Bounce, Splash, Busy!

B-Bee started back at school today. Does that mean the summer's over? It can't be. Maybe just a little more tame; we still have our Friday Fundays!

We hosted a "Splash & Bounce" playdate for one of our mommy groups in July! It was so much fun, that I didn't even have a chance to have the camera out until the very end. Tried to get all 4 boys (that were left at this point) to sit on the stairs with us, but the more we tried the more they moved. Note: friend not pictured is the one that stripped down to his undies with B-Bee after swimming. I wanted to host another "Splash & Bounce" this month.... but where did August go again? It will have to wait for September. Crossing fingers the hot weather holds out that long and that I figure out some way to mend the hole in the bounce castle. Naughty lawnmower.

Sat down with the calendar this morning to schedule playdates and such. I'm feeling stingy with our Fridays and picky with the rest of the week. With that said, our days still fill up fast. Promises of coffee here and playgrounds there....and I can't forget the morning workouts. Thanks, Jaq for the text to get me back in gym bright & early tomorrow. Was thinking about a Red Rocks workout, but the hike time was changed.

Lakeside Amusement Park

Ready for the 4th of July with her red, white & blue tutu and star sandals! What to do, what to do? How about Lakeside? Bonus:  a coupon to come back with unlimited rides in August! Besides, we can see it from our house and that lighted tower teases us nightly.

On her first amusement park ride, the cars.... They were also B-Bee's first amusement park ride. She is my serious child. Don't let the unsure face fool you, she was having fun. She had a small fit when I took her out at the end of the ride. When I put her back in to go again, she started rocking it and saying "Vrrooom, vroom."

After awhile, we moved up to bigger little kid rides like the mini-whip. Nellie's trying to hold herself up away from B-Bee and B's just laughing hysterically. I'm sure next year she'll be purposefully crushing him.

You can't skip the train ride around the lake...it's the best part according to Daddy & B-Bee. This is one of the oldest amusement parks in the US.

I can't take credit for this cool shot. Daddy-O played with the camera up on the bridge, while I found a bench & nursed Nellie, and B-Bee & Zaza waited in line for the airplane ride. This was the longest line of the night, so we had plenty of time. Can't wait to come back in August!

Strawberry Picking At the Berry Patch Farm

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Sweet and succulent strawberries. Hands down the best strawberries I've ever tasted - even though they were pretty small. Their small size probably contributed to their intense sweet flavor. Nellie's checking out the picture here as I type, saying "bah-bah, bah-bah" (her word for everything food, bottle or beverage related.

I took the kids to pick strawberries at the Berry Patch Farm. This is about as much picking as B-Bee did. He was more interested in the tractors and pushing Nellie in the stroller. Nellie was content to sit in the stroller as long as I kept handing her berries to eat. Have mentioned that she loves food? If she's not eating it, she's feeding it to the dogs. Needless to say, my 2 little helpers weren't very much help. I may have had more fun enjoying the fruits of labor at home - rather than attempting to pick strawberries in the heat and chasing down my 3 y/o pushing my 1 y/o across the field. It wasn't so bad, but I hope B-Bee is more interested in picking next time we go (in August to pick rasberries).

If this were at the Willy Wonka's Factory, she would have turned into a strawberry. She's so serious, serious about strawberries.

Flag Day Fun

Didn't take many pictures today, since Daddy had the camera today. He's going to traffic court tomorrow morning (stupid, petty PMSing ticket) and started his day off taking pictures of the intersection where he was apparantly off-roading to make a right turn. However, looking at the pictures he took, I don't see how he ever fit all 4 wheels of our SUV between the white line and stop sign.

The kids and I had planned on going to the train museum this morning, but I thought the playdate was at 10am or 10:30am. Just as I was going to log on to confirm the time we had to be there, my friend texted me asking if I was still going.... "Yeah." Then I saw that we were supposed to be there at 9am and it was already 9:20am by then.

