A weekend at home

We've been gone the last 4 weekends so it was nice to finally have a weekend at home! We soaked it up and packed as much in as we could!

Friday night the Moore's and Kahlert's came over and the kids had a blast together! The boys played in and with the water and the girls took care of their babies! It was a late night, but it was fun!

Johnny, Danny and Bishop

Nora and Carolyn taking care of each others babies!

 Bishop threw a frisbee on the neighbors garage roof, so he needed help getting it down.....he thought it was pretty cool to be up on the roof, so he did it again! :)

Saturday morning Luke helped his dad and brother deliver some firewood in Inver Grove Heights. The kids weren't up when Luke left, so I took them down there after they got up. They both really enjoyed helping.....and Bishop loved the wheel barrow rides!

Helping Gpa with the truck!

Helping fill the wheelbarrow!

 We got home, walked to the Farmer's Market for lunch, stopped at a park to play and then got home to get ready for the afternoon.  Bishop had a birthday party to go to for a friend from school (Naia). It was at Lynnhurst park and he was in heaven!! It was so fun to see him interact with so many friends from school! He just about tackled Naia when he saw her--they ran to each other so fast and gave each other the biggest hugs, it was so sweet!

Bishop and Fiona were inseparable! They played at the park together and when they were swimming they were ALWAYS together! It was fun to see....but a little bittersweet, as Fiona will be moving to California soon. Bishop and Fiona have been together at Kindercare since they were both babies!

Bishop and Fiona

Waiting for cake!

Swimming with Fiona!

Sweet Naia and Bishop

 After the birthday party we had to hustle home to get ready to bike to the Bandshell to meet some Froehle relatives that were in town! Aunt Pat was in town and we had a picnic with some other aunts and uncles as well! Luke's cousin, Melissa, gave the kids a book The Frog in the House. Bishop LOVES it and it is perfect, as Bishop is so excited about frogs! Thanks so much, Melissa, you are SO thoughtful!

Melissa reading to Bishop and Nora

 There was a parade around the lake while we were there, so we got to see a lot of funny cars and bikes that were decorated. The kids each got a necklace too, so that was fun! We were all exhausted from the fun, busy day. We biked home and all crashed!

Sunday was a little more mellow. We went to church, brunch, played at home and the kids napped. They both slept for 3 hours! I don't know the last time Bishop took a nap at home, let alone for 3 hours! They were exhausted! When they got up we biked to Minnehaha Falls to eat dinner at SeSalt! It rained a little on our way, but ended up being a beautiful night to be outside! The kids danced to the music while we waited for our food and then we played at the park! It was the perfect way to end a great weekend at home!

Waiting for our food!

She LOVED the see-saw!

Taking her baby for a bike ride!

Summer Time!

We picked up the kids in Owatonna on our way home from couples weekend. I'm pretty sure they had more fun than we did last weekend! I can never thank my parents enough! They took the kids to the library, to visit my Gma (2 times, per Bishop's request), to the park (multiple times), fishing, to Cabelas, garage saling, to get donuts, to Mikkel Donalds and they were ALL smiles when we picked them up! Thanks mom and dad, you're the best!!

It was a hot day on Sunday and there were a lot of neighborhood kids out and about--we walked down to buy a couple glasses of lemonade and then joined some neighbors for some slip and slide and sprinkler time!

Getting the hang of the slip and slide

Nora preferred to drink the water!

Running through the sprinkler with Peter and Henry

 Monday was a HOT HOT day and the kids didn't get outside much at school because we were in a heat advisory....so we had our own water day that night. I filled up the baby pool and put the sprinkler on, the kids loved it!

Enjoying some puppy chow before getting wet!

There was a night this week that Luke got home late-he helped a co-worker move, so I took the kids to the park and we played in the pool and at the park after school! Nora did get in, but spent most of the time sitting on my lap--she was happiest swinging and sliding at the park!

Checking out the water!

Loving the water!

She prefers the swings and slides over the pool!

We love these summer days and nights!

Couples Weekend

This past weekend we had couples weekend with 2 other couples! We headed down to Tracy, MN to spend the weekend at a cabin (Matt's aunt and uncles cabin). It was a great weekend to relax with friends!

Summers are busy, so not everyone could make it, but we enjoyed catching up and relaxing with the Sweetman's and the Meysenburg's! Unfortunately the weather wasn't perfect on Saturday-but it could have been a lot worse....it was cloudy and a little cooler than average, but we enjoyed reading, relaxing, playing beanbags and a boat ride out to dinner!

