Tara’s Birthday Party

What an amazing husband I have. He planned a truly amazing and unique party for my to celebrate my 34th birthday. Our afternoon started at St. Croix vineyard where we were treated to a tour of the vineyard. St. Criox Vineyard is co-located at one of those Stillwater classics: Aamodt’s Apple Orchard. I was lucky enough to take a tour with Emma and her pre-school class of the orchard, so it was fun to see the vineyard side.

All 3 kiddos were with us and it was very hot out, so given the circumstances, the kids were really well behaved.

Emma was the resident photographer and she took a lot of interesting photos…especially before I told her to look through the viewfinder to see what she was photographing.

After the tour, we did the wine tasting which was really yummy. I love their wine. It’s all great. Who knew there could be such great wine right up the street! We finished our afternoon at the vineyard with a few bottles of wine in the orchards.

After our wine adventure we headed home where 2 great chefs were preparing an amazing meal for us. How cool is it to have a private chef cook dinner at your home.

It was so, so yummy!! The dinner was ribs, jicama salad, chipotle potato salad, fruit, veggies, cheese and crackers. Everything exceeded our expectations. The food was yummmmmmy!

We were also treated to an amazing chocolate torte for dessert. It was so pretty it didn’t seem we should eat it…that thought passed quickly. Everyone enjoyed the amazing dessert.

What a fun and unique party. Kudos to Larry for coming up with a new party idea that I hadn’t thought of yet. What a great celebration. Thanks to the family and friends who celebrated the day with me.

Eggs and Teddy Bear Park

Tara had a happy hour at work, so I took the kids to Teddy Bear Park. It was fun, but dern near exhausting.

It started normally enough… went to pick up the kids at Grandma’s, got them into the car and buckle them into their car seats, got ready to go. Then Karen came out.

“Where’s the son of yours!”, she says, grinning from ear-to-ear… “He’s got my eggs!”.
“You’re what?!!? You’re eggs… are where…”

Too late, she was already grilling Jake (and laughing): “Where’s my eggs, Jacob?!?”.

Come to find out that Jake decided to hide a dozen eggs in the house… or so we thought.

So, off we go to Teddy Bear Park. And we almost make it there, but then my phone rings… it’s Karen. We come to find out that he hid some of them in Shelly’s room… and two in his BACK POCKET. I was heart sunk… they MUST have broken. We’d have to go home, get clean pants, clean up the car. Ack!

But low and behold, the eggs miraculously survived. Yeah, off we go to the park.

Jacob had a lot of fun with the slide.

Jumping!!!

Our fun was cut a little short when Emma’s bare foot managed to find it’s way to a dog’s leftover droppings. Leaving dad with the fun job of hold Emma in my arms, while her feet are dangling in the bathroom sink, while trying to direct Jacob to direct Abby to stay away from the toilet and the trash can… while washing the poop off with my bare hands. A father’s job…

We finished our evening at DQ Grill. The kids each got a value meal (which includes an ice cream treat). Abby got a little crabby so we headed out to the candy store, where Jacob got a Gummi Rat.’

Fun evening… but like I said… exhausting.

Abby’s Birthday

Abby turned one on the fifteenth. Both Tara and I are in shock! We just brought her home from the hospital and now are little baby is one.

Ever since Emma’s 2nd birthday, we’ve used a polka-dot themed door display for birthdays. She loved it and Tara and I enjoyed watching her play with them. The little dots just proved too much for her to resist.

That night, we had a small family dinner at Acapulco Restaurant in Stillwater with family. Her big party is this weekend. She got a few presents and got to spend a little time with her great grandma. It’s a great family place and now that Adam works there, it works well with the family.

Jake is helping Abby with her new toy.

Jacob had a little homework to do and Uncle Adam got him some bottle caps for his collection if he finished it. He’s been doing great in school and we’re happy with the progress. He’s reading at a 2nd or 3rd grade level.

After, we went to Nelson’s (home of the ridiculously large ice cream cones) and Abby got her first taste of Ice Cream. Jake’s friend Hunter was there and they got to hang out.

Jacob and his friend Hunter.

All told it was a nice family time with everyone: Grandma & pappa, Grandma McCloud, Adam, Shelly, Emily & Kelly, and our family. Very nice to have a relaxing day ahead of big party on Saturday.

Patio Project

“Hey honey, can we put a patio in this weekend”.
“But honey, we have Odepalooza next weekend. This will be a disaster!”

Moments later…

The project took the whole weekend, Karen came over to help as well (which was a real blessing). Tara did a most of the work, but I got in and kicked some butt, too.

Nice Day at the Trabin

We had a nice time at the Trabin again. The morning started off looking awful, but beach weather was in full force by the time we got there.

Grandma provided some floats for the kids and blew them up (which we were more than happy to let her do).

And the grown-ups hung out on the five square feet of beach that is Lake Sturgeon Beach.

Nice Weekend Planned for the 4th

We’ve got a nice weekend planned: friends are coming over tonight and bringing their 2 girls and then we are going to the “trabin” (trailer cabin ) for the weekend. That means fishing, boating and grandma is making the crazy Martha Stewart fried chicken that involves soaking it in buttermilk overnight. YUM!!

Small Rant: I’m building this set with Jacob. It was expensive, but he’s showing a passion for lego.

…and it missing these two very small parts (probably less than a $.10 worth).
It will take them 3 WEEKS to send replacement parts. Grrr!!! What was supposed to be a fun kit is turning into a lesson in caveat emptor for Jake.