last Saturday...

...was the local Riverfest! In the three years that we have been in our house, we have always been busy during this local festival. But this year S had the day off and we didn't have anything going on, so planned on going...but really for only one thing:

free pontoon ride on the Mississippi River!!!!!

(OK, I told S that we were really doing this for the kids, and how much fun they would have, and how they had not been on a boat before...but in reality, I was really excited to do this too! =)

The only problem with this was that the popularity of these boat rides has become enormous, so we had to wait in line...

and wait...

and wait...

"Dadda, when are we going to be done waiting! I want to go on the boat NOW!"

45 minutes later, we were on the boat! W wasn't so sure about it at first...

but he got excited once we were going!

Baby C was happy, but pretty oblivious to the whole boat thing. The "captain" of our boat is in the background of this pic - he got a real kick out of how excited G & W were, and gave us an extra long boat ride.

We started off on the Rum River, and G was really excited to see "river park" that we play at -- actually from the river! (She INSISTED that we go back to play there that afternoon. =)

We then turned on the the mighty Mississippi River. It was neat (for the kids!) to go under the 169 bridge that we drive over frequently.

"Trucks are driving over our heads, momma!!! Ahhhhh! =)"

G checking out the waves and such on the river. She did have SO much fun.

Happy family on the way back to the dock!

There were many other fun things to do at Riverfest, which cousins K & G and uncle and auntie all did as they did NOT wait in line for the boat ride. But we only had time to stop off for a smoothie and head back home for naps. But it was a great morning, and so much fun...for the kids!

so we woke up this morning...

got on our long sleeve shirts, overalls, socks and shoes and went outside to enjoy the crisp fall weather...

but momma, it is SUMMER! can't we swim in the pool? why can't we wear shorts?...

"Because it is cold outside, dear kiddos..."

Yeah, this picture pretty much sums up everyone's mood today!

July 17, 2009
High Temp: 63 degrees F
Low Temp: 56 degrees F

(Last year the high was 81 degrees and the low was 69 degrees!)

We talk about the weather quite a bit because weather by us can be a little crazy =)...

OLD!...but blessed...=)

Yeah, this was me about 30 years ago...

And look at me now!!!

(drawing by my favorite stick-person artist...seriously, she has a talent! =)

When I was younger, 30 seemed eons away. Shoot, even 5 years ago 30 seemed eons away! But here I am as of July 7...30 years old. As a kid, 30 was the age that you could do anything, mostly because I got that answer from my dad a number of times - "Why can't I drink a can of pop with supper?" "When you are 30 you can." And now I am the one calling the shots with my own kids...crazy. =)

My birthday celebration kind of stretched out over the week. On my actual birthday last Tuesday, the kids sang to me and had all sorts of hugs and kisses (amidst the tantrums and the craziness of course!), and I received a special birthday drawing from G:

(this is me in my birthday ballgown - her talent is rivaling the talent of the previous artist! =)

S brought me home roses and a bottle of wine:

Where was the chocolate from him you ask? Well, he figured I could get my own as the ladies at our church had a going away party for a gal who will be moving at the end of this month that evening. We met at a local dessert cafe and had a wonderful evening of fun, fellowship...and DESSERTS! Oh the desserts...=) Even though the party was for a friend, it was a great way to spend my birthday evening too:

I ate supper with the ladies here too and G was a little put out that we weren't having a birthday supper for me at home. So we planned a birthday supper for Friday evening (the next evening that S had off) and invited J&C&girls to join us. W got sick Thursday night, though. Even though he was fine by Friday, we still called off supper plans to be safe. Instead S and I and the kids went to our favorite family restaurant, noodles & co. Then J&C&girlies came over yesterday after church for our planned birthday meal. So no huge surprise parties or night out on the town, but such a lovely birthday week. Thank you all!

Now, do I feel different? From a week ago when I was still 29? No. =) But from 5 to 10 years ago, especially before kids? Yeah. Am I in mourning and want to go back? No way!!! I am so blessed.

stupid digital camera shot delay...

Just because we are geeks, I wanted to take a picture of 12:34:56 on 7/8/09. Had the shot all ready to go...and the delay on the camera cost me a second so I missed it. Grrrrr...I was almost ready to throw the camera out the window.



But then, I was able to get this picture of chubby baby goodness...

So I am not mad at the camera anymore...at least today. =)

on the subject of baseball...

A recent email from a certain uncle of mine (Hi Uncle J! =) talked about how "Baseball is a game meant to be played outdoors...on real grass and dirt." I have no problem with that opinion at all, in fact that is a great way to watch baseball! But it got me thinking about my baseball watching experience and I emailed him back about the memories that I have of indoor baseball and thought I would share it with all of you...

