Monday brought a pretty quiet start to the week. The girls were off to my in-laws, we were off to work. This is my 5-day work week, and I was already pretty bummed about it. BUT, I did get some great news early on in the morning. Our friends from Indiana, the Steveson's, will be coming to visit again the first week of August, and I cannot wait!! That was by far one of the best weeks of our year last year. Their visit will be a tad shorter this year, but I'm so excited. Christian and I both already have the leave time requested and that definitely made this Monday happier than most! The only other news today was that all of the eggs appear to have been hatched...it's gross, but it's tough to tell how many are actually in there.
Tuesday was also pretty low-key. Work was work, the girls were off to school. I checked on the nest again, of course, and it looks to me like only the cowbird remains. Unless he's suffocating the others - either way, totally disturbing. This nest makes me really sad. Other than that, it was a typical day. My head was kind of spinning all day long though. So many things coming up these next couple of months, so many things to plan. Summer Fun, from trips to the zoo, days at the beach, strawberry picking and spending time at waterparks. Planning 4th of July festivities, our trip to Duluth and Amelia's birthday party (OMG, she's really almost 3!). Preparing for our week of fun with our houseguests, the State Fair and hopefully a surprise anniversary vacation with Christian to end the summer. I feel like my mind is racing a mile a minute trying to schedule, plan and stay on top of everything. But, it's all very exciting!
Wednesday was pretty typical, but again, some pretty exciting news. I received one of those automatic deal site e-mails this morning and pretty much ignored it. During lunch I was skimming through all of the different deal/groupon/etc. type sites to see if there was anything good out there when I came back across this deal again...for the Lakefront Music Festival. I'd never heard of it before, but it's not far from us. This time, I saw a picture of some of the acts....front and center, was Bret Michaels! I do not care what anybody thinks, I am obsessed with Bret Michaels. I instantly new that I needed to go. It turns out it's a two day outdoor music festival in Prior Lake...Friday is "Rock Night" with Bret, Warrant and Firehouse (HELLO Hair Bands!). Saturday is "Country Night" with Casey James, Montgomery Gentry an Devon Worley Band. While I'm excited for the whole event, Bret is definitely the draw for me. I have one friend that is equally obsessed with him, Michelle, so I e-mailed her right away and we quickly decided to go...the deal was $20, for 2 tickets, good for both nights. So only $10 a piece (and, lucky for me, I had $10 in referral credit on this site, so really, my ticket was free!). We decided to ask a couple of our other girlfriends to come with and make it a girls weekend...they agreed, and we're all on. I can't wait! It's going to be so fun to get some time with my girls, at an awesome outdoor concert event. Awesome! Nothing could really best that the rest of the day...
First of all, Thursday was awesome because I was off to a belated birthday lunch with a couple of coworkers, to Mama's - DROOL! Besides that....it's been warm this week - summer is definitely kicking into high gear, but Thursday was beyond hot. It was the official first day of summer, and oh boy did it feel like it. Hot, humid and gross. I had water fun on my brain all day long, so I texted by friend Sara and had her and Bella meet me and the girls at the splash pad after work. The girls were excited to play and spend some time together. I was excited for some friend time and the awesome cold mist blowing on me. The ice cream truck strategically placed himself right next to the splash pad, and we could only resist temptation for so long before giving in. And, it didn't take long for disaster to strike when Olivia's dropped right down to the ground. Luckily, Amelia is the nice sister and didn't have any problem sharing hers with sissy. After a little more playtime, we were on our way home for a quick dinner, a little rest time and finally bed. Everybody was nice and exhausted from the heat!
The Nest - who knows how many there are...
Tuesday was also pretty low-key. Work was work, the girls were off to school. I checked on the nest again, of course, and it looks to me like only the cowbird remains. Unless he's suffocating the others - either way, totally disturbing. This nest makes me really sad. Other than that, it was a typical day. My head was kind of spinning all day long though. So many things coming up these next couple of months, so many things to plan. Summer Fun, from trips to the zoo, days at the beach, strawberry picking and spending time at waterparks. Planning 4th of July festivities, our trip to Duluth and Amelia's birthday party (OMG, she's really almost 3!). Preparing for our week of fun with our houseguests, the State Fair and hopefully a surprise anniversary vacation with Christian to end the summer. I feel like my mind is racing a mile a minute trying to schedule, plan and stay on top of everything. But, it's all very exciting!
