Summer fun

Few more summer pictures...we tried to get outside as much as possible, which the kids loved! Ella had a great time in her little crab swimming pool, after she warmed up to it...she was a little nervous about it at first.

4th of July

Another post trying to catch up on picture sharing. :) Below are pictures from the 4th of July weekend at the farm in Osakis. We have pretty new tradition of Waldvogel Family softball on the 4th of July and we participated again this year. We start out at a big family picnic at my cousin Curt's house..then everyone heads over to the school softball fields and they organize a big game. Caleb LOVES this. He has so much fun playing with all the big kids and they are really good about helping him out. It was really hot, so those of us not playing we kind of miserable sitting in the sun and watching. Ella was crabby and she fell asleep on my sister for awhile. My mom and I ended up taking Ella back to the farm but Caleb stayed with Grandpa and Dua to play more softball..they played for hours! Fun family memories.

June: Father's Day/Back to the 50's

I'm trying to catch up with sharing pictures...so here's some from June. We celebrated Father's Day by having dinner with my family at my parents' house...everyone was busy that weekend with the Back to the 50's car show. The kids made cute picture frames at daycare, so they gave those to Marshall.

Back to the 50's...there's a huge car show at the MN State Fairgrounds every June, usually Father's Day weekend. My family always ends up working at the car show in some capacity. Family friends (Ted & Randi) are part of the MSRA (Minnesota Street Rod Association) and they take care the vendors for this car show. So my Dad helps out by working at one of the buildings during the whole show and my mom, sister and brother usually work too, at vendor registration or some other event. We haven't been to the car show for years; I grew up attending car shows all summer and it's not on my list of favorite things to do...but I figured Caleb is getting to the age where he might really enjoy this...so we headed down to the fairgrounds to check it out this year. We walked around, got a bite to eat, and met up with my family in front of my Dad's building. I think the most exciting thing for Caleb was hanging out on the golf carts that the staff uses. He ended up staying for the afternoon and coming home with my Mom..while Marshall & I headed out with Ella. She wanted to run around the whole time instead of ride in her stroller..and that didn't work so well.

The Big 3-0

I turned 30 in June of this year...I never had any strong feelings about that milestone birthday, but once it was here I felt a little bittersweet. So many 'big' moments of my life have passed...getting married, having kids...I have a lot to look forward to, no doubt, but so many good things have happened already! On the big day itself, I took off from work and Marshall surprised me by staying home too. My mom took me out for breakfast, I went shopping a little, got a pedicure and Marshall and I went out for lunch. We celebrated the weekend before with my family, going out for dinner and cake later at my parents' house. It was a great birthday!

T-ball!

Caleb played t-ball this summer through Spring Lake Park Park & Rec...it was so cute to see him with the SLP logo on his uniform, just like when I was a kid (although I didn't play much softball!). One of the neighbor's grandkids was playing too (Charles, in the picture below) and they were t-ball buddies. We were able to walk from my parents' house to the games and that worked out so nice! Caleb had a great time with t-ball...he did really well playing, not so well listening (like the other 15 kids...it got kind of hectic) but he had a lot of fun. The coaches were really nice and worked well with the kids (amazing that they could learn 16 kids' names just after a couple of weeks!). Overall a good experience and we'll look forward to Caleb playing more organized softball, maybe next summer.

Hole in one!

Caleb had his first mini-golf experience recently...my dad and sister took him to Goony Golf by their house after a sleepover one weekend. He had so much fun! We used to go here all the time as kids (although we called it Spring Lake Park Amusement).

Week home with Mom!

We had a crazy busy month of July. I haven't said much about anything we've done yet..I have pictures saved to share but just not the time to do it yet! It started with 4th of July..we went to Osakis for the annual 4th of July softball game with the Waldvogel family. The next weekend we had the Osakis car show, then it was the Carlson Family summer picnic...then family reunions and finally..August! In the middle of all that...we had t-ball two nights a week and I had a week off from work to stay home with the kids. Below are some pictures from that week. It was the hottest week of the year so we were limited in our choice of outdoor activities. The temps were near 100 almost every day that week with record breaking humidity...I think the weather people said it was like living in the Amazon Rainforest. My mom put their little swimming pool out in the backyard and that's pretty much what we did every day. The kids played in the pool, my mom and I sat out there and sweat..and then we'd go inside the house to cool off! I did venture to the park near our house one afternoon...Caleb rode his scooter and I pushed Ella in the stroller. The playground was too hot so we could only use the swings. Another morning before it was too awfully hot, my mom and I took the kids to a different park and Caleb rode his bike. He's been practicing a lot and he's anxious to take off the training wheels (this is mostly because Charles from t-ball can ride his bike without training wheels). Laura, my mom and I also brought Caleb to Dairy Queen one night (instead of t-ball..it was canceled both days due to the heat). It was a fun week but we really wish the weather had been nicer!

Ella at 18 months old!

Ella was 18 months old, a year and a half!!!! on July 20. She sure acts like she's 2 so hitting this milestone seems appropriate for her. We went to the doctor for an 18 month check up and she did pretty well. In the past, she's been terrified there and screamed for most of the appointment. She still cried when I had to put her on the scale and she cried a little when the doctor examined her, but for the most part it was much better than last time! She was 26 lbs 12 oz and 32 inches tall. That was 90% for weight and 50% for height. She's always been around that growth curve. The doctor was not too concerned about it but did go over some healthy food choices and we can switch her now from whole milk to 2%. She loves to eat but we just have to make sure she's not eating too much junk! She does like pretty much everything (fruits, veggies, etc) so it shouldn't be a problem.
I included a couple phone pictures here...Ella loves her baby and likes to pretend to take care of her, feeding, taking for a walk, putting her to sleep. She'll even tell us "shh!" when she puts her baby down. She also has loved being outside this summer. She gets upset if Daddy and Caleb are outside at all without her. She's not afraid of much and really likes to look at bugs, chase ants around, pick up worms...nothing phases her. Her vocabulary is growing every day and she amazes us at what she says sometimes! One of her latest words is "loud." After knocking over one of Grandma's plants, Ella watched Grandpa vaccuum up her mess and she kept holding her ears and saying, "loud!" She doesn't like the vaccuum. She has also started calling my mom "Ma"...which is especialy cute because Caleb used to call my parents "Ma" and "Pa" too. Ella does say "Grandpa"...it sounds a lot like her word for "brother," though.

Fishing

Caleb went fishing in June with my brother and sister-in-law...they had bought him a Spiderman fishing pole for Easter so he had been anxiously awaiting summertime so he could try it out for the first time. Steph took the pictures below..she said they had a great time and Caleb loved it! He is ready to go again!