Wild Rumpus Field Trip; Riverultion; Play date with Cal, Fall t-ball

Bishop had his first field trip on Thursday. His class walked to Wild Rumpus, a book store in the neighborhood. I volunteered to chaperone and it was so fun seeing Bishop with his friends and meeting some of his classmates. The kids got to look at the books and animals and then it was story time! After story time we walked back to school. It was kind of a rainy day so the kids weren't able to play at the park on the way back to school. 

Luke had his annual Riverultion bike ride on Saturday. He biked 72 miles around Lake Pepin. While he was biking the kids and I went down to Owatonna. We played at my parents.....went to Culture Fest, hung out at home and went to the library. There was a little accident with the pruner while Bishop and Papa were pruning some branches.....and Papa's thumb took the worst of it. He ended up going in for 3 stitches. The kids and I headed back home and walked down to the bandshell for dinner. We had dinner, played at the park and headed back home to see Luke!

Sunday was a fun day! We started the day with church and then Bishop had a play date with his new friend, Cal! He was so excited to go to his house!! Nora got some extra 2 on 1 attention and we had brunch at the Kenwood and picked up a couple books at the bookstore next door. 

Bishop had his first day of fall t-ball on Sunday afternoon. He's playing with our neighbor, Andrew, so we played at the park a little after t-ball. It was an absolutely beautiful weekend.....it was unseasonably warm so we spent a lot of time outside!

Bishop's class at Wild Rumpus

Bishop, Cal and Charlie--the 3 amigos!

Tony, Dan and Luke

Helping Papa take care of his thumb!

Thumbs up from Papa!

Nana is the BEST teacher!! So much love!

Look, I'm a tree! She does it every time, I love it!

Bishop threw his stick to the lake....and it got caught in a spider web....you can see it dangling about 1/2 down the picture!

Playing football at Cal's!

Bishop and Cal--SO happy together!!

Brunch at The Kenwood

Weekend without Daddy

Luke left on his fishing trip on Thursday morning....so the kids and I settled in for a weekend without daddy. The kids were phenomenal! Every time he leaves the kids get that much older and things are that much easier.....and this time I thoroughly enjoyed my time with just them! Thursday we had a low key night at home. The kids have really been into drawing lately--so we all drew and colored lots of pictures and enjoyed our time at home together.

Friday I picked the kids up a little early in preparation for the SW Homecoming parade. We had plans with Colin and his mom to watch the parade and have a picnic at the park.....however, it was raining--so we toughed it out for the parade and then went our separate ways for dinner. I decided against sitting in the rain for the football game--we hung out at home and played the card game, War, instead!

Saturday morning we got up....played some more war and hung out at home before heading out to Apple Jack's to meet the Bormann's. Saturday morning was the ONE time all weekend the kids had a meltdown--it lasted about 10 minutes. They both cried/screamed (and I wasn't entirely sure why) and then they were done and back to their happy/sweet selves! 

We had so much fun at Apple Jack's with Madelyn and Jack! Nora, Madelyn and Jack all rode ponies and went on the cow-train. Bishop ran into Gabe from Kindercare, so spent some time in the corn pit with him. The kids jumped on the bouncy pillow and then we picked raspberries and apples! It was an absolutely beautiful day!

On our way home we stopped for lunch at Potbelly's! The kids each got to pick out a small pumpkin so they painted them when we got home....we played some more war, hung out and got ready for our annual block party! The kids had fun jumping in the bouncy house (we got an extra big one this year because it didn't show up last year)! :) The Kahlert's set up a movie in their front lawn and the kids watched Monsters Inc while eating popcorn, cheese puffs and running back and forth from the bouncy house to the movie! It was such a great time--there are a ton of kids who live on our block and we are so fortunate to have such great neighbors!!

Sunday morning brought church, bagels with the Retzer's and then a surprise birthday party for Great Grandma Darlene at the Pizza Ranch in Lakeville! She was surprised and we all had a fun time together celebrating her birthday!

We waited 35 minutes for the 3 minute parade! 

Nora loved the pony ride!

Bishop and Gabe

The corn pit was so fun!

Picking Raspberries--YUMMY!!!

A perfect little apple!

Bishop was too busy to stop for a picture! ;)

3 of the 4 cousins!

The big cousins!

Painting their pumpkins!

WAR!!!

Playing hot potato with the Kahlert's!