The Nest - to me, it looks like only the Cowbird remains...
Wednesday was pretty typical, but again, some pretty exciting news. I received one of those automatic deal site e-mails this morning and pretty much ignored it. During lunch I was skimming through all of the different deal/groupon/etc. type sites to see if there was anything good out there when I came back across this deal again...for the Lakefront Music Festival. I'd never heard of it before, but it's not far from us. This time, I saw a picture of some of the acts....front and center, was Bret Michaels! I do not care what anybody thinks, I am obsessed with Bret Michaels. I instantly new that I needed to go. It turns out it's a two day outdoor music festival in Prior Lake...Friday is "Rock Night" with Bret, Warrant and Firehouse (HELLO Hair Bands!). Saturday is "Country Night" with Casey James, Montgomery Gentry an Devon Worley Band. While I'm excited for the whole event, Bret is definitely the draw for me. I have one friend that is equally obsessed with him, Michelle, so I e-mailed her right away and we quickly decided to go...the deal was $20, for 2 tickets, good for both nights. So only $10 a piece (and, lucky for me, I had $10 in referral credit on this site, so really, my ticket was free!). We decided to ask a couple of our other girlfriends to come with and make it a girls weekend...they agreed, and we're all on. I can't wait! It's going to be so fun to get some time with my girls, at an awesome outdoor concert event. Awesome! Nothing could really best that the rest of the day...
Some Outside Play Time
This Big Bush takes up a good portion of our back fence. It's pretty plain, just gets some purple flowers for a short time. I like it, Christian hates it. I cut it down on Mother's Day so it could grow fresh. Christian was sure I cut it too late an it wasn't going to grown back....I showed him!
Some of our flowers...the flowers have been thriving!
First of all, Thursday was awesome because I was off to a belated birthday lunch with a couple of coworkers, to Mama's - DROOL! Besides that....it's been warm this week - summer is definitely kicking into high gear, but Thursday was beyond hot. It was the official first day of summer, and oh boy did it feel like it. Hot, humid and gross. I had water fun on my brain all day long, so I texted by friend Sara and had her and Bella meet me and the girls at the splash pad after work. The girls were excited to play and spend some time together. I was excited for some friend time and the awesome cold mist blowing on me. The ice cream truck strategically placed himself right next to the splash pad, and we could only resist temptation for so long before giving in. And, it didn't take long for disaster to strike when Olivia's dropped right down to the ground. Luckily, Amelia is the nice sister and didn't have any problem sharing hers with sissy. After a little more playtime, we were on our way home for a quick dinner, a little rest time and finally bed. Everybody was nice and exhausted from the heat!
Splash Pad Fun
Friday started very, VERY early. The heat and humidity brought us a pretty crazy storm. I woke up to the tornado sirens at 3:30AM. I ran to check on the weather and see what it looked like outside, waking Christian up in the process. The rain was just starting up, and I didn't see any serious threats, so I let the girls be. Soon, the thunder and lightening was going off like crazy, the rain was coming down in sheets and it was hailing. I tried to get back to sleep, but it was not happening. Somehow, the girls slept right through everything - I couldn't even believe it. Olivia was actually in our bed...she'd gotten up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, and for some reason came into our bed instead of her own. I think she was just confused, but I always welcome a little snuggle buddy. I finally rolled out of bed at the usual time, exhausted and ready to crawl right back in. The girls were off to my mom's, and we were ready to get Friday over with and welcome the weekend. The day went quickly. The girls and I were back home before I knew it. I checked on the gardens as I usually do when I get home, and it's just not looking good. I'm so bummed. This crappy, wet spring just did not agree with our seeds. The pumpkins are the only seeds that appear to have survived. The strawberry and leek plants look pretty good, the herbs and the tomato plant are growing. But, I think I'm officially calling the watermelon, cantaloupe, spinach, cucumbers and tomatillos DOA for the year. I think we'll definitely be waiting until early June to plant next year, whether it's nice out or not! Christian took his friend Lorenzo to dinner tonight for his birthday, so it was just the girls and me. Nice and quiet! I caught up on some shows once they were in bed and got some much needed R&R.
