No work, all PLAY...

...makes for one GREAT week! Cary and I both took last week off from work, and had a wonderful time together, and with the kids.

The week started off with much excitement, as Monday brought a visit from Grandpa David and Grandma Connie...

Grandpa David and Grandma Connie babysat the kids on Tuesday night so Cary and I could go on a Larson Allen charted Paddlewheel Boat on the Mississisppi River with his coworkers...

Then to a bar afterwards (we stayed in a hotel in Brainerd)...

Thursday morning, it was off to Duluth...first stop, the zoo!

The Lake Superior Zoo has a train that goes around the premises, so of course, we took a ride...

With temperatures soaring to 100 degrees, it was all everybody could do to stay cool...

After sweating buckets at the zoo, we wanted to do something, anything, on the water. We ended up going on the Vista King, an hour and a half boat ride that goes out into the bay, and along the shores of Duluth. It's a narrated tour and was very interesting.

To be continued...

A visit to Grandma Carol's...

The weekend before last we ventured to Grandma Carol's house for a visit and some fun in the lake...

...some good eats...(here Brendan removes the corn husks from sweet corn - quite the helper!)
...and some much loved fun with Grandma Carol's "super cool" Lego village...

The view of the lake from Carol's living room...it's beatiful!

Check out her eye!

Here are a couple of pictures of Halle, the day after being bit by a mosquito right above her eye...looks awful, doesn't it??! She got bit Thursday evening, the 20th, while we were taking a walk in our pasture, and woke up Friday morning with her eye swollen competely shut.

She was quite the trooper, though, and didn't fuss or cry but took her limited sight in stride...



And here she is 2 days post-bite -- still swollen, but definately better! We couldn't believe she could have that reaction to a mosquito bite! Crazy!

Fun in the sun...

With temperatures soaring to over 95 degrees today, and not a cloud in the sky, the beach was definitely calling our name! We hit one of the area public beaches and had a great time cooling off in Lake Belle Taine.

The water was perfect, warm and calm...Here, Brendan shows off his new "flotation swimsuit" - it looks goofy, but works great!
Halle loved kicking back in her floatie...
She looks so cute in her little swimsuit!

Silly girl! She loves the water, and had a ball swimming and walking along the beach...
What a great day!

What an awesome playground!

Montevideo, MN, has an absolutely wonderful new playground - complete with a castle motif, tons of activities, a "Tot Land", and a Mini Town - that our kids had a blast playing in this past weekend.

Grandpa Lee encourages Brendan across the "bridge"...
Halle had a great time on the swings - swinging is one of her FAVORITE things...

The entire weekend was a lot of fun in getting to see aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends we don't get to see all that often. Thanks to everybody for the good times!! :) And a special Congratulations to Audrey and Roger as they celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary on June 27th!

Dancing Queen

This past Friday Cary's cousin, Nicole, got married in a private ceremony and we were invited to the wedding reception and dance. Though Brendan is usually our dancer, this particular night it was Halle that was the "Dancing Queen."

Our little dancer - she's the one in the yellow - busting a move...


Really getting into it...


Halle geting a hug from her cousin, Kaden - so sweet!