hung out all day. Josh slept most of the afternoon in the tent with dad... He wasn't that into the pool, but loved sitting with Aunt Shannon and eating anything she put in front of him. That night we partied it up at the campfire... played some cards... and of course tippy cup. We had a LOT of good laughs!

Sunday morning we woke up, had breakfast, and just started packing up the site. We got in the car and went out to take the annual picture. None of us knew it was only 10 am! Gotta love little ones who wake you up at the same time everyday no matter where you are!

I wonder who will be joining us next year???

The 4th of July at the cabin

We were able to take a few extra days off of work this week and head up to Northern MN to enjoy the water and sun... We drove to the Twin Cities on Tuesday night and then to the lake Wednesday morning. This helped break of the long drive for Josh, although about 3.5 hours seems to be his breaking point now.

Wed-Friday it was my parents, my brother Jack, sister Shannon, BIL Steve, Aunt Ann, and cousins Dan and Derek. We went on walks, did some shopping, and played in the water. Josh was loving it! His first few steps on the sand were the most amusing. He would hold one foot up about 3 inches from the sand and scrunch up his face in protest... by the end of hte week he was building sand castles and throwing it. He didn't try putting it in his mouth ever, thankgoodness! We got him a little float with sunshade from Target that he absolutely loved. The water is super shallow near the beach to the end of the dock (only up to my knees at the end) so he thought he was pretty cool walking up and down the dock to the various people sitting in the water. Too cute! Josh thoroughly enjoyed all the attention! He took a nap each day in someone's arms on the swing... because going to bed in the cabin was not an option with so much activity. We even got him and Lillian (my cousin Pat's daughter) to meet for the first time! He gave her lots of kisses and would point at her face... we had to keep reminding him to be gentle.

Saturday a few more relatives came up for the night. We got a big game of baseball going in the lake which was really fun. We were in the water pretty much all day. That night our neighbor lit off fireworks in celebration of the fourth and his daughters graduation from high school. They were by far the best he has ever done. All of us gals sat on the dock and got covered in the remnants because they were booming right above us, it was SWEET! Okay I will admit, a little scary too. Josh didn't wake up even for a second!

Sunday we made the big trek home... we drove to the cities again and let Josh run around my parents place for a while. Then hopped back in the car and made the rest of the trip home. It was definitely a struggle toward the end. I didn't even attempt to sit in front this time, Hilo got shotgun and I sat in the back with Josh. Everyone driving by us must have thought we were nuts! I used to always think it was weird to see mom sitting in the backseat... but now I completely understand why!