The Nest - I checked the nest one last time...much to my surprise, there actually was a sparrow in there! But, look at the size difference between these two! Crazy.
Saturday was a good day. Christian was off to work - he ended up working until 3:00 today, so later than usual. The girls and I were off to Swim Class. We stopped at Perkins for a special girls breakfast, and they loved it. Next up, we stopped at Walmart. I wanted to get us a little treat and needed some pop. I decided to walk around and see if we could find any deals. I ended up agreeing to let them pick out a toy each...they each wanted a plush My Little Pony (they each have their favorite pony, and luckily Walmart had both), so they were ecstatic. I picked up some squirt guns and sidewalk chalk for Amelia birthday party next month, and we went on our way. They had a big bin of Pillow Pets in the middle of the aisle. The girls have always wanted them...but I never wanted to spend the money on them. Walmart had them for $10 each, which I thought was pretty cheap, so I let them each pick one out. So spoiled, but we don't buy them toys/stuff too often, so it was a special treat for them. We finally made our way home and played outside for a while (seriously, thank God for the person who discovered bubbles - NOTHING can entertain a child quite like bubbles...). Finally, it was nap time. I did a little cleaning, some laundry and finished catching up on "Game of Thrones" while they napped. Christian was even able to take a little nap when he got home from work. What a baby! We had a pretty quiet night around the house. I worked on laundry and normal picking up around the house stuff. The girls played with each other pretty well most of the night. We had some dinner and hung out. Our friends stopped over for a little bit so the girls could play with their BFF for a while - worked out well for me, I was able to get their laundry put away and most of ours washed in the meantime! After they headed home and the girls were in bed, we watched a couple episodes of Breaking Bad and called it a night.
BUBBLES! PILLOW PETS! PONIES! Oh my....
Sunday was definitely Sunday Funday. Man I love summer Sunday's! The girls were up bright and early...much to my dismay. I threw in the final load of laundry and dried all of last nights clothes. I did a little cleaning while the girls played, made some breakfast, then we all started getting ready for the day. We made our way to Como Zoo to meet our friends for the day. We woke up to some wicked storms this morning, but they cleared up by mid-morning and the sun slowly came out. It ended up being the PERFECT day to be at the zoo, and I think the threat of bad weather kept a lot of people away because it was fairly dead for a weekend. I love the zoo - I'm pretty sure more than the girls do - and this was our first visit of the year so I was pretty excited. We walked through and visited with all of the animals. We grabbed some lunch and chatted for a bit, then we were off to the amusement park to go on some rides. I scored a Star Tribune steal a few weeks back (well, two really) for Buy One Get One Free unlimited ride wristbands, so the girls had a blast on all of the rides. Amelia was JUST at the 36" mark, so she was able to go on a couple of new rides this year...the teacups and the swings (which just about gave me a heart attack). She is our little daredevil, so she was loving every minute of it. We spent a little time in the splash pad and finally made our way back to the car around 5:30. The girls had a blast spending the day with their BFF, and they were beyond exhausted. They both fell asleep before we even hit the highway (really, Christian wasn't far behind them...), and went down for "naps" when we got home. I left their door open in hopes that they wouldn't sleep long. Didn't work...they finally got up a little after 8:00PM. They had some dinner, watched a video and were right back to bed. Luckily, they were still exhausted enough that they didn't put up a fight. They went right to bed, and slept sound all night long. Nice! Christian and I watched a little Breaking Bad and were off to bed as well. Too much sun for this mama, I'll be feeling it tomorrow!
Zoo Animals!
Tattoo's!
Ride Time!
Water Fun!
Everyone Was Sleepy...
With that, we closed another week. Summer just started, but I feel like it's already flying by!
