Evie and Annalise Taller

Thursday, July 08, 2010

Good Bye old blog

Well, this blog has been filling up and I started to notice that some of my old posts are missing. I would hate to lose more so I started a new blog


Change your bookmarks.

Don't worry, this blog is still here for reference and for future reference (in case you need an embarrassing picture of a kid with spaghetti all over her face when her boyfriend shows up for the prom).

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

When we got back

After we returned from Minnesota, we had a lot of recooperating to do. There was a lot of whining and a lot of laundry. but that doesn't make it too much different from any other Monday of the summer.
The girls took a spin on the Barbie Powerwheels Jeep. Yep. A powerwheels. We are a three car family now. I couldn't be happier as this is one of my childhood dreams. I think Jim was all for it too until he started to see what it was doing to the grass. Evie is the principle driver, but she is teaching Annalise to drive.
We also harvested our first cauliflower. It was delicious and we ate it for 2 dinners.
We also returned to find that the cat that was hanging around is still hanging around. So I named it Dario Frankitty (get it? After this year's Indy 500 winner? This may have been my most clever thought ever) and bought a bag of cheap cat food. We think that Dario actually belongs to someone because he is very friendly and also doesn't want to eat the Meijer brand food.
Evie had her last swim meet.
She competed in the backstroke, free style and breast stroke. All in the first heats! Wow!
Her last dive in.
Next year, we hope that she opens her hand to help propel herself through the water.

Day 5, WBL style

On our last day of vacation in Minnesota, the girls were begging to go to the lake. I love the lake and have so many good memories of it, so I said yes (after stopping at Caribou first, of course).
I mentioned in my last post that the lake has receded since we have moved. Apparently this is a natural, cyclical thing that happens, so the locals aren't worried about it yet. I do have to say that it was quite disturbing to me to see the shoreline out so far from where it used to be (about 150 feet).
After a long hike, we finally made it to the water.
Those apartments used to be on the shore. That's pretty far. As you can tell, I'm amazed by this.
There was a lot of sand to play in and Annalise managed to get quite a bit on her body.
We met up with Ethan, Mary Kate, and Amy and decided to have a Cup N cone lunch. One more time for old time's sake.
Here they are all polishing off their hot dogs. Don't worry, ice cream was dessert.
As we were leaving WBL, we stopped to pick Jim up from the rental car place. Parked there was Aunt Becky's dream license plate. Even from Wisconsin.

We headed back to Wisconsin to stay the night with our friends, the Rohl Family. While we were there a serious storm rolled in. The sirens went off and we all took cover as a 20 minute hail storm rolled on through.
Here's part of the crew hiding out in the basement. Annalise saved the stuffed cows.


After the storm, we loaded all the kids up in the truck to see the devastation. 8 people in a truck. I'm sure we were breaking several laws, but hey, we had fun.
The hail really did a number on all the crops and probably the Rohl's roof. There was also at least 8 inches of rain that caused this flash flooding. Jamie is posing with the address marker standing in some very gross run off. Thanks for the excitement and beer Jamie and Jenna!!

Day 4 of Minnesota

After running around for a few days, the girls had rested up and were up bright and early. We decided (well, I did) to make a walk down by the lake after I got my daily dose of Caribou coffee.
The locals all told us how far the water levels in the lake dropped, but I had to see it with my own eyes. I could hardly believe it. There was grass growing in the middle of our lake! This was the sunrise. It was hazy because of a wildfire burning somewhere in Canada.
Not too many boats were tied out. The boat launches were very shallow and because of this, there wasn't much traffic on the lake. There were the die hard fishermen that dumped a few boats. the girls thought it was interesting to watch as a van backed up the trailer to dump a boat in. They were very concerned that the van was going in too.
We visited the historic 2 story gazebo. This was constructed over one hundred years ago (and restored a couple of times) by a WBL man for his daughter's wedding. You can still get married there.
Our pretty little girls. Yes, I made them wear their matching dresses. Annalise still likes to match, but I think this may be the last time Evie will allow herself to be dressed as "twins" with Annalise. I think she has finally gotten to the age where she can be embarrassed.
My goofy Shlee. What a cutie.
We took a walk along the "new" Lake Avenue. They repaved it since we left and put in a nice berm and flower beds. The girls were impressed by the height of these lilies.

After hanging around the lake until we were too hot, we headed down to pick up Laura, Nate and Michele and go to the Minnesota Science Museum.
It overlooks the banks of the Mississippi River and the trains that come in to the station. This was the daily Amtrack. Inside, there was all kinds of stuff to do and I was busy trailing kids instead of taking pictures.
On occasion, they did stand still enough for me to get a picture. Here is Annalise building yet another barn.
Evie was working on some structure to see what pieces she could take out without knocking it down.
Later, after we saw the dinosaurs, the weather lab, the grass maze, and the rock collections, the girls played with the air and ping pong table.
Sometimes I forget that Annalise isn't a baby and is almost 4. I wouldn't be surprised that Evie was coordinated enough to do this at 4, but Annalise reminded me that she is growing up and can figure out things too.
Evie and Laura had a good time making a ping pong ball move across the table.

That night we went to Marketfest. it was fun for the adults, but a whiny mess for the tired and hungry kids. We left early (but not before a serving of cheese curds, mini donuts, and lemonade) and threw them in bed.