Ellen and I

Matt and Luke

Sarah, Ellen and Tony

Boat ride!

Matt, Tony and Luke

Luke, myself, Matt, Ellen, Tony and Sarah

A button up his nose

Luke was out of town last night so I had plans to take Bishop to get his haircut, stop home and eat dinner and then head down to the Bandshell for a ride on the Trolley.

On the car ride home from the haircut Bishop informed me that he had a heart shaped button stuck up his nose. I looked back to see a freighted boy in the backseat. I told him to leave it alone and not try to get it out, as that could push it up farther and I would check it out when we got home.

I got the headlamp out and a tweezers and I was able to see the button in his nose, but he was kind of squirmish and wasn't really comfortable with me trying to get it out--he mentioned a few times that he wanted to go to the Dr. :( Bishop was very nervous and he felt bad. He asked if he was in trouble.....and then he asked "did you ever put anything up your nose or in your ear when you were younger?" I said "no"....he replied "EVER??". I called Luke----and then I put sunglasses on him (as the light from the headlamp was really bothering him) and I told him if he let me try to get it out and I could get it out I would take him to get a Rootbeer float at the Bandshell. He laid perfectly still and I was able to get it out!! Being it was after hours I was envisioning a night in the Urgent Care (or worse yet, the ER) with both kids. I'm so glad I was able to get it out!  The button was a heart shaped button Nora found at school!?!? Bizarre! It was a little stressful for a bit, but it could have been a lot worse!

Waiting for the trolley

All Aboard!

We walked down to the bandshell, rode the trolley and then got Rootbeer Floats! I later had a thought......that I was rewarding Bishop for putting the button up his nose!! Hopefully they both learned their lesson!

Frogs!!

The obsession with frogs continues! Last week we took a family bike ride around Lake Harriet and stopped at the Bird Sanctuary to hike around in there. The kids call it the Bird House and ask just about daily if we can go to the Bird House (we told them the Bird Sanctuary was like a bird house--where lots of birds live). Due to all the rain this year a lot of it was flooded and/or really muddy and impassable. So, we walked through the Peace Gardens as well. We had never been to either (they are just beyond the Rose Garden) and it's an absolutely beautiful area!  We found a pond and a TON of frogs. We weren't equipped to catch any frogs, so we had to go back the next night to catch them!

Biking around Lake Harriet

Nora loves to catch frogs!

Getting dirty in the mud!

No, those are not socks! :)

Nora wanted to go in too! :)

Celebrating and Honoring Dave Griffin

Saturday afternoon we headed up to Cold Spring to honor and celebrate the life of Dave Griffin. Dave was a very good family friend to the Froehle's--he is Ben's dad. He lived across the road from Rich and Eileen and Rich played football with Dave, worked with him at the Children's Home, shared adventures together with their sons and helped each other build their houses and work on the many projects they did together.

He was a very smart and talented man and he sold many foods he raised to high end restaurants in Minnesota. Bishop particularly enjoyed visiting Dave and watching his ducks run around! He passed away in January and we miss him dearly.

The family held an open house at Dave's place and it was very nice. It was raining when we got there, so everyone was crammed inside the garage, but the rain cleared away, the sun came out and it ended up being a very nice celebration.  The kids had a blast looking for frogs and salamanders with the other kids!

Bishop and a tiny frog

Luke sharing a memory of Dave

The Salamander swimming in the baby pool

Nora all smiles, swinging!

Rich and Dave!

Rich and Eileen!

 Nora wore a dress and since she's not used to wearing dresses all that often she enjoyed the freedom of being able to take it off! She ran around like a free-spirited girl......and everyone just smiled! She was not going to let anyone help her put it back on, she was happiest when her dress was a skirt! :)

Luke and Ben!

As I mentioned Bishop had such a great time catching frogs. He found a couple glasses he would fill with water and transfer the frog back and forth from the 2 cups. At one point I caught him drinking the frog water!! He was quite embarrassed that I called him out in front of everyone! ;)

Sunday morning the frog hunt continued at Grandma and Grandpa's (or as Nora calls them, Grandma and the other Grandma)! We found lots of small frogs, a tree frog and even a bigger frog! Grandma even found a frog in the mailbox! It was fun letting the kids roam outside and play-they had a blast!

Nora loved holding the frogs too!

She gets SO excited to see Uncle Jake!

Helping the other Grandma feed the birds

Grandpa and his Grandkids!

Grandma and her girl!

The frog from the mailbox

Riding the Horsey!

Working out on the Elliptical 

Hugs for Grandma!

It was a nice get together for Dave and a very fun weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's!