Domino and Nora!

Sweet Jack and Papa!

The big great grandkids with Great Grandma!

Happy Birthday Great Grandma!!

Birthday love!

Hanging out in the car while Nora napped in the backseat!

While we were gone Luke had a great time fishing and celebrating his birthday! They usually take their fall trip in Oct, so going earlier helped them have great weather....and better luck catching fish! We missed Daddy, but had a great weekend and the kids were amazing, I just can't say that enough!

Foss Lessons/Celebrating Luke's birthday

We made the switch from swimming lessons at the YMCA to Foss Swim School and the kids had their first lesson this week. So far, we are pretty impressed and feel our money is well spent!

Luke's birthday is Saturday, but he'll be on his fishing trip, so we celebrated on Tuesday night at Al Vento. The kids were great!! Bishop has grown up so much since going to Kindergarten and he is less likely to run all over the restaurant or cause a scene (I'm definitely not saying it won't ever happen, but the kids seem much easier to go out to eat with lately)! We enjoyed a very tasty dinner and then picked up "birthday cake" at Kolwaski's  on the way home! It was a fun night celebrating Luke's birthday!

Bishop at swimming lessons

Nora and the birthday boy!

Everyone got their own "birthday cake"!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!!

A Weekend of Festivals!

We had quite the weekend of fun this past weekend! Friday we celebrated at the Hennum's with a pizza party to help Liana celebrate her birthday! 

Saturday we stopped back at the Hennum's to pick up Luke's bike (he biked over to their house and biked with Tim on some trails before the get together). While we were there Nora fell down their stairs......and landed on her nose and mouth on the hard wood floor. Thankfully all she ended up with was a fat lip! Whew!

We headed over to the Fulton Festival, the kids decorated their bikes and participated in the bike parade...led by the marching band! Nora LOVED following the marching band! We stayed, played games, jumped in the bouncy houses, Nora got her face painted and had a little lunch.

We went home and rested for a bit before our next festival! On Saturday evening there was a 100 year celebration at the Lake Harriet Upper Campus School. We took a tour of the school and then went back for the parade. Bishop got to walk in the parade with his Kindergarten friends, which was fun! There were bounce houses, face painters, a magic show, musicians and food trucks! It was such a fun night! Bishop hit a wall and asked to go home (I'm not sure if that has ever happened, so we called it a night a little before 7). 

On Sunday we went to church and then the kids had Johnny's birthday party in the afternoon at the Eden Prairie Community Center! It was quite the fun weekend!

Lining up for the bike parade!

Face paint #1 of the day! You can see her upper fat lip!

My Kindergartner!

The School Mascot.....a Dragon!

Hanging out with some K buddies!

Face painting!

Bishop with the birthday boy, Johnny!!

Labor Day weekend 2015

With school starting before Labor Day it kind of forced us to stay home and have a low key weekend. We enjoyed being home, the kids had a blast playing at home and we were still able to do some fun things and see family and friends!

Saturday we made some last minute plans to head up to Cold Spring--wish Grandpa and Grandma safe travels on their trip to Ireland and watch the Johnny Football game! While we were at Grandpa and Grandma's we checked out the progress Grandpa has made on his one bedroom cabin.....and we picked some (delicious) apples!

Walking down to pick apples!

Thanks Grandpa and Grandma for the yummy apples!

Helping Grandma carry the apples back up!

Practicing some kicking after the Johnny game!

On Sunday we hung out close to home....we walked to the bread shop and Farmers Market. The forecast wasn't that great so we pushed our beach day with the Hennum's back to Monday. We did meet them for dinner on Sunday night, which was fun!

Playing at the bread store

Making fans at the Farmers Market

On Monday we enjoyed swimming at lake Harriet and icecream with the Hennum's! It was the perfect way to end a nice, long weekend!

Retzer/Steffel get together--Ms. Lindsay goes back to school

We found a night to get the kids together for dinner since the dad's were all gone for the night! Bishop, Nora, Ashton, Piper, Jack and Andrew all had fun hanging out in the alley....driving the car and playing together!

Nora, Bishop and Ashton taking a cruise!

Ms. Lindsay's last day was Friday--Nora will miss her hugs! Thanks for everything, Ms. Lindsay--have a great year at college!

Bishop is loving Kindergarten and he's been excited to come home to teach Nora what he's learning!