Grand Forks!

So, we went to Minnesota! We try to get to North Dakota twice a year to visit my grandparents (the kids' great grandparents). Not many kids are lucky enough to have four story telling, candy giving, park playing, coloring assistant, science investigating great grandparents. As an added bonus, both sets of Great Grandparents live in the same town, which makes things easier. We try to take full advantage. The only problem is the great grandparents live in North Dakota which is roughly 3 billion miles away. Or, a 7ish hour car ride and another 7ish hour car ride. However you measure it, it is a long way to drive.

This is North Dakota. It is flat. Really flat. Although kind of pretty in this picture. John reports that the fields of green were waving in the wind similar to a body of water. I wouldn't know because I was snoozing with the kids in the backseat.

But, there are things that make it worth the while - like sitting on the porch at GranGerry &TA's house with our kids.
Or even better, watching them sit on the porch with their great grandkids (GranGerry is holding Amelia).
Mr. BusyBusy doesn't sit anywhere for long if he has a choice! After riding in the car, he required a lot of running. Here he is coming down the sidewalk with Daddy at top speed.
Another noteworthy event: 4 generations in one place! TA McGarry, Kevin McGary, Amelia Heidt, Kelly McGarry Heidt, Gerry Chamness McGarry
Otherwise known as Wobbly Park (for the wobbly swings they had when I was growing up). Sometimes there are things you do with your kids that hit you hard unexpectedly. Somehow, every time I bring our kids to this park I get a little...emotional. Hence the sunglasses so you don't see my happy (hormonal) tears at bring our daughter to Wobbly Park for the first time.
The park now has a very cool fire truck to drive
It is even more fun to drive with Daddy
Daddy pushing on the swing. You can't see it, but they both have huge smiles on their faces!

I don't think Amelia was put down for more than 2.34532 seconds before being picked up again. Definitely spoiled!
And Amelia wasn't the only one being spoiled! William had more than his share of "cannies" from Great Grandpa Budd (you can always depend on him to have a pocket full of M&M's)!
Grandma Nona and Amelia
She also played with William - here they are building a domino house for William to knock down. He never helps you build it up, but doesn't ever miss an opportunity to knock something you've painstakingly built down.
Ha ha! Grandma! Knocked it down!
Coloring in the kitchen - great Grandma helped him make a fun puppet! Named Bill (funny, huh?)!
Pretty serious stuff, coloring! Doesn't it look like he is doing homework?
4 Generations (l-r): Nona Oien Wennersten, Kimberly Wennersten McGarry, Amelia Ann Heidt, Kelly McGarry Heidt

How special is this picture? I was so mad at myself for forgetting to take this picture in May when we were home! I'm so SO very glad we were able to make it happen this time!
Great Grandparents and their great grandkids
I love this one because my grandpa is laughing, even if it isn't as nice of everyone else!
More laughing!
Great Grandpa holding Amelia

I'm not sure how it came about, but William discovered a magnifying glass to explore with. Hilarious! He called it a "megifying glass" and declared everything he looked at BIG!

My what big eyes you have!

Everything is new and exciting through the eyes of a little boy! This is a great toy!

Let me help you with that Grandpa!

The plant is BIG! Wow!

Look! A digger! At a park! I don't know who enjoyed this more: Daddy or William?
Or maybe...grandpa?

The day we left, GranGerry made caramel rolls for us. William was fan!
Before leaving town, we stopped to say goodbye to Grandma Nona and Grandpa Budd. William also needed one last story before getting in the car it looks like...

Happy 4th of July!

We usually aren't home for the 4th of July as John gets a day of vacation from work. We usually take advantage of this and try to go somewhere. This year, we were excited to be staying home for a few reasons 1) Our neighbors usually have a party, including consumption of alcoholic beverages AND the release of some very big fireworks. Every year we've been home, I've been certain they were going to burn down our house. It's nice to be home in case someone needs to call 911. 2) William is finally old enough to enjoy the celebrations! Hurray! I was so excited to take him to his first parade, fair, and fireworks! The kids in their red, white & blue!Red white and blue!

Smiling and holding his baby sister! What a combination!The girls The boys

Mama getting ready to take Amelia to the parade!

The weather was FAR from cooperative! It was pouring down rain! I was so sad that we weren't going to be able to see the parade until our friends called and said the parade was still on with the exception of the marching bands. Their son was going to be on a float with his boy scout pack and so they knew it would still be happening. I STILL really wanted to go and the parade route went about 6 blocks away from our house so we decided to try for it.

Amelia's rain gear - also included an umbrella over Mama

Daddy's rain gear (he pulled the wagon with William & our friend's daughter in it)

William watching the parade - he was fascinated by all the vehicles!

Oooooo! Big trucks!

One of the big trucks

After the parade, we went home for some lunch and to dry off. Our friends came over in the late afternoon and we grilled out for dinner. After dinner, we walked over to the local Freedom Fest fair which is about 4 blocks away.

Playing in the bouncy slide at the fair (this picture is from the previous day when we walked over to check things out)

Sliding down the big slide all by himself

The slide is a little scary! He is going down backwards here.

William getting his face painted at the fair
He did a pretty good job holding still for the lady painting his face!
The finished product! He didn't do a very good job keeping his hands off of it, so it got everywhere right away.
Playing one of the free kids games
Playing with his balloon hat - he picked it and then decided he didn't want to wear it

Trying on William's balloon hat
Amelia crashed in the baby carrier - in the background you can see the fair rides and wet sidewalk from the rainy, rainy day!

When we got home, we enjoyed some ice cream on the driveway while we waited for the fireworks to start as we usually can see them pretty well from our house...until it started to rain. Then we enjoyed the company of about 3903942 mosquitoes in the garage until it became clear that the fireworks show had been canceled due to the weather. So sad. The saddest part was the huge meltdown William had due to being up so far past his bedtime without any fireworks to balance it out. It was a good thing we were able to catch the make up show the following night (they moved it earlier so William was able to see it). What a great (wet) day!

Road Trip!

I'm so behind! On June 20th, we drove to Minnesota to have ourselves a little vacation visiting our family!

John was excited to try out his new birthday toy. Meet his Australian princess. She rides in the front seat with him and bosses him around. He loves her. Even if she told him to turn onto a "road" (click to enlarge) without any other specifics.

Amelia did a lot of sleeping in the car, despite my attempts at entertaining her with stuffed objects in her face.

William read a lot of books. A lot of books.

And colored. Mama slept while she could and spent the rest of the time getting out toys, picking up toys, handing out food, picking up food, wiping faces, wiping behinds, feeding babies and reading stories over the back of my seat. It was lovely.

Summertime fun!

We've been doing all kinds of fun, summer-y things together. I won't lie and say it isn't a whole lot of work running around a park with a 2.5 year old and a newborn baby. Lucky for us, we have a lot of friends who are willing to meet up with us and lend a helping hand!

William is super into climbing right now.

We actually had to put away the Fi$her Price barn this week because he was using it to step up onto to reach things on the fireplace mantel. Let me tell you when I discovered he was doing this, it was a heart stopping moment!

Checking out who is at the top of the slide.
We've also filled up the kiddie pool to swim on the deck. I put warm water in it and by the time we got ourselves in it, it had warmed up too much! William couldn't even sit down in it - John had to bring cold water out to make it bearable!

Amelia in her cute suit! (this may be the real reason I got the pool out! I'm afraid if we waited too long, this suit wasn't going to fit her anymore!)

Chins!

Kids in the pool together

Amelia wasn't sure if she liked it...

She'd rather be with Mama - and that's okay with me!