8/4/12

Well, today was a bit different. We decided head to Perkin’s for breakfast today. It was quite chaotic, and loud, getting everybody settled in. I’m sure the other customers were not too happy when they saw our group coming, but whatever. Once everybody had their food, things calmed down quite a bit, so we got it all under control…eventually. Amelia and Brooklyn did have to be separated though, they kept fighting over everything, and Amelia was trying to hoard all of the jelly and cream...

 After breakfast, we brought the girls over to my mom’s. Today is my BFF’s birthday, and they had a little adult only BBQ/get together to celebrate. When I first talked to Dawn about them coming, I mentioned this would be the only hiccup in their visit, and they were perfectly fine with doing their own thing tonight, so it all worked out great.

As we dropped the girls off, our houseguests made their way to IKEA for the day. We got a little rest in when we arrived home, and then got ready for the party. They arrived home shortly after we left, so they had the house to themselves all night, and I’m sure they appreciated a little less chaos after the last few days (especially after a trip to IKEA with 3 kids!). Christian and I had a blast at the BFF’s house. I was able to chat with her and her sisters and goof around for a while, while Christian and the boys did dumb boy stuff. We watched Kari and Jay’s wedding video, which was super fun. I can’t wait until she finally gets her wedding photos back; I want to see them so bad!

We left the party around 9:00 (I know, party animals!), picked up the girls, and made our way home. Much to our surprise, and HUGE APPRECIATION, our friends had cleaned the house. They picked up, cleaned the kitchen, washed dishes, picked up some pretty flowers for the table and Dawn got me a really sweet card to thank us for having them. She has this eerie ability to find the most PERFECT greeting cards, it’s crazy. It was such an amazing surprise to come home to; I just love them to death! Tim was getting the kids settled in for bed, then we all spent some adult time chatting and watching some Olympics before bed.

8/3/12

FINALLY, Christian was off work today and able to spend the whole day with us. YAY!

I started off the day with my weekly weigh in. I wasn’t sure how it would go with my lack of exercise, and our altered routine this week, but I was actually down 2.6lbs! Nice! That puts be at 34.2lbs to date, so close to the halfway mark, I can taste it. Yahoo!!

Once everybody was up, we again had a big family breakfast, got ready for the day, and were off and running again. Today, we were spending the day in Stillwater. We stopped at Teddy Bear Park first and the kids had a blast running around, climbing the rocks and jumping off. Wearing themselves out basically.

After some play, we walked down into downtown Stillwater and wandered around a little bit. We stopped into Leo’s Grill for some lunch, right off the lift bridge. The kids were pretty chaotic all through lunch, especially the little girls, so it was quite stressful. But, we survived, and escaped as quickly as possible.

We made our way back to the car, and drove up into the city to get some ice cream from Nelson’s. The line at Nelsons’ was HUGE, so the men and kids hung out in their van watching some TV, while we waited it out in line. This place is crazy…their KIDS cones are the size of your head, amazing. We finally got our cones and met everybody outside to eat it up. I don’t think any of us finished out cones, even with sharing, but it’s cheap, delicious, and so worth the wait. YUM, definitely glad I already weighed in for the week after that! LOL.

After our sugar coma started commencing, we made our way home. The girls fell asleep instantly, and took a nap once we got home. The rest of the kids relaxed downstairs watching TV once we got home for a while, and then as everybody was up and back at it, we picked up some Papa Murphy’s for dinner and spent some time outside again. So fun, I’m already dreading the end of our “staycation”, and we still have a few days left.

8/2/12

Today started off about the same as yesterday...although, I did wake up with a little headache. I took some meds right away, and hoped with all my might that it would go away. Christian was off to work, the rest of us had a big family breakfast, got ready and headed out for the day. Today, we were off to Como Zoo/Como Town for the day. A couple weeks ago there was a StarTribune Steal for Como Town, for two ride wristbands, so we both bought the deal.

We started off in the zoo, checking out all of the animals. It was pretty good weather today, not too hot, so all of the animals were actually out and alert for a change. Olivia couldn’t wait to see the Giraffes, her favorite, just like her mommy. Amelia loved the monkey’s, like usual. The polar bear was putting on a good show for the crowd, the grizzly bears from North Dakota were excited to see everybody and the penguins were having quite the pool party. It was a great day for the zoo.

We made our way back to the car to have a little picnic for lunch and rest for a little bit. Then, finally made our way to Como Town, which made the boys VERY happy. We went on tons of rides, Olivia played a little carnival game and won herself a cute stuffed frog and played in the water for a bit.

Finally, my headache started to catch up with me, and I couldn’t take it anymore. Our friends hung out and went on some more rides, while the girls and I made our way home. It just kept getting worse, and fast, and when I was about 5 minutes away from home, I had to pull over on the side of the road. I just couldn’t make it, and it was NOT a pretty sight. I was finally able to get us home…the girls had slept the whole way home, and went down for a nap. I also had to lie down and rest for a while. Christian made dinner and finished up as our friends arrived home. I peeled myself out of bed and joined the group for dinner, and took some more meds.

I finally started feeling better after I got some food in my system. We all made our way outside for a while. Running around, playing some ball, playing in the sandbox. Perfect night for some outdoor fun. As the sun went down, Christian started up the bonfire, we had some s’mores and relaxed around the fire. Everybody made their way to bed, and Dawn and I spent the night chatting around the fire until we were both ready to pass out. Another great day down, minus the debilitating migraine.