Thursday, July 01, 2010

Taste of Scandinavia and old friends

On Tuesday night, Evie got to stay with Laura for their first sleepover. I promised Annalise we would do something special without Evie. I used this opportunity to send her to bed early and then go to one of my favorite old restaurants, Taste of Scandinavia Bakery. There is really nothing like it in Indiana.
Annalise ordered one giant pancake with a side of butter. Yes, she is licking the butter. This kid loves butter.
I haven't found another place in the Midwest that serves sweet breakfast Lefse. Yum. Lefse is like a very thin pancake, but they make it so good here!

Later that day, we had lunch with our old neighbor, Pat. I wish I would have taken some pictures. She is great and loved to see the kids. We took a look at the outside of our old house. It's not looking too hot. It was sad to see all the work we put into it and now someone is neglecting it.

That afternoon, we visited our friends, Nicole, Ella and Walker. Ella and Evie were first friends since they were babies. Nicole and I hung out a lot when they were little. Now all the kids are growing up .
Annalise, Walker, Ella, and Evie. They had fun time playing together.
Goofy kids.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Como Town

On day 2 of our wild Minnesota Adventure vacation, we met up with our friends, Michele, Laura and Nate. They used to live just a couple of blocks from us and Evie and Laura were friends since they were tiny babies. Our trip of the day was to Como Park where they have installed "Como Land" since we moved. Well, there was something similar to Como land before, but it was much more rickety and carny. Now everything is permanent and looks all fancy and new. It was a hot day, but we were armed with lots of water and 4 very excited kids. Evie kept calling it "Kokomo Town". I thought that was funny.
One of the very few rides that all four rode together. The big girls often took off on a ride that Annalise didn't have the courage to go on. Nate could care less, because he was having a ball on those cars that have 4 steering wheels and drive in a circle under a big umbrella.
The girls attended "Como Driving School" where they all got their own little car. It's similar to a PowerWheels. They got to drive wherever they wanted. There was even an area called "car wash" because it was close to the sprinkler park.
Annalise got the hang of it very quickly and was serious about driving. When they exited the ride, they each received a "driver's license". I couldn't convince any of them to drive back to WBL in the station wagon while I took a nap.
All four rode the swings together. Annalise and Nate really enjoyed it and went 3 times in a row. That was nice because it took a long time to get the swings loaded and Michele and I could sit and chat in the shade.
At this point, the crowd was pretty thin so we let the big girls journey out on their own (of course, we could almost always see them because Como Town wasn't much bigger than a school playground.)
They finally worked up the courage to go on the Tilt-A-Whirl.
They didn't spin much, but we think they had fun on it.
Meanwhile, Annalise put out fake fires on top of a ladder truck.
The big girls went on this frog hopper about 10 times. It was a great day, but hot. After refilling the water bottles several times, we decided to head back to WBL for some cool refreshments.
The cup N Cone looks exactly the same as when we left. The kids working it still can't do math either because the 2 times we visited, and ordered the same thing, we were charged 2 different prices. Oh well. It was good to be back in the true heart of town. I was reading a book about communities and the author was talking about the places people could meet up. Your house (the first place), my house (the second place), and a location that is comfortable and a gathering space for all in the community (the third place). The Cup N Cone is definitely the third place for all of WBL. It is everyone's home away from home.
These three girls could barely eat their ice cream fast enough before it melted. That night, when we returned to the hotel, Jim asked me what kind of rash I had on my leg. Just ice cream drips. I was so hot and sweaty, I didn't even notice.
Nate, also hot and sweaty has the face of someone who has been stealing ice cream from his mom.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Mall of America

On the first day of our trip to Minnesota, we woke up earlier than most of our friends. After a leisurely breakfast and a trip to Target, we drove to our friends, the Larsons, house. We ate some lunch, played and caught up with one another. And then we headed off to the Mall of America to visit Underwater Adventures. It is an aquarium that features a walk through tank so the sharks and such can swim all around you.
Like everything in the Mall of America, it was bigger and more colorful than anything you could imagine (I would also like to take this time to say that the Mall of America is a very loud place. Especially in the amusement park area where you basically need to be yelling the whole time to be heard).
Evie and Erik pose in front of the beaver lodge. Erik is 5 and Underwater Adventures is one of his favorite places to visit. The kids were so excited that they practically ran through the entire exhibit.
Probably the best picture I took all of vacation. I love the reflection as Evie sees the turtle. Annalise seems to care less.
We also spent a good amount of time examining shark teeth and fish parts. As you see, you need to look very closely.
Erin and Peder play on top of the pirate ship in the play area. Thanks for being such a great host Erin!
A treasure greater than gold.
Ditto.
After Underwater Adventure, we headed over to the Lego store/exhibit. The girls had a great time playing and building stuff while I visited the Apple store just around the corner to get help with my ipod.
Peder stacks up blocks with great concentration.
Erik worked very hard on his creation and had to have a picture taken of his building before we could leave the Lego area.
Annalise build, what else, a farm.
evie raced her vehicle down the track. It completed its journey smoothly.
We finished our shopping and got a few things to bring home. Then we went over to the giant blue store across the street.

I never thought the day would come where I could use "Smalland" inside of Ikea to take care of the kids while I shopped, but it came! We had a nice shopping trip and the girls got to stay in the cage and throw balls at the birdhouses on the wall. Thanks Erin, Erik, Peder, and Kym for accompanying us on this fun trip!