So we went to the mall instead. I gave B-Bee the choice between the mall with the train & horse rides or the mall with the dinosauers & sandbox. It was a different answer each time I asked. So I chose the dinosauers & sandbox - Old Navy there is right by the food court, dinosauers & sandbox. It just made sense. To boot, they had a train running there as well - as we found out when we were walking in. A Polar Express Train, as B-Bee put it.

Called my friend that works up that way to see if she could meet us for lunch and what great timing! She had taken the day off work to bring her daughter, Bre to an appointment. ...meaning we got to see her AND her 2 y/o sweetie. All the kids were pretty well behaved, right up to the end when B-Bee trainwrecked we started heading out.

After shopping returning stuff, our picnic lunch, and running around on the dinosauers...we went out side for Sand Castles 101. I can't believe it has taken me nearly 4 years to show B-Bee for the first time how to make a sand castle. Not that we have a lot of beaches around here to do it at - the mall has a sand pit / area stocked with trucks and sand toys. First step was to create some mud. Mommy had to go wading in the "pool" fountain that you're not supposed to swim or wade in to throw buckets of water onto the sand. I know, bad Mommy. Nellie was quite concerned with this rebellious behavior. Second step was to sit down and get muddy digging. Next fill bucket, pack down, flip upside down on the ground....and wah-lah! Last step, Bre had down: crash the tower!

We had to take a ride on the train before we left, since I had promised and promised B-Bee trains today. It was actually roomy enough for me to sit comfortably with both kids (and possibly another adult?) in a coach car. Believe me, this isn't always quite a simple task. Getting out a barrel train is down right comical, but this one was no problem. We ventured over the road and past more stores, another playground AND an outdoor rollerskating rink! Nextime we are SO bringing B-Bee's skates! This may just be my very favorite mall. Being that I used to live within 30 minutes of the Mall of America, I've seen some cool mallage.

I must thank my Facebook friends for reminding me that today was Flag Day! Some days I'm lucky to remember what day of the week it is, nonetheless what holiday. To think I just about bought a flag & pole to hang on our front porch the other day - product placement almost worked this impulsive shopper. We do need to get a flag though, not only would it look great on our front porch, but what veteran doesn't fly a flag? Eek, this one. Don't get me wrong, I have several American flags. But they're special flags that we flew over Iraq during our aeromed missions. Anyways, I'm proud of our nation and proud to have served and will be a proud flag-displaying American very soon.

In the spirit, I worked on Nellie's 4th of July tutu tonight. It's almost done; ran out of tulle. Her 1 year old photoshoot will be in a couple weeks and I'm planning to have her wear her her birthday tutu for some shots and then the 4th of July one for the rest - including a 4th of July themed family picture.

Near Perfect Day.

Between the 3 mommies at our playdate today, we had a total of 11 kids! What fun! What chaos! ...no, really it wasn't too bad as lond as we weren't in pedestrial transit from one part of the park to another. Here are about half of the kids waiting for the train to go and come back. Kudos to you if you recognize where we are! You've found an awesome place to spend a summer day.

Who's the ring leader of trouble? Pick a side. The Thomas fanatic in the middle goes with the flow. For most of the train ride, they were "choo-choo" - ing.

 We're serious about some watermelon; it's quickly beome a favorite - a messy favorite.

Wading & playing in the creek.

Watching the train go by one last time before we head home for naps. B-Bee & Nellie fell asleep so hard on the way home that they did the car-to-bed transfer. Ahhhh....

During this blissful nap - until B-Bee woke up crying because he wanted Annie's chocolate bunnies - I got some plants put in the garden, the pool set up and filled, and a few flowers (for headbands) pinned together. So after nap, while waiting for Daddy to get home, we played in the pool. It was a little too cold for Nellie and she freaked out whenever I put her in. So she was content to watch from the side, eating chocolate bunnies and feeding the dogs. At one point I put each of the dogs in for a short swim. Neither one would come back over after that. *sigh* Landlubber dogs.

A near perfect day.