I want to see my Daddy.

Today is the day that Ryan finally comes home from his 6 day trip to Seattle.  He and some of his classmates ventured out west for a "mandatory" National Anesthesia Convention.  From the sounds of it, it was more of a party then a convention!  I am glad he had the opportunity to spend some time with good friends and have a good time-he deserves it.

I was fortunate in that my mom came and stayed with me for a few days so that I could take a mandatory work class and not be alone the whole time!  It was fun to spend some quality time with her and the kids loved having Grandma Debbie around.

With all that said, we are ready for Daddy to come back to us!!!!  I know both kids are missing him terribly and I know that I am missing my love even more.  Landon and Kadence are ready for daddy to come home so he can: kiss all their owies, fix all of their broken toys, snuggle, and most importantly WRESTLE.

Annabelles.

Annabelle came and stayed at our house for 6 days!  What a brave little girl coming all this way without her Mom!  We had so much fun with her here, it was great to spend some quality time with her!  Landon was in heaven with his cousin around day and night and they all played very well together.  Annabelle slept on her mattress next to Landon's bed and they slept so well.  It was so cute to hear their giggles and talking and then they would just go to sleep!  We did lots of fun things and stayed very busy.  Unfortunately, I didn't take as many pictures as I should have.  I guess having the 3 of them was busier than I expected and I get tired pretty easily nowadays anyhow!

We made it to gymnastics one morning and the kids had a great time!  Landon and Annabelle on the "big slide."

Kadence jumping!  Her favorite thing to do!

We had some really hot days and hit up a couple of different pools.  This picture is foggy because my camera had fogged up because it was so humid outside!

Annabelle taking a break at the pool.

Kadence going down the slide.

Landon's turn at the slide.

We had such a good time with Annabelle.  Hopefully she will come back and stay with us again!

Flooding.

The rain has just been constant here this summer.  This past week we had a few bad storms and many areas of the city are flooded.  There were roads closed and many people with water damage to their homes.  Thankfully, we have been dry so far.  It is amazing how much standing water there is around town in places you normally would not see it.  The river is overflowing and they have been dumping untreated wastewater into it to help with the sewage overflow.  Disgusting.  There is also an abundance of mosquitoes around with all the wet grounds.  Disgusting.  We took a trip to Falls Park because among all of the not so good things all of the rain has brought, the view at the park is a beautiful one.

I just can not believe how much water there is and how fast it is flowing.  I have also never seen as many people at Falls Park as I did last Friday when we went.

Simply beautiful.

And now, no more rain please!

Happy Birthday Aunty Arin!

We enjoyed a lovely birthday dinner with Arin and Gary and Sue on Saturday evening.  How fun to celebrate her birthday with her!  She even spent the next few days at our house which the kids of course loved!  Happy Birthday to You Arin, thanks for being such a great Aunty, sister, and friend!  Love you!

Are You Afraid of the Dark?

We've entered a new stage.  This past week Kadence has had an extremely difficult time falling asleep at night.  She comes out of her room several times and cries when we leave.  She had been getting out of bed and turning her light (very bright light) on and then falling asleep.  She told us, "it's too dart (dark) and there's monsters."  I bought her a new lamp for her room and we made a big deal about it.  So after Daddy reassured her there are no monsters because Daddy scared them all far away along with the new lamp, we had one successful night of going to bed.  Let's hope the lamp keeps doing the trick!  Poor thing, it breaks my heart to think of her laying in her bed scared!

A Trip Up North.

The kids and I headed back for a long trip to Cloquet for the weekend.  My cousin Amy had a bridal shower on Saturday.  I love this shot of the girls at the shower.  Kadence was so excited to see cousin Annabelle, it was adorable.

Congrats Amy and Mike, we are so happy for you!!

Sunday we all headed to Lake Superior and took a ride on Debbie and Randy's (Curt's parents) new houseboat.  It is a very nice boat and the kids had a blast cruising around and mostly climbing up and down the ladder to the very top of the boat.  It was a gorgeous day and very fun to be outside enjoying the weather and spending time with family!

These four munchkins have so much fun together!  I just wish they could see each other more often.  It is almost impossible to get a picture of the four of them all looking but it is always cute anyhow.

What  a great time!  We headed back here Monday and the weekend went by too fast like always.  The summer months always go by too quickly as well!

Riding My Bicycle.

Landon learned to ride his bike today!  He has not had much interest in bike riding for the past 2 years. He is still pretty unsure of the whole idea.  For some reason, today he took off and actually pedaled all on his own down the street and back!  We were so proud of him!  I think now that he has the hang of it we will try to get him to practice it more often.  I am sure he will just take off.  So fun!