Next year Twins baseball will be played outdoors in their new stadium and I am looking forward to it. (Especially since the commuter/light rail by our house will be finished then and we can walk to the station and hop the train to the game!) That being said, the Metrodome holds a lot of very special memories for me as it was the place where we went every summer for vacation. When you live on a farm, you don't take summer vacations very often because that is a busy time for working in the fields. We listened to the Twins on the radio everyday, and dropped almost everything to watch the 2 or three games that were shown on TV during the season. But usually once a summer, when there would be a day or two of rain that would prevent work in the fields, we would pack up and head for the big cities and take in a Twins game. And we could, because the Dome allowed us to watch baseball indoors when it was raining outside. And it was magical! Especially for this farmgirl. There were 10-15+ times more people attending the games than lived in our town! So I still smile every time I see it in the skyline when driving downtown, and it still takes my breath away when you walk in the doors and see the field. Our kids won't remember any games in the Dome, they will know the joy of outdoor baseball instead, but they will hopefully have many fond memories of baseball games taken in together as a family, just like I do.

Go Twins!
-C

baseball and apple pie...

Happy 4th of July!

(Twins 4 Tigers 3, in case you were wondering - Go Twins!)

the big garden post...

I grew up on a farm and have that farm-girl blood running through me even though we live in the big city. I periodically have to either drive to my parents farm or out north of the city to get a "field fix." There is nothing prettier or more calming to me than fields full of beautiful straight rows of corn! So I was super excited when we we found our house and it had a great spot for a garden! Unfortunately, I don't have the greenest of thumbs, but luckily S does! So our garden saga began. Those hoping for a bountiful story here with happy endings full of homegrown veggies on our table need to search for a better garden blog - ours is a growing experience to say the least.

2006 Garden - just moved in, did nothing
2007 Garden - the very pregnant momma and the dadda plant garden with the almost 2 yr old. baby boy born in June and we did no weeding or watering after that. enjoyed one meal of green beans, one ear of corn, few tomatoes.
2008 Garden - the just pregnant momma and the dadda plant garden last minute with the excited almost 3 yr old and the oblivious 1 yr old. set up soaker hoses and are determined to make a better go of it. bunnies got all beans and peppers. in the battle of weeds vs. life with 2 little ones and the tired pregnant momma, weeds won. not all was lost though - squash abounded, potatoes did well (experiment of just chucking organic potatoes that had grown eyes in the ground worked!), got a few tomatoes, but no corn.

That brings us to 2009 Garden:

The not pregnant momma and the dadda plan garden ahead of time and actually get all the plants they want before Garden Planting Day (otherwise known as Memorial Day in the rest of the states).

Garden Planting Day! The momma's brother and sister-in-law come to help us celebrate and plant garden with the momma, the dadda, the uber-excited almost 4 yr old, the mildly interested 2 yr old and the oblivious 5 month old.

The 2 yr old mostly interested in digging in the dirt (like a good 2 yr old boy should be!)

The almost 4 yr old excitedly plants with her auntie and uncle.

The oblivious 5 month old stuck in bouncy seat in garden for photo-op (and kisses from his big sis).

Planted garden! (Thank you so much for your help M & A!!!)

The dadda sets up soaker hose and thoroughly waters all those new plants and seeds.

*****

2009 Garden - week 1

Not much happening yet...

...except for the fuzz of weeds starting to show

*****

2009 Garden - week 3

Kind of cool weather so things are starting slow. But green beans have come up as well as potatoes and carrots. Weeded and hubby put down grass in-between rows (in places where we could tell the weeds apart from the plants!).

Planted marigolds as a border and also in a few rows in the garden to hopefully naturally deter the bunnies. Smart plan in thought, but in reality, the marigolds are just barely up (if up at all since we can't tell them apart from the weeds) and won't provide much odor to deter bunnies. See big bunnies lurking (we are the only house in the neighborhood without a dog or two), so we go buy natural smelly stuff in spray bottle from big box hardware store and spray peppers, tomatoes and beans.

*****

2009 Garden-week 4

Weather finally got warm. Plants spring to life, but so do weeds!

Eek! The momma and the dadda determined to not let weeds win though!

Where's Waldo, garden edition: can you find the peas and marigolds that are supposed to be in this spot?

One rogue corn plant. The momma is keeping this one. It makes her happy.

Ahhhh, much better.

More grass clippings put down, more smelly stuff sprayed, all is good.

Did I mention how much I love the windmill that came with the garden?

P.S. 2009 Garden - lawn edition: The momma and the dadda also decided to tackle our sandy, thin, in need of some TLC lawn this summer. Raked to dethatch, rented an aerator, spread many bags of topsoil, overseeded with grass supposedly formulated for our county, and bought new sprinklers to help us keep on top of watering. The almost 4 yr old and the 2 yr old happy to run through the sprinklers.